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"Calling it Street Fighter II 1/2 is a bit harsh - this is a really enjoyable title in its own right, and a worthy addition to the SF Series ..."

FOREWORD

Follow-up to the incredibly popular Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (which was actually SO popular they started to bundle it with the Super NES itself - that's how I got my copy), Street Fighter II: Turbo was both eagerly an eagerly awaited, and hotly disputed, follow-up title.

Why was this so ? Read on ...

OVERVIEW AND OBJECTIVE OF THE GAME

You must choose your player from one of the 12 on offer, and then enter the Street Fighter Tournament to pit your fighting skills against all comers, battling your way through to your final confrontation with EVERYBODY's favourite nemesis, M. Bison.

The game plays as a 1-on-1 beat-em'up title, with the winner taking the glory of the tournament and, depending on who you've chosen to accompany you as far, Bison's head :)

GRAPHICS - 9/10

Graphically, this game is basically just like Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, but with a number of minor cosmetic refinements.

New coloured costumes have been introduced for the players (Ryu, for example, now has an additional light blue gi to wear), and at least one new special move has been added per character, the vast majority of which are re-hashed versions of old moves (taking Ryu as my example yet again, he can now perform his tatsu-maki-senpu-kyaku hurricane kick in midair as well as on the ground). There are a few new graphical twists, however, such as Dhalsim's all-new Yoga Teleport move, which add a bit of spice to the existing mix.

The game's speed has also been cranked up considerably, and stress-testing has been done to the cart at the pre-launch stage to ensure it could cope with the speeds demanded of it. Fortunately the toll taken on the cart is minimal, and sprite flicker and lagging are not a problem, which is fortunate.

SOUND - 9/10

A number of additional sounds have been added over the original Street Fighter II cart, namely the addition of audible place names when you are en route to your next match - in the original game the narrator did not say where you were going (even though he did in the arcade), and so for Street Fighter II: Turbo, they have fixed this minor omission.

The stage music is all just as great as it was in the original, and so very little has been done to improve upon the already winning formula that was presented by the original title.

CONTROLS - 10/10

Again, as with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the very crisp, clean and responsive control method that made the first game so intuitive to play is back with a vengeance.

If I had to level a gripe about this title's controls it would simply be that the demand on the PLAYER to perform under pressure is considerably greater than with the previous offering, owing to the increased speed with which you must play the game - at its fastest things can get a bit manic at times, so it is important to keep a level-head.

Beyond that, it's the same control method that made Street Fighter II great, so there's absolutely nothing I can fault it on.

PLOT - 5/10

Again, as with Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, the plot is pretty much @ssmagnatious - however, each of the 12 warriors in the tournament (as you can now play the previously unselectable boss characters) has their own reasons to have entered the tournament, and each has their own separate ending should you complete the game with them.

Therefore there are basically 12 separate plots to work your way through, and whilst none of them are ever likely to be made into best-selling novels, the variety comprised among the mix is easily enough to sustain the martial arts tournament notion, which is cool.

GAMEPLAY - 9/10

Wow. I mean just ... wow. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior had it going on, but this ? This is like the previous game on SPEED. Literally !!

There are now two main modes of play (which warrants a little explanation) - see, at the arcade three separate titles had been released by the time Turbo came around, being Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (which had already been ported to the Super NES), Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (which had NOT been ported to the home consoles), and now Street Fighter II: Turbo (which had just been ported to the Super NES).

Therefore, to try and kill two birds with one stone (and avoid the criticism of releasing what was effectively Street Fighter II 1/2 rather than the next big step-up in the series), TWO main modes of play are available to you, being Turbo Mode (which sees you having the opportunity to pick a speed at which you want to play from 5 on offer (0, 1, 2, 3 and 4)), and Normal Mode (which was the equivalent of playing Turbo Mode on 0 speed-wise, but also removed all the minor modifications that Turbo introduced ... so Normal Mode = Champion Mode; Turbo Mode = Turbo Mode.

Champion Edition plays just like Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, save you can now select the four boss characters as playable warriors (which is great - Champion Edition was always my favourite at the arcade to be honest with you).

Turbo Mode features the selectable speed function, at least one new special move and one new colour for each of the players and, as with Normal Mode, the chance to select and play the four boss characters from Street Fighter II.

Therefore you're getting a reasonably big bag of new tricks for the old game with this title, even if people do still justifiably look upon it more as Street Fighter II 1/2 ...

Aside from the modifications, the game does look, feel, sound and play virtually identically to Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, so if you liked that you're sure to love this.

REPLAY VALUE - 7/10

Given that it's not the oldest OR the newest of the arcade-to-home ports for the Super NES, this title is placed in a slight dilemma insofar as its replay value is concerned.

Its short- to mid-term replay value is very high given the boatload of little extras which have been included for your pleasure - however its longer-term replay value still takes a knock owing to the later release of Super Street Fighter II for the Super NES, which kinda knocks the stuffing out of it to be honest.

VALUE FOR MONEY - 6/10

If you're a huge fan of the series, then this title still represents great value for money, in spite of the difficulty you will find in obtaining it, and obtaining a Super NES to play it on.

If you're looking for a really decent Super NES 1-on-1 beat-em'up title to play, then I would suggest you consider Super Street Fighter II which is even BETTER than this title, and newer, so it should be easier to find.

I've no intention of getting rid of my copy ... ever.

OVERALL - 9/10 (This is NOT an average)

Street Fighter II: Turbo is, in my opinion, unjustly labelled Street Fighter II 1/2. The amount of tweaks and extras that have been jammed into the cart make it a worthy title in its own right and, whilst I think it was over-priced when it was originally launched, I'm still glad I went and bought it (I actually bought the US import version I was so dead-mad-keen on getting my hands on a copy of it) when it came out.

The game is just as enjoyable and addictive to play as its predecessor and its successor, and represents another big fat slice of fighting goodness for your Super NES library.

MAIN GOOD POINTS

* Very nicely done graphics, with new additions for each warrior
* Jam-packed with sounds, some of which were not included in the original SF II cart
* You get to play the four previously unselectable boss characters =)
* You get both Champion Edition AND Turbo Edition in the one game

MAIN BAD POINTS

* The modifications to the warriors are TWEAKS - they are not generally massive

SO SHOULD YOU GET IT ?

As I have already said, if you're a huge fan of the Street Fighter series then yep, DEFINITELY go grab yourself a copy of this title. If, however, you're just looking to get your hands on a great example of a 1-on-1 beat-em'up title for the Super NES, then I personally would suggest you scope out Super Street Fighter II which is better than this.

This is a great title, don't get me wrong, but it represents a refinement to the original SF II, whereas Super Street Fighter II is a revised approach to the entire game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/04/07

Game Release: Street Fighter II Turbo (US, August 1993)