The Street Fighter series from Capcom needs no introduction as it is undeniably the most popular 2D Fighter series of all time. Since 1991, Street Fighter II has influenced the gaming population from developers to bored kids at the local arcade and has spawned movies, merchandise and literature. Now in 2006, it's not surprising that Capcom is looking forward to warming gamers hearts with a little Ryu action over the Xbox Live Arcade. It's Street Fighter II on your 360, rejoice! Here is our review of Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting.

Those golden arcade days are slowly coming back to the new generation of gamers with the classic arcade compulsions, and now with the help of the online service known as the Xbox Live Arcade. Besides the recent additions of Pac-Man and Frogger, Street Fighter is one of right on the top for popularity and that was proven when Street Fighter II quickly became the fastest selling game on Xbox Live. If you're a fanatic you already signed up on live, but for all others you might want to wait a bit before you decide to go with Street Fighter II over the other available titles on Xbox Live.

Yes, This is a Straight Port
This console version is pretty much a straight port of the arcade version with some sweet online multiplayer thrown in. Right down to the graphics, Street Fighter II stays faithful to its 2D pixilated self, and brings it old school. Remember "My strength is much greater then yours!" ? It's all intact for gamers to reminisce, or snicker at the game that once stood on top of the gaming world. Although we have a faithful port of the original, some are arguing that Street Fighter II could of benefited from a graphical upgrade. I think most gamers respect Capcom for keeping Street Fighter II as a replica of that old CPS-1 board which debuted back in the early 90s.

Online / Offline
For modes we are looking the standard arcade mode where you run through the list of fighters to finish the game and unlock each characters special ending. Training and VS is also available for your offline options. When you kick Street Fighter II online the fun begins and you get to talk trash and whoop some ass online. Online Street Fighter II is fairly lag free and offers some stiff competition. The online mode that has most people talking about is the Quarters Match. This mode allows gamers to watch fights as they wait to take their turn at the champ. Like the days at the arcade, winner stays and losers go broke. This mode can get a little rowdy, but suck it up and go in for the kill.

Some problems that I found within the online portion of SFII are the lack of a rematch option. You simply can't offer up a rematch to an opponent in the ranked matches, which is a downer because it usually takes a while to find someone you really click with and then its over. Too bad they didn't throw this option in, in the end it's not really a huge deal, but it would have been a nice touch. Also, for some reason the Quarter matches aren't ranked which is strange. Oh well I guess, just another area that can be worked upon if Capcom brings their other fighters to live.

The World Fighters
For a quick reminder for all those who forget the cast of Street Fighter II, it goes like this. You have the original eight World Warriors and four playable bosses. The eight World Fighters who entered the Street Fighter Tournament are Ken and Ryu Masters, the Amazon monster Blanka, Interpol agent Chun-Li, Buddhist Dhalsim, Yokazuna Edmund Honda, 7" 402 pound Zangief, and former Green Beret Guile. For the boss side of the coin you have the Harlem born boxer named Balrog, a masked assassin Vega, Mu Thai expert Sagat, and the criminal mastermind, Psycho-Powered maniac M.Bison. That's the pick and unlike the arcade the bosses are open for play right from the get go. The characters have a pretty vast back-story and if you're interested you should check out the Street Fighter comic book series, or one of the animated movies.

Achievements
The achievements seem like they might take a bit of work this time around, the team who translated Street Fighter II over to the Live system knew they had to make it challenging for all the hardcore fans. The hardest Achievements have to be "Perfect World Champion" which gives you 30 points if you can clear the arcade mode without loosing any rounds. Bragging rights will take a little bit longer, but for the hardcore, it's obtainable.

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting is a great addition to Xbox Live, and it is the perfect game to blow a few minutes with while helping to release some stress. There is no other fighting game that has the history that Street Fighter does and now you can still enjoy the old school arcade feeling on your brand spanking' new Xbox 360. If you ever enjoyed playing a Street Fighter game then go online at once and purchase Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, this one is worth your points.

Final Score: 7.5 / 10