Indeed it was.
When playing people who were good, it was extremely rare to get a high-hit ultra because they knew where to break, so you had to change it up and use much smaller combos into Ultras or Ultimates. Man... I miss these games. I can't tell you how many 20-hit Jago Ultras I got lol (the ultra did 18 hits)
Low damage Ultras were the way to go and I was pretty good at activating them as soon as the opponents life bar began to flash. I played Cinder quite a bit and would bump up the hit count with his (infinite) air juggle; it was completely unnecessary but there was something satisfying about seeing ULTRA COMBO with 50+ HITS. Unlocking Eyedol and trolling with his corner infinite was also really fun.
Anything over the top attracted a crowd and people would huddle in to see what was going on. The owner realized that fighting games were bringing in attention so he purchased larger showcase cabinets for the more popular game and set them up side by side. When you walked through the door, the first thing you saw were games such as Street Fighter Alpha, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Killer Instinct, Killer Instinct 2, Tekken 2, Virtua Fighter 2 and crowds of people hovering around the machines.
The mid 90's was a great time for fighting games (games in general) and I'm really glad to have experienced it first-hand.
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