Super Street Fighter 2 - Sega Genesis Review

[@Slightly_Sadistic]

Console Wars gave the win to the Mega Drive/Genesis on Super Street Fighter II. I've played both. I actually had the SNES version as a teenager. They're both good with strengths and weaknesses. I think a lot of those 1990s video game reviewers were biased or paid off. I remember one magazine saying SNES Cool Spot was better than the Genesis Cool Spot. So, I rented that one, too! Slightly better graphics. Lacking in almost every other way.

[@kennethd4958]

This was one of the first games I got with my model 2 Genesis. Still one of my favorite Street Fighter games.

[@chivalrous_chevy1163]

This was the game I remember playing most fondly at my friend's house who recently got a model 2 Genesis, which, for all I knew at the time, was model 1.

[@mickeymaus1]

Same, beside within the package delivered Sonic 2. I played a lot back then…

[@ericcornish3773]

Same hear

[@TheL1arL1ar]

Speaking of model 2…I still remember that Christmas…it came with sonic 2, and my mom was pissed….because my parents where already separated and daddy comes through with a big w.

[@kennethd4958]

@@TheL1arL1ar Oh dang! hah Yep I got the model 2 for my 6th birthday that year. Played the crap put of Sonic 2 and Street Fighter 2 for a while as those were the only games I had for months besides when we would rent games on the weekend.

[@andrewdowell6474]

Pretty wild just how much better Champion Edition music sounds when played side by side with Super.

[@64offsuiter]

It sounds like master system quality

[@MrZillas]

Master System had some very good games with good sounds and music.

[@physalis17]

I'll stick to Champion Edition. The music for Street Fighter 2 makes the game for me. The tunes are straight up nostalgia for me

[@peterwright6721]

Who cares about the sound when the game play is on point , Super blows the other game away and what idiot said it sounded like a master system game?What a moron.

[@tonycervz89]

Super means Superior As In Superior to Genesis

[@patrickholt8782]

The genesis 6 button pad really kicks this one up a notch. Plus this one brought in Fei Long and Cammy!

[@johnnylove2073]

No love for T-Hawk and DeeJay?

[@johnnylove2073]

@@jacobprayer8656 you edited this comment, and STILL misspelled

[@jacobprayer8656]

​@@johnnylove2073 why are you leaving comments toward me? What are you talking about even?

[@blakebortles6098]

@@johnnylove2073 max out max out max out lol lol

[@johnnylove2073]

@@jacobprayer8656 you deleted your moronic comment

[@grahamkelly8662]

I remember getting Super Nintendo with Street Fighter 2 and I was in heaven. Most pumped I think I’ve been, to own a game I played so much on arcade machine.

[@ryuivy29]

Snes forever ❤

[@Gen965]

it was always best on SNES, how can people play SF on a 3 button controller? it's already bad enough you gotta by 2 six button controllers & The Sega sound effects really stinks! too. & mk really sucked on Sega. my only shout out to sega is sonic the hedgehog. lol 💯

[@grahamkelly8662]

@@Gen965 I never thought about that, as a kid. I only owned master system 2. Then moved on to Nintendo , Dreamcast and PlayStation. Ah, Sonic. I remember my Nan rented me a Copy of Sonic and I can still remember playing it. All I remember is Rings, those loops where you spin and that Dr Robo or whatever he was called. Unfortunately, my Nan passed away, recently. She made it to 85 so that isn’t bad.

[@misterlexx2721]

​@@Gen965 Sega had better games. Mortal Kombat 1 was better on Genesis with the blood. Streets of Rage serious was a superior beat em up to double dragon with only 2 characters.

[@kefkarothsephka7708]

@@misterlexx2721 sega had better sports games over the snes. thats pretty much it

[@Mitjitsu]

It would have been interesting to see how it would have fared on the Sega CD/32x.

[@mxggo9046]

EXACTLY. Should have been a launch title on 32x. Missed opportunity. Maybe homebrew scene can make something happen.

[@ssppeeaarr]

it would be near arcade perfect then... but capcom didnt wanna risk releasing it on that cuz of weak sales i guess.

[@Rationalific]

Good question, but I feel that it would not have had much effort put into it on those consoles. Maybe take a look at Mortal Kombat on the Sega CD and Mortal Kombat II on the 32X to get an idea of how it might have been...

