Not recommended unless gamers are nostalgic for Street Fighter 2.
The primary objective of arcade games during the 80s and 90s was to entice players to keep feeding coins into the machine, often through cleverly designed mechanics that ensured players would keep coming back for more. Street Fighter and similar games were, in many ways, money traps—deliberately structured to make players feel the need to invest more quarters or tokens.
One common tactic used in arcade games was the "rubberband" mechanism. This system subtly enhances the reaction time or damage output of AI-controlled opponents as the player becomes more successful. Essentially, the more skilled a player becomes, the more difficult the AI opponents would seem, creating a seemingly insurmountable challenge.
While challenging gameplay is essential for keeping players engaged, the design of these arcade games often went beyond simple difficulty. The AI was engineered to consistently outmatch human players, ensuring that losses occurred frequently and reliably. This was done with the clear intention of driving players to spend more money to continue playing, as the endgame of these arcade experiences was primarily to generate revenue.
In conclusion, the AI was not crafted to be fair; it was designed to guarantee that players would keep feeding coins into the machine. While this made sense from a business perspective, it left little room for true player triumph, reinforcing a cycle of defeat and expenditure.