Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Review

By Matt Edwards Published 27 November, 2008

Re-enter the dragon punch.

Version tested: Xbox 360

Anyone who's been fortunate enough to play the arcade Street Fighter IV, or came to our Expo for a sneaky look at the home version, would probably join us in praising Capcom for bringing its legendary fighting franchise epically into the current generation. It personifies many of the key elements that made Third Strike and the Alpha series so tight and enjoyable, but grounds it in a familiar Street Fighter II setting, hitting the nostalgia buttons even as it hurricane kicks its way into the future.

But given what Capcom's done with SFIV, and the anticipation for the home release, is HD Remix a worthy update or just an oddly-timed, anachronistic stopgap? Time to dust off the Hori sticks and find out.

HD Remix is essentially an amalgamation of everything from Street Fighter II fandom, uniting the passions of diehards who championed the gameplay or the music or the aesthetics or the story. There's passion behind every fireball, bird kick and dip-switch menu screen.

'Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix' Screenshot 1

There's no EX Specials or Parries, so you've got to rely on the basics.

The first and most obvious differences are the high-resolution sprites and backgrounds designed by Udon - renowned for its various Capcom comic book adaptations. The revamped graphics are one of the high points, updating and improving the look without breaking it. Ryu still churns out fireballs same as he ever did, but he's never looked better doing it, and it doesn't stop with the characters. Menus, stages, projectiles, health bars - it's all undergone the Udon treatment

Once your eyes have adjusted to the new Street Fighter flair, you start getting a kick out of the remixed theme tunes. Every Street Fighter fan has a favourite, and having brought on Udon for the visuals, Capcom in its wisdom signed up OverClocked ReMix to handle the audio. What OCR has done with the classic Ryu, Guile and Ken beats, again, remains true to the original material, but injects a thumping modern feel that has your heart racing all the way to that fierce Shoryuken finish. Special mention has to go to Fei Long's new R&B stage theme, which had us returning to the Bruce Lee wannabe's home for the tune alone.

Overhauled graphics and remixed tracks wouldn't mean a thing if the mechanics had been unbalanced or tweaked beyond recognition though, so it's a relief that virtually every change to the core gameplay has been implemented either to adjust the difficulty curve for beginners or to balance out the residual SSFII Turbo kinks for high-end tournament play.

'Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix' Screenshot 2

Some of the menus will terrify beginners, who probably don't care about what happens to the first frame of a hurricane kick or whether you can buffer Supers.

A number of input commands from SSFII Turbo, although not necessarily simplified, are more intuitive. A good example is Sagat's Tiger Knee attack, which in the old days was a quarter-circle forward motion and a diagonal up at the end. This changed in the Alpha series, however, because the old method would send the giant Muay Thai champ jumping helplessly forward if mistimed, giving his opponent ample time to execute a devastating counter combo. Like Alpha, HD Remix goes for a dragon punch motion instead. Other changes include only having to press both lights, mediums or heavies, rather than all three punches or kicks, for Vega's backflip and Zangief's lariat.

Priorities, hit-boxes and recovery times have also been minutely altered for fairer match-ups, and new moves have been introduced, like Ryu's fake Hadoken and M. Bison's fake slide, to give the hardcore a base to develop new tricks and strategies. Elsewhere, Akuma, who first appeared as a secret boss in SSFII Turbo, has been reworked for HD Remix and is now tournament-legal. He even gets a Super in the form of his notorious Raging Demon. Watch out for it on the wake-up.

HD Remix also takes the fight online, and playing the game over Xbox Live was a lag-free experience - even if every other match-up was against a tactically identikit Ryu or Ken. As with the Live Arcade version of Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting, you can enter in Player or Ranked Matches, and if you really want to test your dragon punch reactions, there's a new Tournament Match mode that lets you duke it out with seven other players.

'Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix' Screenshot 3

Ken's ending is the most embarrassing thing ever. Ryu's is of course enormously honourable.

