{"id":1347,"date":"2025-01-03T19:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-01-04T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/?p=1347"},"modified":"2024-12-28T13:10:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-28T18:10:08","slug":"ultra-street-fighter-ii-issue-51","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gaminginsurrection.com\/reviews\/index.php\/2025\/01\/03\/ultra-street-fighter-ii-issue-51\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra Street Fighter II<\/span> \u2014 Issue 51"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The sixth time\u2019s the charm<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Ultra Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> needs to be the final final challenge<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As a Street Fight\u00ader fan of a cer\u00adtain age, I can remem\u00adber the many jokes back in the day about Cap\u00adcom nev\u00ader learn\u00ading how to count to three. It was\u00adn\u2019t a lie, though. Cap\u00adcom could\u00adn\u2019t count to three because they con\u00adtin\u00adued to make major revi\u00adsions to Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> while oth\u00ader fight\u00ading game series were start\u00ading and mak\u00ading sequels. More than 30 years lat\u00ader, even after Cap\u00adcom learned what tr\u00e9s meant in New Gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtion, Giant Attack and 3rd Strike, we\u2019re still return\u00ading to the SFII<\/span> well and I don\u2019t know if this return trip with the buck\u00adets was worth it.<\/span><\/p>\n

By now, we all know the sto\u00adry of Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span>: A bunch of World War\u00adriors get togeth\u00ader and fight the mega\u00adlo\u00adma\u00adni\u00ada\u00adcal dictator\/drug runner\/supernatural enthu\u00adsi\u00adast M. Bison. Some\u00adone among the based crew that is Ryu, Chun-Li and Guile got their revenge and faced him at the end of the sec\u00adond World War\u00adrior Tour\u00adna\u00adment until the ever-present Aku\u00adma showed up and prompt\u00adly took Bison out with a well-placed Rag\u00ading Demon. Except that giv\u00aden the sto\u00adry events of Street Fight\u00ader V: Cham\u00adpi\u00adonship Edi\u00adtion, this no longer holds true exact\u00adly (see Bison\u2019s res\u00adur\u00adrec\u00adtion in Street Fight\u00ader 6\u2019s DLC<\/span>). Any\u00adway, at the point of Ultra Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span>: The Final Chal\u00adlengers, Bison is dead, on his way to hell with gaso\u00adline under\u00adgar\u00adments on for his var\u00adi\u00adous mis\u00addeeds. This has always been Street Fight\u00ader II\u2019s sto\u00adry\u00adline in its basest form, and noth\u00ading notable has changed about it in Ultra. <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The con\u00adtrols also are the same old Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> that\u2019s been played and rehashed to death dur\u00ading the past 35 years. It\u2019s the same shoryuken, hur\u00adri\u00adcane kicks, and hado\u00adkens you\u2019re used to, and to Cap\u00adcom\u2019s cred\u00adit, that\u2019s the best thing they could have ever done. Don\u2019t fix what isn\u2019t bro\u00adken and what gen\u00ader\u00ada\u00adtions have learned to cut their teeth on. That said, if you can play Super Tur\u00adbo, you can play this because that\u2019s all this is in terms of how to play Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span>. And to mit\u00adi\u00adgate the poten\u00adtial issues, buy\u00ading a Pro Con\u00adtroller is a smart idea, but you already knew that if you bought this port because there is no way you\u2019re casu\u00adal\u00adly play\u00ading a port of a 35-year-old fight\u00ading game with\u00adout know\u00ading you need a decent controller.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now, the one thing that has changed is the graph\u00adics. Graph\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, this is more in line with the weird Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> HD<\/span> Remix that fea\u00adtured ani\u00adme style graph\u00adics. It\u2019s kind of gor\u00adgeous but also kind of not. It feels a lit\u00adtle like a rehash of that port and not too many peo\u00adple were clam\u00ador\u00ading for it out\u00adside of the fact that it was one of the few ports of Super Tur\u00adbo released in the U.S. Some of the stages look great and ben\u00ade\u00adfit from the art style change and some of them just look rather meh. Also, one of the few things that mer\u00adci\u00adful\u00adly stayed the same is the sound\u00adtrack. SFII<\/span> has always had an excel\u00adlent sound\u00adtrack and it, too, is untouched from the Super Tur\u00adbo version.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new addi\u00adtions to this are what\u2019s going to influ\u00adence your deci\u00adsion to get this or pass. On the ros\u00adter side of things are new\u00adcom\u00aders Evil Ryu and Vio\u00adlent Ken. Why, they aren\u2019t new you say? Exact\u00adly. They aren\u2019t new at all if you care about Cap\u00adcom fight\u00ading lore. Evil Ryu is a main\u00adstay evil ver\u00adsion of the beloved Ryu who\u2019s been hang\u00ading around ever since Cap\u00adcom USA<\/span> for\u00adgot to ask if he was real or not in the hey\u00adday of Street Fight\u00ader Alpha 2. Vio\u00adlent Ken is a lit\u00adtle deep\u00ader but not by much. If you played the weird SNK<\/span> vs. Cap\u00adcom Chaos \u2014 bet\u00adter known as SNK\u2019s attempt in the Cap\u00adcom vs. SNK<\/span> series \u2014 you\u2019d rec\u00adog\u00adnize this ver\u00adsion of Ken. He also kind of made a what-if appear\u00adance in Street Fight\u00ader Alpha 3 in the arcade sto\u00adry mode. While I get that they\u2019re a nov\u00adel\u00adty and peo\u00adple love these char\u00adac\u00adters for what\u00adev\u00ader rea\u00adson, I\u2019m not sure I under\u00adstand why we need\u00aded anoth\u00ader ver\u00adsion of Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> to include them. Because for the folks play\u00ading along at home, this makes the sixth ver\u00adsion of the game to be released as an offi\u00adcial port. By the time this was released, Cap\u00adcom was talk\u00ading seri\u00adous\u00adly and mak\u00ading a lot of noise about Street Fight\u00ader V, so this is unnec\u00ades\u00adsary quite hon\u00adest\u00adly. And throw\u00ading in the mori\u00adbund and extra Way of the Hado mode does not jus\u00adti\u00adfy the need for a whol\u00adly new ver\u00adsion of this game.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, I love Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span>. It was instru\u00admen\u00adtal and paved the way for my favorite genre of video games. I\u2019ve played every ver\u00adsion of SFII<\/span> at this point and every spin\u00adoff of it, too. But when it comes to these high\u00adly unnec\u00ades\u00adsary retreads of the same game that Cap\u00adcom won\u2019t let loose, I have a prob\u00adlem. As much as I have come to love the fran\u00adchise in my lat\u00ader years, I can\u2019t stand that Cap\u00adcom beats the SFII<\/span> horse to death while ignor\u00ading their oth\u00ader viable fight\u00ading game fran\u00adchis\u00ades such as Rival Schools\/Project Jus\u00adtice and Vampire\/Darkstalkers. We get it, Street Fight\u00ader II<\/span> is extreme\u00adly pop\u00adu\u00adlar. But Cap\u00adcom has released enough ver\u00adsions of it to last a life\u00adtime and this ver\u00adsion is not need\u00aded. Cap\u00adcom real\u00adly needs to let this be the final chal\u00adlenge for sure.<\/span><\/p>\n