Street Fighter

ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment)

Ace Rating 410/1000

Bob Wade 410/1000

Flying fists from Go! Arcade fans may know this as the game that had pads you could actually hit. Sadly they don't make them that way now, and they certainly can't do that for the micro versions. Which makes this just another standard beat-em-up, that brings nothing new to the genre. Reviewer: Bob Wade RELEASE BOX Spec, £8.99cs, Out Now Ams, £9.99cs, £14.99dk, Out Now C64/128, £9.99cs, £11.99dk, Imminent Atari ST, £24.99dk, Imminent Amiga, £24.99dk, Imminent Predicted Interest Curve 1 min: 55/100 1 hour: 50/100 1 day: 45/100 1 week: 35/100 1 month: 15/100 1 year: 5/100

The Games Machine

Overall 60%

Spectrum 48/128 Cassette: £8.99, Diskette: £12.99 Amstrad CPC Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99 Commodore 64/128 Cassette: £9.99, Diskette: £14.99 IT IS. RYU? Street Fighter is the latest in a series of ten Capcom coin-ops to be converted for all the major machines by GO! All the versions have been programmed by Tiertex. You are Ryu, a fighter highly skilled in martial arts, and as such are pitted against an international array of dangerous opponents. Two adversaries must be defeated in each of the nations visited - the world tour begins in Japan and each country constitutes a load from tape or disk, The bouts involve large figures battling it out against a suitably atmospheric, scrolling backdrop - Pagodas, Mountains and Cityscapes. Each match consists of three timed rounds in which the two fighters punch and kick their opponent in an attempt to reduce his energy. Ryu has a multitude of moves at his disposal including jumps and somersaults. All are accessed via the joystick in the usual beat-'em-up style - using combinations of directions with or without the fire button. However, success can usually be achieved by using just one or two moves which unfortunately leads to repetitive gameplay. COME FLAIL WITH ME Some of Ryu's more vicious opponents are equipped with death stars and rice flails which can cause horrific injuries if either fighter's energy is reduced to zero he is knocked out and loses the round; otherwise the one with the most energy at the end of the round wins. Whichever fighter is successful in two out of the three rounds wins the match. If Ryu wins a round by a knockout he scores bonus points for the amount of time and energy remaining. He is permitted to lose three matches before the game ends. if he manages to defeat two opponents he has a chance to score extra points in the bonus round where he must smash as many bricks as he can with his bare hands. Ryu subsequently travels to the next country where two fresh opponents are waiting to do him harm. Street Fighter includes a two-player option in which players contest an initial match between Ryu and Ken, the winner going on to fight the computer opponents.

Best 8-bit graphics - Amstrad CPC.

Keeping violence on the streets - Spectrum.

Knocking things down in the land of the rising sun - Commodore 64.

"Success can be achieved by one or two moves which leads to repetitive gameplay."

AMSTRAD CPC Overall: 73% Graphically the best of the 8-bit conversions, it manages to combine the detail of the Spectrum game's graphics with the colour on the Commodore version. Gameplay is very similar to other versions although progress is made more difficult by the greater intelligence of opponents. Even lacking the Commodore music it is still the most playable of the three.

COMMODORE 64/128 Overall: 65% This features both the British and American versions. The former sacrifices detail for colour and the sprites are very blocky. Progress is as easy as on the Spectrum with similar, repetitive gameplay. One enhancement is the addition of a good in-game tune which creates a good atmosphere. Gameplay in the American version is virtually identical, featuring the same lack of challenge.

OTHER VERSIONS An Amiga and Atari ST version should be out by the time you read this, priced £24.99 and £19.99 respectively.

