When SF2 hit the arcades you had to get in the queue for the cabs, everyone wanted to play it. We talked for months about combos, tactics and whatnot.
Then it hit the home consoles and I went to my fav store at half past six in the morning to be the first one to pick up the MD version. Well, I wasn't, there already were about ten people waiting and by the time the shop opened, dozens of people were pouring in to get their SF fix. Took a day off from work and played the game for almost 8 hours on the first day, both in 1P but most of it were memorable 2P bouts with my buddies. My favorite character back then was Chun-Li but I soon changed to Guile and stuck to it for a long while.
I even bought a new TV to play the game on a bigger screen and re-arranged half of the room to have the speakers of my stereo next to the TV for proper sound.
Next in line was Super Street Fighter II, I still consider the MD port to be a great representation of the arcade original. The new character were a welcome addition and we played it almost as much as SF2'.
In the coming years, I would play the new SFs on various systems, PSX, PS2, DC, Xbox, etc. The Alpha/Zero series, SFIII series, up to SF4 when I gradually lost interest in the series.
SF2 is an epochal title that changed the world of video games forever. It not only was a game people went crazy about but also was hugely helpful in taking the arcade scene into the 90s and beyond. Versus fighting used to be a social event and if you wanted to experience the real thing, going to the arcade was the only way for long time. I'm sure if SF2 would not have been invented, arcades would have withered quicker than they did after the old order was gone. It was the atmosphere the game created in the arcade with lots of people playing it competitively that could not be recreated anywhere or anyway else, and that still is the case today.
Shine on, you crazy SF diamond.