Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Super NES)
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Four Street Fighter II games in three years? Sure, why not. This is Super Street Fighter II, the almost-final revision of the popular arcade series. It adds four new characters, new backgrounds, enhanced moves and much, much more. Was this yet another must-own Capcom game, or were critics starting to get burned out on Street Fighter II? We turn to old issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Players, Die Hard Game Fan, Super Play and Nintendo Power to find the answer.
(NOTE: Although we occasionally cut for length, no other edits are made to the review. Defunct Games does not change any of the wording, grammar or punctuation use. Also keep in mind that our score is the average of all critics at the time, not just the sample that is reprinted on this page. If you still have more questions, I recommend you check out the
Review Crew FAQ, where we address the review guidelines, converting scores, magazine covers and more.)
GAME PLAYERS (February 1995)
"Four new fighters, each with their own stage, push the number of combatants to 16. Action is the same, but the extras push this one close to perfection!!!"
(98% out of 100%)
DIE HARD GAME FAN (July 1994)
"Capcom has done it again. As expected, the animation and art in SSFII is excellent. Some of the tunes even surpass the coin-op. Even though it does not have Q sound, Capcom has the SNES performing sound samples that I thought weren't possible on a home system. Super isn't 100% perfect, but it is the closest arcade translation to date -- next to SF2 Turbo, of course." -The Enquirer
(96% out of 100%)
SUPER PLAY #23
"The bottom line is that if you bought your SNES primarily to play SFII or Turbo, then you really must get hold of this. Don't be put off by that Jap price either, the US version should be around now for about 55 - 60 pounds. Casual SFII fans, however, might be better off persuading a friend to buy it and then commandeering the cart for the odd weekend or two once in a while." -Tony Mott
(96% out of 100%)
GAMEPRO (July 1994)
"When all is said and done, Super SF II is a great translation, but it's not the game it could have been -- Super Turbo with ten stars. On the other hand, one way to look at purchasing Super is this: Many other series get updated every year with a few new features but at the heart are still the same game. If you're an SF fan, $70 gets you a multitude of new features, new characters and another year of Shoryuken and Thrust Kicks in your own home." -Slasher Quan
(4.5 out of 5)
DIE HARD GAME FAN (July 1994)
"This is a tough call. I like the music and voice more (who wouldn't?) in this version, but I prefer the control of the Sega version. I've never gotten used to the button configuration of the SNES controller. I'll play the Sega version more, but this is a better game. I'll call it a tie. Neither version is close to the coin-op." -Skid
(90% out of 100%)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #61
"As much as I hate to do this, I cannot give this game an outstanding score. Why? It's simple. It's not worth buying SF2 again, just for new characters and a couple of new options. Oh sure, the game plays as good, if not better, than SFII Turboand the four additional characters add a bit more challenge, but c'mon already, enough is enough. Alright class, let's see if we can count to three. 1 ... 2 ... sorry!" -Danyon Carpenter
(7 out of 10)
NINTENDO POWER #62
"The third time is the charm when it comes to Super Street Fighter II, the third SF II game in the series from Capcom. All the options you could possibly want in a fighting game makes SF II the ultimate fighting experience. PLUS: Great play control and new characters, moves and options. Total fun. MINUS: This is the Street Fighter II fans should have, but they may not be willing to shell out more bucks."
(3.2 out of 5)
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY #61
"I'm getting a little tired of having to buy a new SF game every year. Sure this game has four new characters and a nifty Tournament Mode, but why get this one, when you can wait a year for the next one? Super SF II plays the same as before, but the voices are horrible and the graphics need a few touch-ups. Capcom needs to totally redo this game to get my interest back. It's just move of the same." -Ed Semrad
(6 out of 10)
REVIEW CREW AVERAGE: 81% -
After so many Street Fighter II iterations, critics were becoming skeptical. Some started to get antsy for Street Fighter III, while others were convinced Capcom would release Super Street Fighter II Turbo a few months later. These predictions didn't exactly pan out, but it's clear that magazines like Electronic Gaming Monthly and Nintendo Power were starting to get Street Fighter II fatigue.
To the game's credit, there were still a lot of critics who loved the game. Die Hard Game Fan loved the graphics and sound on the Super NES version, but preferred
Sega's 6-button game pad. By and large, the critics liked the Super NES version slightly more than the Genesis game. Super Street Fighter II averaged 80% on the Genesis, down from the Super NES average of 82%. Both pale in comparison to the original
Street Fighter II (93% average) and
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (89% average).
ON MONDAY'S EPISODE:
We're finally done with this week of Street Fighter. This means that we're back to three completely different games next week, starting with Shinobi III: Return of the Ninja Master on the Sega Genesis. It's one of my favorite 16-bit action games, but did the critics agree? Find out on Monday when we start a brand new week of Review Crew.
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