Street Fighter II: Champion Edition is an updated version of original Street Fighter II, with some minor graphical changes and color improvements, particularly on the backgrounds, and now allowing both players in two-player matches to select the same character (distinguished by alternate costume colors) and to choose the four previously computer-only boss four Shadaloo Bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison). Champion Edition was launched for the arcades, and then to PC-Engine, X68000, Sega Master System etc, while the Special Champion Edition released only for the Sega Megadrive. Note that Champion Edition is comparable to the Hyper Fighting for the Nintendo SNES, which has the same enhancements but also adds ten selectable game speeds and new moves for many characters, otherwise both identical.
Review
STORY / GAMEPLAY As in every fighting game out there, in Street Fighter 2 you have to fight your opponents in a one-on-one close-quarter martial arts combat. The objective in each round is to deplete the opponent's vitality before the time runs out. You either win or lose, depending on the way you play this game and how good you are in controlling the character (and his or her powers) you choose. In case both fighters simultaneously knock each other out, then you have a "double KO" and in case the time runs out with both fighters having equal vitality left, then you call it a "draw". When a "draw" occurs, you'll have to fight some additional rounds until one of the two fighters is down for good. It gives you the option (as opposed to its predecessor) to select a fighter among multiple characters from different countries and different distinct fighting styles and special moves. This version has a secret code allowing both players to control the same character in a match, which is not possible in the original arcade version. It was also was built to utilize the Six Button Control Pad (the first Mega Drive fighting game to support it). Note that, to switch between punches and kicks you need to press the Start button on the joypad. As with all Street Fighter II series, this version is credited for initiating the fighting games' "craze" that "hit" the video games market during the 90s!
GRAPHICS / SOUND The PC Engine features excellent graphics and sound much like the original arcade version! Oh yes, this 8bits CPU console with the dual 16bits GPUs can offer arcade quality games. The game is well designed and includes all the backgrounds and the character models of the original. The animation is plain smooth and the action is pretty fast. The sound features digitized sound FX and all the great original in-game tunes.
CPU: HuC6280 8bit at 3.6MHz MEMORY: 8KB RAM GRAPHICS: Dual 16-bit GPUs (HuC6260 Video Color Encoder, HuC6270A Video Display Controller), 64KB VRAM, 482 colors at once out of 512, 64 hardware sprites, Supports: 256 x 256 to 320x256 flicker free interlaced screen resolution. A 512x256 mode is possible through fiddling with registers, but not SOUND: Capable of generating clear digitized sounds and harmonized music. Use of "Turbo Booster" add-on, could generate stereo sound.