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Saturday, May 2, 2009

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter EX - 1996
The EX series was developed by Arika, not Capcom. The games were the first 3D versions of Street Fighter, but were criticized for essentially being 2D fighting games with polygonal graphics. Ken and Ryu appear roughly as they do in Street Fighter II, only they're made of ugly, ugly polygons.
Street Fighter EX 2 - 1998
Better technology (Namco's System 12 arcade board) gives EX 2 smoother textures and more polygons, but in the end, it's still an ugly early 3D fighter, and Ken and Ryu are still chunky messes of characters.
Street Fighter EX 3 - 2000
But wait! EX 3 was released two years later on the next generation of hardware, ported to the PS2, and massive graphical improvement ensued. Well, massive is a pretty hefty word - the models look much nicer than in the previous EX games, but in comparison to other PS2 games of its time, EX 3 was not quite up to par. Critics described the characters as "blocky," and "high-res PS1," and much was said about the slow character response time.
Some, however, found EX 3 to be a complete success - especially those who were fans of the previous EX games. Critical reception aside, Ken and Ryu are looking their most... 3Dish in EX 3, but are otherwise unaltered.

Trivia: On the Street Fighter EX 2 Plus arcade machine, Garuda, Shadow Geist, and Kairi become available when the machine has been running for a long period of time.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter III: The New Generation - 1997
Street Fighter III is a direct sequel to Street Fighter II, pitting Ken and Ryu against a host of brand new characters. But it might not have been that way - rumor has it that Ryu and Ken were originally going to be shut out of the game. Capcom did, in fact, cast Alex as the main character, but our infamous heroes returned regardless, if without the spotlight.
SF III was released on Capcom's new CPS-3 arcade board, meaning that the graphics are significantly improved over Alpha and Super SF II. Ryu's hair is now black - something we'll explore further later. Ken's hair has returned to its Street Fighter II length, as his ribbon was handed over to Ryu in the Alpha series.
Ryu's ending involves his typical quest to continue his training and fight more battles. Ken returns to his wife, Eliza, and child, who promptly punches him in the nuts. No, even Street Fighter can't escape the nut punch gag.

Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack - 1997
The unfortunately named 2nd Impact: Giant Attack features a couple of new characters and a few gameplay tweaks. Like Alpha 2's relationship to Alpha, 2nd Impact isn't a sequel to The New Generation, just an update.

Street Fighter III Third Strike: Fight for the Future - 1999
Third Strike, the third of the three Street Fighter III games (say that three times fast), is a continuation of the story in the first two Street Fighter III games. Ryu is maintaining his wandering warrior schtick, this time on a trek through America in search of Ken, who is in the process of winning his third US championship in a row. In Alex's ending, he is defeated by the oh-so-powerful Ryu, but vows that "the show has just begun."

A sprite comparison between Street Fighter III and Alpha 3 shows off the refined animations and upgraded graphical capability of the CPS-3 games. The costume pallet swap in the SF III screen is in place merely to provide contrast.

The "ready" sprites maintain the "front-facing" pose of the Alpha series, with a little more bulk in the chest and arms. The below comparison makes the transition clear - the Street Fighter II sprite is much more forward oriented than the Alpha and SF III sprites. Also note the bent knees in Street Fighter are knocked the other way in Street Fighter II, and are then straightened out in Alpha and III.

Back on the subject of Ryu's hair color - if we trace it all the way back to the original Street Fighter, there is the appearance that it was originally dyed red and has since faded to black.
While it would be a stretch to assume that this was an intentional decision by Capcom, we've created a comparison (left) for fun, in chronological order as dictated by the storyline. Note that we've also seen Ryu with black hair in concept art for Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which further leads us to believe that his hair color has been generally assigned for aesthetic reasons rather than story reasons.
Trivia: Q, a bizarre character introduced in 3rd Strike, was voiced by Len Carlson, who also voiced Ganon in the animated Legend of Zelda series, which aired in 1989.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Alpha Series
Street Fighter Alpha Warriors' Dreams - 1995
The Street Fighter Alpha series takes place before Street Fighter II, and after Street Fighter. Ryu and Ken return in the Alpha series, redone in the series' signature Anime style. Ryu is sporting a white headband, as in the original Street Fighter. Ken's hair is significantly longer, and contains a red ribbon.
We can see the "cell shaded" look of the sprites in the below screen. Ryu's hair, while still brown, has become slightly more red than it was in Street Fighter II. Ryu's uniform is whiter, and his torn sleeves and legs more jagged. Also notice that Ken's stance is more front-facing than in SF II.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 - 1996

Alpha 2 is not a continuation of the story in Alpha - it is an update of the game, and what Capcom had intended Alpha, which was rushed to release, to be. The only new character created for the game is Sakura (right), a spunky schoolgirl who's obsessed with Ryu. There has to be one of them in every series, doesn't there?
The story of Alpha and Alpha 2 (as well as a variety of films and comics) sets up most of Street Fighter's back story. Earlier in the series, Ken and Ryu began as students of Gouken, Ryu's adoptive father. Ken came to Japan as an undisciplined American to study under the master.

