Alright, that's cool.

3rd Strike is not only the definitive Street Fighter, but the definitive fighting game, period. Ever since I first played it a few years ago, it's been comfortably slotted in my Top 10 favourite games of all time, and after this replay, it might be in my Top 5.

To start this off, let's talk about the gameplay. Simply, it's the best Street Fighter has ever been. Everything runs butter smooth, specials and super arts work perfectly, hits feel like orgasms, and to top it off, it's insanely addictive. Hell, after typing that last line, I started playing it again, this time as Chun-Li. I ended up getting to the 5th stage before stopping and coming back to finish this, and I know damn well that right after I do, i'll hop back in.

Next on the list is the atmosphere and OST (i'm including them together since they basically go hand in hand in this), and fucking hell, they nail it. It really leans into a late 90's and early 2000's vibe with the soundtrack, even having the announcer be the same guy who sings the opening and character select music. On that topic, holy shit idk his name but he fucking COOKED with the character select music. It's probably my favourite song in the entire game, that or Chun-Li's theme.

Now, since I talk about the final boss in most of these reviews, I might as well do it here too. Gill is a tough boss, no, a REALLY tough boss, but unlike another game cough Alpha 3 cough you don't get a single try to beat him. Also, there's no input reading, the AI is just really good, and it makes for a tough, but fair opponent. That's the best way to describe the difficulty of this masterpiece.

I don't believe any game is perfect, no matter how much I love them. Goddamn though, does 3rd Strike come close. Peak game.

"We await your return, Warrior."

Now, if you came here to read about 3rd Strike, you can stop reading now, this part has nothing to do about it. I wanted to mention that my 2nd Impact review was my 200th on this site! To all of my followers, anyone who liked my reviews, commented on them, etc, I just want to say thank you for all the great times, and God bless you all.

Capcom always does the best Number 2's.

To put it simply, 2nd Impact is an improved New Generation. I love New Generation, so I fucking adored this one.

So, what's new? Firstly, there are an additional 4 characters (which don't matter, since you're going to be picking Sean), there's an additional stage, Gill is now the penultimate boss instead of the final one, the combat is alot smoother.. that's all that comes to mind right now, but trust me, you can feel the difference.

Also, if you hate how good Sean is in this game, you just hate fun. It really makes me wish 3rd Strike had an intensely OP character. Well, i'm OK sticking with my boy Ken.

As much as I love 3rd Strike, there's something these first 2 editions have that it doesn't. Pretty damn good game, all things considered.

Hell yeah, I can finally talk about Street Fighter 3!

Now, before I start, I do have to admit that this game isn't as objectively good as i'll give it credit for in this review. It has only 10 (11 if you count Yang) fighters, 7 stages and the fighting can feel a bit jank. Objectivity doesn't exist though, so i'll say whatever I want.

The New Generation fucking rules. I know I said that for my Alpha 1 review, but this one REALLY fucking rules. Fighting is feels great, and the lower speed compared to the Alpha games makes each hit so damn satisfying. Special moves also feel easier to pull off (except for supers.. one day i'll learn how to do them).

One of the most commendable things about the Street Fighter 3 games is the atmosphere. I find it.. hard to describe. It's one of those things you have to feel for yourself.

The pixel art in this game is stunning, maybe even surpassing the Alpha games. Apparently each character has 700-1200 frames of animation, and Jesus does it show.

The characters are also pretty cool! Ryu and Ken are back (it would be a sin not to include them), but there's also Elena, Dudley (who's just a better Balrog, don't @ me), Ibuki, Sean etc. What happened to Chun-Li though?

Overall, a really fun game with a few issues that are ironed out in the next 2 entries.

One last thing, i've heard loads of people struggled on the final boss, so i'd like to share the way I beat him. It makes him a cakewalk.
OK, so as soon as the fight starts, begin to back away. He'll follow you, but continue backing away, even once you hit the invisible wall. Soon, he'll try dashing for you, but he won't hit since your blocking. Now throw him, and back away to the other side, rinse and repeat till he dies or the time runs out.

There are also times when while you're waiting for him to do his dash, you can hit him with a hard kick. It's OK if he blocks it, but make sure you do it at a time where he won't attack back. Good Luck.

Alpha 3 is an really good game, no doubt about it, however, there's one glaring flaw that makes the overall experience weaker and Alpha 2.

Lets start off with the most notable feature, which is the presentation. I've already said in my previous reviews that I love the anime-esque art style (i don't really like anime either, so good job on achieving that SFA!), but other stuff like how much enthusiasm the announcer has (GO FOR IT, MAN!), how much personality these 2D sprites have and the music really make the experience.

The gameplay itself? Well, it's basically Alpha 2 all over again, which means it fucking fucks. Go read my Alpha 2 review to find out more.

So what's the glaring flaw? M-Bison. He is my least favourite final boss.. no, boss in any game. He is BRUTALLY unfair. I tried playing defense like everyone says to do, but then he does this unavoidable diving kick. I try playing offense, but then he does his super and takes half of my health. I try. I try. AND I FUCKING FAIL. Not only that, if you lose a match against him? Instant bad ending, no retries. Fuck you greedy ass motherfuckers at Capcom. For now I have it as Played, but I might finish it tomorrow once I regain my nerve. What's the point of playing a game if i'm not having fun?

