Street Fighter II Complete Restoration with The 8-Bit Guy

David The 8-Bit Guy restores a Street Fighter II game in a Dynamo HS-1 cabinet for the Time Rift Arcade in Bedford, TX.
Street Fighter II changed the game. Literally. Released in 1991 by Capcom, it revolutionized the world of arcade fighting games and laid the foundation for the genre's global popularity. Featuring a diverse roster of characters, each with unique fighting styles and special moves, the game allowed players to engage in intense one-on-one battles. With its innovative mechanics, iconic characters like Ryu and Chun-Li, and competitive multiplayer gameplay, Street Fighter II became a cultural phenomenon and a cornerstone in the history of video games.
MORE TIME RIFT ARCADE CONTENT
Time Rift Arcade: timeriftarcade.com/
Facebook: / timeriftarcade
Instagram: / timeriftarcade
KZbin: @TimeRiftArcade
Music Credits:
Analog Love, Mika's Run, Pulsar, and Smooth Bed
- By Anders Enger Jensen www.eox.no

[@TimeRiftArcade]

Follow along as David The 8-Bit Guy restores the legendary Street Fighter II arcade. Coming soon to the Time Rift Arcade in Bedford, TX.

[@SideBurn12]

This was so much fun to watch! Well done! Looking forward to more arcade restoration videos!

[@exaltedb]

I didn’t realize Time Rift is only going to be within an hour from where I live. I’ll gladly stop by and check the place out when it opens later this year

[@user-yr1uq1qe6y]

Oh my, just found this channel and now I've got a lot of videos to catch up on! We're right up the road in Keller,we'll definitely be visiting when it opens.

[@Seven71987]

YEAH STREET FIGHTER 2!

[@themanthelegend7048]

Can i buy a set of those graphics? Really wamma do the same to my cabinet.

[@party4keeps28]

This is the kind of stuff I miss on The 8-Bit Guy's channel.

[@mrnapolean1]

@@mbs-thailand He did say on one of his previous videos that he wanted to keep the arcade stuff separate from his personal 8 bit guy stuff.

[@skunkwerkz777]

because the way the algorithm works now, if you post anything different on your channel it heavily affects the recommendations to your subscribers.

[@mrnapolean1]

@@skunkwerkz777 well that I did not know. I thought it was just for the logistics of. I want to keep this kind of material on this channel and this kind of material on the other channel. Because the viewer that wants to watch 8-Bit computer system videos may not want to watch him restoring arcade cabinets. So it makes sense to have two channels. One for the arcade and one for the computer stuff but I didn't know that about the KZbin algorithm. Learn something new everyday

[@party4keeps28]

@@skunkwerkz777 I still get recommended every video on 8-Bit Guy's channel but they're about the work he's doing on his home, the games he's programmed, etc.

[@abhijitmahajan2007]

Totally agree with this comment. This was a highly satisfying video.

[@evanbowen3979]

I would definitely continue to plug this channel on the 8-bit guy channel. A lot of people are looking for more restoration videos there, and this really scratches the same itch!

[@Yarumasi]

100% agree.... oh and while we're at it, can you also nag him to make another 8-bit keys video? 😅

[@watertrooper]

/me scratches neck Got anymore of them restore videos?

[@zephaniahgreenwell8151]

This channel would probably do better if they put the podcast episodes on a different channel.

[@valliantsteed]

I second , or better 'fourth' this!

[@Chrispy9393]

@@Yarumasithe other day i was like "i havent seen any 8bit keys videos in forever" I looked and its been so long! sad.

[@PrayingToTheAlien]

When I heard you and your brother bought an arcade, I instantly knew you were going it to it the RIGHT way. Fixing up these cabinets and machines will make a huge difference with your customers.

[@danieln.285]

That, and imagine if they had a little diner in there too. I went to a few arcades growing up, but they were only arcades in malls and of course the mall had its own dining area, but I wonder how many arcades were out there with their own little kitchen going on.

[@bland9876]

@@danieln.285 It's called chuck e cheese look it up.