The Alpha series sees Ryu return home to discover that Gouken has been murdered by Akuma. He confronts, but does not defeat, Akuma on an island, which Akuma smashes after revealing the hidden power of Satsui no Hadou ("Evil Intent"), which is buried within Ryu.

Ken returns to America after the death of Gouken, where he becomes a famous actor and eventually marries his girlfriend, Eliza. Ken's Alpha 2 story ends with him defeating Ryu, who he claims "wasn't in it." Ken gives Ryu the red ribbon in his hair, which Ryu presumably wears from Street Fighter II forward, explaining the white to red headband transition.

In this scene from M. Bison's ending, we see Ryu being brainwashed, which allows Bison to discover that Ryu's Satsui no Hadou is not unlike his Psycho Power. We're pretty sure Ryu is wearing a white Speedo here, and is not, in fact, a Ken doll.

Trivia: The SNES version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold lacks the hidden characters, the Venezuela stage, and generally sucks.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 - 1998

Alpha 3 is an actual sequel to Alpha and Alpha 2, and is a fully redesigned game. The anime style of the character art is a bit more pronounced, as apparent in the screen below.

In Ken's ending, he defeats M. Bison using Ryu's Shoryuken. Ryu's ending sees him struggle between Bison's mind control and Satsui no Hadou.

Also notable in the Alpha series is the introduction of "Evil Ryu," a version of Ryu who has succumb to his "Evil Intent" (below). This character is a "what if" scenario - Ryu doesn't actually give in to Satsui no Hadou, excepting during his battle with Sagat in the original Street Fighter.

Trivia: There is no one correct way to spell "Hadouken" in English. Not even official game manuals have been consistent, and we've seen various sources refer to the attack as "Hadouken," "Hadoken," "Hado ken," and "Hado-ken." We're most familiar with the "Hadouken" spelling, which is why we use it in this article.

Street Fighter: The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter II - 1991:
Defying their humble beginnings in Street Fighter, the duo exploded into the mainstream in 1991 with the release of Street Fighter II. The Soviet Union was collapsing, Desert Storm was underway, and the World Wide Web was on the verge of realization - meanwhile, the kids were perfecting combos in the arcades. Street Fighter II made the fighting genre, with Ken and Ryu as its stars.
The first Street Fighter II game (of many) included eight playable characters. Ken and Ryu were initially the only playable characters carried over from the original Street Fighter.
Ryu's striking red hair is shifted to a muted brown, and his white headband replaced with a red one. Ken appears roughly the same as he did in Street Fighter, give or take a drunk character artist with an affinity for massive oval-shaped eyes and ridiculous snarls.
Street Fighter II Championship Edition (right) sees a redraw of our hero which features a much less passive expression, more refined hair, and even a puff of uber manly facial hair, possibly not seen since.
Super Street Fighter II (below), released on Capcom's next generation of arcade boards (CPS-2), represents a major conceptual jump for the characters. Ryu appears much more disgruntled, and his eyebrows have been toned down to match his hair. Ken gets a complete redraw - his spaghetti hair is now flattened and refined, his grimace modeled into a devious grin, and his giant black eyebrows are now giant and brown.

Each game in the Street Fighter II series represents incremental changes as Capcom attempted to perfect the game. Player feedback and time constrictions molded each of the updates, the most drastic being the jump from Street Fighter II to Super Street Fighter II, which introduced four new characters.

Above: Ryu and Ken spar in Street Fighter II Championship Edition

The story of SF II simply involves another tournament, but our heroes' back stories are truly fleshed out in the next series we'll explore - Alpha

Trivia: M. Bison is not M. Bison! Capcom shifted the boss names around for the US version because they felt that M. Bison (who was renamed Balrog in the US) too closely resembled Mike Tyson and was thus a liability. In Japan, M. Bison was in fact meant to resemble Tyson - the 'M' stands for "Mike."