What's more, just in case the HD Remix refinery isn't your cup of Shadoloo, Capcom has included a Classic Arcade mode on top. This is essentially an arcade-perfect port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, complete with classic music and sprites, and it's fully online-enabled.

All things considered though, HD Remix puts us in a dilemma. Do we treat it as an expensive (1200 Microsoft Points) rehash of an overly ported 2D fighter, with no new characters or play mechanics, or do we take it as a painstaking love letter to Capcom fans, and a worthy sixth addition to the world's most respected 2D fighting series? As long-time Street Fighter fans, we're leaning towards the latter, but we'd have trouble recommending this to anyone who only plays Street Fighter occasionally and already owns one of the many other ports available on Xbox Live Arcade, Wii Virtual Console or a compilation disk.

Still, we'd be boring if we never picked sides, so let's just say HD Remix is a worthy stop-off on the road to Street Fighter IV's console release next February, and a good training ground for anyone who wants to learn or relearn the Street Fighter fundamentals before then. In other words, it's time to brush up on your cross-ups and rush down some Ken-bashing scrubs!

8 / 10

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About Matt Edwards

Matt describes himself as a player of games, a rider of motorbikes and a wearer of hats. He's also a Fighting Mania master. "Omae wa mo shindeiru!"

Read more articles from Matt by visiting the Matt Edwards archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • sweetcheeks #1 3 years ago

    first-
    sounds competant enough but capcom have already had enough of my money on their sf2 rehashes down the years, bring on sf4

  • peterfll #2 3 years ago

    Isn't it a bit rubbish played on the standard 360 pad?

  • Widge #3 3 years ago

    ... and from EG's "Face Off" bod:

    http://www. digitalfoundry.org/blog/?p=273

  • myiagros #4 3 years ago

    I will be waiting for SFIV instead of replaying SFII again. No matter how good it is now looking i refuse to pay for this game yet again.

    Also as a side note, there should surely be a mention of the fact that it is virtually unplayable with the 360 dpad.

  • Kyle #5 3 years ago

    Yeah, I too was hoping they'd mention how it plays on a 360 controller. With it's shitty dpad I'd imagine not so god, and I don't fancy buying an arcade stick.

    I'll probably just wait for the PS3 release.

  • Buztafen #6 3 years ago

    Ken rules....Ryu's too fucking serious!

  • FreakyZoid #7 3 years ago

    "is now tournament-legal" what does that even mean?

  • Cadence #8 3 years ago

    This must play like dog shit using the 360's pad.

  • chessboxer #9 3 years ago

    @ Widge

    I thought the sprites looked a bit upscaled. They're fuzzy in still 1080p shots but probably not too noticeable when you're dragon punching someone in the face.

    Still waiting for SCEE to announce a date. Hopefully the bugs will be fixed in the EU PSN version.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/08 @ 16:54

  • DDevil #10 3 years ago

    It means Akuma used to be way over-powered and was banned from use in gaming tournaments. He's been rebalanced to make fighting him fair now.

    You can still select to have classic Akuma available though.

  • Widge #11 3 years ago

    Comments in the forum point that its easier to use the analogue than the d-pad on the 360.

  • illusiondance #12 3 years ago

    i second Mr.Sweetcheeks' opinion.
    if capcom USA want my money they should develop something original AND good. (instead of living off the reflected glory of this aged goodness)

    "try again kid"

  • MiY4MOTO #13 3 years ago

    I love it, and to be honest I don't have too much problem pulling off the specials, combos & supers using the standard 360 d-pad either. If you have a 360 & enjoy playing streetfighter with mates then I can't recommend it enough.

    Personally I prefer the 360 pad to PS3 so I got this for my 360, that and I much prefer my 360 for any online gaming.

  • septimus #14 3 years ago

    Love SF2 and this is the best iteration yet. But the 360 controller makes baby jebus cry! It's utterly horrid for this game.

