Scan barcode
kevingentilcore's review
4.0
Video games as viewed from a historic, societal impact point of view will always fascinate me. In this case because I was there when Street Fighter 2 came out and I vividly remember playing it for the first time in the back corner of a Circle K by the 3.2 beer. Had I any inclination of the cultural relevance the game would have I might have approached it differently than as a wide-eyed kid drawn to the green and orange monster chomping on people's heads who loved to play video games and look at monsters.
Detailing the impact of the franchise from a design and creation point of view is initially what I wanted out of this book and it covers some of that. It probably could have covered that a bit more as well as perhaps doing more of a deep dive into the different iterations of each game but a lot of it, and what I started to find even more interesting was the origins of the professional Street Fighting scenes and players. That shit was something I wasn't even aware of until much later in my life, well passed the point of playing video games even that much (college, life shit, and other interests). I think that's really the heart of Street Fighter, the competitive, yet friendly nature and community building it helped facilitate for these people. It's kind of sweet when you think about it. That side of Street Fighter's history is what is documented and spoken about the most, how it created that competitive style of fighting game, even the fighting game as a whole but I've always been drawn to the art and design and character interaction when I think of Street Fighter. That part fascinates me as well and I wish the book went more into that. Regardless, it's a beautiful, fascinating book and I even appreciated the breakdown of each and every character with the pros weighing in on strategy for the more popular characters.
I've always loved Street Fighter but I guess I never really new the influence it's had on me until I read this book.
Detailing the impact of the franchise from a design and creation point of view is initially what I wanted out of this book and it covers some of that. It probably could have covered that a bit more as well as perhaps doing more of a deep dive into the different iterations of each game but a lot of it, and what I started to find even more interesting was the origins of the professional Street Fighting scenes and players. That shit was something I wasn't even aware of until much later in my life, well passed the point of playing video games even that much (college, life shit, and other interests). I think that's really the heart of Street Fighter, the competitive, yet friendly nature and community building it helped facilitate for these people. It's kind of sweet when you think about it. That side of Street Fighter's history is what is documented and spoken about the most, how it created that competitive style of fighting game, even the fighting game as a whole but I've always been drawn to the art and design and character interaction when I think of Street Fighter. That part fascinates me as well and I wish the book went more into that. Regardless, it's a beautiful, fascinating book and I even appreciated the breakdown of each and every character with the pros weighing in on strategy for the more popular characters.
I've always loved Street Fighter but I guess I never really new the influence it's had on me until I read this book.
More...