Street Fighter:The evolution of Ken and Ryu

Street Fighter:
Ken and Ryu are cultural icons. Legends. Even most non-gamers, assuming they have at least a cursory knowledge of '90s pop culture, can recognize them.
Ten years after Street Fighter III, Street Fighter IV is about to cement the formidable duo into the collective consciousness of a new generation. In celebration, we're taking a look at how they became legends in the first place, one game at a time.
Street Fighter - 1987:
Street Fighter, created by two fellows who would later move on to SNK, laid the foundation for a revolution in fighting games. The game itself, however, is merely a relic. Technological limitations prevented it from ever catching on, making it "that one game... before Street Fighter II." Nevertheless, our story of two aspiring warriors begins here.
As the story goes, Ken and Ryu are students of Shotokan Karate. Ken fights in the US martial arts tournament, while Ryu enters the "World Warrior Tournament." Ryu wins, branding Sagat with his signature scar in the process (but only after succumbing to "Satsui no Hadou" - more on that later). Ryu is born as the archetypal "wandering warrior," and his never ending quest for new battles begins.
The only playable characters in the game are Ken and Ryu. There is no character selection screen. In versus, the first player is automatically Ryu, and the second Ken.
Ryu makes his debut with oddly striking red hair, a white headband, black belt, red shoes and apparently a variety of nuts in his cheek to consume later. Ken appears roughly the same (in terms of physical characteristics, not style) in Street Fighter as he does in later games - a red uniform and hair made of pasta.
The sprites are obviously far simpler in the original than in any of its successors. One notable aspect of the characters is that their knees and chests are roughly forward-facing (facing the other character), something we won't fully see again in the series.
It has been asserted that the pairs' uniform colors are a direct reference to Karate Champ (right), an early arcade game and one of the first ever side-view fighting games.
Also notable is that non-Japanese versions of the arcade game contained English dubbed character voices, something that Capcom thankfully did not repeat. If it had, "Hadouken" may never have become the iconic battle cry that it did outside of Japan.
Trivia: In 1988 a port of the original Street Fighter arcade game was released on the TurboGrafx-CD under the name "Fighting Street." The developer, Alfa System, is still making games in Japan, the most recent being Tales of Innocence for the DS.

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Games-Wallpapers-Street Fighter 4

An awesome wallpaper based on the game. To download the wallpaper for yourself, visit the following URL.

Character Bio’s

Here we have biographies of any and all the characters who’ve ever appeared in a Street Fighter game!
Abel
Adon
Akuma
Alex
Allen
Area
Balrog
Birdie
Blair
Blanka
C Jack
C Viper
Cammy
Charlie
Chun-Li
Cody
D Dark
Dan
Darun
Dee Jay
Dhalsim
Dudley
E Honda
Eagle
El Fuerte
Elena
Fei Long
Garuda
Geki
Gen
Gill
Gouken
Guile
Guy
Hokuto
Hugo
Ibuki
Ingrid
Joe
Juli
Juni
Kairi
Karin
Ken
Lee
M Bison
Maki
Makoto
Mike
Nanase
Necro
Oro
Pullum
Q
R Mika
Remy
Retsu
Rolento
Rose
Rufus
Ryu
Sagat
Sakura
Sean
Seth
Shadowgiest
Skullomania
Sodom
T Hawk
Twelve
Urien
Vega
Vulcano Rosso
Yang
Yun
Zangief

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
An update of the game, Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (known as Super Street Fighter II Turbo outside Japan and abbreviated as Super Turbo, ST or SSF2T'), was released in 1994 and featured enhanced speed and difficulty, as well as the first appearance of the then-secret fighter Akuma. It also was the first game in the series to have "super combo" moves. The game was ported to the 3DO in the same year, with an exclusive remixed soundtrack, which has since been added into other compilations of the Street Fighter franchise including the console version of Hyper Street Fighter II. It was later also ported to the PC, the Amiga (AGA only), the Sega Dreamcast as part of Capcom's Matching Service which allowed for head-to-head online combat, the PlayStation and Sega Saturn as part of Street Fighter Collection, and the PlayStation 2 and Xbox as part of Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2. Another version of SSF2, called Super Street Fighter II X Revival (Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival outside Japan) was released on the Game Boy Advance in 2001. A new version titled Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is scheduled for release on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade in Fall 2007.
Old Characters
Super Street Fighter II Turbo introduced the concept of inputting a code to play as the old "Super" character if the player did not like the "Turbo" character. The character would play like how they would in Super Street Fighter II, with the option of pressing Jab Punch and Short Kick together for the alternate character color. This method has its strengths and weaknesses. Old characters cannot do the Super Combo moves and they cannot flip out of a throw. On the other hand, some features are considered welcome, such as at the start of a Dragon Punch, Old Ken and Old Ryu are completely invincible and cannot be hit out of it (Turbo Ken and Turbo Ryu can be hit out of it at any point).
Introduction of Akuma
Super Street Fighter II Turbo also saw the introduction of the series' first hidden character, Akuma. Should the player succeed in defeating all preliminary opponents, as well as Balrog, Vega and Sagat without using any continues (or to a greater extent, without losing rounds), he will reveal himself. Once the player reaches M. Bison, at the start of the round Akuma will warp in, and dispose of Bison using the Shun Goku Satsu. There is no name on Akuma's lifebar, the portrait is completely black and different music is playing.

