Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition

From Sega Retro

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SF2SCE Title.png

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Capcom, Sega (EU)
Developer:
Original system(s): Capcom CPS-1
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad
Genre: Action

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Mega Drive
JP
¥9,8009,800 T-12033
Sega Mega Drive
US
$69.9569.95[2] T-12016
Sega Mega Drive
EU
1090
Sega Mega Drive
DE
110110[3]
Sega Mega Drive
AU
FSTR10SMC
Sega Mega Drive
AU
(Platinum)
FSTR10SMC
Sega Mega Drive
BR
047020
Sega Mega Drive
KR
GM93038JT
Sega Mega Drive
AS
1090-11
Wii Virtual Console
JP
600pts600[10]
CERO: B
Wii Virtual Console
US
800pts800[7]
ESRB: Teen
Wii Virtual Console
EU
800pts800[6]

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.

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  START  to switch between punch and kicks (effectively turning A, B and C into X, Y and Z, respectively).

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".

SF2SCE MD Portraits.png
Japan Ryu
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Japan E.Honda
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Brazil Blanka
SF2SCE MD Portraits.png
United States of America Guile
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United States of America Ken
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China Chun-Li
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Soviet Union Zangief
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India Dhalsim
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United States of America Balrog (M. Bison)
SF2SCE MD Portraits.png
Spain Vega (Balrog)
SF2SCE MD Portraits.png
Thailand Sagat
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Thailand M. Bison (Vega)

History

Development

Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition began development as a straight port of Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition scheduled to be released worldwide on Summer 1993. Initially Capcom outsourced the development of the Mega Drive version to an undisclosed developer while they were working on the Super NES version of Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (which was actually a port of both, Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting, allowing players to use rules from either version).

However, Capcom was ultimately unsatisfied with the way the Mega Drive version was turning out and choose to delay the game to an October release so they could develop a better version in-house with all the added content from the Turbo version. Due to an exclusivity clause with Nintendo, Capcom couldn't use the Street Fighter II Turbo title on a competing platform, so they used the subtitle Special Champion Edition instead to make the Mega Drive version stand out.

The development and release of Special Champion Edition is notable for other, arguably more important reasons. It was the first Sega game to be produced in-house by Capcom (previous Capcom ports had been handled by Sega under license) - a relationship that would continued on with the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast (and even in the arcades, with Capcom's use of the NAOMI platform). It was also developed in conjunction with the Mega Drive six button control pad, which debuted in most regions at the same time and whose design became a staple for console fighting games going forward (not to mention this basis for the Sega Saturn control pad).

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[11].

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 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


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

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
88 [12]
84 №, p83[13]
94
94 [14]
80 [15]
83 [16]
75 №251, [1]
80 №1993-11, p41
96
97 №11, p10/44/45
95 [17]
100 [18]
95 №11, p56/57
92 №39
95 [19]
95 [20]
93 [21]
97 №15, p18-23
92 №14, p28/29
94 №7, p14-16
95 [22]
93 [23]
90 №23
95 №29, p44-47
98 №13, pSupplement
97 №35, p68-71
96 [4]
94 №44, p24-27
100 [24]
94 №48, p60/61
96 [25]
95 №25, p34-37
93 №13, p58-61
83 [26]
90 №10, p10
90 [27]
Sega Mega Drive
92
Based on
36 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
60
[28]
Beep! MegaDrive (JP) NTSC-J
88
[29]
Cool Gamer (RU)
80
[30]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
94
[31]
Computer + Video Giochi (IT) NTSC-J
96
[32]
Edge (UK)
80
[33]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
83
[16]
Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J
75
[34]
Freak (IL)
95
[35]
GameFan (US)
97
[36]
Game Power (IT) NTSC
98
[37]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
95
[2]
Gamers (DE)
93
[38]
GamesMaster (UK) PAL
95
[39]
GamesMaster (UK)
92
[40]
Hippon Super (JP) NTSC-J
80
[41]
Hobby Consolas (ES)
95
[42]
Hyper (AU)
96
[43]
Joypad (FR)
95
[44]
MAN!AC (DE)
93
[45]
Mega (UK) PAL
92
[46]
Mega Action (UK) NTSC-J
94
[47]
Megablast (DE) PAL
75
[48]
Mega Force (FR)
95
[49]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
93
[50]
Mega Power (UK) PAL
95
[51]
MegaTech (UK) PAL
95
[52]
Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL
98
[53]
Megazone (AU)
91
[54]
Play Time (DE)
94
[55]
Power Up! (UK)
92
[56]
Power Unlimited (NL)
90
[57]
Sega Magazin (DE)
93
[58]
Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
96
[4]
Sega Power (UK)
94
[59]
Sega Pro (UK)
95
[60]
Sega Zone (UK) PAL
93
[61]
Sega Force Mega (UK) PAL
83
[62]
Sega Force (SE)
96
[63]
Sega Mega Drive Review (RU)
76
[64]
The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook (1994) (UK) PAL
90
[65]
Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J
84
[66]
Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL
90
[67]
Sonic Videogame & Fumetti (IT)
97
[68]
Todo Sega (ES)
94
[69]
Tricks 16 bit (RU)
89
[70]
Video Games (DE) PAL
91
[71]
VideoGames (US) NTSC-U
90
[72]
Sega Mega Drive
90
Based on
48 reviews

Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition

Mega Drive, US
SF2SCE MD US Box.jpg
Cover
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Cart
SF2SCE md us manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, US (cardboard)

SF2SCE md us cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, EU
SF2SCE MD EU Box.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD EU Carttop.jpg
SF2SCE MD EU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, JP
SF2SCE MD JP Box.jpg
Cover
SF2DP MD JP CartTop.jpg
SF2SCE MD JP Cart.jpg
Cart
SF2SCE MD JP Manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, AU
SF2SCE MD AU Box.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD EU Carttop.jpg
SF2SCE MD AU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, AU (Sega Platinum Collection)
SF2SCE MD AU Box Platinum.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD AU Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, BR
SF2SCE MD BR Box.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD BR Cart Top.jpg
SF2SCE MD BR Cart.jpg
Cart
Streetfighter2sce md br manual.pdf
Manual
Mega Drive, KR
SF2SCE MD KR Box.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD KR Cart.jpg
Cart
Mega Drive, Asia
SF2SCE MD AS Box.jpg
Cover
SF2SCE MD AS CartTop.jpg
SF2SCE MD AS Cart.jpg
Cart
SF2SCE MD AS Manuals.jpg
Manual

External links

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

References

  1. [CVG UK 141.pdf CVG UK 141.pdf]
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 GamePro, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 54
  3. MAN!AC, "11/93" (DE; 1993-xx-xx), page 55
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 File:SegaMagazine UK 01.pdf, page 124 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaMagazine UK 01.pdf_p124" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:SegaMagazine UK 01.pdf_p124" defined multiple times with different content
  5. Computer & Video Games, "August 1994" (UK; 1994-07-15), page 76
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 http://www.nintendolife.com/games/megadrive/street_fighter_ii_special_champion_edition (Wayback Machine: 2017-07-04 13:40)
  7. http://www.nintendo.com:80/games/detail/W2WVTnzTqcBE4fp7pfN9TSyQqaAVIESR (Wayback Machine: 2011-02-15 08:46)
  8. https://archive.is/8A8QI
  9. https://www.nintendo.co.jp/wii/vc/software/08.html (Wayback Machine: 2018-03-06 23:35)
  10. http://vc.sega.jp:80/vc_streetfighter2/ (Wayback Machine: 2008-08-07 02:11)
  11. Computer & Video Games, "August 1993" (UK; 1993-07-15), page 19
  12. Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1993" (JP; 1993-09-08), page 22 (24)
  13. File:SSM_JP_19950901_1995-09.pdf, page 85
  14. Computer & Video Games, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-15), page 42-44 (42)
  15. Edge, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-09-30), page 86-87 (86)
  16. 16.0 16.1 Electronic Gaming Monthly, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 46
  17. GamePro, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 50-52 (54)
  18. GamePro, "November 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 56-58 (56)
  19. Hobby Consolas, "Octubre 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 68-73 (68)
  20. Joypad, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 66-68 (66)
  21. Joypad, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 54/55 (54)
  22. Mega Force, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-10-08), page 86-91 (86)
  23. Mega Fun, "11/93" (DE; 1993-10-20), page 84-86
  24. Sega Power, "September 1993" (UK; 1993-08-05), page 98
  25. Sega Force, "1/94" (SE; 1994-01-12), page 8/9 (8)
  26. Sega Force Mega, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-16), page 44-46 (44)
  27. VideoGames & Computer Entertainment, "June 1993" (US; 1993-0x-xx), page 36/37 (36)
  28. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 224
  29. Beep! MegaDrive, "October 1993" (JP; 1993-09-08), page 24
  30. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 208
  31. Computer & Video Games, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-15), page 42
  32. Computer + Video Giochi, "Novembre 1993" (IT; 1993-xx-xx), page 100
  33. Edge, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-09-30), page 86