    Dragon Punch. I said Dragon Punch! Dragon, oh fuck it.

    Edit - DPad or analogue stick, it makes barely any difference, they both suck for this game.
    Edited by 1 at 27/11/08 @ 17:20

  • martlev #15 3 years ago

    @lavalant Amazon UK carry a Madcatz arcade stick, how good it is I have no idea. Personally I am going to get me a Hori arcade stick as its more arcady than the madcatz one (although does cost more)

  • HoraceGoesSquiffy #16 3 years ago

    Somewhere amongst the numbers, superlatives and jargon I think there's a game title trying to get out.

  • optimusprym8 #17 3 years ago

    Should be a cheaper payment option for those who have full version of SFII XBLA on their HDDs, not paying 1200 for it or whatever it will be on PSN

  • Luckyjim #18 3 years ago

    I'm more interested in this than SFIV.

  • Scimarad #19 3 years ago

    I'll be waiting for the PS3 version...

  • bad09 #20 3 years ago

    I was dissappointed in the price after such a long wait for this but I guess the MS stealth increase can't be helped. Why they can't just come out and say "we are now charging more for live games" rather than sneaking 'em in hoping no one will notice is beyond me.

    But once I was over this I think this version is amazing and makes up for the poor 1st outing on Live. Oh, and anyone who can't use the controller is, quite frankly, rubbish. 360 pad may not be perfect but it works just fine. Try playing on the Amiga then come back and complain! :)

    As I said in the SSF2THD thread, all I need now is HD versions of Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs Capcom 2 (I'm sure I read on EG this is actually happening!), Darkstalkers 3, SF3 (and RE - PLEEEAAASE nice Mr Capcom) and I'm in Capcom heaven :)

  • Nithron #21 3 years ago

    I know this makes me sound like a pixel counting graphics snob, but couldn't they have made it a little higher resolution? Presumably the source material that udon started with was uber high, and they've deliberately scaled it down for the game to what, 720p? So now the images in the gallery look like stretched JPEGs.

    It's 2D for chrissakes. Surely the 360/ps3 can handle it at a higher resolution than that? If for nothing other than future-proofing?

  • Pirotic #22 3 years ago

    "with no new characters or play mechanics"

    Other than the new character and play mechanics mentioned 2 paragraphs previously :p

  • Sar #23 3 years ago

    WTF is with the demo?

    A single option to play a local multiplayer game only?

    I only have 1 pad, as I'm the only 360 gamer in my house, so it's fucking useless for me.

    Complete lack of thought on MS's part. I would have bought this, if I could have had a go on it before paying, just to make sure it's as I remember. But fuck that. I've got better things to do with my money than spunk it on a neutered demo.

  • Velios #24 3 years ago

    Best version of SFII ever made.

    Having flawless lag-free online battles is something I never thought I would see, but over 60 matches later, I am still yet to have a bad experience.

    Also, there are plenty of other joypads and joysticks out there for those that want to use them which are great with SFII if you cant get along with the xbox one - I personally can do OK with the 360 pad, but thats because im a fucking SFII GOD !!!

    Get this game if you have any interest in playing the best 2D fighter in the last 10 years.

  • Remy #25 3 years ago

    After an entire day of play - This is the best game ever. 10/10. The most perfect balanced fighter with the best net code ever. Do a proper review please EG.

  • TRUTH #26 3 years ago

    I heard that KOF is coming to 360 - 2d in hi-def. That be awesome!

  • DarkBytes #27 3 years ago

    No

  • Mawich #28 3 years ago

    It's very, very pretty and the music is incredible. It really feels like a loving polish of an old favourite, existing purely for nostalgic purposes.

    Unfortunately I'm finding it very hard to pull off special moves with the 360's pad. I'm not sure if it's the engine timing, or the controller or what, but I find the VC port of Super Street Fighter 2 much, much easier to deal with.

