The popularity of online casino gaming shows no sign of diminishing, so it’s unsurprising that the various platforms are constantly jostling to tempt gamers with new experiences. It’s a great time to be a developer with a fertile imagination, and new slot games appear on the scene every week.
As such, yet another new release is not usually headline news – but sometimes something comes along that is a little bit special.
Retro games and retro gamers
One thing that the igaming marketing gurus need to remember is that the average casino gamer, if there is such a thing, does not meet the archetypal profile of the average gamer. A night at the casino has long been seen as the ultimate in sophistication – or gaming for grown-ups if you will. As such, the people poring over reviews at sites like VegasSlotsOnline.com or other similar ones, can almost be compared to those “born again bikers.” Many were the clichéd “nerdy gamer” back in the 80s or 90s.
When you think about it like that, you start to see why retro style slot games, or those featuring pop culture references from past decades have so much appeal. There are dozens of them out there – Wonder Woman, Rubik’s Riches, Reel Rush, Space Invaders and Big Foot are just a handful that spring immediately to mind. But the new release that was formally announced by NetEnt last week will trump the lot of them.
A gaming legend
Street Fighter II, The World Warrior, was launched as a follow up to the 1987 original in 1991. That’s the same year Michael Jackson released Black and White, but was bizarrely beaten into second place by Bryan Adams and his theme to Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.
It seems impossible that all this happened almost 30 years ago, but while Michael Jackson, Bryan Adams and Kevin Costner all had differing fortunes in the years that followed, Street Fighter II will always be remembered as the game of the early 1990s. More than 6.3 million copies were sold and it generated revenue in excess of $1.2 billion.
It’s no simple task to categorize an “archetypal” casino gamer, but we can say with confidence that a significant number of them were playing Street Fighter II back in the 1990s. They will be salivating at the thought of those familiar graphics and characters arriving in the online casinos later this year.
Hello, old friends
The Street Fighter slot has been rumored for some time, but the NetEnt website has now formally announced its forthcoming release this May. The slots gaming giant promises that their new game will feature all the original characters from the 1990s classic, including Chun-Li, E. Honda, Blanka, Guile, Zangief and all the rest.
The company’s Director of Games, Brian Upton, explains that the new slot will be based on the Street Fighter II game, which he describes as “the ultimate classic video game.” Exact details of the gameplay have yet to emerge, but if the screenshots of the title screen are anything to go by, it looks like those with nostalgia for 90s gaming are in for a treat.
Upton promises that this is a game that will “raise the bar” and bring something innovative and unique to the igaming table. We can’t wait to give it a try in May and see if it lives up to his promises.