Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition

For the older, unreleased port of Street Fighter II for the Mega Drive, see Street Fighter II': Champion Edition.

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Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Capcom (Japan, US), Sega (Europe)
Developer: Capcom M2
Original system(s): Capcom CPS-1
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1993-09-28 ¥9,800 (10,094)9,800e T-12033 US 1993-09 $69.9569.95 T-12016 EU 1993-10-29 1090 DE 1993 DM 110110 PT 199x UK 1993-10-29 £59.9959.99 1090 SE (Rental) 199x CZ 199x AU 1993 $169.95169.95 FSTR10SMC AU (Platinum) 199x FSTR10SMC BR 199x 047020 KR 199x GM93038JT AS 199x 1090-11 JP ▼ 2008-07-29 600pts600 US ▼ 2008-10-13 800pts800 EU ▼ 2008-10-17 800pts800
PEGI OFLC

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition, known as Street Fighter II' Plus (ストリートファイターII ダッシュプラス, pronounced Street Fighter II Dash Plus) in Japan, is a versus fighting game released by Capcom for the Sega Mega Drive in 1993.

It stands as the first Street Fighter II game to be released on a Sega system, being a two-in-one compilation of the arcade games Street Fighter II': Champion Edition and Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting.

Gameplay

Street Fighter II has a long (and often complex) lineage dating back to the 1991 release of Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, a sequel to the 1987 arcade game Street Fighter. Two updates to the game were released as Street Fighter II': Champion Edition and Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting in March and December 1992, respectively. Each of the updates attempted to further balance gameplay as well as offering new features such as faster gameplay and more moves.

Special Champion Edition, unique to the Mega Drive, is a version of the game that incorporates the two rulesets of Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting, allowing players to toggle between the two if desired. A similar game was released on the Super NES as Street Fighter II' Turbo which contains most of Special Champion Edition's features, however the Mega Drive game also features a new two-player "Group Battle" mode, in which players fight each other with a team of up to six characters each using Match Play or Elimination rules.

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition was built to utilise the Six Button Control Pad (the first Mega Drive fighting game to do so), however it is fully compatible with three button controllers too. When playing with a three button pad, the player has to press to switch between punches and kicks (effectively turning , and into , and , respectively). On a six button controller, , and are used for punches, while , and are used for kicks.

Beating the game on the highest difficulty level unlocks a special ending sequence.

Characters

Special Champion Edition contains the eight original cast members of Street Fighter II, plus the four originally unplayable "Grand Masters".

Note: Move lists assume the player is facing right. If facing left, and should be reversed. refers to any of the punch buttons, while refers to any of the kick buttons. For moves that require pressing all three or buttons, pressing any two buttons will work also.

