Super Street Fighter II Turbo

The Good
The graphics fix all of the ailments of the 3DO version and the control is tighter still. If I could get the Matching Service going in America, I'm sure it would've been fun, no doubt. Also, the sounds are finally presented in QSound and are clean, crisp, and clear. Also, zero access time, flows as fast as the arcade version.

The Bad
The music is terrible! It's that half-assed version Capcom used for the Saturn/PlayStation version within Street Fighter Collection 1. Why? Why not the excellent 3DO music? That would've really made my day. Also, the fun is all gone. There's nothing revealing, from a technical/programming standpoint that makes this game anything more than Capcom trying to make a buck or two off some sucker who missed the game on EVERY occasion on every other system is was released for. It's on a GD-ROM, for Pete's sake, so that 1.2 GB disc could've held who knows what in extras and other stuff. But no. Echelon, the pirates, have stated the game is only like 20 MB. Nice use of a GD-ROM, Capcom!

The Bottom Line
I say PASS on this version of the game. There seems to be no love from Capcom, and it sours the vibe of this game really well. If you must have, from a strictly collector's standpoint, the highest version format of the game, then, yes, the 128-bit version is the highest you can get, but sure doesn't seem like it.

The Good
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is truly the best incarnation and the end of the evolutionary process of the classic Street Fighter 2 series, this is the most balanced, most feature-packed, most intense game in the series (and it'd better be! Capcom went around releasing a new version of SF2 per year!) And the good news is that this time it made the translation to the pc flawlessly.

First let me do a quick run-up for those on the dark about SSF2T: the game is still pretty much the same, but the balance has finaly been tuned to near perfection and the speed of gameplay has been considerably increased (a feature that you can customize at your will in this port). You also get combo recognition and bonuses (here's where we started seeing those "First Strike" or "Excellent!" signs popping up), new moves and graphics (some even hand-drawn, sort of a preview for SFA), a small power bar that when filled allows players to unleash a devastating super-move and of course: 5 new characters to select. These newcomers are Fei Long (the fast Bruce Lee clone); T.Hawk (a mexican wrestler); DeeJay (an easy to use jamaican kickboxer), and Capcom's attempt at following some of SNK's ideas in the form of Cammy, SF2's version of Mai Shinarui complete with skimpy outfit and bouncing boobs (yay! gotta love that fanservice!). The fifth and final character is Akuma, who needs no introduction and is also selectable thru a code in the Turbo edition.

Quite obviously you can bitch at Capcom for taking 142345 releases to come up to that, but you can't deny that they are all good additions to an already established classic game. But the real important thing here is to see how the game fared when ported to the PC, and the news is that it did exceptionally well! This is probably the first really really good conversion of an arcade videogame for the pc and it's easy to see why once you fire it up. The graphics and sounds are crispy clear and absolutely faithful to it's original arcade roots, controls are dead-on, fast and responsive, be it on keyboard or gamepad. The options and game modes are standard Capcom settings like the ones seen on the snes version of the original SF2, but one cannot really complain since they already work... So yeah: lock up the door...swallow the key...Street Fighter 2 is on the pc!

The Bad
I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I always sensed something was... different from the original version when playing it on the pc. Finally I found the answer years later on an official FAQ: the screen is re-sized!! That's why the sprites feel bigger and the stages smaller... well, at least the graphics are still fully detailed, but don't be surprised when you start feeling somewhat cramped up. There are also some missing frames of animation and stuff like that, but for the most part you won't notice them.

I also could have used more game modes, and the AI is pretty crappy.

The Bottom Line
The definitive version of the one true arcade classic, a true masterpiece of one-on-one fighting games that defined the genre and stays playable to this day. And guess what?? This time they didn't botch the conversion and the thing actually plays like in the arcade!!! Hadoken!

The Good
This is the 5th revision of the original SF2 game, and it shows. The SF series has always been one to emphasize gameplay over flash, and while this does have a bit of showy stuff (super moves), the rock-solid tactics are still here. Speedwise, this is the fastest ever, but as a bonus it's adjustable for those who prefer it slower. The game balance and overall "tightness" of the gameplay is just barely less than the venerable Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyperfighting, but it still whoops the pants off all other fighters out there. There's a plethora of new moves and combos to keep you entertained, and to add new elements of strategy. Hours of entertainment.

The Bad
Unfortunately, this is not a great one-player game. The AI is pretty lame, especially on high levels. It has ungodly reaction time, and does jacked-up damage, so the only way to beat it is to use stupid patterns and exploit holes in its programming. Also, the game is not arcade-perfect. It's damn close, but there are some bugs and some programming shortcuts (i.e. Vega's ground throw looks like they cribbed the animation from his Izna Drop). Unless you have a gamepad, some moves can be hard or impossible to pull off, especially the 360/720 ones.

The Bottom Line
This is the best version of the best fighting series ever. Even though the game is over 6 years old, the depth of strategy is such that there are still tournaments being held on it. Do yourself a favor and check it out!