SNK sure has contributed a lot to the fighting genre, coming a long way since its early installments. During the 80's (and way before the japanese developer would jump into stardom with the Neo-Geo system) SNK was just another mediocre company trying to survive on shoot'em-ups like "Vanguard 2 " and "Alpha Mission", and sports titles that focused mainly on american sports.

Vanguard 2 arcade

The fullest coin boxes belonged to a few selected SNK cabinets though. A handful of titles like the "Ikari" and "Athena" series; followed by "Beast Busters", "P.O.W." and "Prehistoric Isle in 1930", the company's best games of that decade.

Prehistoric Isle in 1930 arcade

One of the last non-Neo-Geo titles to see the light of day was also their first fighting game ever produced (not counting boxing title "Main Event"), 1989's "Street Smart", right before SNK phased out their 68K boards.
Nowadays commonly referred to as part of the beat'em-up genre, it was actually a hybrid that included characteristics from both genres. On one side, it had the 3D freedom of movement and simple commands of beat'em-ups like "Double Dragon", while still retaining fighting genre features like its tournament-based plot, one-on-one (or two against two) encounters, and fixed stages.

Poster

It is also said that this title was SNK's answer to the original "Street Fighter" made by Capcom, but the more you analize Street Smart you realize SNK was probably just trying to profit not only from the Street Fighter crowd, but also from "Double Dragon"'s.

No so known though, is the fact that 1991's "Fatal Fury" is a direct, more refined version of this title. With the same producer and most of the design team intact, some of Street Smart's features and characteristics were re-adapted into what would later be the company's signature series.
Common points between the two are their U.S.A.-based tournament, graphic design, sound-effect samples, music style (Street Smart's first stage track was re-used as Fatal Fury's 2-player vs. track), stage backgrounds, 2-player co-op rounds followed by an automatic 2-player vs round, and of course the unrestricted foreground/background movement.

The plot, just like in Street Fighter, was not a priority back then. Fatal Fury contributed with a more sophisticated, interesting storyline that evolved around Terry, his brother Andy and friend Joe against villain Geese, but Street Smart throws you right into the fight as soon as you press start. No intro, storyline or fancy cut-scenes. Just mash those buttons until every generic enemy is down.
As mentioned before, the action takes place in 8 american cities. Defeat the opponent at each location to move on to the next, only after one of the few cool details the game has to offer: an ambulance picks up the defeated adversary and the local cutie congratulates you.

Arcade flyer

Most likely SNK's decision to steer off Capcom's intimidating control scheme, the game was devised with only 3 buttons: punch, kick and jump. Just like in a beat'em-up, you can move freely in 3 dimensions but can't block. The only special moves available are a backward flip (kick + jump) and a rising jump kick (punch + kick) that works as anti-air attacks. But what's strange about the move-set is your character's tendency to automatically move forward when hitting, which results in both you and your enemy sliding across the screen at the same time during a sequence of connecting hits. Definitely something uncommon in beat'em-ups or fighting games of the time.

Opponents:
Bobby Brown	"Slippery" Sam Santana	Mike "The Muscle" McDenmit
Your average weak first opponent. A common street fighter so mundane he doesn't even have a nickname.	A capoeira fighter that is both the second and fourth (Also in green pants) stage opponent.	A giant trucker that is very close to Fatal Fury 2's "Big Bear" design.
Larry "Legbreaker" Lubinsky	Jake "The Wrench"	Antonio "Crybaby" Palermo
This zombie-looking fellow has a killer pile driver and moves like an animal.	Jake is a karate old-timer. Pretty much a palette swap of Karate-Man.	Bartender Antonio has a fearsome grab you should stay away from.
"Tiptoes" Tommy
The unforgiving last boss. His signature attack is a very powerful series of sumo-style open hand pushes. Very tough to beat.

There are only two playable characters: japanese stereotype "Karate-Man" and generic american fighter "Wrestler" (yes, that's what they are called), who each have a small health gauge and a set number of lives instead of the huge life gauges that are common to the fighting genre. CPU opponents don't have much charism either, and their names are the only thing known about them.
There's a rumor going around that involves our "Karate-Man" actually being Art Of Fighting's Takuma Sakazaki in his early years, as well as "Wrestler" designed as a cross of Double Dragon's Billy and Jimmy. But if you ask me, that's just pushing it a little.