Your Sinclair

Graphics 9/10

Playability 8/10

Value For Money 8/10

Addictiveness 8/10

Overall 8/10

Phil South 8/10

Go! £8.99 Reviewer: Phil South If you like smacking people in the gob, or kicking people unexpectedly behind the ear from a standing start, then this must be the game for you. Not, as I fully expected, a yawnsome repeat of every other martial arts romp in the book, but a refreshing twist on the tired old beat 'em up scenario. (It sez ere.) The original arcade game was a bit of an innovation, having as it did some massive pads on the front of it, instead of the usual joystick and buttons. You actually punched the pads, which in turn made the character on the screen punch his opponent - the first arcade game to exercise the rest of your body, as well as the usual brain and thumb, methinks. And now the joys of Street Fighter can be yours, as Go! bring the epic Capcom machine to your Speccy. Minus the pads unfortunately, so you're going to get flabby playing this version, but everything else is in there. In case you've not seen Streetfighter, it follows the usual beat 'em up format, two guys standing on screen who, at a given signal, start to beat each other insensible. With each direct hit, a little hit meter at the top of the screen goes down a notch. If you can beat the opponents meter down faster than he beats down yours, then you win. But if he beats yours down (which is what usually happens), then he wins, and you get an enlarged picture of your opponent plus a sneery message. A nice touch here is the fact that hits are coloured black for the baddie and white for you, so in a flurry of punches and kicks you can tell who hit who, and there are a lot of flurries... In my case ploughing into the guy with fists flying is a sort of strategy, as I can never remember which joystick move makes which kick/duck/punch/block combination. The interesting thing about the look of this game is the sheer SIZE of the sprites you're controlling. They're at least 6-7 characters tall, but this is in keeping with the original game, where the sprites almost filled the screen. The usual joystick/button combinations are linked logically to a range of similar moves on screen, and even if I can't recall them, they're fairly easy to pick up as you go along. If in doubt just thrash the stick in his general direction and blip the button as fast as you can. The usual rules of looking at the instructions as a last resort apply. One point about movement is that, unlike almost every other martial arts game that has ever been designed, you don't have to keep turning to face your opponent. You know how it is, you throw a punch at your foe, and he sidesteps it, jumps right over your head and before you can turn and hit him, he's punched your kidney to pate. None of this can happen to you in Street Fighter. Yes indeed, ladies and gentlemen, you face up to your opponent auto-magically. As martial arts beat 'em ups go, this is not at all bad, with the graphics a notch above the ordinary and the action nice and fast. Not a great deal of sound in the game, but I guess I'd rather have a good fast game than a couple of strained sound effects. If you're a fan of the Capcom machine then you won't be disappointed. The game has been converted by Tiertex, the team behind 720° so you can expect the quality of the conversion to be spiffing.

Haaiiiiii yaaaaahhh! Street Fighter is a rip snorting beat 'em up, not to mention a beat ripping snort 'em up... a huge amount of different opponents to face, and each tougher than the last. Watch out for the Ninja with his shuriken, or flying stars, as these inflict massive damage points.

You can edit the screen colours too, cycling through combinations of white, yellow and cyan with either black or blue. Makes a nice change if you get fed up with the start up colour scheme, and being able to select the contrast of the screen helps you to hit your opponent more often.

Read it at Your Sinclair Rock'n'Roll Years

Crash

Presentation 80%

Graphics 73%

Playability 65%

Addictive Qualities 60%

Overall 69%

Kati Hamza 62%

Nick Roberts 82%

Paul Sumner 69%

Producer: Go! Retail Price: £8.99 cassette, £12.99 disk Author: Tiertex from a Capcom coin-op Street fighting has taken on international status. Across the world candidates are lining up to take on Ryu, a skilled oriental fighter, in various forms of unorthodox urban combat. The contest is set against horizontally scrolling backdrops from five different countries which are loaded individually. Ryu has a catalogue of different moves at his disposal. Leaping jumping, punching, crouching and side-kicking, he attempts to reduce his opponents strength to zero without losing too much of his own. The best of three timed bouts wins a match. At the end of each level the player tests his strength in a bonus game. Ryu is seated before a pile of bricks where an energy bar at the top of the screen flashes rapidly between maximum and minimum strength. A press of the fire button halts the energy bar to determine the number of bricks Ryu can break. The player is permitted to lose up to three matches before he is knocked out of the contest and the game ends. If the two-player option has been selected, the winner of an initial match between Ryu and Ken goes forward to play all the other champions. COMMENTS Joysticks: Kempston, Sinclair Graphics: large characters with poor animation. Attractive backgrounds Sound: mini-tunes on each level, with mediocre crunch effects Options: multiload on/off, one or two players, selectable background colour