    Also, is it just me or is the AI on Easy still irritatingly difficult? I'm not sure how a complete beginner would get very far without throwing the controller across the room... I don't even want to think about what Hard is like!

  • patchbox360 #29 3 years ago

    sf4 all the way baby

  • Dogs-in-Hats #30 3 years ago

    Its good shit

  • michaelius #31 3 years ago

    You don't have to wait for ps3 version. It's already released on us store. All you need is credit card that works with it (mine does :))

  • ArtOfLife #32 3 years ago

    Wow, just got this from the US PSN store; it's awesome! Great character art and sprites, and as fun to play as ever. I'm terrible at it though. I can't get good at Street Fighter, no matter how hard I try.

    Also, I always loved the Ken theme on the Overclocked Remix site (as well as tons of other stuff on their site as well), and it's great that Capcom got those guys on board to do the official soundtrack for their latest game, as there's some brilliant stuff being made over there.

  • Rash' #33 3 years ago

    The emperor's new clothes, anyone?

  • 3william56 #34 3 years ago

    No thank you Rash. I prefer my jeans and t shirt, and the emperor might get cold. But it's very nice of you to offer.

    /waves at NickJC leaving
    Bye! Don't let the door hit you in the ar$e when you go!
    /forgot to wave with the other 4 fingers.

  • migasUK #35 3 years ago

    yaah i just can't do the special moves....probably i will have to buy the green pad

  • Miths #36 3 years ago

    I bought the PS3 version the other day, and though I may or may not have played any of the previous versions a decade or more ago (being 32 and a gamer since I got my first C64, I almost can't imagine I haven't at some point), this was just waaay too old school for my taste.
    Nice and sharp art style, but most animations look like they consist of somewhere between two and five frames each (though making them smooth and up to today's standards would probably have wrecked havoc on the gameplay people were used to) and with the very limited special moves lists (and some combo thingies I couldn't manage even remotely consistently), it feels like it's much harder to pull off satisfying moves than in modern 3D fighters.
    And of course the only reward here is winning - no fancy costume unlocks and other "fluff".

    I'm sure this is objectively speaking a great game, but I think I'll leave it to the fans and stick to VF, SC and Tekken (when is 6 out?) when I need my fighting fix :). Though Street Fighter IV looks like it may very well have some of what I'm looking for as well of course.

  • muscleblade #37 3 years ago

    I love this game. If SFIV is going to better than this its my GOTY next year.

  • Rev.StuartCampbell #38 3 years ago

    All the people saying this is a 10/10 - which character do you play?

  • muscleblade #39 3 years ago

    @Widge

    This is not the case in the finished version idiot.

    And the D-pad works fine too. I won more ranked matches than i lost last night using only the D-pad.

    The graphics looks perfect.

  • muscleblade #40 3 years ago

    @NickJC

    Personally i think Braid deserved a 10/10. 3 hours is good value imo. But this is a better game in many ways. This is definentaly a 10/10. And im going to play it for over 100 hours probably.

    @Darren

    is this a "proper" game to you then.

  • SlackMaster #41 3 years ago

    Having paid 800 points for SFII Hyper fighter on XBL, which was too much, I find paying 1,200 for Remix more than I'm willing to pay even if it's great.

    The problem I have with this is one with DLC in general. The game doesn't come with a box or on a disc and can't really be kept for any great length of time as once the HDD dies and we've moved onto the next gen the game is gone.

    I think DLC should reflect this more and not have broken the 1,200MSP barrier.

    Also I think the demo was very poor, as mentioned before, because virtually no one could play it due to the silly local play restriction.

    To top this off, Grin completely remade Bionic Commando creating a great game for 800MSP, whereas SFII Remix has had new visuals and some more balancing. Why is that worth 400MSP more than Grins offering.
    Edited by 1 at 28/11/08 @ 09:27

  • iago71 #42 3 years ago

    Loving it...... Its so pretty and feels just right.... I have to say Im not fully up to speed with the pad in terms of pulling off all the specials but Ill admit that could also be put down to rust as well!

