Street Smart (US version 2)

Street Smart arrived in arcades in 1989 from SNK as an early entrant into the burgeoning fighting game genre, inspired by the popularity of Street Fighter. Players select one of two characters – a blond fighter or a karate-clad dark haired character– and then engage in combat across various city backdrops. Gameplay is straightforward: battles involve repeated punches, kicks, and jumps against opponents with exceptionally high energy reserves. When defeated, foes are carted away by ambulance, while an audience member offers congratulations. A unique feature of Street Smart is its cooperative two-player mode where, instead of facing off against each other, players team up to confront a second enemy that appears on screen. This design choice ultimately proved unpopular and hampered the game's success, leading many installations to be converted to other titles shortly after Street Fighter II’s release. The US version includes an anti-drug message displayed at startup. The game utilizes a Motorola 68000 CPU for processing alongside Zilog Z80 and Yamaha YM3812 sound chips, requiring a horizontal monitor setup within its JAMMA compatible cabinet, which was only sold as a kit. Some players have noted visual similarities between the Player 1 character and Takuma Sakazaki from later SNK titles, while an older background figure bears resemblance to a character from Dragonball.