It's been said that Street Fighter II single-handedly saved the arcades from an early demise ; it can also be said that it increased the quarter count to. Any way you slice it, Street Fighter II not only ushered in a new genre of gaming, it birthed a new kind of competition, one that gave an individual instant gratification and legendary status amongst their gaming peers.
After the stunning success of Street Fighter II, many games like it started to flood the arcades and brought with them new favorites like Mortal Kombat and Fatal Fury. Through it all Street Fighter II, however, remained the favorite and it also managed to do something that a lot of the other fighting games did not and that was edition, and edition, and edition some more.
It all started with Championship Edition which allowed for mirror matches, playable bosses, and character balances. Not very long after, it brought an edition that increased the speed and added new character move sets. While arcade owners quickly jumped at these updates, young kids jumped at every new game cartridge that came to market. What at the time seemed like a superior milking job was actually a renaissance of sorts as no other game spent so much time refining not only the way the game looked but the way that it played.
Once the new generation of video games began, Street Fighter was there to introduce us to the Alpha series. What was really interesting about the new series is that it never saw an edition per se as they continued to revise and add additional characters and mechanics to each new game.
Not very soon after, Street Fighter III was released but the landscaped of fighting games and arcade culture as we know it started to change. Despite these changes, Street Fighter III trudged through returning to its' old formula of bringing out new editions for the latest game in the series.
Fast forward and Street Fighter IV has created a bursting resurgence in the genre that the series itself gave birth to. Like many, I'm happy to see its' return but am somewhat bummed at the fact that a great deal of the old guard is missing. At this time DLC was the new way to add extra content to games and many anticipated that Street Fighter IV would do the same, boy were we wrong.
A year later, Super Street Fighter IV is released and I'm getting that feeling of deja vu. While some are excited about this new edition, I'm a little perturbed. I am no longer that little kid who sees something shiny and new and wants it instantly..I'm now an adult that sees something shiny and new and wants it instantly but doesn't quite like the price.
"You're practically getting a whole new game" they said but I wasn't sold. To me, it was the milking process all over again and it was almost like we were doomed for all eternity...ok maybe not doomed but I definitely felt gloom. For the rest of the consoles life cycle, I would be tempted with each new edition that reared its' ugly head and be forced to be patient or pay the price.
Now, I could have lived with Street Fighter doing this because it is the grand daddy after all but unfortunately almost every other fighting game began to pick up the same edition addiction. Unlike Consoles, adding a new edition to the Arcade comes at the cost of doing business and can just as easily be loved or shunned, either way the brunt of the cost is on the owner not the individual enjoying it.
The arcades in some ways tease us like the kid on the block who gets the first of everything and the instant you see his new toy, you want one. Publishers bank on this and so the edition addiction is in full play. For the individual who spends their every waking moment on said fighting game of choice, a new addition is as good as it gets for them. For the rest of us who look for new games and experiences, this becomes a little bit expensive.
Now the new age of gaming is upon us ,and while some developers seem to be asking for patience while they continue to create more content and changes, others seem to be betting on the same premise - that you're going to want more. It's hard to tell at the moment if the edition addiction will be in full effect for this generation. All I can do for now is try my best not to look less I end up glamored...it is so hard not to look.
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