Review: Super Street Fighter 2 HD (PS3/Xbox 360)

[Don Ramón]

Do you believe in love at first sight? No? Well, you should, because it happened to me the first time I saw Street Fighter II (SFII) in my local arcade. The machine still had that ‘new’ smell that seduced me like the perfume of a beautiful girl and I decided on the spot that I would do my best to master this game. Unfortunately, I was not the only one with such ideas, and I had to endure long waits in line just to enjoy a few minutes at the joystick for a chance to battle others for the right to remain playing. SFII quickly became one of my favorite games and also ranks in the top tier of games in which I spent the most money during my arcade days.

And why not? Street Fighter II is doubtless one of the most important game sagas in the history of the industry. Although the very first delivery was largely ignored due to its lack of visual refinement and archaic game experience, the sequel came back with a vengeance and conquered the hearts of gamers of all ages and walks of life, eventually even reaching our very homes through the SNES and the Genesis.

Street Fighter II represents a turning point in the history of 2D fighting games, and is very possibly the most influential game ever in that genre. Most of the ensuing games measured themselves against it, and this influence prevailed even when the genre reached the 3D stage.

Such a solid base was well exploited by Capcom, serving as the model for a series of revised and expanded versions that flooded consoles everywhere throughout the years. The most recent of these were those released for the Nintendo Virtual Console and the not so glorious version released some two years ago of the classic Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting (XBL). But after that prolonged drought of new content we now receive what I consider as probably the best and ultimate version of the game in the form of Street Fighter II HD Remix.

We once more have the 17 traditional characters, that is, the 16 New Challengers plus Akuma (the original challengers would be Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Blanka, and E. Honda, the big bosses Vega, Sagat, Balrog, and M. Bison, as well as the newcomers Cammy, Thunder Hawk, Dee Jay, and Fei Long). It’s noteworthy to say that the fighting styles and techniques of the combatants have thankfully been respected. The control scheme is gladly also the same and we once more return to the classic distribution of controls through six buttons (three for punch and three for kicks). In fact controls have actually improved when compared to Hyper Fighting. A few lags and glitches remain unsolved in the 360 and PS3 versions, but they’re only present when using the D-pad since the game works perfectly with the joystick.

The game modes have been expanded, although the core concepts remain. We can now choose between original or HD modes when fighting the campaign. They both generally play along the same traditional path, and the most noticeable difference is the ending cinematic, which in the HD version is done in a refined anime style, while the other has the usual old ending video. However, there is a more subtle change that you may not necessarily notice right away. The HD mode has been readjusted to offer a better balance among fighters and these power adjustments have been approved in consultation with some of the best players around the world. Both HD and original have four difficulty settings. The other game modes remain exactly the same: practice, fast game vs computer, 1vs1, tournament (supports up to 8 players), ranked fights, and unranked fights.

The most awaited game mode addition is doubtless the Online, something that was already tried earlier in Hyper Fighting. However the online in that version yielded mixed results due to common lags and slowdowns, which limited our match-up possibilities and rendered more than a few games simply unplayable. HD Remix has allowed us to avoid all the negative variables and obtain a better online experience than before. They achieved this by letting us select other players by their ping, thus permitting us to steer away from any potentially unplayable games.

Other added functions are the classic statistics of each player, both in the general matchmaking as well as with friends, voice chat, several achievement markers (highest number of throws, for instance), Party Mode & Arcade, and even the option of observing other players combat while your turn comes up.

However, I need to stress above all the outstanding technical refinement of this game. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix can be played at 1080p, thanks to the arduous redrawing job done by the artists at Udon Entertainment, who not only provided the improved character designs (which are more anime inspired and youthful), but also the upgraded backgrounds. The good job done on the sprites stands out to as well. It is simply awesome to see your favorite characters of yesterday rock your screen with vibrant and sleek new looks, but without betraying their essences. The sound is consistently good throughout the whole game, and you can choose between the original themes and ‘modernized’ versions. In both cases the compositions are masterpieces with songs as mythical as Guile’s theme, just to mention one. All sound effects have been re-recorded with a better more refined depth and clarity. As was the case of the graphics and the musical background, you can also choose between the new and the old sound effects.

