Street Fighter


by Duncan Campbell, John Prince, Leigh Christian, Martin Wakeley
Go!
1988
Crash Issue 53, Jun 1988   page(s) 12,13

Producer: Go!
Retail Price: £8.99 cassette, £12.99 disk
Author: Tiertex from a Capcom coin-op

Street fighting has taken on international status. Across the world candidates are lining up to take on Ryu, a skilled oriental fighter, in various forms of unorthodox urban combat.

The contest is set against horizontally scrolling backdrops from five different countries which are loaded individually.

Ryu has a catalogue of different moves at his disposal. Leaping jumping, punching, crouching and side-kicking, he attempts to reduce his opponents strength to zero without losing too much of his own. The best of three timed bouts wins a match.

At the end of each level the player tests his strength in a bonus game. Ryu is seated before a pile of bricks where an energy bar at the top of the screen flashes rapidly between maximum and minimum strength. A press of the fire button halts the energy bar to determine the number of bricks Ryu can break.

The player is permitted to lose up to three matches before he is knocked out of the contest and the game ends. If the two-player option has been selected, the winner of an initial match between Ryu and Ken goes forward to play all the other champions.

COMMENTS

Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair
Graphics: large characters with poor animation. Attractive backgrounds
Sound: mini-tunes on each level, with mediocre crunch effects
Options: multiload on/off, one or two players, selectable background colour


There's no doubting the quality of Street Fighters large and detailed graphics, but when it comes to the playability and addictiveness the game is sadly lacking in both aspects. The main fault for this lies with the poor animation on the characters and the dumb computer opponent. There are very few frames of animation and the computer opponent is easily beaten by constantly ducking and kicking - a very old method. There are a few variations in opponents but the basic gameplay characteristics need not be changed on each level for guaranteed success - thus quickly inducing a state of boredom at the repetitiveness of the game. At a pound under a tenner it doesn't represent very good value for money.
PAUL [69%]


What there is of Street Fighter is enjoyable and well presented. The monochrome backdrops are finely drawn and detailed enough to create a distinctive international atmosphere. All the different challengers have their own distinguishing and humourous characteristics. Gameplay is smooth (except for some awkward scrolling) and intially very addictive - it's just that there isn't anywhere near enough of it. My third go got me to the fifth level; the game as a whole isn't likely to take anyone more than two or three hours to complete. Once you've sussed that it's best to crouch down and keep punching, none of the ten opponents present more than a passing challenge. The two-player option adds just one extra and fairly redundant match. All the ingredients of an excellent game are there - somehow GO! have managed to burn the cake.
KATI [62%]


Yet another great Capcom arcade game comes to the Spectrum, and Street Fighter has survived it's conversion quite well. The backgrounds are all excellently drawn and the various characters move around on-screen with all the elegance and might of real street fighters. The moves that you can use on your opponents are the same as in older games such as Way Of The Exploding Fist and the more recent IK+ but this doesn't mean that Street Fighter holds nothing new. The wide variety of enemies that challenge you are enough to keep any hard guy happy for an hour or two. If you're looking for a quick trip around the world beating people up, then look no further - Street Fighter is here.
NICK [82%]

Presentation: 80%
Graphics: 73%
Playability: 65%
Addictive Qualities: 60%
Overall: 69%

Summary: General Rating: Well converted, but too easy to be of any lasting interest.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Your Sinclair Issue 31, Jul 1988   page(s) 69

Go!
£8.99
Reviewer: Phil South

If you like smacking people in the gob, or kicking people unexpectedly behind the ear from a standing start, then this must be the game for you. Not, as I fully expected, a yawnsome repeat of every other martial arts romp in the book, but a refreshing twist on the tired old beat 'em up scenario. (It sez ere.)

The original arcade game was a bit of an innovation, having as it did some massive pads on the front of it, instead of the usual joystick and buttons. You actually punched the pads, which in turn made the character on the screen punch his opponent - the first arcade game to exercise the rest of your body, as well as the usual brain and thumb, methinks. And now the joys of Street Fighter can be yours, as Go! bring the epic Capcom machine to your Speccy. Minus the pads unfortunately, so you're going to get flabby playing this version, but everything else is in there.

