First pictures ~ earliest preview of Street Fighter II?

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:slight_smile: I found one of the reviews I was looking for – EGM’s 2-page review of PC-Engine SFII CE and how it compares to other translations. also found EGM’s review of Genesis Special CE. will post them tomorrow hopefully.

edit: here, sorry for the poor quality and not having the pages flat. there are high quality scans of this same review out there, but I couldn’t find them. i was surprised i actually had the magazines, so i took digital camera pics.

EGM Number 47 - June 1993
http://www.imagepup.com/up/NeeJ_1193513031_EGMpceSFIICEp1.jpg
http://www.imagepup.com/up/88j0_1193513304_rsz_pceSFII_1152_x_1536.jpg

if anyone finds the nice SCANS of the above, please post them.

I have the Genesis Special CE EGM review also, will post those later.

here:

EGM 1994 Video Game Buyer’s Guide
http://www.imagepup.com/up/NFsI_1193516124_rsz_GenSF2a_1152_x_1536.jpg
http://www.imagepup.com/up/rpDn_1193516213_rsz_GenSF2b_1152_x_1536.jpg

again, sorry for the poor quality.

didn’t find Gamefan’s picture & comment of PC-Engine SFII CE though, doubt I ever will.

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Thanks for the scans, I always enjoy finding old articles of SF2 :slight_smile:

–flux

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This is jawsome. I recall owning the November '93 issue of GamePro with the SCE review (as many publications did and still do, they trashed the voices).

You got any previews/reviews of the SSF2 ports? Man, did those ports really bomb in sales and leave Capcom with a glut of unsold carts? I think SSF2T (which was already out by the time the ports were released in summer '94) was way too big of an upgrade to justify buying a heavily downgraded port of SSF2 that still re-use the same 16-Bit sprites, animation and background resources first introduced with the SNES SF2 port (and refined with the PCE port of CE). In case you didn’t notice, all 16-Bit ports of SF2 (except for the WW SNES port to an extent) shared the same sprite size, animation count, backgrounds and background objects for the most part. The only things that really differed were the color count and shading between them. The GBA “Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival” port also shares the same sprite size and animation count, but not the backgrounds.

There is however (as pictured in many publications throughout the first half of 1993) the “cancelled” Genesis Champion Edition port which was developed by Capcom from the ground up for the Genesis and looked and sounded noticeably different from any other 16-Bit SF2 port. I refer to it as the “port with the tiny-ass sprites and huge-ass black border”, but a farther along version of this prototype was leaked to the 'net as a Genesis ROM ages ago as “Street Fighter II Turbo”. In game however, the title screen reads as “STII Turbo”, perhaps indicating that it was a pirate/hack, that much incomplete or better yet the proposed title for what eventually became “Special Champion Edition”. (The word during those days was that Nintendo struck out a deal with Capcom that prevented the name “Street Fighter II Turbo” or any exclusive elements from Hyper Fighting to be used or ported to any other system. Here’s Wikipedia’s take on it:)

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.

With that said, here’s some video on this obscure prototype:

[media=youtube]ReTrxUfeFJI[/media] (The revision seen in most mags throughout early-mid 1993 a.k.a the “black border” revision)

[media=youtube]n2Cssq-m1TA[/media] (A later revision of the above, without the black border. Leaked to the 'net as a “Street Fighter II Turbo” ROM.)

and compare it to the final, retail “Special Champion Edition” port released in September/October 1993:

[media=youtube]2419ZwUtrFQ[/media]

Things of note in the earlier Genesis port are the slightly smaller sprites, slightly and differently drawn/colored backgrounds but most importantly slightly more animation than any other 16-Bit SF2 port, specifically on the fighting stances and walking animations. (Still not close to CPS1 though) The music quality and composition is also more close and faithful to the original CPS1 soundtrack than SCE (which was already quite close compared to the SNES WW/Turbo) was.

I don’t know what happened, but when Capcom went ahead and delayed the almost-complete Genesis CE port around mid-1993, it looks like they ported over the SNES Turbo code and resources and adjusted it accordingly for the Genesis hardware, hence the similar graphics. They must’ve done it real quick (less than six months) because “Special Champion Edition” was on store shelves by fall 1993, a little later than the July/August release of SNES Turbo. The earlier CE port was canned and/or shelved, it’s unique code and resources never used for any future 16-Bit SF2 port.

