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I'm having a hard time trying to figure out which is the best Street Fighter 8-bit game, this one or Master Fighter II for the NES. Admittedly, MFII has bigger characters, more faithful backgrounds and the map when you select your character, but SFII has difficulty settings, 8 characters, including 3 bosses and, in my opinion, better (and not so cheap) gameplay. So, probably, this is the best 8-bit SF game you can find anywhere in the world.

One of the last Master System game created, SFII' bears the names of Capcom (I guess they did have something to do with the production of this game), Tec Toy (the Brazilian SMS game distributor) and Sega Enterprises Ltd. (in game only). At 8 Megs, this is the biggest SMS game ever made. Probably that is why some SMS Model I systems cannot play it. Or so I've read... I can tell you that it works fine on my SMS I with Hang-On and Safari Hunt built in. I cannot speak for different models of SMS I. It very likely works great on SMS II and III. The game was released in Brazil only. The box art and the instructions are in Portuguese, but the game is in English.

This is a weird version of Street Fighter II. I haven't played absolutely all the different versions of SFII, but I am pretty sure that there is no counterpart of this game on any other platform. It has eight fighters, but not the exact same ones as The World Warrior. Three of them are bosses: Balrog, Sagat and M. Bison. The names are the English ones so, yes, Balrog is the boxer. The other 5 fighters are: Ryu, Ken, Guile, Blanka and Chun Li. They only have 2 special moves each. Apparently, Ryu and Ken's dragon punches are not in the game, and neither seems to be Chun Li's spin kick. The cheap projectiles are there and the CPU uses them frequently, especially on Hard.

The graphics are very much toned down, even from the 16-bit versions. There are no background animations, and even the 'V' signs that indicate the number of rounds won are gone. But that's not all. The stages are missing a lot of details. I remember that, in MFII, on Guile's stage, there were no babes in the background; well, they are present here, but now there's no plane. So, basically, the backgrounds are very much simplified. Also, you cannot see the characters' faces clearly. The 'VS' screens are still there, but the teases after the fights are gone. There is only one win animation per character, but at least the 2 Player uniforms are different.

The sound may not be great by today's standards; or even by yesterday's standards... but I think that, considering the Master System's specs, they did a great job. There are no character voices, but the announcer says the fighters' names, "You Win", "You Lose" and the numbers at the 'Continue' screen very clearly. Each one of the 8 stages has its own music, as faithful to the arcade as the SMS can manage. The soundtracks of Chun Li and Blanka's stages are my favourites. I heard Blanka's music more faithfully reproduced in a pirated NES Street Fighter game, but the SMS version is still quite accurate.

You can continue as many times as you wish, and that is a good idea, if you want to beat the game on Hard. The differenced between the 3 difficulty settings are noticeable, which is great. The gameplay can be reduced to button mashing sometimes, especially on Hard, and especially against M. Bison, due to the fact that the SMS controller has only 2 buttons, of course. Button 1 is Punch and Button 2 is Kick. Fierce Punch and Fierce Kick, that is. There is no super meter, and there are no variable speed settings. The gameplay is pretty fast, though. I wouldn't bother trying the fancy moves, because a hit is a hit and it makes the same damage. But I have to tell you, it's refreshing to play such a simple fighting game. Two things that bother me, however, are: the fact that when you try to block Blanka's roll or Bison's 'Psycho Crusher', you lose 2-5 times more energy than allowing the move to hit you directly; and the fact that there are no endings. I couldn't see an ending for any of the characters, not even on 'Hard'; just a picture of M. Bison, Sagat and Balrog and the words "You are the 'King of Street Fighters'" beneath, and then the credits roll.

I will never understand why no one ported the first Street Fighter to the SMS, or the NES. That would have made, I believe, a great 8-bit fighting game. These 8-bit versions of Street Fighter II are much worse than the 16-bit-or-better versions. Don't get me wrong, though. As a collector, I'm very happy that I bought this one. It is unique.

- Swordlord