Super Street Fighter II Turbo

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
What really hits me about this game is the LACK of access time by the system to the disc. It's a lil' bit under a second, and isn't noticed unless you indicate it. That's an hell of an approvement for 1994. Wow! Then there's the opening intro in QSound. If you have your 3DO intergrated into a home theater or such system, and it's Dolby or THX, enjoy the booms rotating around you. QSound is that good! The music is also in QSound, and was kept hidden by Capcom until 1998 (unlockable in Street Fighter Collection 2/Capcom Generations 5) and 2004 (Hyper Street Fighter II). It's a real treat because for once, the music in a game sounds like MUSIC. Back in 1994, this was a HUGE deal, because we've gotten used to MIDI music, and here, this game on 3DO was pumping out what sounded like a live concert. Now, I don't know what the complaints about the Panasonic controllers are, because I used that controller to death with this game, and so did most of my friends. NOT ONE COMPLAINT, like the website and magazines did. It was an amazing controller and the play control was never tighter in a Street Fighter title at the time (surpassed by Alpha 3 in 1999 and 3rd Strike in 2000). The foreground characters' graphics are impressive and huge, and the letterboxing is gone, finally. Also, Akuma is playable, just do the tricks to get to him or play as him. Speaking of which, Akuma is on the CD, and it looks cool. The manual is very cool, too, and in full color. Don't worry about losing your 3DO box, because Panasonic did right by providing a fully published standard CD sized case.

The Bad
What is up with the drab, washed-out backgrounds? This is the 3DO, and the Genesis version of this game has better-colored backgrounds. Yes, the backgrounds are more washed-out than a 64 color machine is displaying. Topping that off, both the Genesis and SNES version had the background do parallax scrolling to keep the perspective in sync to the center of action. Not here, as the backgrounds appear as a flat, 2-D picture. This fooled my eyes till I became used to it, then it stopped bothering me. The sounds during the game are mono and scratchy. Not as scratchy as a Genesis game, but scratchy none the less. I don't know why, again, because Capcom does display QSound in the intro. This, combined with no Sound Test in the options and the tracks only being sixty seconds long, the music sounds a tad strange. And then there's Sagat and Balrog. They've been put into "long-screen" and appear awkward and skinny. They fight normally, but their appearance baffled me at first. They don't look right.

The Bottom Line
Do you own a 3DO? Then it's an unwritten Commandment that Thou Must Own Street Fighter II on Said System! It's that good! I know people who spent the $400+ to get their hands on this system for just this game.

The Good
There are many characters to choose from, each having their own stage and special moves. The characters are somewhat balanced, but you will soon find yourself running to characters who have a repetitive move, which keeps on going until you stop, like E. Honda and and Chun li, where their speed punch (in hondas case) and speed kicking (in chun li's case) can get you out of most jams. The gameplay is quick, which goes with the game, although it can be slowed down if wanted.

The Bad
This game is basically almost exactly like the others. I saw almost no differences between this and other SF titles, except that you can change speed now. Almost everything is the same. Capcom seems to think they can sell the exact same thing over and over for a good price, but these graphics and sound don't cover that. It's like they just took the other SF's, and slapped a new title cover on them. Not worth it.

The Bottom Line
This game has no support from me to buy it. If you are still one of those oldies with a Snes, looking for somewhere to get a decent fighting game, find someone with Killer Instinct. Leave this alone. I give it a ( 2 / 5 )