Super Street Fighter II (History)

Super Street Fighter II
History

In late 1993, Capcom released another version of Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. As the subtitle implies, four new characters were added: Cammy, Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk. The Super in the title suggested to gamers the graphical enhancements possible due to the new hardware (CPS-2) the game ran on. Though the game looked superficially similar, every character had in fact been redrawn and animations added to their repertoire. Some say the release of the game was made too early (rumors say that this was done because of the recent release of Mortal Kombat II) - several of the team working on the game later publicly stated that the Turbo version was the game originally intended for release. Among the major changes were redrawn character portraits for the returning characters, 8 available colors for each character's costume (likely due to a version of the game called Super Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle that featured interconnected arcade machines where up to 8 players fought to win the tournament), new endings for the boss characters, an alternate ending for Chun-Li, and new animations and special moves such as a Red Fireball for Ryu, a Flaming Dragon Punch for Ken, and a new fireball animation for Chun-Li. New dizzy animations were added (such as angels and reapers), as well as points incentives for achievements such as performing the first attack. This was also the first game in the series to formally incorporate a combo system; the HUD would show the number of attacks in a combo and award points bonuses accordingly. Another improvement from previous games was the reversal, allowing quick recovery into an attack after landing on the ground or blocking, thus negating the opportunity in previous incarnations of "ticking" one's opponent (i.e., hitting an opponent with a light attack and immediately throwing during their block animation).
Changes from Street Fighter II' Turbo
Super Street Fighter II made several significant deviations from the well-established Street Fighter II' Turbo.
Characters
Super Street Fighter II introduced four new playable characters: Cammy, an English Delta Red agent; Fei Long, modeled after actor Bruce Lee; T. Hawk (short for Thunder Hawk), the first Native American fighting game character although from mexico; and Dee Jay, a kickboxer from Jamaica.
Sound
Super Street Fighter II featured an entirely updated soundtrack using Capcom QSound, sporting applied acoustics making for crisper music. Stereo sound was also implemented. Several character voices were added, giving each character a unique throw and knock-out cry, as opposed to the generic male and female audio samples of previous games. Moreover, the announcer was changed from a fairly deep voice to a clearer, higher voice. Guile's voice also changed to this new voice as well, but was changed back to having a deeper voice in later games. Chun-Li was given a "Kikouken" audio sample. Dee Jay's "Max Out" audio sample is "Slash" in Japan, and in subsequent games. Dee Jay has two voice samples "Did it!" and "Alright!" for his win poses in Japan, and in subsequent games. Cammy's Thrust Kick and Cannon Drill are Cannon Spike and Spiral Arrow in Japan and subsequent games.
Visuals
A brand new introduction was included in the attract mode, featuring Ryu executing a Hadouken toward the screen. The game update included faster rendering, improved animation, and redrawn character portraits. Each character had eight different outfit colors, to facilitate tournament play (which took place on a special version of the game known as Super Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle). Examples of individual graphical updates are as follows: Ryu's fireball, the Hadouken, was redrawn, while Ken's Hadouken used the same sprites from the previous games; however Ken's Shoryuken was redrawn to leave a fire trail, whereas Ryu's remained the same. Other graphical improvements are present, such as a new fireball animation for Chun-Li. Each of the returning characters was given a fully redrawn ending, and the bosses received individualized endings with unique artwork, instead of the generic image of their faces with scrolling text used in Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting. Chun-Li's ending allowed players to choose whether she would continue being a detective or return to the exciting life of a young, single girl.
Gameplay
Super Street Fighter II played at a slightly faster speed than Street Fighter II, but nowhere near as fast as Street Fighter II' Turbo. This was seen as a step back by long time players who had been accustomed to the faster speed. Many gameplay elements were adjusted. For example, Ken and Ryu, whose play styles were similar in previous games, have more pronounced changes to their arsenal to more clearly distinguish them (e.g., Ryu having a much faster fireball attack and Ken having a multi-hit Dragon Punch). Dizzy/Stun animations were added. Grim Reapers signified a dizzy that would be difficult to recover from, stars or birds represented a standard recovery time dizzy, and angels represented a dizzy that could be escaped from quickly. Other subtle changes took place with most of the characters: new moves were added and parameters of the moves were altered, generally making the game more balanced than its previous iterations. The number of "re-dizzy" combos were greatly reduced. Such combos involve executing an unblockable combination on a dizzied character that results in the target character becoming dizzy again. Super Street Fighter II also established many new conventions for the Street Fighter series, including a combo hit counting system and bonus points awarded for first attacks, combos, dizzy recoveries, and reversal attacks.