    Really glad I got it though. Will play this a lot I think :)

  • kestral #43 3 years ago

    how many times can you release the same game?

    * Street Fighter II - The World Warrior
    Console Ports:
    o Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, DOS)
    o Street Fighter II (Nintendo Game Boy - this version combined elements from the first 4 versions of SFII [SFII:TWW-SSFII])
    o Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (PlayStation - part of Street Fighter Collection Vol. 2(US)/Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters(Japan))
    o Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Sega Saturn - part of Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters, Japanese release)
    o Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
    o Street Fighter II - The World Warrior (Wii- downloadable by VC)
    * Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition
    Console Ports:
    o Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (TurboGrafx-16 - Japanese release)
    o Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System - part of Street Fighter II Turbo - Hyper Fighting)
    o Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Mega Drive/Genesis - part of Street Fighter II' - Special Champion Edition)
    o Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (PlayStation - part of Street Fighter Collection Vol. 2(US)/Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters(Japan))
    o Street Fighter II' (Sega Master System)
    o Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition (Sega Saturn - part of Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters, Japanese release)
    * Street Fighter II' Turbo / Street Fighter II' - Hyper Fighting
    Console Ports:
    o Street Fighter II Turbo - Hyper Fighting (Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
    o Street Fighter II' - Special Champion Edition / Street Fighter II' Plus (Mega Drive/Genesis)
    o Street Fighter II' Turbo / Street Fighter II' - Hyper Fighting (PlayStation - part of Street Fighter Collection Vol. 2(US)/Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters(Japan))
    o Street Fighter II' Turbo - Hyper Fighting (Sega Saturn - part of Capcom Generation Vol. 5: Fighters, Japanese release)
    o Street Fighter II' Turbo - Hyper Fighting (Xbox 360 - downloadable through Xbox Live Arcade, Released August 2, 2006)
    * Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers
    Console Ports:
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (Super Famicom/Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (Mega Drive/Genesis)
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (PlayStation - part of Street Fighter Collection(US/Japan))
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (Sega Saturn - part of Street Fighter Collection(US/Japan) )
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (Atari ST, Commodore Amiga, DOS)
    o Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers (DOS - US release)

    A special version of this game, known as Super Street Fighter II - Tournament Battle was created to allow eight players to participate in an elimination tournament.

    * Super Street Fighter II Turbo / Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge
    Console Ports:
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo / Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (Panasonic 3DO)
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo (DOS, Amiga, Amiga CD32)
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo / Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (PlayStation - part of Street Fighter Collection(US/Japan) )
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo / Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (Sega Saturn - part of Street Fighter Collection(US/Japan) )
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo / Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (PlayStation2 - part of Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2)
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo/ Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge (Xbox - part of Capcom Classics Collection Volume 2)
    o Super Street Fighter II X Grand Master Challenge for Matching Service (Sega Dreamcast - Japan only) - First fighting game with online play (with the exception of console versions of Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers playable through XBAND)
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival / Super Street Fighter II X Revival (Game Boy Advance)
    o Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (Xbox 360 - downloadable through Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation 3 - downloadable through PlayStation Network.)
    * Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
    Console Ports:
    o Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (PlayStation 2 - part of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection)
    o Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition (Xbox - part of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection)

    Although not fighting games, the SF2 series also contained:

    * Street Fighter II Pinball: A pinball arcade game developed by Gottlieb in 1993.

    As well as:

    * A card game titled Street Fighter II - World Warriors Card Game
    * An LCD game titled Street Fighter II
    * A board game titled Street Fighter II
    * A competitive spinning-top game similar to that of Beyblade titled Spin Fighters.
    * A slot machine titled "Street Fighter II"

  • SlackMaster #44 3 years ago

    @ Muscleblade

    Saying that someone isn't any good because they can't use the 360's d-pad is a bunch of crap. Personally I've been playing SFII since it first arrived over here in the arcades andfind the 360's d-pad completely useless for SF.

