Gaming History: The Official Street Fighter II VHS from Nintendo Magazine System - (a retrospective)



"Nintendo Magazine System" (NMS) was a British gaming magazine that began in 1992, as an offshoot from its parent magazine Mean Machines, which split into the Nintendo-centric "Nintendo Magazine System" while the Mean Machines title would live on as a Sega-specific publication, renamed "Mean Machines Sega".


    

At that time, the British gaming magazine market was highly competitive with countless colourful covers demanding the attention of the casual newsagent patron, and so the newly created NMS was going to struggle to find its foothold in the market. It needed to do something to position itself above its rivals.

The planned campaign involved adorning the magazine covers with gifts to entice buyers, with issue #1 offering a Game Boy keyring/clock. But it was issue #3, published in December of 1992 that set a new standard.

Street Fighter II was already one of the biggest arcade games of the time having hit arcades in the previous year and Super Nintendo's home console port was already making waves.  So the decision was made to produce a short video strategy guide for Street Fighter II.

When issue #3 of NMS hit the shelves, it came complete with a full-sized VHS cassette in red cardboard sleeve, on which was written in bold print:

EXCLUSIVE!
STREET FIGHTER II
INCREDIBLE PLAYER'S GUIDE VIDEO!

EVERY ASPECT OF WHAT MUST BE THE GREATEST SUPER NES GAME EVER EXPLORED IN DETAIL.
EVERY MOVE KICK AND PUNCH PLAYED AND EXPLAINED BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES.
EXPERT COMMENTARY FROM THE PEOPLE WHO KNOW THE GAME BEST - THE NMS CREW.

The cassette wasn't entirely a gift, however. Its inclusion meant that the cover price had to be inflated by a couple of pounds, but it was still an incredible treat for fans of the game.

So, what was on the video? Well, it was very simple and straightforward.

There were no talking heads, no flashy effects, and no on-camera presenters. The entire tape consisted of direct-feed gameplay footage recorded from a Super Nintendo Entertainment System running Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Over this footage, we hear two voices, belonging to magazine editor Julian “Jaz” Rignall and art director Gary Harrod, delivering a calm, confident, and down-to-earth commentary.



Julian "Jaz" Rignall

Gary Harrod
      
Rignall introduces the tape by saying “We’re hear to teach you how to play Street Fighter II like a master.” With Harrod then following up with “Unlikely, but it’s possible.”

Rignall: “We’ll be teaching all sorts of amazing new moves, combinations, throws… You name it, we’ll cover it.”

Harrod: “Featuring all eight characters, plus a special guide to the four bosses at the end, and a secret cheat for those who do not know.”

Rignall: “We’ll teach you how to do it. The easy way… and the hard way too!”

Rignall adopts the role of an interviewer with Harrod presented as the expert, although both hosts are accomplished Street Fighter gamers having poured a great many hours into mastering the game before the production of this video.

Their narration walks the viewer through each of the game’s eight playable characters in turn: Ryu, E.Honda, Blanka, Guile, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief then Dhalsim. For each fighter, they explain the basic strengths of each character, their special moves and preferred tactics, techniques and strategies, all synced to live gameplay.

There are no on-screen prompts, no move lists, and no fancy overlays. It’s just pure verbal wisdom coupled with straight screen-captured gameplay. The commentary assumes that the viewer knows how to use a controller and already understands the basics of the game, but might not yet know how to play well. It’s not a beginner’s tutorial, but more of a mentorship session. The pair explain strategies in a casual, friendly way and it feels like you’re sharing an experience with two great friends.

What’s especially striking is the clarity of the recording. This isn’t someone pointing a camera at a telly. It’s a direct video capture, crisp and clean. In order to get the best quality recording, NMS employed the services of a professional video production company who handled the video capture and audio recording, and edited the recorded footage into the final product. The quality is as good as any recorded game footage of the time.

After the player characters are covered, the bonus stage is given an overview, with the primary advice being to “just wreck the car as quickly as possible!”.

Then the tape shifts to the four boss characters, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison.  The hosts offer advice on how to beat each of them. These sections focus on what to expect from each opponent, what kind of attacks they’re likely to deliver, how to counter their attacks and get through their defences.

The final section of the video is an explanation and demonstration of a “secret cheat” to allow two players to play against each other as the same character.  The explanation is a little confusing however, as after Rignall gives one version of the button sequence to activate the cheat, and Harrod immediately repeats it with a slightly different inputs. It’s unclear here which is the correct sequence, but then the pair show the cheat in action as they play against each other, both as Zangief, confirming that the cheat works.

And that’s it. No fluff, no filler. Just solid advice from two players who clearly know the game inside and out.

And crucially, this is before the age of YouTube, before online FAQs, before most kids even had access to import magazines that might list all the moves. For many, this was the first time they’d seen some of the special moves in action. It wasn’t just a guide. It was validation, confirmation that these mythical moves actually existed, and that someone could show you how to do them.

But perhaps the most charming part of the video is the tone. Jaz and Gary never talk down to the viewer. There’s no bravado, no gatekeeping, no flexing of arcade credentials… well, maybe just a little flexing. But it’s just two passionate gamers, sharing what they’ve learned in a way that feels welcoming and inclusive. They even laugh together and explain their mistakes when an attack fails before showing a successful attempt.

There are no gimmicks, It’s raw, honest, and brilliantly done.

For many readers of the magazine, this was a moment of true media convergence: a print publication not just reporting on games, but creating bespoke video content to accompany them — a practice that wouldn't become widespread until well into the CD-ROM and internet eras. It was forward-thinking, and in many ways ahead of its time.

And it’s worth noting just how rare something like this was in 1992. Free VHS tapes bundled with magazines were almost unheard of.  I’m not going to claim that it was the first time a magazine ever put a video cassette on the cover, it wasn’t even the first time in the UK that a gaming publication did such a thing as Mean Machines Sega had given away a video cassette on the cover its first issue just two months prior.  But it was a bold move.  The logistics alone were difficult – the added weight, the increased cost, the packaging challenges. And yet, it worked. Issue #3 sold in huge numbers, and the VHS tape became something of a collector’s item.

Today, it stands as a time capsule, not just of Street Fighter II, but of a very specific moment in the evolution of games media. It captures what it felt like to be a gamer in the early ‘90s: wide-eyed, curious, eager to learn, and reliant on whatever scraps of information you could find.

Preserving it today is important, not because it’s rare, or valuable, but because it represents how we used to learn, share, and celebrate games.

It’s not a slick documentary. It’s not a pre-packaged marketing reel. It’s better than that. It’s human. And the fact that it was produced by people who clearly loved the game and understood it, makes it all the more authentic.

For that reason, this VHS tape deserves a place as part of Street Fighter II’s legacy, and as part of gaming history more broadly.

A while back, I uploaded an unaltered recording of the video to my YouTube channel, for posterity.  But YouTube tends to frown on that kind of pure archival content and demands that such re-used material needs unique commentary to be acceptable on the platform. So, this is what I’ve done. I’ve taken that video down and replaced it with a proper retrospective with context and commentary. The video is embedded at the end of this article.

However, if you’d like to see the original in all its raw glory, I’ve uploaded a high-quality digitisation to the Internet Archive. You’ll find a link to it also at the end of this article.

Thanks for reading. Please consider liking my video and subscribing to the YouTube channel. And if you’d like to support me in any of my endeavours, I have a ko-fi link below where you can make a contribution.

Thanks again, and I hope to see you again soon.


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