[@rpgfan72]

I'm a 70's baby and thank you for keeping the arcade alive...🙂😊😁

[@radical_ans]

"That's older than me" Excuse me while I turn to dust.

[@vacantplanet]

Well, we all do eventually

[@kenrickman6697]

Yeah… that hit home. I was already well into my career by then!

[@ClunkerSlim]

I cried.

[@marscaleb]

What, what did he say was older than him?

[@Jogproof]

@@marscaleb A coin from 2000.

[@moseshorowitz4345]

4:00 - You have to display those tokens! Go down to the local coin shop and get one of those display frames you can hang on the wall, with all the round holes punched for quarters.

[@green929392]

I agree 100% it would be so interesting

[@guyguy467]

Great idea!

[@TwistedD85]

I'd suggest some kind of coin holder that'll let someone see both sides, set them up on a spinning platform or give each their own. Kinetic token display!

[@ChampionOfSkyrim]

You're not kidding. Tokens have gotten very expensive!

[@i64fanatic]

Oh yeah, I'd love some sort of showcase of all the coins/tokens or weird finds like googly eyes!

[@kevinshumaker3753]

As a tech for Aladdin's Castle back in the 80's , I appreciate the work you've invested in restoring these machines. Well done, sir, well done.

[@STONERCREEK1]

I've still got some old Aladdin's Castle tokens from last time I was there before they closed in my area.

[@carlreed945]

I recently acquired an Aladdin's Castle Pinball Machine that was in the offices of Aladdin's Castle.

[@RetroRockGamer]

Aladdins Castle was my childhood arcade. I didn't know until very recently that it was a chain.

[@gordontaylor2815]

Did they make you put on those little ID tags back in the day? I'm assuming they were there for inventory control or authentication purposes, but surely they could've come up with something a little less destructive than screwed-in tags...

[@kevinshumaker3753]

@@gordontaylor2815 Yes, they did. Not too 'destructive' for us, we has small wood screws (0.5" length) or double sided sticky tape.

[@pollo20x6]

This is so cool. I always wanted an arcade machine but now that I’m an adult, I realize how much skill is needed to keep these things fresh. I didn’t know about why so many SF 2 cabinets looked differently.

[@OneOfThePetes]

Clicked like even before the video even loaded. SFII was my childhood passion.

[@minnielee3399]

SF2 Turbo was better and played faster than SF2 tho.

[@Drummer8282]

@@minnielee3399champion edition was the best. The faster speed of Turbo was silly.

[@minnielee3399]

@@Drummer8282 I had it on the SNES. Normal version ran too slow and so needed turbo!!

[@mattd6755]

Ah, Street Fighter 2... THE reason I restored an arcade cabinet myself! Love the arcade stuff!

[@marscaleb]

Duuuude! You get to just, work with your hands, taking this apart and putting it together, getting to see the clean and finished result of your effort?! Duuude, you are living the LIFE!! How do you even get to spend the time doing something so gratifying?

[@ahoyrobi]

Feel like this is a step in the right direction for David. Really happy with how well he appears to be doing and you can tell he's enjoying it. Keep up the great work.

[@RyanSmith-pf7ci]

The purple moulding was a really good choice!

[@CasualPanels]

Don't know who will say that it's not an original artwork, but the cabinet looks so amazing. It's a beautiful machine!

[@PauloH]

"Hey, that's older than me" I got a new gray hair just listening to this

[@Thumper770]

Man...I would have totally left those Aladdin's Castle nails in it. The cabinet has history, man. You should respect it.

[@anthonyscheffer813]

Awesome restoration David. I'm 43 today and I must say, Street Fighter II holds a special place in my childhood. Glad to see this legendary arcade game live on.

[@1stage]

An inexpensive 40" wide plexiglass heater/bender would be a good addition to your shop. With that, you could have added wrap-around plexi on the control panel to avoid the uncomfortable edge. Even a sanded and flame-polished edge can be uncomfortable on the wrist and palm after a few minutes of playing.

[@NONO-hz4vo]

Yeah there were a lot of things that were not done well or efficiently as far as the cabinet goes. I am assuming this guy is more of an electric wizard than a craftsman.

