Could it get ANY better than this!?
Story: 8/10
- Once again, the storyline is unchanged because these games are basically "remakes" of the original. The storyline is pretty decent and simple. M. Bison throws a tournament and Earth's best warriors are chosen. This is a fighting game; story lines are not a major in these genres. Gameplay: 10/10
- The gameplay is at its best! They improved on even more things! The player engages opponents in 1 on 1 close quarter combat in a series of best 2 out of 3 matches. The objective of each round is to deplete the opponent's vitality before the timer runs out. If both opponents knock each other out at the same time or the timer runs out with both fighters having an equal amount of vitality left, then a "double KO" or "draw game" is declared and additional rounds will be played until sudden death. Super Street Fighter II features a new scoring system which kept track of "combos"; "first attacks", "reversals" and "recoveries" made by the player and award the player with bonus points by performing such deeds. Each character now has available 8 color schemes, depending on which button is pressed to select the character. Players could choose between a character's original color schemes, their color schemes from Street Fighter II Turbo, or 1 of 5 new color schemes featured in this game! All 12 characters from the first 2 Street Fighter II games returned, with many them having their basic and special moves refined in order to adjust the overall balance. Some of the characters received new special moves such as Ryu's flaming Fireball, a flaming Dragon Punch for Ken, Zangief's Atomic Buster and M. Bison's Devil Reverse. 4 new characters were also introduced to the game in addition to the returning roster, expanding the number of playable characters to 16. The new characters include: Cammy, Dee Jay, Fei-Long, and T. Hawk. Sadly, the faster game speed introduced in Street Fighter II Turbo was removed and the gameplay was reduced back to the normal speed level from Street Fighter II Turbo. Super Street Fighter II also included additional game modes such as Group Battle, Tournament Battle, and Time Challenge. The number of opponents fought in the single-player mode against the computer remained unchanged. As in the first 2 Street Fighter II games, the player fought against 8 initial opponents, followed by the 4 final bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison). Because of this, not all the character featured in the game would be fought by the player. The bonus rounds from Street Fighter II Turbo were still featured in this game though.
Graphics: 10/10
- The graphics are at its best! Everything looks even better than Street Fighter II Turbo! All of the stages and face artwork from the character selection screen feature all new graphics. The opening sequences from the first 2 games were changed tremendously; instead of a simple sequence with the title of the game being focused on, the lead character Ryu is seen launching a Fireball projectile towards you.
Sound: 10/10
- The sound effects of the game have improved nicely over the first 2 games. New voice samples were recorded for some of the characters, such as Ken, Guile, and the announcer. The music has also improved for all of the characters' stages. When I said in my Street Fighter II Turbo review that I could see no change in the music from the original game, I can see a change from this game to Street Fighter II Turbo! Balrog, Ken, and Guile are still my favorite themes of the game plus E. Honda's. That is right, since E. Honda's theme music has improved a little from the first 2 games; I am now adding him on my "favorites" list!
Overall, I give this game a 9 1/2 out of 10. There are 2 things in this game that I was not impressed with: Guile's new voice, and the sound of the characters doing strong attacks. I disliked Guile's new voice in this game a lot! I mean, compare him saying "Sonic Boom" in this game to Street Fighter II or Street Fighter II Turbo and you will find that the voice does not symbolizes Guile being a "tough guy". It makes Guile sound like a sissy! Then there is the sound of the strong attacks in this game. I am not complaining that much about it, but I do miss the "cool" sound effects of the strong attacks in Street Fighter II Turbo! There is no doubt that all of the improvements of the gameplay and graphics make this the best of the series, but it will never take away the impact that Street Fighter II Turbo had on me!