Some games are clearly parasites. A ‘parasite’ game is one created in the wake of a highly successful game of the same genre. Strip Fighter II (or 2) is such a game. Just by viewing the initials ‘SF2’ you can obviously see that it’s trying to cash in on the success of Capcom’s own Street Fighter II (again, or 2). But there is something Strip Fighter II is offering that Capcom never thought about. It’s something that Ken, Ryu, and especially Blanka could not offer to a gamer… nudity. That’s right; what do you think the ‘strip’ part of the title was for? Seeing as how M. Bison, Zangief, and Dhalsim wouldn’t exactly be naked model material, the creators of Strip Fighter II, Games Express, incorporated an all female cast of six fighters. How considerate, seeing as how there’s a woman for just about every lowly pervert (including me) that picks up the controller to play the game.

Martha- Some guys must really dig muscular women that sport blonde mohawks, and fight in fur boots with cow-patches. I’m serious! Her boots appear to come right out a commercial for Chic-Fil-A restaurants. 

Amanda- Some guys like big girls and Amanda would be their choice for a fighter. She’s a hefty, barefoot fighter from Brazil; the land of purple afros, and tasseled ankle bracelets. 

Nina- Why not? A blonde, European pole dancer makes for an interesting fighter. I’ll be damned if there is a female fighter game that doesn’t have a selectable stripper.  Games Express, again setting the standard. 

Medusa- This fighter is for the guys experimenting with animal sex. In addition to her red high heels, she wears no clothes, but she does wear a snake. This snake has managed to act as a bra, thong, and an occasional projectile attack (leaving her totally naked temporarily). Sexual themes involving legless reptiles and Greek mythology figures have never been captured so accurately in a game before. 

Bella- This southwest American fighter dons an eagle headdress and metallic shin guards. You can thank her for making the already endangered American bald eagle population one bird short.

 Yuki- The Japanese representative in the game. Suprisingly, this one is pretty much normal. If all the fighters from Strip Fighter II were invited to sign autographs, Yuki is the one that wouldn’t scare the general public away.

 Yep those are the characters. And each comes with their own array of attacks. Many of which reveal plenty of skin and present “naughty angles” of viewing. These ladies have moves that bare all and bring the pain at the same time. Be it naked dragon punches (Yuki), Titanic Titty Twisters (Amanda), garment tossing (Medusa), or Spiraling Colon Blasters (Bella), there is no need to ever again pause Chun Li during a jumpkick. I must not forget to inform you that winning rounds results in even more nudity. Win one round and you get to view a model in lingerie or swimwear. Win the next round, and see the model in her birthday suit. There are six models in all; but unfortunately, these models are not the fighters themselves. Being the perv that I am, I so much wanted to see Martha without her line of dairy apparel. 

Let’s talk graphics.  In fairness, I must give Strip Fighter 2 some credit. Firstly, the fighters are all drawn to a competent level of scale and detail. No matter how strange the fighters look, at least they’re each put together with some kind attention to appearance and size relationship to their opponents. Also, I can’t really knock the animation. Even though the frames aren’t as numerous as Capcom’s work, Strip Fighter 2 does convey to the player what is interpreted as movement from all the characters. There are a few (and I do mean ‘few’) instances where I’m pretty impressed with the animation. Each fighter comes with her own stage, or background. Again, I say there’s nothing really wrong here. The stage backdrops, in my opinion, are done alright I suppose. We’ve got the arid southwest American desert, Japanese temples in the snow, Greek ruins, and few other scenes from parts of the globe. Bella’s stage does feature a frozen waterfall, which is hard to believe since her stage is in tropical Brazil! The models you see after every victory, are clearly digitized photos. You’d think that they would’ve selected prettier models, but that’s another disappointing story. Other than that, no other real gripes to report from the graphic department.

 Sounds and music. You gotta have sounds in a video game. In fact, to increase the gameplay, you need to have plenty of sounds. Strip Fighter 2 has sounds… just seventeen of them. The fighters all share most of the vocal effects. If you were blindfolded and heard one of the vocals from the game, odds are it could be any of the fighters. With the advantages of the PC Engine’s audio capabilities, you’d think that Games Express would try a little harder. Nope. Instead, we are given six women that have all been born with the same exact DNA that’s responsible for larynx development. Nine soundtracks are available for your listening needs. What can I say? The tunes range from adequate to ‘oh my God, make it stop!’ The latter is especially true of the Japanese porn music that plays on the model display scenes.

 I have mixed emotions regarding the gameplay. First, the good. Once you learn the moves, it’s kinda fun seeing them in action. A lot of them are incredibly easy to pull off too. A few moves require no more than three press of the d-pad to activate. In addition to the regular kicks and punches, the fighters have at least four special moves apiece, so jumping from character to perform the moves is somewhat redeeming, in my opinion. Now, the bad. In order to really play the game, you need a six button Avenue pad. A regular two-button pad will work but your moves will be severely limited as you are only given one kick and one punch to use. Six button Avenue pads are rare, but if you want to play Strip Fighter 2, I highly recommend one. “What? Wh- what happened?!” This is probably a phrase you’ll use since at times during the game, your regular attacks will cease to function! That’s right, other than jumping and special techniques, you will temporarily be at the mercy of your opponent. This brings me to the AI of the game. There are two modes in which it operates: incredibly cheap, and incredibly stupid. Nothing is more maddening than being trapped in a corner, getting your ass whipped with an electric strap throughout the entire round. On the flip side, the AI doesn’t seem to mind foot sweeps. At times, you can sweep the computer’s opponent for the whole round and end up perfect battles. This may be the cause for the occasional “power outage” of your regular attacks just so the AI can beat the excrement out of you. Conspiracy? Who knows? I’d also like to mention that the characters have no storylines from what I can tell. Despite giving us the names of the fighters, their height, weight, and of course measurements, Games Express provided us with no storyline. I can’t read Japanese, but after defeating all the characters in the game (including your own) there is no ending for any of the fighters. We don’t get to see Amanda chugging down a Slim Fast shake, we don’t get to see Bella single-handedly wipe out America’s rarest birds, nor do we get to see Nina perform lap dances on the crotches of numerous world leaders. Instead, you are treated to a medley of the same lifeless models you’ve seen after your previous victories.

 The tally goes as follows:

 Graphics: 7
Not too bad here. In fact, some of the stages are quite lovely. Characters are nicely drawn, plenty of colors too. Models need serious makeovers!

 Sound & Music: 5
Sometimes, the inferior tunes will lay dormant in your mind only to recur at a later time, giving you a mental lapse during whatever activity you may be engaged in. Others tunes adequate at best.

 Gameplay: 6
Somewhat enjoyable, especially against a friend. AI in one player mode is gullible and evil at the same time. Not too much fun when your attacks stop working for an entire round.

Overall: 6
Even with the shortcomings, I play this game every now and again on my Core Grafx. I’ve learned to play through the problems and find little pieces of solace in this bizarre concoction of a game. The game would’ve faired better with more consistent controls, better audio, and less adult oriented themes (lose the models!). If you want all-women fighting games, I recommend the Asuka series, or Advanced V.G. They are FAR better than Strip Fighter II. Novelty is about the only thing Strip Fighter II has going for it.