First off, I want to apologize for such a short review. Not only am I currently addicted to WoW, but this is a review of a “updated” game, not an entirely new game, and I have already reviewed Street Fighter 2. With that out of the way, let us continue.
Released for the SNES and Genesis in 1993, the Super Street Fighter 2 is one of the many updates to the Street Fighter 2 series. First, let me take a minute to explain what’s different about this version, since most gamers do tend to get confused.
Dee Jay, Cammy, Fei Long and T-Hawk made their first appearance in this game and caused one hell of a balancing issue. T-Hawk’s strength is way too high, making any sort of versus battle pointless. Each character was redrawn, complete with new and improved animations, and each was also given eight different colors to choose from. One in particular that made Chun-Li fanboys happy in the pants was her new fireball pose. Her old pose was nothing more than one of her standing punch animations with a blue Yoga Fire across the screen. In this game, she now bends over, sticking her pixilated ass in the air and raising many eyebrows…amongst other things, and has her own fireball now. DOWN, FANBOY. DOWN!
In the first attempt to distinguish Ken and Ryu apart, Capcom gave Ryu a faster version of his standard Fireball but also a new “red” Fireball that does more damage. In return, Ken’s Dragon Punch speed was increased, but he was also given a multi-hit flaming version of the same move. SSF2 also introduced a new point system to the series. Points are awarded for first attacks, combos, perfect victories, recovery attacks (which are also new), recovering from dizzy status, etc. This serves no other purpose other than bragging rights on the hi-score board.
While one balance issue came about with T-Hawk and certain other characters, another was perfected in the sense that you can no longer “tick” your opponents by hitting them with a weak strike and, during their animation, throw them across the screen. SSF2 also features an updated soundtrack, and thanks to Capcom’s QSound technology, stereo sound is now an option, which overall feels a little more crisp. Also worth noting is that all the characters were given their own voiceovers for their death animations instead of the generic male/female “oohh ahhh oohh ahhh” sounds.
Overall, Super Street Fighter 2 is worth buying if you want to play as the four new characters and to check out the new Chun-Li pose, but the balance issue kills the versus modes which Street Fighter was known for. The sound is greatly improved, the new voices give each character their own feel and the removal of “ticking” opponents saves n00bs from becoming Zangief’s lunchmeat. But again, the balance issue really kills the gameplay.