	Ryu
	A pure warrior who trained at the Shotokan school of karate, Ryu has no home, friends or family, and tirelessly travels the globe seeking a challenge. Date of Birth: 1964-07-21 Height: 5'10" Weight: 150lbs. Blood Type: O Move list Name Command Description Fireball Ryu famously shouts "Hadouken!" and shoots a ball of energy from his hands. Dragon Punch Ryu shouts "Shoryuken!" and delivers a powerful uppercut. Hurricane Kick Ryu shouts "Tatsumaki Senpukyaku!" and spins his leg like a hurricane. Can also be used in mid-air.
	E.Honda
	A sumo wrestler who has earned the title of "Yokozuna". He has entered the World Warrior tournament to prove that sumo wrestling is a true sport. Date of Birth: 1960-11-03 Height: 6'02" Weight: 304lbs. Blood Type: A Move list Name Command Description Hundred Hand Slap E. Honda unleashes a flurry of hand slaps. He can move forward while doing this. Sumo Head Butt Hold for 2 seconds, then + Using his leg strength, E. Honda propels himself forward head first. Sumo Smash Hold for 2 seconds, then + E. Honda leaps high into the air and uses his weight to flatten an opponent.
	Blanka
	A bizarre beast-like fighter who suddenly showed up from the rainforests of Brazil to challenge anyone who dares oppose him. Date of Birth: 1966-02-12 Height: 6'05" Weight: 218lbs. Blood Type: B Move list Name Command Description Electricity Blanka charges himself with electricity, zapping anyone who touches him. Rolling Attack Hold for 2 seconds, then + Blanka curls into a ball and rolls straight into his opponent. Vertical Rolling Attack Hold for 2 seconds, then + Same as above, but Blanka launches upwards to hit an airborne opponent or drop on them from above.
	Guile
	An ex-member of an elite Special Forces team who has entered the tournament to avenge the death of his co-pilot Charlie at the hands of M. Bison. Date of Birth: 1960-12-13 Height: 6'01" Weight: 191lbs. Blood Type: O Move list Name Command Description Sonic Boom Hold for 2 seconds, then + Guile fires an energy burst by whipping his arms in the air. Flash Kick Hold for 2 seconds, then + Guile performs a backflip kick, causing a damaging vacuum.
	Ken
	A martial artist who received the same training as Ryu, though is brash and arrogant. A challenge from his old partner rekindled his fighting spirit. Date of Birth: 1965-02-14 Height: 5'10" Weight: 169lbs. Blood Type: B Move list Name Command Description Fireball Ken shouts "Hadouken!" and shoots a ball of energy from his hands. Dragon Punch Ken shouts "Shoryuken!" and delivers a powerful uppercut. Hurricane Kick Ken shouts "Tatsumaki Senpukyaku!" and spins his leg like a hurricane. Can also be used in mid-air.
	Chun-Li
	Unlike the other contestants, Chun-Li has joined the tournament to investigate the crime syndicate Shadaloo, believing that the "Grand Masters" are responsible for her father's murder. Date of Birth: 1968-03-01 Height: 5'08" Weight: She won't tell Blood Type: A Move list Name Command Description Lightning Kick Chun-Li unleashes a flurry of rapid kicks. Whirlwind Kick Hold for 1 second, then + Chun-Li flips upside down and spins like a top. Can also be used in mid-air. Fireball Chun-Li shoots a fireball from her hands.
	Zangief
	A good-natured Russian wrestler who joined the tournament to seek greater competition, and is believed to have entered out of fierce respect for his country. Date of Birth: 1956-06-01 Height: 7'00" Weight: 256lbs. Blood Type: A Move list Name Command Description Spinning Clothesline All buttons simultaneously Zangief spins around with his arms outstretched, knocking anyone who wanders into him. Turbo Spinning Clothesline All buttons simultaneously Same as above, but is faster and has a shorter duration. Spinning Pile Driver D-Pad in a 360° rotation, then Zangief grapples his opponent and drives them head first into the ground like a drill.
	Dhalsim
	Dhalsim sought to unify his mind, body and soul through Yoga, and has entered the tournament to test his skills. He stretches his limbs to attack from afar. Date of Birth: 1952-11-22 Height: 5'10" Weight: 107lbs. Blood Type: O Move list Name Command Description Yoga Fire Dhalsim spits out a fireball that scorches whoever it touches. Yoga Flame Dhalsim spews forth a close-ranged cloud of flame. Yoga Teleport (in front of opponent) and all three / buttons Dhalsim teleports himself in front of his opponent, with his distance depending on which buttons were pressed - pressing the punch buttons teleports him close to his opponent, while the kick buttons teleport him further away. Yoga Teleport (behind opponent) and all three / buttons Same as above, except Dhalsim appears behind his opponent.
	Balrog (M. Bison)
	A former heavyweight champion who was banned from professional boxing for ignoring the rules of the ring, and is now hired by M. Bison. Date of Birth: 1968-09-04 Height: 6'05" Weight: 252lbs. Blood Type: A Move list Name Command Description Turn Punch Hold all three / buttons, then release Turning his back to his opponent, Balrog delivers a powerful punch. The longer the punch or kick buttons are held down, the greater the punch's power. Dash Punch Hold for 2 seconds, then +/ Balrog sprints forward and smashes his opponent. Pressing a punch button will cause a straight punch, while the kick buttons will cause an uppercut.
	Vega (Balrog)
	A vain and egotistical fighter who has blended the Japanese art of Ninjitsu with his matador skills, earning him the nickname of the "Spanish Ninja". Date of Birth: 1967-01-27 Height: 6'00" Weight: 208lbs. Blood Type: O Move list Name Command Description Claw Dive Hold for 2 seconds, then +, then Vega climbs to the ceiling and then drops on his opponent. Wall Leap Hold for 2 seconds, then +, then D-Pad towards opponent + Vega drops on his opponent and quickly does an air suplex. Claw Roll Hold for 2 seconds, then + Vega executes a quick forward roll and quickly stabs his opponent.
	Sagat
	Once the original "King of the Street Fighters" and a master of the Muay Thai fighting style, Sagat has sworn to defeat Ryu and regain his title. Date of Birth: 1955-07-02 Height: 7'04" Weight: 283lbs. Blood Type: B Move list Name Command Description Tiger Uppercut Sagat delivers an uppercut intended to counter Ryu's Shoryuken. Tiger Knee Sagat leaps forward over an opponent's low attack and delivers a knee strike. Tiger Shot / Sagat shoots a projectile that can damage opponents or negate other projectiles. Pressing a punch button will throw a high shot, while pressing a kick button will throw a low shot.
	M. Bison (Vega)
	The leader of the crime syndicate Shadaloo and one of the primary antagonists of the series. Bison rules over his empire with an iron fist, and only uses his psychic ability when necessary. Date of Birth: Unknown Height: 5'11" Weight: 254lbs. Blood Type: A Move list Name Command Description Psycho Crusher Hold for 2 seconds, then + Bison channels his psychic energy and flies into his opponent head first, igniting them in psychic flame. Scissor Kick Hold for 2 seconds, then + Bison sails over low attacks with two devastating kicks. Head Stomp Hold for 2 seconds, then +, then after the stomp Bison stomps on his opponent's head, then dives towards them with a crushing blow.

