The state of fighting games before the 1991 arrival of Street Fighter II can be likened to that of an insect larva: a simple, frequently unappealing grub that merits notice only because of its later incarnation. In this regard, it's fun to compare Yie Ar Kung Fu and Karate Champ to their post-metamorphosis descendents, but Street Smart, an unremarkable Genesis port of an unremarkable SNK arcade fighter, isn't of much interest. Its cover illustration, on the other hand, is most intriguing as a study in kitsch.
The cover is also a fine example of a key proverb among graphic designers: Just because you can airbrush doesn't mean that you should. Someone at Treco was unaware of this aphorism, however, and airbrushed Street Smart's cover to the point where it resembles one of those garish T-shirts often sold at flea markets. All that's missing is one or more of the Dukes of Hazzard.
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Gesundheit.
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Then again, the illustration wasn't rife with quality to start with, since it doesn't much resemble a gruesome back-alley brawl. The brown-haired guy is evidently socking the blond, fish-lipped fellow, who seems to have eaten something very, very sour. Or maybe he's pressing his face against a window. Or maybe he's just sneezing. Or maybe he willfully ignored his mother's advice and actually had his face freeze that way. Any of these are fair guesses, since this image gives little to convince you that he's being struck. There are no speed lines, flying flecks of sweat and blood, or anything else that implies a punch's aftermath. It's as though these two over-polished combatants are standing perfectly still, perhaps posing unconvincingly for a camera.
However, deeper problems are afoot. Observe the fellow in the purple shirt, as he seems to have been knocked through a window for no reason at all. None of the other street thugs is in a position to have struck him, and yet he's clearly being propelled through the glass. Has the fervor of this brutal fracas overwhelmed him to the point where he's resorted to beating himself up? Or is this the handiwork of an unseen combatant who, like some theoretical subatomic particle, can be perceived only in his effects? And then there's the fellow just below him, who has apparently huffed a little too much aerosol.
There's something equally strange on the back of Street Smart's box. It's best described as the inadvertently funny result of a marketing writer's attempt to use some “hip” lingo that the kids seemed to like in the early '90s.
My, that must have roped in the customers. Who doesn't want a game that ain't no plastic trophy contest? Who wouldn't want to bust out the dragon's tail (the what?) for a whippin' time? What young gamer, if a bud was indeed coppin' a tude, wouldn't let him have a piece? And how about those great characters, Crusher and Karate Man? Yo!
To complete this convincing sales pitch, we have large, Batman-like sound effects bringing the screenshots to onomatopoeic life. Yet some of the selections are odd. “POW!” seems suited to a street fight, but “BLAM!” would imply some gunshot, and using a firearm in a mano-a-mano altercation just ain't right, know what I'm sayin'? Most confusing is the last exclamation of “OOOF!” and its pairing with an image of the victorious brawler, who has apparently claimed both "the girl and the money." It may be that the girl is standing on the orange-wearing champion's foot, which would account for both his wincing expression and the accompanying "OOOOF!" Perhaps you're better off with just the money, Karate Man.
In its defense, Street Smart isn't a completely poor game, and SNK fans might enjoy the elements that preface the company's later titles (give Karate Man blond hair and you'd have Ryo from Art of Fighting). For the most part, though, it's just another minor evolution in the ancestry of Street Fighter II, and a clear instance of game packaging misfiring on every shot it takes.
Next: Capcom's unreleased Captain Future game. Oh, wait . . .