Media

Other Media
Street Fighter II was adapted into two different movies in 1994, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (a Japanese anime released in the U.S. courtesy of Sony Music Entertainment) and an American-produced live-action film, simply titled Street Fighter. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy and Raul Julia as M. Bison, the live-action film effectively incorporated the main cast of the video game and wrapped them into an action adventure very reminiscent of the classic adventure films of yore. Director Steven E. de Souza's take on the premise: "I especially loved films like The Longest Day, The Great Escape and The Guns of Navarone. What made those films great wasn't the random violence. It was the clear-cut struggle between forces of good and evil, leading to an ultimate showdown." Even though Street Fighter the movie is considered one of the worst movies ever made, it has gained a sizable cult following and has even seen numerous DVD releases, complete with a plethora of special features and bonus content. In contrast, the animated film was better received due for having a more faithful approach to the game's plot and has also seen some DVD releases. There was also a US Street Fighter cartoon, which followed the plot of the Van Damme movie, and an unrelated anime titled Street Fighter II.

Street Fighter Characters

Characters
The characters in Street Fighter II were all associated with different countries around the world, although some countries had more than one representative.


Original eight
These were the eight World Warriors available in the original Street Fighter II. All of the characters named, except for Ryu and Ken have made their debut in the series.
Ryu - Japan
E. Honda - Japan
Blanka - Brazil
Guile - United States
Ken - United States
Chun-Li - China
Zangief - Soviet Union
Dhalsim - India


Bosses
Four boss characters (listed in order faced) were only encountered after defeating the other normal fighters. They were not playable characters in the original Street Fighter II, but they have been playable from Champion Edition onward. All of the bosses, with the exception of Sagat, made their debut in this game, and had their names changed for the western version, except for Sagat; see individual entries for the explanation.
Balrog - United States (M. Bison in Japan)
Vega - Spain (Balrog in Japan)
Sagat - Thailand
M. Bison - Thailand (Vega in Japan)
(Note: In the game M. Bison fights in Thailand, though his nationality is unknown)


The New Challengers
These four new characters were introduced in Super Street Fighter II.
Cammy - United Kingdom
Dee Jay - Jamaica
T. Hawk - Mexico
Fei Long - Hong Kong


Secret characters


Akuma (Gouki in Japan) first appeared in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. He was not given a country of origin. Akuma is a secret character in the game, and is only playable through a secret code.