  34. Famitsu, "1993-10-08" (JP; 1993-09-24), page 1
  35. Freak, "12/93" (IL; 1993-xx-xx), page 1
  36. GameFan, "Volume 1, Issue 11: October 1993" (US; 1993-xx-xx), page 10
  37. Game Power, "Novembre 1993" (IT; 1993-1x-xx), page 66
  38. Gamers, "Oktober/November 1993" (DE; 1993-09-24), page 56
  39. GamesMaster, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 56
  40. GamesMaster (UK) "Series 3, episode 3" (1993-09-23, 24:00) (+7:09)
  41. Hippon Super, "November 1993" (JP; 1993-10-02), page 41
  42. Hobby Consolas, "Octubre 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 68
  43. Hyper, "December 1993" (AU; 1993-xx-xx), page 30
  44. Joypad, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-xx-xx), page 66
  45. MAN!AC, "11/93" (DE; 1993-xx-xx), page 54
  46. Mega, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 28
  47. Mega Action, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-04), page 14
  48. Megablast, "1/94" (DE; 1993-12-29), page 31
  49. Mega Force, "Octobre 1993" (FR; 1993-10-08), page 86
  50. Mega Fun, "11/93" (DE; 1993-10-20), page 76
  51. Mega Power, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-21), page 30
  52. MegaTech, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-20), page 52
  53. Mean Machines Sega, "Street Fighter II': The Ultimate Players Guide to the Greatest Game Ever!" (UK; 1993-09-28), page 2
  54. Megazone, "November 1993" (AU; 1993-11-03), page 42
  55. Play Time, "12/93" (DE; 1993-11-10), page 122
  56. Power Up!, "Saturday, October 23, 1993" (UK; 1993-10-23), page 1
  57. Power Unlimited, "Nummer 5, December 1993" (NL; 1993-12-01), page 47
  58. Sega Magazin, "November/Dezember 1993" (DE; 1993-11-03), page 40
  59. Sega Power, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-07), page 60
  60. Sega Pro, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-14), page 34
  61. Sega Zone, "November 1993" (UK; 1993-10-28), page 58
  62. Sega Force Mega, "December 1993" (UK; 1993-11-16), page 34
  63. Sega Force, "1/94" (SE; 1994-01-12), page 8
  64. Sega Mega Drive Review, "1" (RU; 1995-04-03), page 148
  65. The Official Sonic the Hedgehog Yearbook (1994), "" (UK; 1994-xx-xx), page 33
  66. Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 85
  67. Sonic the Comic, "October 2nd 1993" (UK; 1993-10-02), page 10
  68. Sonic Videogame & Fumetti, "Dicembre 1993" (IT; 1993-11-xx), page 22
  69. Todo Sega, "Octubre 1993" (ES; 1993-xx-xx), page 20
  70. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 179
  71. Video Games, "11/93" (DE; 1993-10-27), page 114
  72. VideoGames, "December 1993" (US; 1993-1x-xx), page 103
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Street Fighter games for Sega systems
Sega Mega Drive
Street Fighter II': Champion Edition (unreleased) | Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition (1993) | Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1994)
Sega Saturn
Street Fighter: The Movie (1995) | Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (1996) | Street Fighter II Movie (1996) | Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Dash) (1996) | Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo (1996) | Street Fighter Collection (1997) | X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1997) | Pocket Fighter (1998) | Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1998) | Capcom Generation: Dai 5 Shuu Kakutouka-tachi (1998) | Street Fighter Zero 3 (1999)
Sega Master System
Street Fighter II' (1997)
Sega Dreamcast
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1999) | Street Fighter III: Double Impact (1999) | Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (2000) | Super Street Fighter II X for Matching Service (2000) | Street Fighter Zero 3 for Matching Service (2001) | Super Puzzle Fighter II X for Matching Service (2001)
Arcade
Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper (2001)
Sampler discs
Sega Saturn
Street Fighter Zero 2 Taikenban (199x) | Street Fighter Collection Taikenban (1997)
Sega Dreamcast
Street Fighter Zero 3 Tentou Taikenban (199x)
Unlicensed Street Fighter games for Sega systems
Sega Master System
Sega Game Gear
Jang Pung II (1993)
Sega Mega Drive
X-Men vs. Street Fighter (Mega Drive) (1998)