Street Fighter II had a crazy number of revisions. What's different between each version?

retro-room (63)in #gaming • 8 years ago (edited)

Few people would argue that Street Fighter II is the most important and influential fighting game of all time. The 1991 sequel took the format that was established in 1987's forward-thinking, but lackluster Street Fighter and polished it so much that it hardly felt like the same game.

Over the following years, the game received a dizzying number of upgrades and expanded versions, while always flying under the banner of Street Fighter II. It became a joke by the mid 90's that we might never see a Street Fighter II.

So let's take a look at each version to see what the differences are and which one you might like best.

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)

The first game in what you could basically call the Street Fighter II series gives you 8 playable characters to pick from, each with a wide range of attacks using 6 buttons, three for varying power and speeds of punches and kicks. Using combinations of joystick movements and button presses, you can pull of special attacks that are unique to each character.

The roster included the (more or less) clones of Ken and Ryu, nimble Chun-Li, rugged Guile, yoga expert Dhalsim, Russian wrestler Zangief, wild jungle creature Blanka and sumo master E.Honda. After picking your fighter.

You take your chosen fighter through the remaining 7 fighters and must defeat all to unlock the final four 'boss' characters. Defeating them reveals the ending, which is unique to each of the 8 fighters.

Street Fighter II: Championship Edition (1992)

The first revision of the game arrived the following year to satiate gamers' thirst for more Street Fighter II). The biggest change to this version is the four boss characters are now playable, bringing the roster up to 12.

You can now choose to play as hulking boxer Balrog, Spanish bullfighter Vega, giant Muay Thai kickboxer Sagat and criminal overlord M. Bison. Additionally, you can now play 'mirror matches' that allow Ryu vs. Ryu or Guile vs. Guile fights with slightly different colored versions of each fighter to differentiate.

Additionally, gameplay tweaks were implemented to better balance the gameplay and small visual upgrades were added as well.

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (1992)

To further refine the game, another revision was released in late 1992. Turbo increases the speed of the game, making matches faster and crazier and pulling off moves requires more precision.

In addition, most of the characters were given additional special moves to make them more well-rounded and to introduce more strategic play.

Super Street Fighter II (1993)

While everyone was expecting Street Fighter III to make its way to arcades, Capcom instead gave the game a significant overhaul the following year with Super Street Fighter II.

The biggest addition to this new game in the series is the introduction of four new characters, the first new playable fighters since Championship Edition. The new fighters are the powerful Mexican fighter T.Hawk, sexy British special agent Cammy, blatant Bruce Lee-ripoff Fei Long and the kickboxing Jamaican Dee Jay.

Of course, futher gameplay tweaks were introduced as well as more powerful system hardware that allowed for better graphics and animation.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994)

Inevitably, the following year brought us yet another revision, tweaking the previous release even further.

The biggest improvements to this version are the addition of super combos and the legendary Akuma was finally introduced in this title.

Hyper Street Fighter II (2003)

A very minor revision, the game was released on home consoles before getting a very small arcade run. Revisions and changes are minimal and it serves as more or less a 'greatest hits' version of the game.

Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (2017)

The final version of this game was released last year on the Nintendo Switch, which features both the classic pixel art and the redrawn HD sprites used in the XBox Live version of the game.

More or less based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo, this iteration makes Akuma a standard playable character and introduces Evil Ken and Violent Ryu. In addition to more gameplay tweaks, the game features online multiplayer for an endless supply of challengers.

Street Fighter II has a long history with a ton of revisions. I think we've finally seen the last version of this game, but who knows if Capcom will choose to go back to the well in the future?