[@ssppeeaarr]

@@Rationalific MK 2 on 32x was good tho. imo... sega cd MK tho was sad. even homebrew MK on stock genesis show'd what can happen in the hands of a capable dev tho. its really what it comes down to. like capcom just wanted to cash in on street fighter hype wave again. i think it reused sprites from snes version also for ssf2 genesis. 😔

[@Rationalific]

@@ssppeeaarr True that MK2 on 32x had more effort put into it than MK1 on the Sega CD. It's hard to know how Super Street Fighter II would have turned out, as both the Sega CD and 32X have had relatively low effort games as well as a few high effort games. Thankfully, the more powerful Saturn was a 2D powerhouse, and had Street Fighter Collection, which included Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold as well as SSF2 and SSF2 Turbo. It has been an extremely long time since I've played it, but I'd be surprised if that version of SSF2 wasn't pretty close to perfect.

[@mekman4]

I had this version when I grabbed a Nomad and a handful of games decades ago, the sound wasn’t something I noticed particularly since I wasn’t as much of a fan of Street Fighter music as I was of Street of Rage 2 and Sonic tunes on the same device. It was just fun to mash buttons in the most arcade accurate full color port of Street Fighter, on the go. Great Stuff, as always!

[@YaowBucketHEAD]

Mash buttons for an hour tops. 😂

[@matthewlane518]

Oh I love my nomad😁

[@shrim1481]

Why do genesis games sound like crap? The Super Nintendo always had great sound!

[@TheTourist33]

@@shrim1481 because is a console from 1988. Snes sound like crap too.

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

@@shrim1481 They don't. The system produces some of the best soundtracks of the generation. It's just took a little more work to get good sound out of it. Lots of shitty Western games sounds like crap because Western devs were unexperienced with the FM+PSG audio hardware and used a crappy "turn key" sound driver called GEMS. SSF2 sounds like crap because of lazy porting. Even after Capcom was free to publish Genesis games, unlike Konami, they never fully embraced it or gave it their full effort, simply looking to cash in on the expanded user base, while Nintendo remained their main focus. They neve gave Genesis games their full effort.

[@robertdanker6193]

I had already owned the SNES version and loved it. I then picked up the Genesis version to play on my Nomad system. I was so happy to have SF2 on the go I didn't notice the music, but the scratchy voices did stick out. I still played it a bunch and enjoyed it.

[@junkmail6992]

Man U rich. I was lucky to get one game a year growing up

[@jeffm5056]

Man, I had never heard those musical comparisons before. That's just sad. I can't wait for you cover the four Mortal Kombat games on the Genesis. They too were impressive and letdowns in their own right.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

The motel Kombat arcade edition rod hack that came out this year is so much of a great fix to a genesis butcher job it’s wonderful .!

[@zanegandini5350]

@@48hourrecordsteam45 Yeah that is an outstanding hack, elevates the Genesis version above even the Sega CD port imo.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

@@zanegandini5350 oh yes.! I find it even disrespectful to call it a hack

[@blackishjustin]

You definitely nailed it on the head with this one. Although I was just super stoked to play an updated Street Fighter II with characters like Fei Long, even at a very young age, I knew there was something weird about the audio compared to Special Champion Edition. I would often go back to playing SCE because of that. Nice video, dude. Love the content.

[@eponymous7910]

Same deal with the snes port. II Turbo Hyper Fighting had so much more weight to the audio compared to SSFII

[@TheTrueBro]

@@eponymous7910 eh, not at all. SF2 and SF2T music on SNES was too weird with its abuse of trumpet sounds. SSF2 composer decided to stick more to how the arcade version sounds and it's clearly noticeable, a total improvement. A shame the Genesis versions were the total opposite.

[@ssppeeaarr]

@@eponymous7910 right on. ken theme. ryu theme. are iconic on snes. thank u sony sound chip!! lol. i prefer the cps1 sf2 turbo ost over the ssf2 on snes. even tho ssf2 on snes sounds thousand times better then what genesis had with its version. sad capcom wasted 40megs like that. its the equivelent of what happened with snes alpha 2... but that sacrifice is way more understandable.

[@hitek9too255]

No one that played really cared about the audio. We cared about about the new characters, moves, graphics, backgrounds, and content.

[@diegoaccord]

As should be common knowledge, the Genesis was 68000+Z80 with Yamaha sound based as was the CPS1, which is why Special Champ was able to sound close to the CPS1 music. There was Beta that sounds even closer to the arcade than retail. As a kid with both consoles, at the time, I preferred SCE on Genesis compared to Turbo on SNES, and for Super SF2, SNES over Genesis big time. SNES is much closer to the arcade for the CPS2 renditions, and I actually like T.Hawk's SNES theme over the arcade.

