To simply have owned or played Capcom's Street Fighter 2 back in the mid '90s was cool enough, but for it to have been the game I can proudly say introduced me to the world of video games in general, that is sheer epic.
Street Fighter 2 is pretty much the first console 2D fighting game (the original was only on arcades and only had 2 characters: Ken and Ryu) and it was the title which set up the majority of hallmarks in the genre (combo system, parrying, round-based fights, boss characters and unique special moves) which are still used to this day. The game has been rereleased a staggering 14 times, and features some of the most memorable characters in video game history, such as the fireball-throwing Ken and Ryu, the 100-hand slapping E. Honda and Guile, with his bizarre gravity-defying hair and 'sonic booms'.
The fight mechanics appear simple enough (button presses for high kick, low kick, high punch, etc) but conceal a very intricate combo system which, once mastered, will truly seperate the men from the boys. And it's all coated in vibrant cartoony visuals with plush animated backgrounds.
I was blown away as an eight-year-old when I first laid eyes on the game, again the following year when I purchased it with my SNES, and even now and again when I play on the PC. Simply put, if there were a videogame dictionary and you were to look up the term 'classic', there would simply be an image of Ryu fireballing Blanka. Hadouken!