Street Fighter II Cell Phone?

Yes, Capcom is talented enough to squeeze SFII into a phone. But should they?
by Levi Buchanan IGN.com

March 8, 2006 - The divide between can and should is often wider than the Grand Canyon and Euphrates combined. For example, can today's newer handset play a reasonable facsimile of Capcom's classic Street Fighter II, recreating the general appearance of the brawler as well as some of the trademark fan-favorite moves? Absolutely, and I have a version of it running on an LG VX8000 to prove it. However, should Capcom have even tried, since it had to cut corners with control -- arguably the most important aspect of a fighting game?

Let there be no doubt that Street Fighter II looks and sounds the part. Some of the themes are long gone, but the effects sound reasonably the same -- including the good ol' "Hadoken!" This is now the second time this has happened, but while playing a game, my wife has been able to ID a game by its production values. By only hearing that telltale "Hadoken," she asked me, "Are you playing Street Fighter II on a phone?" Nicely played, Capcom.The mobile edition of Street Fighter II is modeled on the original arcade release -- not any of the 30-bazillion updates that followed. The original cast of characters is entirely present, including Ryu, Ken, E. Honda, Chun Li, etc. All of the characters have the proper animations for their moves, like Blanka's electric force attack or Guile's swift jabs. And on that level, Street Fighter II impresses again.

It is a real testament to both Capcom's programming prowess and the evolution of handsets, that Street Fighter II on the smallest screen can visually and aurally evoke the feelings that legions of gamers associate with the name. (Trust me, you remember the first time you played the game. For me? Junior year of high school at a university arcade while on a debate team field trip. Shut up.)However, as alluded to in my introduction, even if Capcom can create a solid mobile version of Street Fighter II from a production standpoint -- should it have since the game's controls cannot be faithfully translated to a handsets admittedly limited input scheme?

Doing those quart-circles is impossible on a d-pad, so Capcom didn't even try. The button inputs have been simplified, with controls running down the right-side of the number pad. Punch is 3, kick is 6, etc. The degrees of those attacks have been stripped away.In fact, move libraries have been slightly trimmed back, since stuffing them all in is just not an option for a reasonably-sized download. For a hardcore fan, this is a major disappointment, because even though it's certainly cool to have Street Fighter II on a phone, playing a watered down version of it is not. And, let's face it, hardcore fans are who would pay a few bucks to download this classic fighter. Why set your target audience up for disappointment?

Closing CommentsStreet Fighter II is a great production and the uninitiated will likely have a pretty good time with it. However, speaking as a long-time fan, I cannot choke down my disappointment -- it can look like Street Fighter II all it wants, but if it doesn't play like it, I'm not going to be satisfied. But here's the wrinkle: I never expected it to, because I know how mobile gaming works. I know that pulling off all the moves how I normally would with an arcade stick would be impossible on a handset. But that's where can and should come back into play.

I know it can be done, but since it stands to disappoint the fan base, should it have been done?