From Puzzle Fighter to Slot Games: Street Fighter II’s Wild Forays Into Casual Gaming
Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo was an arcade puzzler based on Capcom’s licensed characters. Its concept would later be revived for an exciting slot title created by Evolution Gaming.
At the height of Street Fighter’s popularity in the nineties, there was a host of bootleg versions that made the game very weird. From multiple fireballs to crazy character swaps, these often paled in comparison to the titles that developers Capcom would create themselves. Of these, Puzzle Fighter has to be the crown. Yet as casual gaming makes a comeback, could this be a hidden gem that has inspired a casino spin-off?
The Rise of Casual Gaming
It is estimated that 2.5 billion of the world’s population will be some sort of mobile gamer by 2030. This is defined as a person who plays video games on their smartphone, be it complex titles like League of Legends or casual puzzle games like the New York Times crossword. Games like PUBG Mobile have at various points had as many as 300 million monthly players.
When looking at those playing games, a survey from the Marketing and Media Alliance suggests that around 66% of men play mobile games as opposed to 70% of women. Women also spend around 25% longer gaming each day than their male counterparts. Around 61% of those surveyed were also parents, with only 14.2% of mobile gamers in the 18 to 24 age group.
Nowhere has this been felt as much as in the realm of casino gaming. This desire for casino games has meant that many providers, such as Jackpot City Casino, have struggled to keep up with demand. They provide a range of slots for players of all types, from beginners to veterans. With complex mechanics, they can allow people to play games with the prospect of winning some money on the way, all while wagering low.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior Slot
Using these demographics, it is easy to see why slot game developers would be attracted to the development of a Street Fighter II: The World Warrior-themed slot, and Evolution Gaming has done just that. In fact, they have gone even further. This title is not simply a reskin of an existing game with symbols changed to Street Fighter icons. It is a revolutionary system.
In this slot title, just like the original, the game plays out over a series of stages. This is relatively unheard of in slots. All you have to do is defeat your opponent, then advance to the next level with higher paying symbols and more at stake. Of course, these are themed like the global locations in the original game. There is even a car-smashing bonus round like the one in the original game.
Each of the characters you select impacts gameplay and occurs in terms of volatility. This is a term games use to tell you how they pay out. High volatility slots pay out infrequently, but in larger amounts. Low volatility ones will pay out regularly, but in smaller denominations.
Lastly, there are even boss levels. You will also experience all the retro graphics, sounds, and imagery of the original game. It’s not ideal for slot beginners due to its complexity, but for those looking for a game pushing boundaries, it is up there.
Super Puzzle Fighter and Gem Fighter
Of course, Capcom did have its own outings into very similar games back in the nineties. It is not known if Evolution looked into these while making their slot title, but some of the gameplay is extremely similar. This came in the form of Super Puzzle Fighter, and its follow-up Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix.
In these games, admittedly, you couldn’t win a cash prize, even in the arcades. They were a gem-collecting game with a moving playfield, much like a cross between a slot game and the classic Tetris. As gems fell, your aim was to bunch them together by colour until a crash gem arrived. This would eliminate huge swathes of gems in one go, causing chain reactions as others crashed down. Not unlike the tumbling reels mechanics seen in slots, it is probably a trick Evolution missed out on when building their own slot game.
What they did take was the character system and levelling up. As the game really plays out on the grids, characters would fight based on what was going on there. If one player won big, the others’ health would go down. Once they were out, it was onto the next stage.
While both these games used other characters from the Capcom world, like Darkstalkers, they were essentially a Street Fighter puzzle game. A follow-up slot game would not be out of the question, and using these tumbling mechanics would really elevate it and bring it closer to the original Puzzle Fighter.
