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The Street Fighter II developers had passed on the CPC as a viable platform to convert to. A clerical error was cited as the reason that it was mentioned in the run-up to the other releases. AA even organised a petition for the readers to send off to US Gold to develop a SFII CPC version. Of course it was too late by then for anything to happen. But Marcus Kasumba would soon quench the bloodthirsty beat-'em-up fanatics not long after with the cunningly titled Street Warriors.

We're introduced to the six fighters straight away, who all come from different areas of the world. Each fighter has a BIO screen which is shown on the title screen. Then it's to the options screen. Options are plentiful, you can have one player or two player mode, you can choose arcade or practice mode, reality mode or character vs. character, plus sound you can change the sound effects to on or erm... off.

Controls are with the joystick or keys, although joystick is recommended. You are encouraged to discover the fighter's moves for yourself (just like in Street Fighter II), but the instructions still give you the button combinations for the moves. Pressing away and down makes your fighter do their super move. Press down to throw and press away and fire to block an opponent's attack.

The game comes on two disks and, surprisingly, involves a lot of flipping disks before actual play begins. When the game does begin it is a mixed bag. The graphics are bearable and neither bad nor good. The soundtrack and effects do become grating after a small amount of playing though. The all-important gameplay is sluggish, but just about playable, with your basic moves such as punch, throw and block. The special moves add variety to an already lacklustre game but even those - and the extra menu options - might not hold your interest for too long.

Personally I'm sick to death of all this SFII nonsense. It was nothing but a vastly over-hyped, overrated game back then, and even more so now. Yes, they are a quick bit of arcade fun, but beyond that there's nothing to these games. Boring and dull with the lifespan of a gnat. If beat-'em-ups are not your bag then stay clear, and if they are your bag then also stay clear.

Erm... defeat the first opponent.

Graphics 59%
N. Adequate at best, sluggish at worst.

Sound 43%
N. Both tunes and effects can be annoying.

Grab Factor 67%
P. Can be easy to get into...

Staying Power 52%
N. ...whether you'll want to play for long is another matter.

Overall 51%
Another valiant attempt at the impossible. CPC Street Fighter II was never meant to be. Let's leave it at that.