History

Main article: Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition/Development.

Release

Whilst not selling as many copies as the previous Street Fighter II releases on Super NES (6.3 million and 4.1 million respectively), Special Champion Edition managed to sell 1.65 million copies, becoming Capcom's only Mega Drive title to surpass more than a million unit sales (a feat only repeated by one other Capcom title on a Sega system; Resident Evil Code: Veronica on the Dreamcast).

Special Champion Edition brought Sega's console onto a level playing field with Nintendo, and particularly made an impact in regions where the Mega Drive was the dominant system over the Super NES (specifically countries like the United Kingdom, where Special Champion Edition was a highly publicised best seller). Computer and Video Games, for example, hyped it as the world's first 24 megabit console cartridge, and said it has better graphics and faster performance than the SNES version of the original Street Fighter II.

The game's scratchy voice samples were a subject of criticism upon release, but rather than being attributed to hardware limitations, it has been proven that it is a result of poor programming. A fan made hack of the game testing this theory exists on the internet, showing that one can successfully replace the sound driver (leading to higher quality sample playback) without changing the ROM size significantly (i.e. it would still fit on a 3MB/24Mb ROM cartridge like the unmodified version).

Legacy

Both the Mega Drive and Super NES would see the following upgrade, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (though neither console would see its Turbo (X in Japan) update). With more cartridge space and greater experience, Super Street Fighter II fixes many of the concerns with Special Champion Edition such as the missing announcer.

Special Champion Edition has since been re-released as part of the Wii's Virtual Console service and as part of the Japanese and Western versions of the Mega Drive Mini.

Versions

Graphically, the arcade versions of Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition and Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting are very similar (save for character palette changes and a new title screen), meaning Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition is able to recycle graphics for both modes. However, the Mega Drive is unable to match Capcom's CPS arcade hardware, and so is forced to make noticeable cutbacks in graphical fidelity (perhaps most obviously, the lower resolution, with the Mega Drive game outputting at 256x224 at all times (versus 384x224)).

Many background animations are missing in the Mega Drive version, such as the water in E.Honda's stage (alongside the left red lantern) and the scrolling clouds in Blanka's. Where animations are retained, frames are often dropped, which is particularly evident with crowds. While the introduction cinematic is retained, in the West both of the unnamed fighters are white.

While Special Champion Edition delivers more content than its closest SNES counterpart (Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting), the Nintendo version, while again sacrificing background detail over the arcade version in many of the same places, offers tiny improvements over the Mega Drive version in some stages and offers a wider colour palette, as well as clearer speech samples.

It is not a clean sweep, however, with many stages in the Super NES version missing background details or animations present in the Mega Drive port, and it omits the intro sequence being completely. Blanka's defeat portrait has also been lightly censored in the Super NES version, appearing less gruesome than on the Mega Drive.

