(DISCLAIMER. IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THE PREVIOUS ARTICLES ON STREET FIGHTER II AND YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT THE GAME PLEASE READ THEM FIRST OR THIS WILL NOT MAKE MUCH SENSE)
As we progress through the month we take a look at the final CPS1 revision of the original Street Fighter II sub-series with the release of Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting. Released in 1992 less than a year after champion edition in response to the pirates who made bootlegs of the game, this was the definitive edition of the core Street Fighter II games with a port to the Super Famicom and SNES using the Turbo name a year later.
Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting – Arcade (1992)
After the release and success of Street Fighter II’ Champion edition in the arcades during 1992, there were reports of bootleg versions of the game’s rom chips being sold to give people changes to the game, including an increase in gameplay speed and additional attacks. In response to this Capcom released their own upgraded boards and chips as Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting during December of the same year, this version of the game does what the bootlegs do and simply does it better. Hyper Fighting is the final arcade game in the Street Fighter II series to use the original CP System hardware. It was distributed as an upgrade kit designed to be installed into Champion Edition printed circuit boards.
Hyper Fighting features faster playing speed compared to Champion Edition. As a result, the inputs for special moves and combos require more precise timing. The faster playing speed also allowed players to get into battle quicker, as well as to react quicker. All of the fighters, with the exception of Guile and the four Grand Masters, were each given at least one new special move. The new techniques are as follow:
- Ryu and Ken can now perform the Hurricane Kick in mid-air.
- Honda has an anti-aerial attack called the Sumo Smash or Super Sumo Splash.
- Blanka has a vertical version of his Rolling Attack in addition to the original horizontal version.
- Chun-Li now has a fireball technique and can perform the Spinning Bird Kick in mid-air.
- Zangief can perform the Hi-Speed Double Lariat or Turbo Spinning Clothesline, a quicker version of his standard Double Lariat – which exclusive to this version, grants him invulnerability to projectiles and all low attacks, e.g. sweep kicks.
- Dhalsim has the Yoga Teleport, which allows him to instantly transport himself in front or behind his opponent from a certain distance depending on the input used.
Each fighter also received a new default palette. The original palettes are now featured as alternate palettes for each character, replacing the ones that were in Champion Edition. The only character exempt to this change is M. Bison, who retains his original default palette, but still gets a different alternate palette.
Like the previous game in the series the overall core gameplay is just the same as Champion Edition, participate in a worldwide fighting tournament and fight through eleven competitors in battles of the best of three rounds, to reach the boss and have a chance at completing the game. With the same stages, characters and bonus stages there to take on during gameplay as you attempt to build up a good score and get the secret ending credits or be the top of the leader boards. Difficulty and the games AI is virtually unchanged from the previous version only adding slight changes to deal with the increased move lists for characters allowing use and counters of these moves.
With the addition of new attacks for the original roster (excluding guile) and increased gameplay speed (requiring more precise mastery of controls), an additional layer of competitive gameplay was added to the game both in the standard single player tournament and with the player vs. player contests that were a mainstay in arcades at this time. As with any fighting game there is a satisfaction that you feel when you manage to defeat a tough opponent, but with this version of the game due to the faster speed you get a greater rush of adrenaline as you fight the final boss for a perfect game or you are in the third round of a clash with one of your friends to see who is better. These changes truly make Street Fighter II’ Turbo one of the best arcade fighting games ever conceived in my opinion, and the port to the Super Famicom and SNES is equally good.
Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting – SNES/Super Famicom (1993)
Alongside the release of the Genesis/Mega Drive release of Street Fighter II’ Special Champion Edition the Nintendo port of Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting was released to the Super Famicom and SNES in 1993 boasting superior sound and visuals to the SEGA version of the game. The port features two playable modes like its counterpart, the Normal mode which follows Campion Edition rules and the Turbo mode that used the Hyper Fighting rules and has four speed settings with an additional six being unlocked via a cheat code as well as other secret codes.
This version of the game utilized the port of World Warrior as its base and fixed some issues that the previous version had as well as adding all the new features. Some of the issues fixed included.
- Sound bites of character attacks and the announcer that were excluded being added back.
- Missing character attacks re implemented.
- Missing barrel bonus stage added back into the game.
- Graphics updated for character endings to match closer to the arcade version.
- Full roster rebalance like its arcade counterpart.
- All new attacks introduced into the arcade version being added to the game.
All these changes make this the definitive edition of Street Fighter II released on a home console, not counting the port of Champion Edition to the Sharp X68000 as it is a home computer. Given the popularity of the SNES version it was also ported to the Nintendo Virtual Console and included in the Nintendo SNES mini systems that were released in the past few years.
Gameplay of the console port is on par with the Genesis version with slight improvements to game controls, the inputs and button presses are much more precise on the SNES than on the Genesis giving greater control over the player characters and allowing combos to feel more fluid and smooth. There is some slowdown when hitting a heavy strike against an opponent which also occurs in the various home ports of the Street Fighter II games. The game feels much better and the music has a dirty gritty edge with more bass to it, the difference can be felt when you listen to the stage theme for Ken, Guile and M. Bison, this gives the SNES version an edge of competitor as it builds the atmosphere of each fight that little bit more.
I personally prefer this port over any other versions of the game available the difficulty curve is still there but it is more manageable with this as it is built from the same skeleton as the previous game on the Nintendo platform. All in all I believe that this is the best version to play at home of Street Fighter II, a full balanced roster with no need to purchase additional hardware to play the game definitely pick this game up if you have the chance.
Using the same star rating that I have used for previous pieces, I give Street Fighter II’ Turbo: Hyper Fighting 5/5, no downsides for me as this is the most complete and balanced version of the game available on the home platform for the time it was released and there is no need to purchase a dedicated control pad to enjoy this game.
Silver Soul Gaming 