You can continue with your nebulous definition of what you find fun. I'll continue to explain why I didn't think it was very good. I didn't think characters that largely controlled and moved the same with the same normals made for a very good game. Some of the jank was entertaining, but when you come out the same time as alpha 2 and tekken 2 (which hasn't aged well...just like sfex, except this looks like sfex did all those years ago), virtua fighter 3 and others... I know what I'd rather be playing. I don't know where this EVO talk comes from. It's pretty damn annoying that breaking down how a game plays and why I thought it was bad is subject to this...I dunno...some kind of prejudice against competitive play just because I want to talk about a game deeper than its surface.
EVO and the competitive scene didn't even register when this came out. It was bad compared to its contemporaries. Which is what I was responding to in the first place.
Hokuto is waifu, tho.
I never defined exactly what I meant by "fun," so here you go.
(1)The "almost anything goes" gameplay that allows you to link normals to specials, specials to supers, and... supers to other supers! As a primarily Capcom and SNK gamer at that time, this was a huge deal to me, and honestly I didn't understand why other games didn't allow this before. All the crazy, nonsensical comboing is pretty goddamn fun, if you ask me.
(2) The characters break some of the conventions of "generic ass martial artist" or "Japanese school boy/girl." The variety and wackiness of the characters would not be matched again until Street Fighter III.
(3) Even the Arika-side shoto clones are more fun/interesting than Ryu and Ken. I mean, one of those dudes has a dashing punch, which is followed by a stomp that serves absolutely NO purpose. Love it.
(4) The soundtrack to this game managed to outdo every Street Fighter soundtrack that came before it, and not a better one has been made since. It's actually the only Street Fighter soundtrack that I consider to be on par with the SNK masterpieces of the 90s.
(5) EX Plus Alpha had a lot of single player modes, including an "Expert" Practice Mode that I wished other games around that time had.
For all of those reasons (and more), a lot of the "technical" jank is forgiven. Note that this is the second post where I acknowledge that you're 100% correct on the jank aspect of the game.
My comment was not meant as a personal attack on you, and you shouldn't take it as such. I guess it's my frustration with the fighting game environment these days. Everything needs to be technically flawless, or for retro releases, "arcade perfect." Which is what prevents games like Street Fighter EX from being made in this modern environment. Which is why you get technically amazing/immaculate but soulless shit like Street Fighter V.
Dude I posted everything on Twitter, I have nothing to prove to you.
Oh snap, I better go check it out then. On mobile right now, so not sure if you gave a link to your Twitter.