Ports

Ports
These are the major ports of the Street Fighter II games made for consumer devices and is not comprehensive.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
for the Super NES was released in 1992 as a 16Mbit game pak. Character sprites were slightly smaller and less detailed, and some frames of animation were omitted. The arcade's Frequency modulation synthesis background music was adapted to the SNES's SPC700 PCM based sound chip. It went on to become one of the biggest selling titles for the SNES. The SNES version is available for download on the Wii's Virtual Console.
Street Fighter II': Champion Edition and Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting
The PC Engine was the first console to receive the updated Street Fighter II and was ported by NEC. The game is contained on a standard PCE Game chip and features graphics comparable to the more powerful SNES port which came later. A 6 Button PCE Controller was created specifically for use with this game. It was never released in the US for the Turbo Grafx system. The Mega Drive/Genesis port, known as Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition (Street Fighter II ′ Plus or Dash Plus in Japan), contained both Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting — as did the SNES release of Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (the SNES port does not contain a prime symbol on its title). The Mega Drive/Genesis version received the Special Champion Edition subtitle because it was intended to be a port of Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition to be released in the fall of 1993, about one year after the SNES version of the original SF2. The Mega Drive/Genesis was to be the only US console to receive a SF2 game that allowed people to play as the bosses, but 5 months before its release Nintendo announced an exclusive deal with Capcom to port the newer Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting to the SNES for release before the Mega Drive/Genesis version of the game. However, their contract only extended exclusivity to the name and presentation of the game, allowing Capcom to add Hyper Fighting mode to the Mega Drive/Genesis game as a bonus, giving both versions of the game the same features. The legacy of this contractual obligation is apparent in the games as the Mega Drive/Genesis version presents the Champion Edition intro, attract mode (only presenting Champion Edition gameplay and color scheme) and title screen and defaults to Champion Edition mode, while the SNES version contains the Hyper Fighting intro (though missing the fight in front of the skyscraper), attract mode (presenting Hyper Fighting gameplay and color scheme) and title screen and defaults to Turbo mode. Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition for the Mega Drive/Genesis allowed the selection of game speed by increasing 'stars' at game start, up to 10-star speed (as opposed to an estimate 4-star speed that the original arcade featured. The SNES Version has the 4-10 option, but requires a controller code to activate Stars 5 to 10). The Mega Drive/Genesis port also allowed for four stars of speed in Normal/Champion mode, but the SNES version lacked this feature, allowing stars only in Turbo mode. Gameplay was faster than the arcade versions. Though both versions of the game were identical in overall gameplay and graphics, there were huge differences in the sound. The SNES even mimicked the different tones of Ryu's voice using different levels of the Hadoken attack. His voice was quick and precise for the fierce attack, or slow and prolonged for the jab version. The Sega versions had only one version of the sound for each level of the attack. While the SNES-voices sound somewhat muffled the Mega Drive-version's voices are clearer, but scratchy. All tunes had to be remixed for the SNES-version, offering a more natural instrumentation, while the Mega Drive was closer to the arcade-original thanks to the Yamaha-soundchip being a relative of the one found in the arcade. The result are two very different sounding versions where every player had to judge his favourite by personal preferences. The PC-Engine-version is to be mentioned for having by far the clearest voices. The soundtrack is closer to the Mega Drive-version than to the SNES-version. In Brazil, there was an official port of Street Fighter II′ for the Sega Master System, developed and published by Tec Toy. This version had collision detection problems, missing moves and missing characters, but the graphics were very impressive regarding the system's limited capabilities and were not too far from the 16-Bit counterparts. Street Fighter II′: Hyper Fighting (the American arcade version never had the word Turbo in the title) has also been released on the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service featuring online play through Xbox Live and a new 'Quarters mode' which allows players to watch, and challenge others to matches. The order in which the players fight is represent by a US quarter. This was done to re-enact the arcade scene of the 1990s. The game was released on August 2, 2006 for a cost of 800 points ($10 USD) and has become the fastest selling game on the Xbox Live Arcade service. Recently, the Super NES port, Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting, has been released on the Virtual Console for America and Europe.
Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo
The SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis received a port of Super Street Fighter II a year after their respective SF2'T port, but was a commercial failure at retail and a financial hit to Capcom who had overestimated consumer demand. This was a sign that the audience was not willing to pay for annual updates of SFII, especially when Super Street Fighter II Turbo already superseded Super Street Fighter II in the arcades and fixed many of the complaints people had of SSF2. There was also endless speculation that Capcom would release Super Street Fighter II Turbo in less than a year, causing people to wait for what was thought to be the inevitable SSF2T release though no port was ultimately released. Despite this, Capcom plans to release this game on the Wii Virtual Console sometime in 2007. The 3DO received the first console port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, it's noted for having much better sound than even the arcade, with full Q Sound support, and slightly updated graphics. The second port was for the IBM PC by Eurocom (released by Gametek) in 1995 and was the first truly ported version of a Street Fighter game for a home computer, helped by the fact that PC hardware was sufficiently powerful to reasonably duplicate the 2D graphics and sound capabilities, to the results of dedicated 2D game machines like the CPS-2, the original platform of the game. Up until this release, home computers received interpretive remakes of past Street Fighter games that did not play like the arcade games they were based on. An interpretive remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo was on the Commodore Amiga for its AGA chipset based systems, coming on 12 floppy discs and requiring a hard drive to play. In 1997, the PlayStation and Sega Saturn received a port of both Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo along with Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold in Street Fighter Collection. The Saturn version was thought to turn out superior because of the dramatic increase in Video RAM it offered over the PlayStation version. The last stand-alone version of SSF2T released is for the Dreamcast and was released only in Japan. It featured online play via Capcom of Japan's Matching Service, making this the first Street Fighter game to be officially playable through a network connection. A reworked portable version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo titled Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Revival (Super Street Fighter II X: Revival in Japan) was released for the Game Boy Advance in 2001. It featured new character artwork on the versus and post-fight screens, as well as for the game endings. Some of the game endings were changed to reconcile the storyline with the Street Fighter Alpha games. There were new stage backgrounds for Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief and Bison and the car and barrel bonus stages from Super Street Fighter II returned. There were two unlockable versions of Akuma. However, the classic versions of the other main characters were removed. A high-definition remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo titled Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will be released on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network in 2008. It will feature redrawn graphics at 1080p HD resolution and online play.
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection was released in 2004 for the Xbox, PS2 and CPS-2 , which contained both Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. CPS-2 version was updated version of SSF2T. Capcom also included the censored version of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as a bonus. Hyper Street Fighter II on its own was released for the PS2 in Europe, which also included the censored version of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie as a bonus.
Retro collections
The Street Fighter Collection was released both in the US and Japan in late 1997 on the original Sony PlayStation and the Sega Saturn. It featured near arcade perfect versions of both Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II: Turbo as well as Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold. A second collection, titled Street Fighter Collection 2, was released in the US in late 1998 on the Sony PlayStation and featured the first three major Street Fighter II titles: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition and Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting. In 2003 Capcom Arcade Hits - Volume 1 was released for Windows PC, featuring emulated arcade versions of the original Street Fighter and Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. 2005 saw the release of Capcom Classics Collection on the Sony PlayStation 2 and Xbox and it also featured the first three major Street Fighter II titles: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition and Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting as well as a multitude of other Capcom games. The versions contained in this collection are actually ports of Capcom Generation vol. 5 (released in North America as Street Fighter Collection 2) for the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn, complete with its special modes including versus mode, CPU battle mode, training mode, and more. Even the cast artwork and information is the same as Street Fighter Collection 2, but there is some new unlockable artwork that was not featured in that collection. One complaint about the game is that the load times from Street Fighter Collection 2 were ported over, which is unusual since each game should be able to fit into the system RAM of the PS2 and Xbox in their entirety. Perhaps the best feature for fans is the Street Fighter Deluxe mode in all three versions of the game, which allows players to battle with characters from different versions of the game, for example, matching Champion Edition Ken vs. Turbo Chun-Li. The Deluxe mode is not unlike the concept found in Hyper Street Fighter II and Vampire Chronicle. 2006 saw the release of Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for the Playstation 2 and Xbox and contains Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
Control methods for ports
As a result of the different ports of Street Fighter II, it is often played with control pads, instead of the arcade-style joysticks for which it was originally designed to be played with. Some of these control pads, such as the official Super Nintendo pad, feature only four face buttons, leaving two attack buttons on shoulder buttons. Most, if not all, home releases of Street Fighter II have allowed for players to configure the buttons as they see fit. Capcom released two specialized controls for the SNES (a joystick and a joypad) that have six face buttons instead of four (with the L and R buttons being located around the X button). Subsequently, whereas some players find the game easier with this control method, others have found that purchasing an arcade-style joystick for their home system makes it significantly easier for them to execute many of the game's special moves. The Sega Genesis ports suffered from the 3-button layout of the original pad. The start button was used to toggle the three button punches or kicks. This made executing combos very difficult. Wise gamers purchased the official 6-button Sega pad, or aftermarket pads.