Edit: After finally beating Bison, I really don't think he's as bad as I said he was. He definitely an unfair fight, but his attacks are very methodical, so once you get him he isn't too bad. My original rating was 3.5 star, but i'll raise it up to 4.

ROW 1... FIGH!!

Alpha 2 is micro-metres away from being the peak of the Street Fighter franchise. They raised the minuscule amount of characters in Alpha 1 from 10 to 18, hits feel more satisfying, the CPU is completely fair.. it basically improves upon everything in the first game.

Also, the 8 fight structure is fucking great. Imo, it adds so much replay value since with iy you can blaze through like game pretty quickly (not saying you won't come back for extra playthroughs though).

The 1st Alpha game would definitely have a much higher score if this masterpiece wasn't made, but thank god it was. We've finally reached the first peak SF game, and with Alpha 3 and 3rd strike approaching, it won't be the last.

Phew, now we're getting to the good shit. Street Fighter Alpha fucking rules. Mofos will say "ohh but it's unfinished" I DON'T CARE. The A.I doesn't input read, combos are satisfying to pull off, the graphics are stunning and the character are fun to play as. The fact that the average rating of this is lower than every version of Street Fighter II proves that fighting game fans are masochists.

Sadly, less than a year later, Alpha 2 came out, which proceeded to tackle this game to the ground and piss on it.

Hot take, but I think I enjoy this more than the Arcade CE. Pressing start to switch between kicks and punches takes a bit to get use to, but it really isn't that bad. Plus, this was designed with the 6-button controller in mind.

The main reason I like this version so much are the difficulty options. It adds loads of replay value on top of the 12 different endings you can get, and for someone who sucks ass at fighting games (how the FUCK do you do a shoryuken??), putting it at 2 stars made the experience super enjoyable for me. Peak port.

I completely agree with the sentiment that this is the definitive Street Fighter II experience, but that isn't saying too much. What's the point of making these reviews if I have nothing new to say? You know what? FUCK SF2. All of them have some of the most bullshit, unfair AI I have never been put against. If they didn't have such fluent control, this shit would be left in the dust, alongside Street Fighter 1 (ok, maybe not that far).

All I want to do as of now is play the Alpha games and 3rd Strike already, but first, I want to get through the Mega Drive port of SF2, where you have to press start to alternate between punches and kicks, and.. the game boy version. FML.

I usually think of myself as a Street Fighter fan, but Jesus Christ, was there a single genuinely good Street Fighter before the Alpha games? The input reading CPU makes a return (though at this point, I should be expecting this), and idk if this is just me, but the game feels alot harder than previous entries.

For every review in this series so far, i've been repeating the same things over and over. If Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (what a name lmfaoo) doesn't meet my expectations, then i'll probably just make a shitpost review.

cammy is a good addition tho, haven't seen the r34 yet but one day i'll check it out

Thank god they aren't all the same! This Street Fighter speeds up the gameplay by (i'm guessing here) 1.5x, so it's basically a precursor to the Alpha games! Alpha 3 is in my Top 3 favourite SF's, so what's wrong?

The cheating AI's, that's what's wrong. The speed makes it close to impossible to counter their attacks, and whenever you try to pull a combo on them, they ALWAYS counter. Whilst I was playing as Chun Li, Ken (who was my first opponent) got caught in my lightning kick. While he was getting hit, he counter-attacked me. You heard that right, I hit him with a move that should completely stun him, but he punched back.

I will give it an extra half star, since Chun Li finally has a fireball special! It's not as good as the Hadoken, but it makes her much more varied.

I've never marathon-ed a game series before, since usually to pick what game I play, I go in my backlog, press shuffle, and play whatever is first on the list. With longer game series like Street Fighter, Zelda, Mega Man etc, using that method would take fucking forever, so I would rather just bite the bullet and now get through one of them now. The others i'll def do one of these days.

Why did I go on a yapping spree for the first paragraph? Well, because there's NOTHING NEW. The AI is the same, the graphics are the same, the opponents still read your inputs, literally all that's new are the 4 new characters, which are useless to me since I only pick Ryu or Chun Li anyway.

The only thing I care about is the new Ryu sprite on the character select screen, cuz holy shit he looks so much better. In the original, Ryu thought he was the rick friend emotionless mofo 😭

I play way too many retro games, so I was hesitant on this one. Since the reception is mixed, with audiences hating it and critics adoring it, I didn't know how my stance was gonna be. Surprisingly, I'm with the critics here, this shit was phenomenal.

There are many ways I can explain Deathloop, but the best is that it's half an arcade-y shooter with unbelievably fun gun-play, and half a Sherlock Holmes mystery where you have to piece clues together to find out the most efficient way to get by. Once in action, it's fucking glorious.

There are some mild problems with the game, like the Juliana attacks which are the BANE OF MY EXISTENCE, and the mines in Fristad Rock, but those pale when I enjoyed those 25 hours spent with the game so much.

The characters rule too. Colt is half badass, half idiot, Juliana is a complex character that I wish they focused more on, and Aleksis (sorry, AlphaWolf69) is greatest fictional character of all time. Fight with the wall.

Man, I really haven't played anything quite like this (probably cuz i was too busy playing fucking sega genesis games). The first hour after the tutorial took a bit to get use to, but once it clicked, it CLICKED. Easily a Top 10 game OAT for me.