Altered Beast doesn't qualify for me either as it's probably the closest to the arcade of any port up through the 16-bit era. Ditto for Street Fighter... I'm told the original arcade controlled just as badly (although I'll admit I've never played it).
The original arcade controls of Street Fighter are nowhere near as awkward as they are in Fighting Street. The port of Street Fighter on Capcom Classics Collection vol. 2 features an accurate emulation of the 6-button arcade controls. Buttons work only when released, not when pressed. With Fighting Street you will get hard punches and kicks after you hold down the buttons for a certain length of time, but there is a delay in the button timing that makes special moves in Fighting Street very difficult to master.
Special moves in the 6 button Street Fighter are more difficult to pull off than in Street Fighter 2, and there are two main reasons for it:
1: Since buttons in Street Fighter 1 work only when released, you only have one chance per button press to execute a special move. Street Fighter 2 gives you two chances, because special moves can be executed upon the press of a button as well as the release of said button.
2: In Street Fighter 1, your character will move left or right in a hopping fashion, and will move in set increments. Special moves cannot be executed during movement - your character must be stationary. In Street Fighter 2, your character will move freely left or right, and special moves can interrupt left and right movement at any time.