[@1stage]

@@NONO-hz4voI don't agree. A lot more care was taken with this mod/refurb than was taken with 90% of the conversions that happened when the original kit was released. Between Dave & Mike, they've got more than enough craftsmanship to go around, in addition to the electronics background you suggested. Bottom line is that this is their cabinet, so they can do what they want. For me, it was a great watch.

[@GregsGameRoom]

It must be very rewarding to see people playing a game you’ve restored!

[@leondelamayer2847]

I'd really love more arcade cab restoration videos! Great work

[@stevendunn264]

The coin and token collection would make a great display in the arcade.

[@kazinwho]

I'm so glad someone is doing this, because A. I sure don't want to lol, B. I don't want these old, cool arcade machines to get junked, and C. because the restoration process is so interesting. Great video everyone!

[@JoelElRican]

Always been a big fan of David and his restoration work. I'm glad he gets to do that more for the arcade

[@jrc99us]

I am so happy I found this channel Dave! I love Computer Hardware in fact it was my major. I'm an Aviation Electronics Technician now but I still love watching this! Thank you!

[@m0nde]

I'm really enjoying this restoration content. It reminds me of your retrobrite videos, the original reason I began watching your channel.

[@Ken-fh4jc]

I have no idea why this was recommended to me but I’m loving this.

[@bland9876]

The fact you don't know who the 8-bit guy is but love this type of content is sad.

[@joelonsdale]

Great memories of watching my classmate Max playing this brilliantly during lunch breaks from SAE in Holloway Road, London UK in 1991. *Ayuken!*

[@davidpippin3460]

Wishing you guys the very best with this new business! I plan to visit when I am back in TX.

[@maxf2417]

I really appreciate the attention to detail you guys put into everything. That machine looks fantastic.

[@realpdm]

This entire endeavor feels like a passion project. I wish I could be involved in something like this. What an epic reward and outcome from where you started with this one machine. Thanks for sharing your journey with the new arcade!

[@timhoover1416]

Love Street Fighter. That was my go to game in my teens. Other fighting games came along, but none of them had the special place in my heart like Street Fighter 2.

[@Ninja-Hayate]

Same here, alternatives were King of Fighters '95, Fatal Fury 2 and Samurai Shodown at the arcades in my youth.

[@Theonintendo]

I died when : “-It’s dated from the year 2000 - Hey, that’s older than me 😂”

[@tomenza]

Sounds recent af to me

[@poble]

that’s about as old as me lol

[@ryanyoder7573]

Lol. 2000 was awesome. Had my first really expensive meal at a French restaurant. No Y2K bugs either.

[@nathanmead140]

​​@@pobleme too, I'll be 24 this year, just a few more months left.

[@dougclendening5896]

And that's the last time it may have been used. It was created around 1990-1992

[@guyguy467]

Always a pleasure to see you guys work

[@Peyre]

Could watch this all day long. Amazing how many different skills and tools are required for this and you guys seem to be able to do all of it.

[@Alexvander10]

This was your best video in years! More of these please. Such great memories playing this arcade original back in the early 90's. I remember being absolutely blown away by it.

[@mortensteen]

Fantastic work! Turned out beautiful. I love these restoration videos!

[@Monhamd1000]

I bet that the Commander X16 would benefit for a impressive Street Fighter II port.

[@benbreeck3363]

The trickiest problem is that 32 byte memory window between VRAM and System RAM. You either shrink the characters to roughly Double Dragon relative size (32 pixels high on average), or else settle for 30 Hz frame rate(or slower) and/or at least 32 second load times between matches. Oh, if only there was another processor on the VERA board to babysit the blanking cycles, leaving more clock cycles for the 65C02 to load tiles and sprite frames into VRAM...

[@AlenMarkov]

Wohooo - even more nice to watch with the excellent backtrack by Anders. Very very nice job done here (love that mancave)!

[@electricallycanadian]

This is phenomenal work. I wish arcades around here put as much care and attention into their restorations.

[@robotonwheels2551]

Wonderful to see you and the guys' enthusiasm really coming through in these Time Rift videos! Such a great project.