Versions

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Street Fighter II Turbo
(Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge in Japan) was a slightly updated version of Super Street Fighter II. This version introduced:

* The addition of the "SUPER" bar. This allowed character to build up and unleash a very powerful special attack.
* The speed was again raised from Super SF2, close to Hyper Fighting levels.
* Intentional air juggling (a series of attacks that could hit an opponent while airborne)
* The ability to tech or "soften" non-multi hit throws (teching allows a character to land on one's feet instead of on their back, resulting in less damage).
* A new secret character (Akuma).
* Alternate versions of each character that played very similar (but not quite identical) to their Super Street Fighter II version.
* The bonus stages (where players try to destroy all the objects in the stage before time runs out) were removed.
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
Hyper Street Fighter II was a slightly arranged version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo with the ability to choose every previously playable version of all the characters within the SFII series. This game commemorates the 15th Anniversary of the Street Fighter series.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is an upcoming title on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Arcade download services. It is an enhanced remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Sprite and background images posted on the Capcom Digital blog provided an early glimpse at the project, while the first in-game footage was recorded on producer Rey Jimenez's cellphone. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix will feature two gameplay modes: classic and rebalanced. Other features will include:
* Online and offline multiplayer
* A training mode
* Voice chat
* A 'Quarter Match' mode which allows players to spectate and jump into online matches
* Worldwide rankings and leaderboards arranged by character and country
* Indepth statistics tracking
* A display mode that fits the game into a 16:9 aspect ratio without impacting gameplayThe sprites and backgrounds in the original Super Street Fighter II Turbo will be replaced by high-resolution artwork drawn by UDON Comics, allowing HD Remix to make the most use of high definition displays. Remixed music is also in development.

