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I've never had more fun getting my ass handed to me.

by oni

This blog is about Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which is both the stupidest game name ever and the best fighting game I have ever played. You see, I've never been all that big on fighting games. I've enjoyed the occasional bout of Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive, but the only fighting game I've ever really gotten into was Smash Bros Brawl, which God help you if Akuma fills up his spec...

This blog is about Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which is both the stupidest game name ever and the best fighting game I have ever played.

You see, I've never been all that big on fighting games. I've enjoyed the occasional bout of Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive, but the only fighting game I've ever really gotten into was Smash Bros Brawl, which

God help you if Akuma fills up his special bar.despite what anyone might claim, has a good deal of depth to it and is super fun played with people of similar (somewhat competitive) skill level. I maintain this even though I appreciate that it's a very different type of fighting game from, say, Super Turbo. So my experience with fighting games is limited to say the least. I've always found them too hard to get into, with too many arcane button combinations to remember and myriad moves per character to cram into my head. It just didn't seem like that much fun. But Super Turbo is different. Being that it's sort of the granddaddy of modern fighting games, it is more simplistic, but that does not mean it has no depth, obviously, unlike what many people will have you believe. Most characters have as many special moves as you have fingers on one hand, if that, and the combinations are not hideously complex sequences. The only drawback is that the 360 controller is simply not equipped to deal with precise movements of the analog stick, or god forbid, the d-pad.

So I set about mastering the game's simplest characters: Ken and Ryu. Which quickly led to me messing about with Akuma and Sagat. And while I get destroyed 9 times out of 10 online, I'm still having a hell of a time. The game's balance is simply impeccable. I never felt like I lost because my character simply wasn't able to fight back, rather it was I who was not able to fight back adequately. It simply motivates me to keep playing and get better.

For a long time I had hoped to finally play that fighting game that would get me serious about wanting to learn the moves and get better. God knows why it took me this long only to end up at the fighting game, but there you go. So kids, even if you think fighting games aren't really for you, if there's any one that is easy to learn but difficult to master, and fun during the whole process, it is the revamped Super Turbo. The netcode is great, so online works like a charm providing you both have decent connections, and it no longer looks like ass on HDTV's.

Also, it got me mad excited for the upcoming release of SF4. Bring on February.