[@AphoticLucent]

The artwork for the sides is so good

[@alfredocanas6802]

love these arcade restoration videos!, amazingly the arcade works with no problems and that's a true testament of the quality of the arcade board and the monitor.

[@BaconFire]

Thank you SO much for this video. Inspiring and put a smile on my face. Proud to see the care you all put into this restoration.

[@davidgood840]

I'm a little disappointed that after all of the great work on this fantastic restoration , Cammy is still not in the game 🤣

[@Modi718]

Hell Yes... This is my Christmas.

[@zamiyaFlow]

props for keeping the MAS-stick and buttons, those were a classic staple

[@jimechols4347]

Yeah those slender sticks were the best. Made pulling off the special moves easier than with the ball top sticks.

[@Starchface]

I'm glad this appeared in the Recommended section. I was not yet subscribed. That was a great outcome. It was very satisfying to watch the restoration work. I always say there's nothing more popular than watching other people work. With all of your knowledge and skills together I'm sure you will make the arcade a success.

[@conchosewing]

it warms my heart that someone out there is restoring these cool machines! thank you

[@andsoitwas3046]

Man, the 8 Bit Guy can literally do anything - kind of jealous

[@ChrisLeathley]

Reminds me of my old days of working for Leisure and Allied (Main Australian Arcade chain of Timezone) working as a field technician. When SF2 came out it spend ages converting machines over (usually old TNMT or Simpsons machines). Some sites had up to 6 conversions. Hated the game but loved the experience. (one of the plus sides was getting prototype pinballs from Williams but thats another story)

[@alansmithee1030]

Came here from the 8bit guy's channel. Great video. You guys hit all the beats and put out a great restoration vid. Thanks! I hope to see more and more!

[@ManueldelaFe]

It's more a carpenter or sign maker work than a electrical restoration, but it's not your fault, the electronics were almost in mint condition. The results are really awesome, and the magic touch was the purple T-mold. Simply delightful.

[@yshrha10]

Truly amazing evolution of 8bit guy's restoration vids. Love these vids!!

[@GYTCommnts]

Not only it makes me very happy to watch an Arcade being restored, but this video is an excellent source of good ideas and techniques to use if you want to do the same. There are many videos of Arcade restorations, of course, but not so many with this quality and smart development! Thank you!

[@VideoWorkbench]

What an AWESOME video! Thank you for sharing the restoration of this arcade cabinet!

[@matt_kelly]

This restoration really makes happy, you guys are really dedicated! Great work!

[@donchaput8278]

You guys are amazing, thanks for saving these and giving them a new life!

[@KartKing4ever]

Absolutely fantastic! This scratches the itch that many of us are looking for and allows David to keep doing newer things on his channel. Best of both worlds.

[@marshallarchive1141]

Mad respect for the time, effort and love you put into this ! Stunning !

[@theWSt]

Fascinating how much love, time, and afford you guys put into these restaurations, you can be proud of yourselves! It's a joy to watch these videos!

[@PeterSimpson666]

Excellent restoration video, need to see more of these amazing retro arcade cabinets being restored.

[@RDM606]

This is exactly the type of video that the main channel needs more of. Good stuff!

[@icebaby414]

As a fellow person that used to restore and repair old video and pinball games, this was fun to stroll down memory lane. Thanks!!

[@mikeschmitt1785]

Awesome video! I have been watching 8-Bit Guy videos over the past few years. Your focus isn’t always on topics I would seek out, but your videos are so engaging that I always watch until the end. Hope to see more projects here!

[@bonfirelit37]

This is honestly so amazing to watch. I think it's awesome what you guys did and it looks like a really cool restoration job.

[@FintanMoloney]

Amazing work David. Both you and your brother are really talented at this stuff. Really enjoyed seeing the whole process.

[@ubza1234]

Thank you so much for this channel. I'm in the process of designing and building a few of my own cabinet from scratch, and these videos have not only answered many questions I've been wondering about, but also shed some points on some of the more nuance things I never really have any thought. Thank you so much!