Updated Versions

Updated versions
Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition
Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition
(pronounced Street Fighter II Dash in Japan, hence the prime symbol)
* All four boss characters became playable.
* Players could choose the same character to fight against each other, using palette swapping to differentiate the second player.
* The backgrounds of each player's stage were re-colored (a theme throughout most of the revisions).
* There were various bug fixes for serious glitches (such as Guile's Handcuffs), as well as some balancing of the characters.
Street Fighter II′: Hyper Fighting
Street Fighter II′ : Hyper Fighting (Street Fighter II Dash Turbo in Japan) was released in response to an explosion of modified bootlegs of the Champion Edition Changes included:
* Faster gameplay.
* Many characters gained new moves, and several that could now be performed in mid-air.
* All characters were given new, default color palettes.
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was the first Street Fighter game that Capcom would release on its CPS-2 hardware. The arcade version of this game also included a variant that allowed four arcade cabinets to be connected together for simultaneous tournament play. This version contained the most extensive changes introduced in the series:
* Four new characters were added (Fei Long, T. Hawk, Cammy, and Dee Jay).
* Boss characters received updated regular move sets.
* Boss characters received new, individual game endings.
* Each character could be selected with one of eight different color palettes.
* Some of the original eight playable characters received updated art and audio.
* The speed introduced in Hyper Fighting was reduced.
* A combo counter (a first despite combos being in the game since the original), as well as point bonuses for first attack, combos and reversals.

Street Fighter History

Street Fighter II (ストリートファイターⅡ, Sutorîto Faitâ Tsū?) is a 1991 competitive fighting game by Capcom. It is widely credited with launching the fighting genre into the mainstream and extending the life of the worldwide arcade scene for several years with its unique six button "combo" controls and revolutionary loser pays competitive gameplay. Its popularity far eclipsed that of its comparatively obscure predecessor, thanks in part to its inclusion of eight selectable characters (a number which would increase in subsequent revisions) with their unique playing style and refinement of the unique play controls featured in the first game, setting the template for future fighting games. Its success also led to the production of several revised versions of the game (including home versions), as well as merchandising and cross-media adaptations (including two separately produced theatrical films). Street Fighter II was followed by a prequel titled Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and a sequel titled Street Fighter III: The New Generation. Both games also inspired their own series of revisions.

Overview
As one of the most popular games of the early 1990s, Street Fighter II, released on Capcom's CPS-1 arcade board in February 1991, shaped the direction of arcade games for nearly a decade to follow. It is widely acknowledged as the premier fighting game of its era, due to its game balance with regard to the timing of attacks and blocks, which was unparalleled at the time; and due to "special moves" in which experienced players could execute complex fighting moves by moving the joystick and tapping the buttons in certain combinations. The game featured a six button layout, with punch buttons consisting of 'jab', 'strong', and 'fierce' and kick buttons consisting of 'short', 'forward', and 'roundhouse', in ascending order of strength. This was not new or exclusive to fighting games, but the way in which the game relied on them was. These complicated fighting moves were given names, such as the Shoryuken (the Rising Dragon Punch), the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku (the Tornado Whirlwind Kick) and the Hadouken (Wave-Motion Fist)[1], which provided a framework for players to have conversations about their games. It also introduced the convention of "cancelling" or "interrupting" moves into other moves, which enabled a player to create sequences of continuous hits. This was the game which introduced the concept of the combo, a sequence of attacks which, when executed with proper timing, did not allow the opponent to interrupt the combination. Mastery of these techniques led almost directly to the high-level competition which has been a cornerstone of this type of game ever since.





The game features eight fighters that players can choose from: Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim, Guile, E. Honda, and Chun-Li, plus four bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison). The character known as M. Bison in the original Japanese game was considered a legal liability by Capcom USA, because his name, backstory and appearance were very similar to that of professional boxer Mike Tyson. In order to pre-empt any lawsuits on the part of Tyson, the names of all the bosses except Sagat (who was carried over from the original Street Fighter), were re-arranged, something which has since caused no shortage of confusion when attempting description. For the sake of reference, the characters known as M. Bison, Balrog, and Vega in Japan became Balrog, Vega, and M. Bison in overseas versions respectively.

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