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"Only in title does this resemble the arcade game."

For those of you who actually read these reviews (and since I've mostly reviewed Commodore 64 and Amiga games, you probably haven't), you've noticed that for the most part I'm pretty easy on games. I understand a lot of work goes into the production of them, good AND bad, and I have to respect that. It's times like these, however, that you get a game like this, and it's hard to believe any work went into the translation at all.

By the above rant, I mean that the port of Street Fighter for the Commodore 64 (and, regrettably, the PC as well) is extremely poor and not even worthy of the game it is based on. At least in the arcade you're treated to the hilariously terrible voice-acting, all done by the same guy, but here you get nothing more than music, punches, and kicks.

Everyone knows the storyline, if indeed you can apply a storyline to a fighting game...ANY fighting game, that is. Ryu, the young Japanese fighter, is on a quest to prove he is the best fighter in the world. He then goes to the four corners of the world (Japan, U.S., China, and England) to do battle, before reaching the final stage in Thailand. Now, here is where the game differs greatly, as you do not even get to fight Sagat in this version, only a beefed up, impossible to hit Adon, so you only play 7 stages instead of 8. Other than that, most of the game is the same play-wise...you punch, kick, and throw fireballs in your quest to be the best.

GRAPHICS: 3
Characters resemble their arcade counterparts only in passing. Instead of the well-detailed, individualized characters we saw in the arcades we are treated to bloated-looking caricatures which are more laughable than awesome. The Commodore can do much better than this, and frankly I don't understand why. I do admit the characters are very fluidly animated, which may be the reason for the low-grade drawings (keep frame rate high), but it still seems like a poor substitute. Also, there is no in-between fight matchups between the characters, like in the PC version. God knows why, since I believe the Commodore was still a more powerful graphics system at the time and could have done it (but don't quote me on this).

SOUND: 5
Sound effects are actually quite decent. The punches and kicks sound powerful, and some of the tunes can at least be listened to without needing to turn down the volume.

CONTROLS: 5
Controls are done rather sloppily, which is actually pretty true to the arcade edition. Punches and kicks come about a second after you actually press the button, although the only moves you'll need are the roundhouse (press to towards your opponent and press the fire button) and the crouching block, which is extremely hard to pull of for merely being a pull back on the joystick.

OVERALL: 5
The only reason to own this game is for the collector's value. Otherwise don't bother. You'll get more bang for your buck if you find the original arcade machine somewhere and dump a quarter in. At least the fireball can be pulled off without much trouble.


Reviewer's Score: 5/10 | Originally Posted: 03/01/01, Updated 03/01/01