[@neilburns3614]

This is one of the best videos on this platform I have watched recently. I found it fascinating. Awesome. Thanks to the makers of the video, David and his brother, Mike, and the young guy who was committed in his work ethic. Kudos. I love Street Fighter. Even since I ventured into a local arcade and snooker hall as a teenager.

[@sethschafer1036]

Magnificent work Thank You for your dedication Long live the video Game history

[@clintstewart941]

Love the longer video!!! Love the new content. Love seeing the Brothers work together.

[@AMarchant]

What an amazing transformation, you guys have a remarkable talent for bringing these machines back to their best.

[@lwwells]

Thank you for keeping these alive!!!

[@vasilisarris6717]

Awesome job on the restoration. That machine brought back so many memories for me. It felt like seeing it for the first time in the arcades.👍🏽

[@azathoz]

What an amazing restoration guys. The Arcade machine looks beautiful now. I wish I had room in my home to have one.

[@HCTarik]

Amazing job. Good work fellas. Keep preserving history one machine at a time.

[@Misterword20]

Dear God! This machine was the heaven on earth for me in the 90’s. MK, Street Fighter, Top Gear, Captain Commando, Cadillac and Dinossaurs and much, much more were a happy piece of my childhood. We lived in a small city in Brazil and me and my friends did almost incredible things to play them. Those were amazing years when we were just kids.

[@MrDeelightful]

GREAT job on this everyone. That looks like a brand new cabinet, beautiful work!

[@mdickens98]

What an incredible restoration! I love the fact that you've got the tools and techniques to do most of it yourself and that artwork looks epic!

[@MrThunderwing]

That was a thoroughly enjoyable watch! Fascinating to see the huge printer in action and how you mount the vinyl stickers afterwards.

[@metaleggman18]

Awesome, you guys have a sawstop! Those things are so awesome, and are a literal finger saver 😂

[@Thunk00]

Really sweet video! All the exact same good vibes as old school 8 Bit Guy videos. Would love to see more.

[@oafkad]

So glad you still do restoration videos somewhere. This stuff is so pleasantly zen.

[@jxchamb]

Thanks KZbin for the recommendation. Needed more 8 bit guy videos.

[@LKBoots15]

Amazing restoration! You guys did such a professional and high-quality restoration of this cabinet that I see it as what the standard for Street Fighter II cabinets would have looked like if they weren't a kit game. I love the work you guys did so much, I come back and watch the whole video three times each week! It really is awesome.

[@mtthyw]

These videos teach me so much. I haven’t even bought an arcade machine yet, but I feel prepared to restore one soon. Thank you so guys so much. You have some amazing tips and tricks.

[@r000tbeer]

That's a lot of work you guys put into each machine, but it looks to be worth it in the end! Awesome job.

[@thespliffingbrit7766]

That looked amazing at the end.. Brought back many happy childhood memories...

[@blastosupreme]

I really like the longer format video like this one compared to the other videos. Awesome work as always.

[@mikeboss416]

Love the artwork and the purple molding . Looks sharp !

[@HelloKittyFanMan]

WOWW, Dave, you guys did a GREAT job on that facelift, it looks SO MUCH BETTER!

[@ryno166]

god i would have so much fun restoring cabinets with 8-bit guy. love the breakdown! made this look like a blast.

[@daraghmorrissey]

love it! just came across this channel. I love seeing old stuff get repaired. Makes me very happy for some reason, I have no idea why!

[@bibu6666]

Great job David and all the team! It was very fun to watch!

[@burgerjointgame]

You did an awesome job! ❤ The cabinet art is awesome 🎉

[@ianminer3162]

Very excited for the arcade to open! I live in Bedford and will visiting often. Great video!

[@deang5386]

What a great restoration. There is some Street Fighter 2 artwork that has the special moves on it, that would really help anyone playing it in the arcade.

[@charlesdeens8927]

That was a very satisfying restoration to watch. Brings back to my local arcade days.

[@SRMkay]

This machine is the physical embodiment of "radical". Turned out excellent!

[@Aubee89]

First time I see something like this. Now I am hooked on the idea of buying and refurbishing an old Third Strike cabinet for the garage.... great job fellas