Street Fighter the World Warrior

Street Fighter 2: The world Warrior is the granddaddy of all fighting games. It is what started the whole genre and is one of the most popular franchises ever spawning games for virtually every console. This game led to the dawn of the fighting game genre and a host of games such as Mortal Kombat, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, Tekken and Soulcalibur. You could choose to go one on one with a computer or human opponent. Inserted in the game are bonus stages just to break the monotony of combat. The game also has seven levels of difficulty.

Characters

Ryu - Ryu is a student of Gouken. He trained together with friend Ken in the martial arts. He wanders the world looking for a new challenge. He beat Sagat in the last tournament and left him with a huge scar in his chest. He has a similar fighting style with Ken but is much stronger.

Patented Moves: Hadoken (Fireball), Shoryuken (Uppercut), Spinning Kick

Ken - Ken is the best friend of Ryu and is his sparring partner as well. He is also a student of Gouken. He has a very similar fighting style with Ryu but moves at a much faster pace.

Patented Moves: Patented Moves: Hadoken (Fireball), Shoryuken (Uppercut), Spinning Kick

Chun-Li - Chun-Li is a female martial artist who seeks to avenge the death of her father at Bison's hands. Her father was the leader of their village and died defending it against the maniacal Bison. She is the only female character in the game.

Patented Moves: Spinning Bird Kick, Lightning Kick

Blanka - Blanka is actually Jimmy. Jimmy was a boy whose plane had crashed in Brazil. He was mutated and lived in the wild. His mother saw him in the tournament and recognized him from the anklet he was wearing.

Patented Moves: Rolling Attack, Electric Shock

E. Honda - Honda was a world class sumo wrestler. He however was disgusted as the fact that outside Japan, they are not as revered and are not considered as big as wrestlers or boxers. He aims to promote to the world that sumo wrestlers are among the world's best.

Patented Moves: Hundred Hand Slap, Sumo Head Butt

Zangief - Zangief was a professional wrestler in his native Russia and was so good that he even wrestled bears. He was requested by the government to participate in the tournament with the president or ex-president rather looking a lot like Mikhail Gorbachev.

Patented Moves: Spinning Piledriver, Spinning Clothesline

Dhalsim - Dhalsim is a peaceful warrior who entered the tournament simply to earn enough money for his village. His body may be thin but he has the ability to stretch it to great lengths.

Patented Move: Yoga Fire, Yoga Flame

Guile - He is a major for the United States Air Force. He went to the tournament to avenge the death of Charlie under Bison's hands. Yes it seems that Bison has killed a lot of people.

Patented Moves: Flask Kick, Sonic Boom

Boss Characters:

Balrog - He is a boxer who closely resembles Mike Tyson. His original name was Mike Bison but was changed to avoid lawsuits from Mike Tyson.

Patented Moves: Dashing Straight, Dashing Uppercut

Vega - Vega is a masked fighter who combines ninjitsu with bullfighting. He may not be as strong as the other bosses but makes up for it with dazzling speed. He is also very good at avoiding attacks by climbing up the wall or by doing backflips.

Patented Moves: Tumbling Claw, Flying Barcelona Attack, Backflip

Sagat - Sagat is a fighter who was once the world champion but was vanquished by Ryu. He seeks to avenge his loss and honor. His last encounter has left him with a big scar on his chest and he will stop at nothing to get back at Ryu. He practices muay thai and stands at an imposing seven feet tall.

Patented Moves: Tiger Uppercut, Tiger Shot

M. Bison - Everyone seems to hate Bison. Maybe even Bison doesn't like Bison. This power mad tyrant won't rest until he is the master and the ruler of the world. He is incredibly fast and does a lot of cheesy moves. He is the final boss of your journey.

Patented Moves: Psycho Crusher, Head Stomp

The Verdict

This game truly is an arcade classic. It has revolutionized the fighting genre as we know it. Though its predecessor Street Fighter 1 may not have garnered as much attention, the second installment definitely set the bar.

The graphics are good even by today's standards and the music was nice and upbeat. The play controls were easy and very responsive. The game was just a bit slow. This was later remedied by the release of a turbo version.

With eight characters to use and a two player mode, there is a lot of replay value here. There is plenty of bang for your buck. At only 800 Wii points or $8 this is a good deal for such an iconic game.

I used to play this game together with my brother and my favorite character was Ryu and his was Guile. We played hours upon end. We truly enjoyed the experience.

I found the game fairly easy even at maximum difficulty except that I started losing to Sagat and Bison in the last stages. They are just too fast and cheesy. Furthermore, Sagat's uppercut packs a wallop.

Overall I recommend this game to everyone since it is a very good and classic game. I am sure even newer players who never played the original version in the Super Nintendo will enjoy this game. It is after all a game that was ahead of its time.

© TheChosen1. Review is published in other sites under the same name

-Also published in Ciao and Dooyoo

-character profiles sourced from wikipedia