Some of these gaps between the Mega Drive and Super NES ports would be closed with Super Street Fighter II (though widenend when both compared to the CPS-II-powered arcade version). ROM hacking communities have also released fan-made patches to improve the quality of the audio and bring the colour palettes more in-line with the arcade version.

Production credits

• Planner: Tatsuya "Mickey" Minami
• Software Design: Yoshito "Leo" Itoh, Tomoyuki "E-Hito" Ohta, Koji "Yoshilim" Yoshida, Kiyomi "Kanekon" Kaneko, Harunobu "Img" Imagawa, Koji "Cuty" Ueyama, Hisashi "Kurarin" Kuramoto, Tadashi "Sanchan" Sanzen, Syuichiroh "Luck" Chiboshi, Hiroki "Chun" Bandoh
• Music Design: Tadashi "Elf" Joukagi, Setsuo "Kashira" Yamamoto
• Sound Design: Tatsuya "Anie" Nishimura, Tadashi "Elf" Joukagi
• Object Design: Masao "Sakusan" Sakurai, "Nabe-Chan" Mayumi, Akemi "Zizi" Iwasaki, Hajime‑Chan, Naokazu "Sailor-V" Saitoh
• Scroll Design: Shizuyo "R.H.C.P." Ukai, Ryutaro's Mama, Jun "Bunny" Takeuti, Joe Yabuki
• Very Special Thanks: Masayuki "Imo" Akahori, Professor F
• Special Thanks: Hyper Bengie, Mizushima "Afh"‑Ya., Mr. Sawalim, Factory Matsubara, Hironobu Takeshita, Mr. Makino, Osu Nakajima, Capcom All Staff, and You
• Presented by: Capcom

Digital manuals

• 

  Mega Drive Mini US manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini EU manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini JP manual

Magazine articles

Main article: Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Main article: Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition/Promotional material.

Artwork

• 

Gallery

• 

  Asian shipping box

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average

Publication Score Source Beep! MegaDrive (JP) 88 Beep! MegaDrive (readers) (JP) 84 Consoles + (FR) 94 Computer & Video Games (UK) 94 Edge (UK) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) 83 Famitsu (JP) 75 №251, [1] Hippon Super (JP) 80 №1993-11, p41 Game Players (US) 96 GameFan (US) 97 №11, p10/44/45 GamePro (US) 95 Gamers (BR) 100 No results GamesMaster (UK) 95 №11, p56/57 92 №39 Hobby Consolas (ES) 95 Joypad (FR) 95 MAN!AC (DE) 93 No results Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming (UK) 97 №15, p18-23 Mega (UK) 92 №14, p28/29 Mega Action (UK) 94 №7, p14-16 Mega Force (FR) 95 Mega Fun (DE) 93 MegaTech (UK) 90 №23 MegaTech (UK) 95 №29, p44-47 Mean Machines Sega (UK) 98 №13, pSupplement Player One (FR) 97 Sega Magazine (UK) 96 Sega Power (UK) 94 №48, p60/61 Sega Force (SE) 96 Sega Pro (UK) 95 №25, p34-37 Sega Zone (UK) 93 №13, p58-61 Sega Force Mega (UK) 83 Sonic the Comic (UK) 90 №10, p10

	92
Based on 33 reviews

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual PCB

Mega Drive, US (cardboard)
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, FR (Blister pack)
Cover

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, SE (Rental)

Mega Drive, CZ
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AU
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, AU (Sega Platinum Collection)
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, Asia
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, SG/MY/BN
Cover

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
✔	CRC32 13fe08a1 MD5 94c07e0d90ecb7a7745d5eec376b1d61 SHA-1 a5aad1d108046d9388e33247610dafb4c6516e0b	3MB	1993-09	Cartridge (US)
✔	CRC32 56d41136 MD5 a04172760031920dd7c37c1080457fa0 SHA-1 2a406e2e4743de98785c85322f858abfb8221ae0	3MB	1993-08	Cartridge (EU)
✔	CRC32 2e487ee3 MD5 8828f4691cfbb4b9f2448ee4ca9c2755 SHA-1 0d624f1a34014ead022dd8d5df1134a88eca69bb	3MB	1993-09	Cartridge (JP)

External links

• Sega of Japan Virtual Console pages: Mega Drive
• Nintendo catalogue pages: US, UK

References

NEC Retro has more information related to Street Fighter II': Champion Edition.