[@dariog36th]

This game was a turning point for Capcom and Sega. Every game Capcom released on Sega after this was perfect.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

Wasn’t this the last game capcom put out on the genny .?

[@dariog36th]

@@48hourrecordsteam45 maybe on the genesis but not for sega.

[@48hourrecordsteam45]

Capcom was at its best on Genesis ..! After that sega consoles didn’t have major success enough to benefits capcom . . . They keep working with sega as two Japanese companies. But capcom benefits was on other platforms , PlayStation made capcom their biggest profits next to arcade

[@dariog36th]

@@48hourrecordsteam45 Capcom’s arcade games ran on the Naomi hardware which was made by Sega. That’s why all the Capcom games that came out on Saturn and Dreamcast were pretty much arcade perfect.

[@Thor-Orion]

@@dariog36thNaomi was only for Dreamcast, people forget that Saturn outsold PlayStation in Japan until FF7 came out.

[@scottlinux]

I appreciate the firm and honest review, esp from a Sega fan. The Genesis versions were so good, if not for the audio. I prefer these personally over SNES. Rock on!

[@Arise12Tribes]

No way my man the SNES version was better

[@Arise12Tribes]

@@tolani05 No sir The SNES always trumped Sega 90% of the time no matter what the game comparisons were. Same thing with Mortal Kombat. The only reason why Mortal Kombat 1 was better on Sega was because it had blood, that's it. But MK 2 was SNES by a land slide... Sound, gameplay, Graphics etc. Same with SF 2, not even close dude... Any true gamer from the throwback era knows this

[@camulodunon]

​@@Arise12Tribesyou're making pretty baseless claims when it comes to SF2.

[@Arise12Tribes]

@@camulodunon baseless claims like what?

[@camulodunon]

@@Arise12Tribes general claims about the port being superior all the time on SNES, and also your claim about "any true gamer from the throwback era". Anyone from the era who actually got this version of Super SF2 after seeing it on the SNES would not have noticed much difference at all apart from the sound, and also the more fleshed out endings and more animated intro in the Genesis version. On top of that, you have things wrong about both MK games. I'm tired of these jokers who think that we say MK1 on the Genesis is better "only because of the blood". No. Not having blood was the least of the SNES port's problems, as it had very noticeable input lag on the controls, a problem which the Genesis version did not suffer from. And for MK2, it was mainly just superior in graphics on the SNES, the music is arguably better on the Genesis and while the sound effects are better on the SNES, gameplay for both ports is about the same.

[@GamingManual]

I remember getting The New Challengers for the Genesis for my 7th birthday, January 1995. I LOVED and still love the gameplay; I never noticed as a kid how compromised the audio was; I just loved what I had! Great analysis as always @SegaLordX!

[@dad7275]

I have both 16 bit versions and the Genesis version has more content like better endings, and the extra game option to battle all 16 characters instead of just 12 on the snes. Yea the sound effects and music was tiny and rough but past that like you said its a great game. On a side note the Sega 6 button pad is wayyyyy better for this game than the snes pad in my opinion of coarse. A winner in my opinion. Great video keep up the great work. 😊👍

[@guitardosongs]

I agree that the voices and music in this Super Street game, especially the music, left much to be desired. But I have to confess that I only noticed this when playing this game on Mega Drive clones from AliExpress. I have a few original Mega Drives from the 90s, but I bought these clones in case one day any of the originals stop working, so I can still play on a console. And indeed, when playing on the original Mega Drive, I'm not sure if it's because I use the front input connected to the TV for stereo sound, but even though the music is still bad (I now use a hack that improved the voice driver), at least in the Dhalsim and Sagat stages, which in my opinion were the most affected, the original Mega Drive is still the only one that plays the music in those stages in a way that highlights the melody. I'll test on emulators like Kega Fusion to see if they simulate the original Mega Drive better in this aspect. These MD clones made me realize how horrible the music in this Super Street 2 really is.

[@cd5sircoupe]

I picked this up loose several years ago on a whim, didn't realize it was the one with Cammy, Feilong, etc. In this era I grew up mostly playing Champion Edition for my SF2 fix. It was actually my first Genesis game, still have my original copy but it's so beat up I bought another copy last year just because.