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Former: lmao I remember reading a detailed, multi-page Sega Visions review of this that had “Branka” and clawless Vega in it, omg. My mag is back in Chicago but I’m sure someone out there knows what I’m talking about. It had close-up shots of each character and their stories along with combos…

Latter: ST II Turbo '? OK I think STHD has competition for utter confusion :looney:

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wow, thank you for all of this information. it must have taken you awhile to gather all of this up into one post. I will be carefully reading this, and watching the videos as I sip my coffee. this is going to make for some great reading. I’m shocked that an earlier, unreleased rendition of SFII CE for Genesis had slightly better animation than the released version.

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EGM Express first look at SNES SFII Turbo / Hyper Fighting

http://www.imagepup.com/up/rSVg_1193514298_rsz_SF2TSNES_1536_x_1152.jpg

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Thanks. That early, unreleased Champion Edition port for Genesis (with bits of elements from WW and even Turbo, though not the increased speed) always intrigued me as it looked little to nothing like the SCE port which was ultimately released to retail. When I stumbled upon that “Street Fighter II Turbo” ROM (a more complete build of the relatively complete CE port from mid-1993) many years later it piqued my interest again and I was somehow able to put the pieces together, but I still feel that there’s a whole lot more to this story and I would like to find out. Capcom pulled a Resident Evil 1.5 with this one: canning/shelving the product when it was more than halfway complete.

Back to the mags, even when it seemed like they were trying to patronize it as much as possible, both EGM & GamePro took many digs at that unifinished CE port by burying it in their system comparisons (both subtly and not subtly) and pitting poor Genesis screenshots against clear, crisp SNES/PCE/CPS1 screenshots. They continued to do so when SCE was finally released and reviewed by them, but not so much as they were “silenced” by the port’s close similarity to their “Holy Grail” SNES Turbo port. Both the SNES WW & Turbo ports got '9’s and '10’s from EGM while they gave SCE 9’a and '8s (one or two 8’s, don’t remember) if i remember correctly. However, they scored both SSF2 ports rather low/average, but slightly moreso for the Genesis port.

Still though, I miss those old-school mags. My (now-trashed) gaming mag collection majorly consisted of mags from late-1998-mid-late 2004 (almost every EGM & GamePro from that time period, 2-3 subscriptions worth of Game Informers, handful of misc. Tips & Tricks, Gamers’ Republic and GameFans) but I’ve always lusted for those late '80’s-early '90’s magazines. The earliest magazines I owned for a while dated back to December 1994 (Game Players, 32X cover story, first-ever game mag) and August 1995 (EGM #73, MK3 home ports cover story, first bought game mag), but I once managed to buy a couple of circa 1992-1993 GamePros from these (long-gone) homeless guys who used to sell TONS of early '90’s mags around my way for $1-$2 a pop, via makeshift flea markets on the sidewalk. The stigma of buying used mags off of homeless people in front of everybody prevented me from buying more. Unfortunately I lost/threw away every mag I bought from them ages ago.

The EGM Buyer’s Guide are real treats however, as they provide a compact summing-up of their respective years. I own the 1999-2003 Buyer’s Guides but would definitely like to own every one before 1999.

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just to clear something up, the CPS arcade board, while not a console, is also a 16-bit system.

also, I’m trying to find video and screenshots of the Sharp X68000 computer version of Champion Edition. it totally puts the SNES, PC-Engine and Genesis versions to shame.

here’s the front cover

http://carisaku-games.tripod.com/DSC03244.JPG

I’d like to be able to show the back cover. can’t find a picture of it. I love playing it in emulation. I know there’s little point since there’s less hassle with MAME or any CPS emulator, but playing it on X68000 is special because it’s not an arcade machine, it’s a computer, basicly Japan’s equivalent of the Amiga, yet so much better.

http://www.fsinet.or.jp/~belle/mirandola/X68000/image/x68000/001203035.jpg

X68000… a cooler looking machine than the PS2.

edit: okay I did a print screen capture while playing X68000 SFII CE through WinX68k emu

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/1946/sfiicex68000ra8.png

as you can see, unlike the SNES, PC-Engine and Genesis downgraded translations, the X68000 CE is a carbon-copy port of the arcade. all the detail, all the color, and although you can’t see it, all the animation. very impressive for a machine that came out in 1987, thus making it older than the CPS hardware of 1988.