In case you've not seen Streetfighter, it follows the usual beat 'em up format, two guys standing on screen who, at a given signal, start to beat each other insensible. With each direct hit, a little hit meter at the top of the screen goes down a notch. If you can beat the opponents meter down faster than he beats down yours, then you win. But if he beats yours down (which is what usually happens), then he wins, and you get an enlarged picture of your opponent plus a sneery message. A nice touch here is the fact that hits are coloured black for the baddie and white for you, so in a flurry of punches and kicks you can tell who hit who, and there are a lot of flurries... In my case ploughing into the guy with fists flying is a sort of strategy, as I can never remember which joystick move makes which kick/duck/punch/block combination.

The interesting thing about the look of this game is the sheer SIZE of the sprites you're controlling. They're at least 6-7 characters tall, but this is in keeping with the original game, where the sprites almost filled the screen. The usual joystick/button combinations are linked logically to a range of similar moves on screen, and even if I can't recall them, they're fairly easy to pick up as you go along. If in doubt just thrash the stick in his general direction and blip the button as fast as you can. The usual rules of looking at the instructions as a last resort apply. One point about movement is that, unlike almost every other martial arts game that has ever been designed, you don't have to keep turning to face your opponent. You know how it is, you throw a punch at your foe, and he sidesteps it, jumps right over your head and before you can turn and hit him, he's punched your kidney to pate. None of this can happen to you in Street Fighter. Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, you face up to your opponent auto-magically.

As martial arts beat 'em ups go, this is not at all bad, with the graphics a notch above the ordinary and the action nice and fast. Not a great deal of sound in the game, but I guess I'd rather have a good fast game than a couple of strained sound effects. If you're a fan of the Capcom machine then you won't be disappointed. The game has been converted by Tiertex, the team behind 720° so you can expect the quality of the conversion to be spiffing.


Graphics: 9/10
Playability: 8/10
Value For Money: 8/10
Addictiveness: 8/10
Overall: 8/10

Summary: A first-class beat 'em up, with loadsa action and totally faithful to the original. Brilliant!

Transcript by Chris Bourne

Sinclair User Issue 74, May 1988   page(s) 34,35

!Label: Go!
Author: Tiertex
Price: £8.99
Memory: 48K/128K
Joystick: various
Reviewer: Tamara Howard

If you're the sort of person who enjoyed Renegade then Street Fighter will make you go absolutely gaga.

Street Fighter was just one of the coin-ops which Go! acquired when it signed a contract with CapCom not so long ago. And as a coin-op conversion, it's very, very good. As a kicky, gouge, bite and scratch yer eyes out two player optioned, piece of mindless violence, it's absolutely great.

The game takes place in five different countries and invites the player to beat the living daylights out of the champion thug of each country in turn. The game begins in Japan, with a couple of extremely unpleasant Ninjas, one of whom does a truly impressive disappear-reappear trick, which is thoroughly confusing. Waving long, spiky claws at yer man, he'll do his best to mash him into the ground. But even I managed to get through Japan fairly easily, and it was on to the good ol' US of A.

Your opponent in the States looks like he's a reject from the Hammer House of Horror remake of West Side Story (ask yer mam). Set against a railway siding the violence continues, until you've won two rounds, and then whoops! It's off to good old Britain.

This is where the Renegade comparisons become really pointed. If you were impressed by the measly little dude with the Ray Bans and the leather jacket, then your laundry bill is going to rocket once you clap eyes on the eight foot tall mohican in Street Fighter. Swinging his chains around his head (takes some doing, that) and nutting all and sundry (bet he uses Harmony hairspray.)

Once past the punk there's a glimpse of the Great Wall of China, and finally, to round off the whole expedition, there's a trip to Thailand. And this guy's even more frightening than Yul Brynner in The King and I.

