GG: Street Fighter II

Street Fighter II was the inspiration for bringing a very important theory to competitive gameplay: the idea of the ‘scrub’. Street Fighter is a carefully balanced and highly technical fighting game when played by two equally-skilled people who are familiar with the game.

The problem with the ‘balance’ is best explained through the following anecdote – let us say Alice and Bob purchase a SNES and a copy of Street Fighter II and start playing. Neither of them have any prior skill with the game or the genre. Alice is particularly driven to learn new moves in order to become better at the game. Bob is particularly driven to learn a couple of moves in order to play the game, but he believes that learning all the actions the character can perform, or mastering any particularly powerful moves would be akin to ‘cheating’. In time, Alice knows each of the actions she can perform with any given character and how they interact with Bob’s moves, while Bob knows the same number of moves he considered ‘fair’ and he also knows in his heart with unshakeable certainty that Alice’s moves are cheap. What is the problem? The answer, completely uncharitable as it may be, is Bob. Bob is a scrub. He may very well have the same potential skill level as Alice, but he lacks the will to improve. Alice’s choices are much more effective because she understands the framework the game takes place in. Bob’s choices are much less effective because he makes his choices based on a framework which doesn’t exist- the moves in Street Fighter are part of the game because they are part of the game. They are not part of the game to give morally discerning players the chance to work out which moves are ‘cheap’.

In conclusion, if you play Street Fighter, it pays if you always play to win. It is a good game, but it is not a good game for everyone.