[@Gorilla_Jones]

The Genesis is just a beast. To this day it's hundreds of awesome games make it a top 3 console of all time. FYI, the gaming press at the time was biased. I know, I was one of them.

[@legendsflashback]

Exactly

[@mikeclark4480]

Yes and still gets played to this day. My favorite console generation ever

[@StormsparkPegasus]

It actually has much better sound than it seems. GEMS is to thank for all of the horrible sound most Genesis games had. People have modded this game to have MUCH better sound with no drawbacks.

[@cbk12]

Agreed 👍

[@jacobprayer8656]

Shut up

[@Riz2336]

They really dropped the ball when it comes to music and that’s one the most memorable parts of the game

[@PhilMcGuntup]

Hey X, your channel exhibits top notch productions. Maybe it's alot of work, or maybe not, either way, you produce some excellent content. But you know that, haha. I always watch your latest releases and i don't have any plans to change that. Edit: Forgot to say thanks for all that entertainment and knowledge. So, yeah.

[@finkwood]

Loved this on my SNES. I know the Genesis version was also a beast. The magazines back then had them both ranked almost perfect 10's.

[@legendsflashback]

13:00 disagrees

[@jacobprayer8656]

You need to stop reading those Playboy magazine stupid and learn how to read a book

[@superjupi]

I moved to California in the spring of '93 and discovered Street Fighter shortly thereafter, thanks to every place of business in the area having at least one coin-op machine (I honestly wondered if it was mandated by law). Later that year, a local Dairy Queen was the first to get Super Street Fighter II in the area, and after falling in love with SCE on Genesis and Turbo on SNES, I could not wait for this game to come home. I opted for the Genesis version because how could I not with that exquisite 6-button controller? While I loved and played the ever-living hell out of it, the audio is specifically what made me go out and buy the SNES version and CPS stick. I wasn't really a fan of the SNES version's audio either, but it was still at least easier on the ears. But even after lucking into the 3DO version of Super Turbo, I still wound up playing the Genesis version of Super more than any other. Nowadays, thanks to the likes of MegaSD and Mega Everdrive Pro, I play MD+ enhanced versions with various palette hacks and other bells and whistles like better sound drivers patched together to get the sort of experience I wanted from a Sega CD release at the time, and this is honestly my preferred way to play Super these days, even over the Saturn, PlayStation, and arcade originals.

[@Bloodreign1]

Capcom seemed focused on graphics, animation, and colors, didn't seem like they bothered with sound for this one. Capcom made up for shortcomings with their Saturn offerings.

[@skins4thewin]

I had this game for the Genesis back when it came out! & yeah I remember being disappointed by the voice samples too. There's a hack out there that improves them significantly, so it's definitely been shown to be possible!

[@ralphm786]

Excellent review as always! Growing up in South Africa, I was the only kid in my school to own a SNES, which my grandmother bought me in Germany. All my friends had the Mega Drive. I really cherished my copy of SSF2 and played the heck out of it. I even loaned out my SNES to some friends who wanted to play SSF2. I agree that Capcom & Sega really dropped the ball on the Mega Drive version.

[@hunter371]

I was a kid when this came out. Didn't know there was a Super SF2 in the arcades because I was a kid and went to the arcades maybe twice a year. When we rented this game it blew me away. Great intro, more characters, better visually than the previous version. Nobody I knew back then said anything about it's "shortcomings". It's only in hindsight that I can compare this to the SNES version and arcade version and feel somewhat bummed about the Genesis version. I didn't have any magazine subscriptions let alone the internet so I didn't hear the larger criticisms of the game at large. All I know is when I played this in the mid-90s I had a blast.

[@mikeclark4480]

Man I still love that MD synth. Gets me in the feels every time lol

[@ajsingh4545]

Not from this game ... This sounds pathetic

[@skins4thewin]

Awesome side by side comparison! I happened to notice that Cammy has slightly less fluid animation in the Genesis version compared to the SNES for some reason, while the other characters don't seem to have that issue.

[@TheL1arL1ar]

If you watch the console wars episode…snes version is missing more than Genesis, it can’t even keep the music playing during rounds…like the arcade. And some voice samples are missing on snes and certain presentation aspects and overall the genesis version was smooth, but the snes felt sluggish.

[@MrVan77]

@@TheL1arL1ar In hindsight a lot of that makes sense as the Genesis was based on the same processor as the Arcade version.

