Retro|Spective 127R: Street Fighter

[Neon Ignition]

Game 04 - Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
Arriving within months, it was intended as an upgrade kit for CE. The game tweaked special moves and balancing again but was most notable for increasing the gameplay speed considerably. Arguably one of the weakest forms of updates the series ever received this none the less paid off for fans as that shift in pacing transformed the experience and fans utterly adored this version of the game.







Compared to the prior versions did this disappoint you or was a version you would go on to love a Sheng Long time?

[Brad]

Played the original in its thump the rubber squared off dome variety. Loved it at the time. Wouldn't hold up today though.

Had SF2 in the student bar and loved it so much. I'd never owned a console til that point but was prompted to import a (if memory serves, Japanese) snes, step down and the game and it remained a SF2 box until Mario kart came out basically.

Never played Champion Edition.

I got Turbo but didn't like the increased speed.

[Neon Ignition]

SF2T is the first entry I owned, it came with the SNES I belatedly got one birthday when the system was late in life. I'd played it before but that was when it received the most time outside of in arcades (alongside all the hacked versions that cropped up). I definitely preferred it to the original, slow SF is the worst SF

[Mayhem]

Turbo is the peak of the series imo, did everythng right and fixed most of the previous issues.

As for the original SF1, the local bowling alley had the pressure pad version for a few weeks until, I'm presuming, it started to fail. Completed the arcade game on a 6 button set up having played SF2 first.

[monel]

I'm not sure if it was just an urban legend but western magazines often mentioned the first SF pressure buttons causing Japanese men to have heart attacks when unleashing their anger after work. Probably just a myth...

This series has probably been discussed on here to death but SF2 did seem to change the industry. The machines, with the updates (official and bootlegs) were popping up everywhere. Video rental places, takeaways, to the point where if you met someone your age who was visiting from another town or even country, they probably knew the game.

I always mention the sound effects and the great soundtrack. Hyper / Turbo was probably the high point for me. After that I always played the games but that was almost perfect for its time.

[Dogg Thang]

Yes, the sound was iconic and recognisable in every arcade. Although Dhalsim’s stage and those elephants got a bit much after a while.

I’m kind of envious all you guys got to play the big button SF1. It just didn’t exist where I lived.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 05 - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
Not eager to leave their hit behind, Capcom moved very quickly again onto yet another update of its second fighter. This time some more balances and moves were added but the key changes were the speed being slowed back down and the addition of four new fighters along with their matching themes and stages. Fei Long, Cammy, T.Hawk and Deejay all appeared to varying levels of appeal and al alternative tournament battle mode version of the game also existed. Capcom also released a unique design six button controller for the SNES port.










Was this latest update Super?

[Dogg Thang]

Yes. Yes it was super. I thought the new characters were superb. The additions to the main cast were great, especially fleshing out the boss characters into proper player characters. The lick of paint was lovely and it played great. A very worthy update with much more effort than the previous two updates.

A bunch of mates and I pooled together to buy a stupidly expensive import copy of this when it came out on the SNES. We played so much of it we got every penny's worth.

[Neon Ignition]

I had two intros to this game. The first was renting the Mega Drive version out and it was... not good. I later briefly had the SNES version which was much better but to be honest the drop off in speed really hampered the appeal of this entry.

[Dogg Thang]

Yeah. that was a common complaint and after Hyper Fighting I get it. For me, while I loved Hyper Fighting, I always had an issue that the animation clearly wasn't designed to run that fast so I got a sort of Benny Hill feeling from it. I know Super felt so slow by comparison but, to me, it just felt better as an overall package when considered with the animation and control.

[Nu-Eclipse]

I do wonder if Capcom in hindsight feel that they should've used enhanced cartridge tech to put SSFII Turbo/X on the SNES/SFC (like what they did for the SNES/SFC port of Street Fighter Alpha/Zero II) instead of normal SSFII.

Funnily enough though, the coin-op versions of SFII World Warrior, Champion Edition and SSFII don't actually feel as slow as their console counterparts IMO. There's obviously a speed discrepancy but not to the point that the arcade originals feel unplayable.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 06 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Still in 1994 and yet another updated version of the fighter released, this time increasing the speed options again and introducing super combos and air combos to the mix. This was also the entry where Akuma would make his formal debut. The game was well received amongst fans of the series but its sales failed to match up to prior versions as fatigue started to set in amongst more general players. An online enabled 'Matching Service' version was released for Dreamcast whilst the GBA' Revival port mashed up elements of the SNES Super with the Super Turbo arcade in addition to altering or replacing some fighter backgrounds.







SF2's finest hour?

[fuse]

Unquestionably my favourite iteration of SF2, and up there as one of the best from the whole series. I consider Hyper more of a sideshow, and this to be the real swan song for SF2 - and what a way to leave things.

The 'turbo' element was never that big of a deal in my eyes, whereas supers changed just about everything; so many of these plugged gaps in characters arsenals, and as a result meter building and how you respond to someone doing it became a crucial new element to the game.

My biggest issue at the time was the lack of a good home version on a mainstream console, meaning I didn't get to play it anywhere near as much as I'd have liked. On the plus side, it's still just as compelling to play today.

[Nu-Eclipse]

My biggest issue at the time was the lack of a good home version on a mainstream console, meaning I didn't get to play it anywhere near as much as I'd have liked. On the plus side, it's still just as compelling to play today.

It's almost criminal that Sega and Capcom didn't give SSFIIX for Matching Service on the Dreamcast a proper official western release - it is pretty much the definitive home console port of Super Turbo and goes for stupid money today.

If I'm being honest, I'm a lot more nostalgic about the World Warrior/CE/HF editions of SFII - I played them the most. That said, there's no doubt that Super Turbo/X was a fantastic swansong for SFII and for the CPS-2 board unless I'm mistaken? And its legacy endures today thanks to competitive tournament play.

EDIT: I was mistaken. Hyper SFII: The Anniversary Edition was the final CPS-2 game. I knew it was a SF game! A fine way to bring the CPS-2 era full circle seeing as SSFII: The New Challengers was the first game to use that board.

[Neon Ignition]

Super Turbo for me was the peak SF2. A lot of time went into the 3DO version despite its flaws and if I were to play OG style SF2 it would be via this entry in the series. The tweaks and speed give it that edge I liked from Turbo coupled with the perks of Super.