Throughout the backgrounds are effective, not hugely detailed, but always appropriate for the country in question. The sprites are enormous in comparison to those in Renegade, and the British punk is truly spectacular. Each one moves well and is finely detailed. Though I'm not at all sure that the guy from Thailand is particularly menacing, but who ever heard of a menacing Thai?

Programmers Tiertex have included a screen colour option, which allows you to be mutilated in whatever shade you prefer. Whatever colour you go for, there never seems to be an icky-clash, the sprites just get on with their mutilation in a neat and tidy fashion.

Sandwiched between the various countries are bonus levels which involve smashing a large number of bricks with your bare hands. I didn't go for this much myself. Well, I'd have broken a nail, wouldn't I?

Controls are pretty much as one would expect, various combinations of joysticks up and down and fire button pressed will produce flying kicks, underhand jabs and the good old fashioned cowardly duck.

If you liked Renegade, and thought we underrated it, take a look at Street Fighter. It's bigger, it's better, it's a lot more polished methinks. This is a really aggressive game and that's as much a tribute to the gameplay as to the excellent graphics. Street Fighter is definitely one of my games of the year so far. More


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Overall: 10/10

Summary: Thoroughly impressive combat game which knocks Renegade for six. Go damage someone.

Award: Sinclair User Classic

Transcript by Chris Bourne

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) Issue 11, Aug 1988   page(s) 68

Flying fists from Go!

Arcade fans may know this as the game that had pads you could actually hit. Sadly they don't make them that way now, and they certainly can't do that for the micro versions. Which makes this just another standard beat-em-up, that brings nothing new to the genre.

Reviewer: Bob Wade

RELEASE BOX
Spec, £8.99cs, Out Now
Ams, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now
C64/128, £9.99cs, £11.99dk, Imminent
Atari ST, £24.99dk, Imminent
Amiga, £24.99dk, Imminent

Predicted Interest Curve

1 min: 55/100
1 hour: 50/100
1 day: 45/100
1 week: 35/100
1 month: 15/100
1 year: 5/100


Ace Rating: 410/1000

Transcript by Chris Bourne

The Games Machine Issue 9, Aug 1988   page(s) 54

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.99, Diskette: £12.99
Amstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99
Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99

IT IS. RYU?

Street Fighter is the latest in a series of ten Capcom coin-ops to be converted for all the major machines by GO! All the versions have been programmed by Tiertex.

You are Ryu, a fighter highly skilled in martial arts, and as such are pitted against an international array of dangerous opponents. Two adversaries must be defeated in each of the nations visited - the world tour begins in Japan and each country constitutes a load from tape or disk, The bouts involve large figures battling it out against a suitably atmospheric, scrolling backdrop - Pagodas, Mountains and Cityscapes.

Each match consists of three timed rounds in which the two fighters punch and kick their opponent in an attempt to reduce his energy.

Ryu has a multitude of moves at his disposal including jumps and somersaults. All are accessed via the joystick in the usual beat-'em-up style - using combinations of directions with or without the fire button. However, success can usually be achieved by using just one or two moves which unfortunately leads to repetitive gameplay.

COME FLAIL WITH ME

Some of Ryu's more vicious opponents are equipped with death stars and rice flails which can cause horrific injuries if either fighter's energy is reduced to zero he is knocked out and loses the round; otherwise the one with the most energy at the end of the round wins. Whichever fighter is successful in two out of the three rounds wins the match. If Ryu wins a round by a knockout he scores bonus points for the amount of time and energy remaining. He is permitted to lose three matches before the game ends. if he manages to defeat two opponents he has a chance to score extra points in the bonus round where he must smash as many bricks as he can with his bare hands. Ryu subsequently travels to the next country where two fresh opponents are waiting to do him harm.

Street Fighter includes a two-player option in which players contest an initial match between Ryu and Ken, the winner going on to fight the computer opponents.


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Overall: 60%

Summary: Although the graphics are entirely monochromatic. the backdrops are well drawn and the large characters move well. Playability is limited with repetitive gameplay and many of Ryu's moves are not needed to win. Sound is also weak with just white noise spot effects, not even a title tune.

Transcript by Chris Bourne

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