[@fabioriato]

Weird, I watched the video and felt the exact opposite: it seemed to me that Cammy's idle animation looked clumsy on the SNES port, while other characters felt okay.

[@skins4thewin]

@@fabioriato Guess my eyes are playing tricks then, cus ya I definitely didn't see it that way.

[@Akiga_games]

The sound was terrible but the presentation was awesome! I perfer champion edition as well! Great job here SLX!

[@noneed4me2n7]

Remember being pleasantly surprised how close the ports were to the actual arcade. For a time, for a bunch of us nerds, getting the arcade experience at home was the dream. Dreamcast was the first for me as those ports were nearly identical but 16 bit street fighters were solid fun. I know Saturn had some but I never played it during its time and never had friends who had one.

[@borrellipatrick]

I kinda didn't like the music in the snes version of super either. Thought the tunes that turbo had were superior over their super counterparts

[@antiseize11]

Same

[@kordianronnberg9090]

Thanks for the great review, as always! You're right, they literally murdered the music in this version. Unpleasant sound of instruments, no depth (reverb), lack of balance (thin bass) and boring drums. The Special Champion sounds a million light years better, and really shows what the Yamaha chip in the Genesis is capable of. I wonder why they made these changes? I suspect it may have something to do with the fact that the Special Champion music uses some digitalized drum samples, and it has something to do with the number of sound channels, but that's just my imagination.

[@MaNameizJeff]

In a game like sf2 where hits and special moves all require a digital sample to be played, there is just no room to offer a digital percussion bonus. Sonic is a great example of what you can do when you are allowed full access to the digital channel for music because all the sound effects are FM based.

[@ZZFilm]

It was honestly really good in my book at the time. We all knew it wasn't arcade perfect, but it did it's best and did it's job. It was a good purchase.

[@LeoDoesAllThis]

I remember that I used to play this version of the game online, after that I tried its SNES counterpart. Sucks that most emulator sites couldn’t get it to work, as if the game ends up hanging on the red screen of death, though I think there are a couple of them where it actually had it working. Sounds aside, it’s almost as good as the SNES version.

[@CiccioCarella]

I got Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Turbo and Super Street Fighter II all on Super NES (basically I financed Capcom..) and I find the sound of the game very important. In fact I spent many hours just listening to the various music in the menu.. I found that even the Super NES version had a drop in sound compared to the previous chapters and therefore I would have rejected the Megadrive version just for the sound..

[@CaptSpeirsB744]

This is one I still need to add to my collection. Thanks for sharing.

[@adrianescobar7558]

The sound of the punches (and kicks) in the Genesis version were so good, plus the announcer voice was there ( round one fight!) The Snes ver. was mute! T_T lol. Why Capcom choose 40mb for Sega Genesis ver, and only 32 for the Snes? and the sound effects of the punches were so mediocre and no announcer voice. Thank you very much for the Super Street Fighter 2 - Sega Genesis Review video Sega Lord X.

[@nicholascooney]

The reviewers back then were right. The SNES one does look and sound better

[@afriend9428]

*the Japanese SNES copy even had better drums on some stages* 💡

[@LeoDoesAllThis]

The SNES version has the better music, though sadly, the characters’ voice samples aren’t great either.

[@grgmj1980]

So why does Nintendo have the Sega version on the Nintendo store and not the snes game.

[@hitek9too255]

But doesn't play better and the SNES music cutoffs after a round.

[@PhenomsServant4]

I always forget that Cammy wasnt one of the original SFII characters. She’s easily the second most iconic female SF character only to Chun Li herself. And the first character I think of outside the main trio.

[@PaperBanjo64]

My favorite female SF character is Sakura...how can anyone NOT love her!? While much of her fighting style is a weaker copy of Ryu, she has many of her own moves, it's hilarious watching her jump fighters bigger than her and choking them and kicking them in the face, love how she sometimes loses a shoe while fighting and her victory dance...it's a shame she's been reduced to "that girl from Fortnite" not that I have anything against Fortnite I've had great times playing it.

[@segasdreamer]

The Genesis version did have more audio than the SNES, but more doesn't mean better. I remember the Genesis version had more frames of animation in the intro than the SNES. I will say that Capcom probably had to make concessions on what to prioritize. I like comparing the audio to Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the SNES in that while the SNES was better at sound than the Genesis, it took a hit in sound in that one too.

