You know, I grew up with both of them. I remember the first time I threw a Hadoken with Ryu and the first time I did an Ice Blast with Sub-Zero. They're both great games that I have tons of great memories with. I'd happily play either of them today because they were fun.
Mortal Kombat had tons of crazy characters with great moves and fatalities? Fatalities were awesome! Mastering them was tricky at first. In the first game, I could do Liu Kang's the easiest because you just had to rotate the d-pad a couple times. When I first played I often used him just because his fatality was so easy and just plain fun to watch. When the second game came out, I was in heaven. Tons of new characters, new moves, and of course more fatalities. Shang Tsung made that game for me. All of a sudden I could have everyone's powers in one character! Sign me up! I could stand in front of the game at the arcade or department store for hours defeating each and every person that tried their luck. When the third one came, I even liked that one. Run button? Sure. Dial-a-combo? Bah, the computer was good with it but not better than me. Flawless Victory against Shao Khan here I come. Something was missing from the game though. Where was Sub-Zero? Not this guy with a scar, my Sub-Zero. My original favorite. I didn't know where he went. He was gone. How about Scorpion? Scorp-who? What was going on here? Then we got Mortal Kombat 4. 70% of your life in one combo? I can do that. The magic was gone though. It just didn't feel like Mortal Kombat. 3rd dimension? Forget that, the original Mortal Kombat games kicked so much ass the 3rd dimension was too freaking afraid of it to play along or it'd get its head ripped off (^_^). Those are the games I remember as Mortal Kombat and those are the times I want to remember. Me. At the department store. Doing a fatality on some older guy because I was the kid with the moves.
Street Fighter is also special to me. Did you ever just select Guile's stage and let the music run? It was freaking awesome. I can still hear that song even as I type this (and that was before I youtubed it). I can hear him shouting "SONIC BOOM!" even now. The game rocked hard. I learned my first Japanese words from Street Fighter--"Es es peruka." Okay it wasn't real Japanese, but to a kid it was cool all the same. I remember someone brought Street Fighter to one of our big family reunions. In the midst of all the adults watching the TV and SNES, there was a child mashing the controller in ways no one else around could even come close to. Come one, come all, my Ryu was ready and there was no backing down. Tired of Ryu? How about some Guile? Chun-Li? Yeah, it's on. Turbo came later and it was even faster and more furious. Super was next and it had even more characters! Who's this T-Hawk? He's got nothing on me. My Ryu still takes care of business. Tons of Street Fighters came and went, some I got, and some I didn't. The names changed, the characters changed, and some of the gameplay even changed... but it was still Street Fighter to me and there was always room for one more game. Always.
You people who pick one over the other and say the other is crap make me sad. Both series win in their own ways, and what's more, both brought hours of joy to gamers like me and hopefully yourself. These are what you should remember as the "good times," no... the "great times." Because that's what they were. Don't spit on them... because Sub-Zero and Ryu know where you sleep. XD