This game is almost all you could have expected of it. A memorable update of an unforgettable classic made all the more irresistible by the best graphics ever seen on a 2D fight game, with spectacular animations and awesome anime style endings—despite being made up of still frames. Add on top of all that a worthy online mode, a more balanced damage adjustment for each character, and accessible controls and you wind up with the near perfect dream package.

Near perfect, but not quite. There are still a few observations worth mentioning. The controls are still quite deficient when using the Dual Shock 3 and somewhat unresponsive when using the 360 control pad. You could correct this by resorting to a joystick, but we consider that it’s quite unfair for a game to demand the purchase of peripherals for optimal operation. Finally, the much beloved bonus stage is gone (no more beating the hell out of a classic car!!!) and a few bugs persist on the online games (the music and the health bar occasionally disappear). What is even worse, the online ranking system crashed a while back raising the ire of the more competitive players. It’s worth noting that a patch has been promised to address all these issues, and should be only a few days away now.

So here we have in a nutshell the triumphant return of a timeless classic that gives us far more to thank for than to complain about. This is a game bred from nostalgia and reborn by the magic of a new era. Doubtless the best version of Street Fighter II to date and an event that no true lover of the original series could let go by unacknowledged.

Scores:

Presentation: 9.0
Gameplay: 9.5
Value: 9.0

Overall Score: 9.3

[Don Ramón]

Hey Guys please review this for me, point mistakes or things I need to add, I will post this in VGC after that.

[El Duderino]

I see am mistake... its not Street Fighter 4 or Resident Evil 5 I will taunt you till you get those games... told you to get a Modbox half a year ago...

[Falcon095]

This is biased!

[pichu]

No one told me you have a Ps3!

Edit: also great review! Nice mix of nostalgia and modernization of the series in an essay.

[Don Ramón]

I tested the game in a PS3

[pichu]

Also, the final score for Brawl in VGC is a 9.2. Did you intentionally gave it a decimal higher so it can be the best fighter in VGC?

Blasphemy!!!!

[El Duderino]

Also, the final score for Brawl in VGC is a 9.2. Did you intentionally gave it a decimal higher so it can be the best fighter in VGC?

Blasphemy!!!!

Your right... the difference should be much bigger...

[Don Ramón]

Also, the final score for Brawl in VGC is a 9.2. Did you intentionally gave it a decimal higher so it can be the best fighter in VGC?

Blasphemy!!!!

Pichu for my SF"HD is better game than SSBB, the real score should be 9.5, but I know Nazanatips will not allow that so 9.3... probably will be reduced to 9 by him

[pichu]

This is a transition. Nintendo Fan metamorphosize to a Microsoft fan... The Horror!

[B4L]

wait who did the review for brawl on vgc ? 9.2 too low ! 9.5 it should be . Anyways nice review on sf2:HD

[El Duderino]

So you make the review and Naz, even if he hasn´t played the game, can change the review score ??? Thats bullshit... and you should be ashamed to be part of that kind of embarrassment...

[loro]

Good review, Don.

As far as Naz adjusting scores...

It's actually a very fair system. He doesn't change your score to suit his opinion...he offers suggestions to reflect your review. You see, sometimes your words say one thing, but the score you give it says another. Take for instance the presentation score for this review. It is possible that he will suggest to Don to lower it, given the control hiccups he mentions as well as the bugg online experience. So after he lowers that to an 8.5 (hypothetically), Naz might also suggest that the entire score be brought down a few tenths of a percent to reflect that. It happened with my Metroid review, and I'm perfectly fine with it. I had originally given the game a 9.5, but after a couple score adjustments it became 9.3. No big deal, really.

[Don Ramón]

To be Honest I dontt like that personally, but I understand teh editors role.
So I am cool with it.

[loro]

I understand what you mean, don....but there needs to be some consistency on the site. We've already seen all the complaints, for instance, in my review where people were making a big deal about it getting a better review than halo 3.

I didn't like it when I heard about it either....but so far it seems like he is being fair about it.

[Kenzomatic]

Great review my friend, Thank You for sharing!

I'll only say I feel the system at VGC is unfair and leave it at that.

[Don Ramón]

Thanks guys for your input. Will post it in VGC

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