[@EAprima]

Depends on the expertise of the audio person and the original intentions. SF2 arcade featured FM sounds so it made more sense that the music on the megadrive would be far closer to the arcade original than the SNES, but SSF2 onwards used more Samples sounds and that's something the SNES specialised in more hence why SSF2 on the SNES crushes the megadrive. Expertise is the ultimate though for when the original Mortal Kombat audio guy did the music on MK1 on the megadrive it absolutely blew away the version that Probe Design dished out as the official version. The different is so stark, it probably would have changed the landscape if that quality of sound was in the official MD game. As for the other elements, it really depends on production time and availability. Note that for SSF2 case, 40mb was permitted for usage by SEGA but only 32meg was permitted by Nintendo hence why the MD version may have a few frames of extra animation here and there.

[@haydengittins2836]

This is still my most played Megadrive game ever. My friends and I would beat the hell out of each other in it. I imported it to the UK from Japan so got it earlier than I should have, it cost me $230 equivalent in todays money but i never regretted it. Having an NTSC MD, also imported, gave me an advantage over my friends as they only played it at 50mhz, not the glorious 60 :)

[@haydengittins2836]

@Breath of Fresh Air I said equivalent in TODAYS money, try reading fully before getting your ego in a twist and on your high horse to try and sound superior. It was £90 I paid back then as it was the only source I knew about through a local shop. I just converted that to dollars and adjusted for inflation.

[@krisfrederick5001]

I remember renting this for the first time as a kid, it was amazing. That intro cut scene with Ryu was stunning.

[@blastproces]

same here that opening was jaw dropping to me then

[@waylonoconner9121]

I prefer this version over all home versions at the time, except the PC Engine port of Street Fighter II Champion Edition. The controls feel tighter than the SNES version of Super, the graphics are a bit brighter, and the animation is superior. I don’t mind the sound at all.

[@lioneart19]

I don't think the entire ost sounds bad. Just some of them (like Blanka, wth is that!). I still prefer most of them over SNES overmuffled by reverb ost

[@UnforgivN]

This was the last Sega game I bought when I was a child, it was on special at toys r us for dirt cheap and I did notice the bad speech sampling but fully enjoyed it, was great to play and probably the last 1 on 1 fighter I ever had fun with.

[@mscottjohnson3424]

If any of you have a Mega SD or Mega Everdrive Pro, you can get audio patches for this game to replace its music with CD quality arcade music or the excellent 3DO renditions from Super Turbo. While I rarely find a reason to play the Genesis port over the port on the Street Fighter Collection on Saturn, if I do play Genesis SFII, I use music from another version. With that option, I never play the SNES port anymore.

[@leemaniac9091]

There's something about the presentation and voice-over of a Sega Lord X video. It's just a must watch even if it's not your genre or console. Love learning about each game then going and obtaining it for myself.

[@abdulwarethlaham7112]

This was the version I had and it was a big winner in my book! it was even better than the SNES version especially when you compare animations as they were smoother on the Genesis! I played it for the longest time.

[@LITTLE1994]

I love Super Street Fighter II. Still fun to this day.

[@maxguy9623]

Got this game as a birthday gift back in the day. I chose it over the snes version for the 6 button controller only! Lol that thing made suffering through the sound worth it. Also this game is where I really learned the fundamentals of street fighter and fighting games in general.

[@greensun1334]

Definitely a winner. Altrough I prefer to play the SNES port with much better sound and music, it was/is still one of the best 16bit fighters. I like both 16bit versions even more then the arcade because of the higher gaming speed.

[@EAprima]

I prefer the SFX on the MD version but the music is without a contest far superior or the SNES.That music (and I guess graphics) difference really hurt the game for me... it hurt it too much. The biggest pain were Cammy and Fei-Long's stages... they look and sound so beautiful on the SNES but on the MD, it's hurtful enough to make you become a SNES owner. The case was completely different on SF2 though.

[@jackiebrown1425]

Totally agree.

[@liamconverse8950]

Apparently this was already the largest cartridge made for the Genesis during it's official lifespan. They must have decided to go for truncated versions of the audio data to conserve space.

[@robmoore3176]

The thing that sells me on SSF2 for the Genesis over the SNES version, other than the added speed options, is I actually prefer the music lol I always knew the voices were bad but I found it more funny than anything. They also made it so you can't combo weak hits into throws instantly if they are blocking, obviously unless Zangief or T Hawk are doing command grabs. It's the obvious better version.