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Yeah, the X68000’s near-pixel-perfect ports of CPS1 games are well known.

By any chance you wouldn’t happen to be the infamous internet personality known as “AirRaidX” wouldn’t you? He’s earned the ire of many people over numerous message boards and websites for being such an arcade/console port stickler, especially concerning CPS1 titles. Just asking, ain’t accusing you of anything. I’m very interested and am somehow versed in the realm of arcade/home ports…just not to the extent that guy is.

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Collection of Japanese SF2 commercials (need a Nicovideo account to watch). Note the super finish effect caused by a standard Shoryuken in the Super Turbo commercial.

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is it me, or does that early Genesis SFII ROM have better sounding audio than the released product ?

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man ive got all those mags in a box somewhere
i read those things so many times i couldnt wait till that shit came home and i could practice shit for free whenever i wanted
i knew alot of those sentences by heart
wish i had friends growing up

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As far as the musical instrumentation and voice quality, yes I do think it is slightly better than SCE’s equivalents and in the case of the instruments much more closer to the original CPS1 music. I was surprised they were able to squeeze that out of the Genesis’ weak sound suite.

SCE’s compositions of the classic SF2 themes however, are more consistent and pleasant to hear, with more melody in them. And it’s still closer to the original CPS1 music than the SNES or PCE SF2’s are. The SNES definitely one-upped the Genesis with the SSF2 port though. Supposedly it was one of the first games to use close to if not the SNES’ entire 256-color palette which the Genesis just couldn’t replicate for the life of it. A couple of background objects are sharper/more animated/colorful, but otherwise both ports are similar as far as sprites, animation count and whatnot go. Although the Genesis port DOES include all of Ryu’s animation frames in the now-classic intro when he winds up for his Hadoken, while the SNES Ryu jerkily goes from stance to Hadoken charge.

As far as music and sound quality go though, the SNES port thorougly beat the pants out of the Genesis one. Capcom’s jump to CPS2 for SSF2 also included the jump from analog, FM synth sound (similar to the Genesis and Neo-Geo’s sound hardwares) to digitized, sample-based Q-Sound. Seeing as SNES’ sound hardware was based on digitized sound samples as well and could pull this type of sound off much better than analog FM synth (which the Genesis was arguably better at), the SNES’ SSF2 port had music and sound that sounded pretty faithful to the CPS2 original. The Genesis hardware however was nowhere near suited to faithfully replicate CPS2 titles, especially when it came to sound. The Genesis SSF2 port had color-starved graphics and backgrounds and INCREDIBLY tinny, poor quality music that sounded unlike any other SSF2 incarnation, as the Genny’s sound hardware struggled to pull of digitized music/sound/voice on it’s analog, FM synth-based hardware. It did have an extra star speed and supposedly more faithful (yet scratchy and worse at the same time) voice samples over the SNES port though (lack of “Round, Fight!” samples)

Here’s some vids so you can compare both SSF2 ports:

[media=youtube]qgCbtPePPUg[/media] (Genesis port, the video’s from a PAL territory which explains the sluggishness of the gameplay compared to us NTSC’ers and out SSF2. Sorry, only vid out there on Genesis SSF2)

[media=youtube]_mA2SmCCeCA[/media] (SNES port)

There are also many more CPS1/CPS2/PCE/Genesis/SNES SF2 vids on youtube out there so check 'em out if you feel like it. Speaking of YT, be sure to check out “superpcenginegrafx” as he has uploaded many (popular) arcade/console sound comparisons between some games like the SF2 ports:

http://www.youtube.com/superpcenginegrafx

Also check out “Game Pilgramage” if you enjoy reading about and seeing arcade/console port similarities and differences:

http://www.gamepilgrimage.com/

takes a deep breath Wow, I sure do have a lot of time on my hands.