GameTap Thursday: Super Street Fighter II Turbo at last

We'd like to consider today the apex of the Summer Throwdown promotion. GameTap has always featured an incredible selection of fighting games (especially in the last month or so), and yet two very specific, very missing titles kept the service from feeling whole. Today, GameTap is whole. It has found its smile.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Arcade) - Arguably the greatest fighting game ever conceived, Super Turbo is the craft of 2D fighting defined. Even after more than a decades worth of competitive play, ST still enjoys a worldwide following and for one very good reason: it's the best ... the best around.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Arcade) - Also known as "the good one" in the series, Alpha 2 shuns its awkward siblings with its extremely solid mechanics and well balanced cast. It also gave us the incredible drama of the B3 finals back in 1996.
Bloodrayne 2 (PC) - This is the one with pole dance fighting.
Total Overdose (PC) - Not the greatest shooter around, but fairly underrated in its own right. The best way to describe it is Max Payne meets Tony Hawk ... only in Mexico.

The Free Play section has been slightly updated to accommodate The King of Fighters 98 and the ever so adorable Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix. Damn it feels good to be a fighting fan.

Reader Comments (15)

How long before people start touting that Super Street Fighter II Turbo is NOT the pinnnacle of the fighting genre?

I always liked 3rd Strike better.

Another question is how long before people say SFA 2 is not "the good one"? SFA 3 is a very well-received and well-liked fighting game.

Sometimes I wonder if they write stuff like this just to get a reaction.

Not long. I'm gonna do it now. What was it about sfa2 that made it better than 3? I consider sfa3 to be the best of the 2d fighting games, and better than the vast majority of 3d ones.

Well recieved by the gaming media that is typically clueless when it comes to fighting games? Yes.

Well recieved by people who actually play fighting games? Not at all. Alpha 3 is rubbish that seemed to get worse every time Capcom touched it. Believe me, there are many, many, many reasons why we still play ST and 3S competitively and yet, never go back to A3.

So no, it's not to get a reaction.

Well by "people who play fighting games" I guess you mean the hardcore scene, specifically high-level tournament players. I suppose for them the game is 'crap', yet it still gets a lot of love in all the forums I read. The high-level players' opinion of a fighting game isn't the only one, and not necessarily the best.

Hurrah. KOF98 is the one with Lucky Glauber and his crew, a group of truly American fighters.

Give me Third Strike....it can't get any deeper, the best 2D fighter in my book. But I'm happy that SSF2T is on the list, I'd wait or the HD remake on Live/PSN.

I feel the same way.

SFA 3 was not quite as balanced and had infinites, so.... its a matter of preference really. more competition playing alpha 2 though. I prefer it.

anyway, does gametap offer online multiplayer for these fighting games?

Sorry, this is something I tend not to mention as it comes across as "But wait! There's more!"

Every fighting game, with the exception of Gem Fighter and Karate Champ, features online play. The support of it is about as good as playing over something like Kaillera, so your milage will vary. Overall though, it works pretty good.

Bleh.

Alpha 2 and 3 have their flaws:

Alpha 2 - Valle CC glitch changed the way the game is played. What was once an offensive masterpiece quickly becomes the turtle match to end all turtle matches. I've never seen so many players in crouch block in my life (maybe Killer Instinct, but I'll get back to talking about good games now =P). Top characters are Chun Li and Rose, or as I should say, jumping short (Chun) and low strong(Rose)? Ken was good too. Kick Alpha Counter from half a screen away!

Alpha 3. V-Ism overpowers all other Isms in the game. A little more character variety can be had in seasoned play, but you'll see a throng of V-Gouki and V-Sak players should any serious gaming throwdown occur.

Both games get some play at major tournaments, but it's usually taken as a sideshow for the main events.

I'll wait for ST on 360. That's when the fighting will get REAL HOT again.

Should I actually make it to EVO Finals (AHEM), I'll be playing some A2 in the console area :)

Yeah, moreso than Roll Cancelling, Valle CC changed every thing, which both helped and killed off the game. On one hand it drastically sped up the game but at the same time, yeah, turned it into a turtling paradise. Still, my only major gripe with A2 is how crappy Zangief feels.

A3 is barf for the reasons you mentioned.. It has MVC2 syndrome. A ton of characters but why bother using 90% of them?

Well, its not exactly mag/storm/sent like in MvC2, but I get your picture.

I remember only reading about Super-Turbo in Gamepro when I was but a young lad. I could only dream of using the new Ken moves I read about. Recently a friend introduced me to 3rd strike, and I like it pretty well. Green Ken is the best!!!!

I still have a lot of fun with the classic one on XBox Live.

Also, why the fuck was that wrestling video linked where it says "its smile"? That didn't have anything to do with gaming IMO.

GameTap Thursday: Super Street Fighter II Turbo at last

Reader Comments (15)

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 1:51PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:46PM Lamppost said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:08PM ShinAntonio said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:13PM MooseMuffin said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:16PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 7:24PM ShinAntonio said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:14PM Fo0dNippl3 said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:15PM darthdavid said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:41PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:40PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 2:44PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 3:02PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 3:10PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 4:26PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 26th 2007 5:21PM mello said

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