Fighting games are a divisive genre in video games. Many people directly avoid them because of the learning curve or sometimes toxic communities. I used to feel this way about the genre. That being said, one day I saw the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection on sale and decided to pick it up. I had started to become a Capcom fanboy at the time, and Street Fighter was somewhat inevitable thing I had to experience. I thought it would be fun!
This game was so, so hard for me. I always say that I'm mediocre at fighting games, but when I started this game up I was absolutely awful. I didn't know how to do inputs correctly, I didn't understand many basics of fighting games, I basically just winged it and pressed buttons. It was pathetic, and I even thought it was just the game being harder then it actually was. But, eventually, I started to figure things out. Street Fighter became my hyperfixation, with my obsession becoming a joke within my online friend group. It was a fun summer.
Yeah, this game is great. Movement is fluid, it's easy and fun to experiment with move cancelling and seeing the variety of combos to play with. The hidden custom combo system is an entire extra level of complexity to the game and it's absolutely broken in many ways. I love the roster, graphics, music, everything. It's always stuck with me.
Sakura Kasugano was the first character I ever picked when playing this game, and it's stayed that way since. She's remained my fighting game comfort character, because what isn't there to love? She's an upbeat, peppy highschooler who reaches out to challenge and learn from her personal idol. She's a fan favorite for a reason, her energetic and adorable animations and voice clips are timeless and memorable.
I love playing this game with friends, even with our different skill levels it's just such a blast. With the matches being so engaging and short I can never tire of it. If anything, losing is just a learning experience for me to improve slowly to become a World Warrior myself. And that's just an appeal of fighting games for me. You aren't gonna start out great, but dedicating the time to master your abilities feels great to earn. I've even considered learning this game competitively, it's that fun.
This game is what started my interest in fighting games. It's still one of THE most important video games in my life, as cliche as that may sound. Whenever I see that opening start up with Akuma in the flames, man I just know I'm in it for the time of my life. I may prefer KOF in a lot of ways to Street Fighter, but I don't think this game will ever be forgotten by me.
It's fun, it's charming, it's memorable, it's fantastical.

It's Street Fighter Alpha 2.

shoutouts to titillation but yeah very weirdly one of the smartest and most enjoyable rpg experiences I've ever played???

'weird'? is it weird? Is it really that uncommon for a ‘porno’ game like this to be so mechanically dense and thought provoking? Maybe, maybe not! Perhaps I just have a lot left to wise up on if an experience like this can be so engrossing despite also owning what I assumed to be nothing more than a smutty subject matter. Had a bit of an awakening with this one! Silly as it sounds~

The sexual theming just made for so many engaging gameplay opportunities! The management game and sheer number of variables to play around were dizzying... I must admit I was stunned. Granted you may need to be a biiiit of a degenerate to overcome the aesthetics behind this anime "battlefuck" experience. But I’d say if you’ve got the (FORE)skin for it, you’ll be surprised witnessing just how deep and weirdly wholesome(???????) this shit can go.......

IT DOES KINDA SUCK THO that optimal play in the day planning/ability-tree fuckery can devolve into LIL CRAZY a grind. There's a looot of potential repeats of the same battles and mini-games over and over if you happen to fall into a bad rut. BUT EVEN SOOOO... the decision-making fun you still end up with... those resource limits and many GAME ENDING situations to overcome... MAN, fighting against that REAL pressure of failure and working towards the goals you want is still just SO damn ENGAGING and EMPOWERING! I can’t help but look past some of the wrinkles... And hey - provided you don't let your girl Karryn get too horny in combat and aren't always getting horribly FUCKED every turn, YA KNOW IT AIN'T ALL TOO BAD DEALING WITH THE EXTREME GRIND POTENTIAL BULLSHIT. The DIAMOND I can occasionally see in this one is just too great to let be obscured, man!!!!!!!!

tldr sometimes you just wanna give an orc fucker a handjob to stop his spread of buffs to the enemy party....... Ya gotta understand!!!

not enough dom shit tho. that does kinda hurt it tho truly

[changed my mind on this game and reduced my score quite a bit, so this review is now obsolete. i'll write something new that reflects my current opinion at some point]

after years of neglecting DOOM, i actually gave it a real try and found out that it's quite great. i always thought that it would be too old and crusty for me, but the same things that initially kept me from touching this game ended up being what made me enjoy it so much, especially the limitations in your movement.

doomguy can walk and run very fast but he's not particularly agile. he can't jump, crouch or dash and he switches weapons slowly. despite how fluid and fast the movement is, there's also a certain heaviness to the strafing. however, when combined with the great level design and extremely well-balanced enemies, these restrictions make the gameplay so satisfying.

you are frequently outnumbered and the demons often back you into a corner. all you can do is push through by running and shooting. even though the odds seem to be against you at all times, if you grit your teeth and make the correct decisions in mere seconds (picking the best gun for a certain situation; focusing a specific demon over the rest of a horde; repositioning yourself when ambushed) to make the most out of the little you have, then you will thrive. it's a simple loop based on extreme aggressiveness, and the simplicity is what makes it fun. i realized that when i tried one of these modern mods that add loads of new features and it didn't click for me.

furthermore, the guns are punchy (except the pistol, why does it exist), enemies are nice to shoot at, graphics are nasty, sound design is pleasant and demon death animations are always satisfying to watch - even better when you kill 4 guys with a single shotgun blast. i'm almost 30 years late to the party but this is a good game i think