'Street Fighter II Collection' Will Re-Ignite Your Inner Shoryuken

Introduction

Street Fighter II, the 1991 sequel to the original Street Fighter, fights its way to iDevices everywhere! Street Fighter is credited with starting the fighting game craze back in the 1990s and its success led to the development of many updated versions. They were both some of the best 90's arcade games in the world. Two versions are showcased in this iOS package, Champion and Hyper, in addition to the original Street Fighter II game. The Street Fighter II Collection for iOS is virtually identical to the original games apart from the menus and tweakable options such as button configurations, difficulty, screen orientations and size. The game's graphics look nice on the small screen and each of the three games have multiplayer modes and unlockables based on the number of times you play the game. So the more you play and score points, the more goodies you can unlock. Though all I managed to unlock so far is artwork. Who knows, you might find some extras that can give you an edge in battle. Controls are ok, although the virtual joystick can be a problem, it's nothing a little practice and losses can't fix. Controllers and arcade sticks are still the ideal input methods for fighting games like Street Fighter but Capcom did a fine job making the control scheme accessible for our beloved iDevices. The original version of Street Fighter II featured a roster of eight selectable fighting characters.  Ryu and Ken, the main characters from the original Street Fighter, returned along with six new characters from different nationalities: E. Honda, a sumo wrestler from Japan; Blanka, a beast-like man from Brazil; Guile, a former special forces operative from the United States of America; Chun-Li, a female martial artist from China; Zangief, a pro wrestler from the USSR; and Dhalsim, a Yogi from India.

More Information

The single player tournament mode features four CPU-controlled opponents who serve as the game's bosses after the player defeats all the other fighters. The bosses in the game are: Balrog, an American boxer; Vega, a Spanish claw-welding matador; Sagat, a one-eyed Muay Thai master and the former champion from the original Street Fighter; and M.  Bison, the mysterious military commander in charge of the tournament. Out of these four, I have to say Sagat and M.Bison are the most challenging. I should also point out, however, that fighting Ryu tends to be incredibly frustrating as he spams his trademark 'Hadouken' fireball move over and over again until you make the mistake of going forward and attacking. This inevitable results in him punishing your efforts with a 'Shoryuken' dragon punch. After every third match in the single player mode, the player will participate in a "bonus game" for additional points. The bonus games includes (in order) a car-breaking event; a barrel breaking bonus game where the barrels are dropped off from a conveyor belt above the player; and a drum-breaking bonus game where drums are flammable and piled over each other.

Then there's Champion and Hyper editions. The only differences in these updates to Street Fighter II are that the boss characters are now playable, there are different color costumes for fighters, and the game's speed increases in the Hyper fighting edition. Street Fighter II Collection is a great app that will bring out the nostalgia in all Street Fighter fans and will definitely entertain if you feel the need to give Sagat the good ol' Shoryuken every once in a while. It sure brought me back to when I was a kid. Give this game a go. You're sure to have a challenging and rewarding experience. AppPicker Rating: 4 / 5 Stars Pick It Up in the App Store:  Street Fighter II Collection Other apps by CAPCOM