Sinclair UserSinclair User Classic

Overall 10/10

Tamara Howard 10/10

Label: Go! Author: Tiertex Price: £8.99 Memory: 48K/128K Joystick: various Reviewer: Tamara Howard If you're the sort of person who enjoyed Renegade then Street Fighter will make you go absolutely gaga. Street Fighter was just one of the coin-ops which Go! acquired when it signed a contract with CapCom not so long ago. And as a coin-op conversion, it's very, very good. As a kicky, gouge, bite and scratch yer eyes out two player optioned, piece of mindless violence, it's absolutely great. The game takes place in five different countries and invites the player to beat the living daylights out of the champion thug of each country in turn. The game begins in Japan, with a couple of extremely unpleasant Ninjas, one of whom does a truly impressive disappear-reappear trick, which is thoroughly confusing. Waving long, spiky claws at yer man, he'll do his best to mash him into the ground. But even I managed to get through Japan fairly easily, and it was on to the good ol' US of A. Your opponent in the States looks like he's a reject from the Hammer House of Horror remake of West Side Story (ask yer mam). Set against a railway siding the violence continues, until you've won two rounds, and then whoops! It's off to good old Britain. This is where the Renegade comparisons become really pointed. If you were impressed by the measly little dude with the Ray Bans and the leather jacket, then your laundry bill is going to rocket once you clap eyes on the eight foot tall mohican in Street Fighter. Swinging his chains around his head (takes some doing, that) and nutting all and sundry (bet he uses Harmony hairspray.) Once past the punk there's a glimpse of the Great Wall of China, and finally, to round off the whole expedition, there's a trip to Thailand. And this guy's even more frightening than Yul Brynner in The King and I. Throughout the backgrounds are effective, not hugely detailed, but always appropriate for the country in question. The sprites are enormous in comparison to those in Renegade, and the British punk is truly spectacular. Each one moves well and is finely detailed. Though I'm not at all sure that the guy from Thailand is particularly menacing, but who ever heard of a menacing Thai? Programmers Tiertex have included a screen colour option, which allows you to be mutilated in whatever shade you prefer. Whatever colour you go for, there never seems to be an icky-clash, the sprites just get on with their mutilation in a neat and tidy fashion. Sandwiched between the various countries are bonus levels which involve smashing a large number of bricks with your bare hands. I didn't go for this much myself. Well, I'd have broken a nail, wouldn't I? Controls are pretty much as one would expect, various combinations of joysticks up and down and fire button pressed will produce flying kicks, underhand jabs and the good old fashioned cowardly duck. If you liked Renegade, and thought we underrated it, take a look at Street Fighter. It's bigger, it's better, it's a lot more polished methinks. This is a really aggressive game and that's as much a tribute to the gameplay as to the excellent graphics. Street Fighter is definitely one of my games of the year so far. More!

HINTS AND TIPS CHARACTER: BIRDIE LEVEL: ENGLAND Tactic: Watch out for the head-butts, use the hit and run tactic. CHARACTER: GEKI LEVEL: Tactic: Watch out for the Ninja darts. CHARACTER: RETSU LEVEL: JAPAN Tactic: Low sweeps will soon defeat him. Remember: The best tactic to employ throughout the game is to hit and run, a long jump, a kick or punch, and then retreat. This should work with most of the characters. Each character has strengths and weaknesses, when you've identified these, then everything should fall into place.

PROGRAMMERS Tiertex may not be a name you've come across before, nut a brief look at the Manchester firm's Softography will indicate its calibre. John Prince and Duncan Campbell make up the firm. John has a PhD in physics and is aged between 24 and 27 (Wah! G.T.) and Duncan is 24 and has a masters degree in electronics. Softography: Ace of Aces (US Gold, 1987), 10th Frame (US Gold, 1987), Goonies (US Gold, 1987), 720° (US Gold, 1987), Rolling Thunder (US Gold, 1988)