Capcom: SVC Chaos.” Ultimately, however, these characters are essentially palette swaps that get a few different moves to set them apart from the originals. The addition of Ken’s alter-ego is especially considered exciting given its rarity, only appearing in such games as “SNK vs. Players of the Switch version get Evil Ryu and Violent Ken.
The Switch version tries to do that by adding two new characters plus a new game mode called “Way of the Hado.”
Then again, I would not have minded this if Ultra Street Fighter II built on the 2008 game further. In fact, Ultra Street Fighter II piggybacks on it by using those same assets, which takes off the new car sheen from the concept. That game garnered plenty of critical acclaim because it was the first to implement the idea. Then again, the idea of having UDON Entertainment redraw the classic sprites using their unique manga style would have sounded a lot cooler if Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix did not do the exact same thing way back in 2008. Personally, I loved the idea behind Ultra Street Fighter II. At the same time, my idealized memory of the game also makes me lend a more critical eye to any attempts to tinker with the classic formula. On one hand, my rose-colored glasses makes me put SF2 on a pedestal. A big improvement over the first Street Fighter, SF2 built on the brawler mechanics of Final Fight and essentially created the modern fighting game genre, including its now familiar combo systems and special moves.Īs someone who saw this entire movement unfold, I have soft spot for Street Fighter II - an affinity that can admittedly be a double-edged sword. Street Fighter II was a big part of that phenomenon and ushered in the fighting game genre’s Golden Age. For many old-school gamers, the thriving arcade scene of the 1990s served as a generational bookmark - an example of social gaming before online multiplayer became the platform of choice for bringing together different players. As a teenager, I vividly remember hitting the arcades and hovering around all sorts of gaming cabinets with other folks who placed their quarters on the screen to denote their place in line. It’s one of those cases where you had to be there to see it. Like Kurt Cobain and Jerry Seinfeld, I consider Street Fighter’s Ryu and Ken to be legitimate cultural icons of the 1990s. Follow Technobubble poobah Jason Hidalgo’s shenanigans on Twitter or his Tabiasobi Youtube channel. Technobubble covers games, gadgets, technology and all things geek.