Supporting evidence.
There are indeed precious few games whose graphics and gameplay both stand the test of time. Chrono Trigger is one of them, as evinced by my continuing enjoyment of the DS remake.
I’m not sure of any way to debate this with you since, as you’ve admitted, SF2 isn’t something you know a lot about. Basically, to the average player, it looks like all they did was change one or two drawings, but all of them are significant upgrades, either due to huuuuuge changes in game balance, or the addition of new characters - one version was even made in a response to bootlegged copies, practically forcing them to make a new one.
It’s certainly possible to make the argument “Why didn’t they get this right in the first place?” Keep in mind, though, that SF2 is the first of its ilk (competitive fighter - 2D OR 3D). There was no frame of reference for their model except their own, so every step was a huge experiment which could have yielded hugely unpredictable results. Also, it’s not like any other 2D fighter at the time was getting serious play, except Mortal Kombat. At the time, people were happy to play a new revision of Street Fighter 2, because to them, it was the only game. It’s only now that we get a ton of fighting games that people nowadays scoff at the five (…well, six with STHD) revisions, but back then, most people didn’t find anything funny about that at all.
Other copy-fighters of their time didn’t make revisions to their games, and not a single one is played seriously anymore; Street Fighter 2’s revisions payed off in a huge way for its fanbase, because the end result is arguably one of the best 2D fighters in the genre, a whopping 14 years after its original release (17, if you wanna count they VERY first version). I guess, in some way, that can be considered milking, if the definition for this argument is as broad as ‘making money off a new iteration of a franchise.’ However, I think milking your audience while simultaneously giving them a much, much better gameplay experience is the exception - not the rule - so it’s pretty easy to condone.
…Fuck, I’m sorry. I’ve really digressed off the main topic, and it’s my fault. I shut up now. 
I haven’t played a BOF game since BOF3. I won’t be missing it.
So what you’re admitting is that Capcom made incremental changes to a game they have released several times over to please a very select niche group of individuals and you are calling that a success.
No. You’re putting words in my mouth, or you’re not reading what I’m writing 
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I never said incremental, I said ‘huuuuuuuuuuuge changes’ to how the game was played. Sure, huge changes over time are increments, but the word painting is that the changes were small and insignificant, which is false. Think of it less like Madden 03 to Madden 04 (or whatever you’re imagining), and think of it more like GTA3 to GTA Vice City to GTA San Andreas; or even Starcraft to Brood War - an example which I’m sure you understand, because you beat into me once the balance design of Starcraft compared to Brood War. Same game, but these examples added plenty of new stuff each time, so that few people would call it a rehash.
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Saying they made changes to a game they released several times makes it sound like there’s several versions, and several revisions of that one particular version. Incorrect, and I never said that.
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Who said anything about a niche group? I’ve talked about competitive gamers, sure. But that was mostly to show that the positive reception to the new iterations is ubiquitous.
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Yeah, it was certainly a success.
As I stated in my previous paragraphs, of all the 2D fighters back then, SF2 was the only one that survived the test of time - which is sort of a current theme of this thread anyways (older games becoming obsolete due to game mechanics feeling old and clunky). No one plays Fatal Fury anymore. No one plays Samurai Shodown anymore. No one plays World Heroes, or any of those stupid old SNK games anymore. No one plays the old Mortal Kombat games anymore, except a niche group of people who play Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3.
Street Fighter 2’s approach was - no, it IS - a HUGE success, and fighting games STILL follow its model. Any fighting game that you can think of does it - you only notice it with Street Fighter 2 because they didn’t bother to call the new revisions Street Fighter 3, 4, 5, etc. Whereas when games like Tekken, Soul Calibur, Smash Bros, etc. do the same things, they call it Soul Calibur 2, 3, 4, but they change about as much shit related to the actual gameplay as a new revision of Street Fighter 2 does. When they do it like this, no one cares because it’s a “new game.” However, when the game owns up to the fact that the basic gameplay engine is the same, everyone cries foul? What the fuck is that shit?
I’m not saying that Street Fighter has never milked its audience - if you read my very first post on the subject, I outright admitted that they have done and continue to do so - Street Fighter 4 is a HUGE cash-in on Street Fighter 2’s success. However, Street Fighter 2 didn’t do anything of the sort. There was no prior game of its kind to rip off, and as I stated, the gameplay changes were just as big and important as any new game’s leap from “whatever the fuck game 2” to “whatever the fuck game 3”, so it wasn’t like they released a whole new version where all they did was change the animation of Ryu’s medium punch or some shit. To call it milking is just plain misunderstanding what is taking place.
I will mourn the passing of BoF, for nostalgia reasons. I bought BoF when I was 10 or 11 and it has a place in my childhood memories. Even though I hated the incessant leveling - I actually managed to beat the damn game as a kid regardless. That being said, in a more objective view, it didn’t have much going for it except an original world with cool races. Oh yeah, I also used to rent BoF 2 as a kid.
I never got into the BOF series so this doesn’t bother me too much. Still, I’m a little sad to hear that it is over since I felt that I might have liked a BOF that was like BOF 3 or 4, but with the kinks worked out.
Man I never liked BoF, not even as a kid. I thought always sucked (and always, always thought the “auto battle” feature was worthless), especially the first one.
I liked BoF2 :<
Represent!
I would have liked BoF2 if I hadn’t been forced to start from the beginning four or five times for various reasons - the second to last one being because I realized could have saved the old man in the machine, the last time because I got the bad ending due to still missing something important about that old man saved from the machine. The first one was just adorably old-school though. I felt it rather killed any sense of tactic to ALWAYS have a healing spell start the next round of battle, if you’d chosen to cast one.
You played up to that part three times? I envy your perseverance. BoFII’s world had me dreaming, but the encounter rate/battle speed was aggravating. Granted, that was a game where Hell was hell.
Hrumph, Barubary.
That was exactly my bitch about BoFII. The random battles really pissed me off. BoFIII was the shit in its time. BoFIV was crap. Dragon Quarter was even worse. I won’t miss it if it goes away. Besides I already emulate the two worth DLing.