    I have a Hori arcade stick on the way and will be using this for Hyper fighter and SC4, and maybe this if I buckle and reluctantly pick it up.

  • iago71 #45 3 years ago

    "As I said in the SSF2THD thread, all I need now is HD versions of Marvel Super Heroes, Marvel vs Capcom 2 (I'm sure I read on EG this is actually happening!), Darkstalkers 3, SF3 (and RE - PLEEEAAASE nice Mr Capcom) and I'm in Capcom heaven :)"

    Absolutely! Xmen as well please - Not to mention SNK vs Capcom! :)

  • muscleblade #46 3 years ago

    "Saying that someone isn't any good because they can't use the 360's d-pad is a bunch of crap"

    WTF man!!! I never said anything like that. You must be kind of stupid if that was what you get from:"And the D-pad works fine too. I won more ranked matches than i lost last night using only the D-pad. "

  • Riggers #47 3 years ago

    Do want, although I'm not sure how I'll get on with the 360 pad...

  • Gearskin #48 3 years ago

    Sticks all the way. This rules.

  • Trigga_Tybalt #49 3 years ago

    still not sure whether to get this or wait for 4 :S

  • Remy #50 3 years ago

    I said 10/10 and since it was asked above; I play as Guile (me dad! :p) and Dee Jay.

    This game has shedloads more content than Bionic Commando Rearmed. As great a deal as that was, this has re-drawn 2d sprites which took a huge amount more time & money, and the net code alone is probably worth more than everything in Bionic Commando.

    Quite simply this game is an improvement on an already timeless classic. This will be still be being played in 20 years time, which is why anything less than a 10, or quibbling over the utterly ridiculously cheap price sounds pretty daft to me. (No it isn't perfect btw, I had some horribly laggy games just earlier today. Darn Aussies and Brazillians with their horrendous connections :( )

  • Ranger101 #51 3 years ago

    The best fighter if only for the fact that SF3:3S is a far superior game.

    Parry fools.

  • Robyrt #52 3 years ago

    Out of all the dozens of changes to Super Turbo so that HD Remix would be the ultimate version of Street Fighter 2, only one stands out as an unfulfilled promise.

    "Easy mode is now actually easy." This is a big lie. Easy mode is still pretty tough, it's just that the AI sometimes forgets to block. On Hard difficulty, expect to fall victim to the psychic AI uppercut on a regular basis.

  • Remy #53 3 years ago

    Robyrt - indeed true. But they'd have needed to completely re-write the blatantly cheating button-press-reading AI from SF2 to have changed this though. It is, however, far FAR easier than the USA AI for Super Turbo, which was utterly bonkers.

  • Remy #54 3 years ago

    as per sackboy article -
    *challenges all at EG for a fight*
    (Remy77077 on XBL)

    Can I at least get a 9/10 review if I win? :p I reckon the EG review may still be the lowest score for this game on metacritic! Sort it out guys ;)

  • TONYgr #55 3 years ago

    i got it yesterday from my usa account.i couldnt wait more for the european release.also the game is perfect for sf fans!

  • hiddenranbir #56 3 years ago

    Talking to the top ranked people...

    Best to learn how to use the analog and master that. Similar to arcaders that use sticks innit.

    I'm waiting for an improved d-pad controller.

  • Velios #57 3 years ago

    This should be a 10/10 Game

    I have spoken!

  • Lord-Norr #58 3 years ago

    Unless your 100% accurate with the control pad, forget any special moves. A swish to the left on the analogue stick is dangerously close to down and left...
    Didn't like the game since I couldnt even get one special move to work, (tell a lie, I did, by mistake, never replicated it again though). Sob.