	Rumors or facts?
	Karate-Man does look like Mr. Karate, but rumors of him being a younger Takuma are just that. Rumors.
	Could Wrestler's design be a cross between Billy and Jimmy? Do we really care?

You won't come across many Street Smart reviews on the internet, and that's because the game offers no fun at all and is known for being even more frustrating than Capcom's original fighter. Despite SNK's solid efforts and original ideas, one has to keep in mind that it's still their first shot at the genre and as such its prehistoric gameplay is as unforgiving as other titles of the time like Capcom's "Ghosts'N Goblins". Games that compared to today's genre standards do nothing but remind us of the fact that they were specifically designed to eat thru your entire reserve of quarters in one play.
CPU opponents are just too hard and take forever to beat, even when using the game's timed pseudo-combos, which consists of a sequence of hits perfectly timed that the enemy can't block.

Arcade cabinet sideart

To make matters worse, opponents don't have a visible life gauge. Instead you'll recognize their old-school "red flashing" when their about to die.
When you realize pumping credits into the machine does very little for your fighting career, your last resource would seem to be Street Smart's most prominent feature: get a buddy to join you for some co-op CPU punishment. Tough luck though. The game will evilly respond by throwing in another opponent that will do more than keep your friend entertained.
If you and your buddy happen to survive the round, you'll have to face off against each other Double Dragon style with an extra health gauge as the prize. This same co-op/vs. game structure would later on be picked up by Terry Bogard's first game in a different way: 2 players fight against 1 CPU opponent, followed by a vs. match from which only the winner continues playing.

Arcade cabinet

Arcade operators could only buy this game as a kit, no dedicated cabinets were produced.

The graphic designers involved in this project have a particular style that is recognizable in later SNK titles, but are most obvious in the Fatal Fury series. Although a very odd choice of dark colors prevent the graphics from standing out and shine, small details like the crowds, cute girls and the ambulance are perfect examples of SNK corner stones on which later titles and series would be build upon.
Its sound effects samples are, again, almost identical to the lone wolf series. Just like its joyful tunes, which posses a clear dose of action and are actually good for the time.

Genesis advertisement

Treco Corporation apparently didn't suffer enough humilliation with their horrible Genesis fighter "Fighting Masters", and courageous fellows that they are (or were actually, since they are nowadays impossible to track down online), took responsability for the only Street Smart port in existence.
SNK's already mediocre title made its way to Sega's 16 bits with very mixed results, but in the end a lot more playable and less frustrating than the original.
Besides the unavoidable technical downgrade, this port lost opponents Jake and Antonio (replaced by fights against 2 Bobby Browns and 2 Mikes respectively), simultaneous 2-player fights against the CPU (which are now ridiculously executed taking turns against it), and some other minor moves you probably won't miss.

Genesis advertisement

Treco did, though, improve the controls to where the game is now playable, but still boring nonetheless. Karate-Man and Wrestler (now dubbed "Crusher") don't slide forward when hitting anymore, and have controllable close and ranged moves. They have also gained a much more useful evading back flip and an unlimited special move they can only execute with 4 or more points of health, which you will be forced to exploit to finish the game.

Megadrive cover

Cody and Guy apparently starred in the Megadrive version.

Excellent artwork that is suspiciously close to SNK's early Neo-Geo era, a new final boss named "Mr. K", a stupid gamble mode (where ironically it's possible to bet against yourself before each fight), and a sort of experience system in which you level-up your stats complete this port's list of added features. Lesser hardware aside, its more forgiving difficulty and polished controls puts this version over the original. Now if they could only make it fun to play...

Arcade flyer

Street Smart is the kind of game you should only check out if you are a hardcore fighting-genre or SNK fan, but also the kind you'll never EVER come back to.
Its interesting stages and other funny and delightful presentation details are examples of SNK's fresh ideas that started here and carried over onto the Fatal Fury series. Gameplay-wise, SNK games didn't hold a candle to Capcom's refined Street Fighter 2 iterations until the release of Fatal Fury Special, Samurai Shodown 2 and Art Of Fighting 2. So why do some of us still come back to these early, rough examples of SNK history? It's because of their attractive presentation, amazing graphic designs, and above all "in-your-face" attitude that always made them much more interesting than Capcom's.