[@Rationalific]

Super Street Fighter II on the Genesis was certainly a winner for me! With that said, Special Champion Edition was always more, well...special...to me. It was far and away the peak of Genesis fighting at the time of its release. The music was also great. I appreciate those comparisons in the video to hit home the point. I can only imagine that perhaps since Super moved to CPS2 and promoted "Q-Sound", they very much failed to capture that in the Genesis version of Super (in fact making things sound a lot worse), whereas in Special Champion Edition, they based it off of the simpler CPS1 sound. Just an idea... But anyway, either game (or both games) were well worth the purchase back in the day!

[@romulopereira4030]

It's super interesting to me hear that this is the bad version of the songs. I grew up with this version and when I heard the champion edition and the original sf2 arcade as an adult they sound a bit off for me. I played a lot of the SSF2 on SNES too when I was a kid and this have the best sound for me. So, in my mind SSF2 on genesis have the "right" songs. Snes has the best versions and the champion edition and arcade original have the weird versions. Nostalgia sure is a crazy thing.

[@PhuryousOne]

There was a pizza shop about a block away from my house growing up that had a Street Fighter 2 arcade game. We found out it was broken in a way the quarter slot took nickels. Good times.

[@Chrozi]

Nice review. One audio trick the Genesis version of Champion could do the SNES didn’t in SF2, was play two voice samples at the same time. If Ken and Ryu launched a fireball at the same time, you’d hear one voice, if the same occurred in Genesis, two voice samples would play. I forgot if this was fixed on SNES in later games. I didn’t realize the music in Super was so dumbed down. I always thought the voices were a sore spot but everything else made up for it. I was confused because Genesis did have better voice samples, but I figured since the rest of the game took up so much memory it just couldn’t hack it. Which gives me an idea for a video, best voice samples on the Genesis. Maybe you did already? I remember the voices in 688 Attack Sub being very clear.

[@ravagingwolverine]

Capcom also added the simultaneous voice samples for Turbo on the SNES. Honestly, I prefer the PC Engine's voices despite having that limitation of one at a time because at least they're clear, instead of muffled or scratchy. And the arcade also only played one voice at a time in Champion Edition amazingly enough so it would have been accurate to do it that way.

[@jsttv]

I have both ports. The SNES graphics/sound are a bit better than Genesis, but the Genesis gameplay is better. I prefer the Genesis, because it has the expert mode that you can fight all 16 characters minus the bonus rounds.

[@Nhoj176]

... But the SNES music was amazing at the time! Blew the Genesis music to shreds. I dealt with the slowdown and lack of features because of the sound.

[@nightwalker1973]

That option is a big plus. It'll make you feel that you were playing Fatal Fury Special. Too bad that the SNES version lacks it. I was hoping that this mode could be there in Ultra Street Fighter 2 for the Switch, that would be awesome for a title like that.

[@coreybookman5823]

Man i really wished capcom just cared JUST A TINY BIT MORE when it came to the audio guile sounds like he inhales a whole balloon before he says Sonic Boom lol

[@CecilTheDarkKnight234]

This is one port of street fighter II I still need to pick up for my genesis collection.. Regardless great review/work as always SLX keep up the good work! Side Note: I've always wondered why Capcom never tried porting Street Fighter II to the Mega/Sega CD..

[@laserbeak3551]

I rented a SNES in the videostore for Streetfighter. I owned a megadrive and played the hell out SOR2

[@philmason9653]

Those EGM pages have me experiencing Genesis fan PTSD. And I was a Super Nintendo kid! That stuff really did impact my impressions of the system at the time though. I was floored when I got on the internet years later and discovered how many people still viewed the Genesis as the SNES' equal or better. It took a couple of decades, but I finally saw their point and became a contented Mega Drive owner myself. For all the frustrations involved, at least Sega got the game on Western shelves. TG-16 owners wouldn't be half so lucky.

[@dbzeh6837]

It's funny how these 16bit versions were awesome. U could pop some quarters on the arcade and also have/rent the same game... Even compared side to side on small screens they look fine, but when you see and hear the arcade ones or 32but versions on fullscreen Sf2 really glows. I believe that back then a lot of normal ppl didn't complain about the audio and just thought that bit was the Genesis fault. Kudos for not bashing the entire game port like most reviewers do!!!

[@PoisonousPen]

I owned SF2CE and when SSF2 came out on the Genesis I wanted it SO much. Then a friend rented it from the video store and called me up to go and play it. I HATED the music and the announcers voice was so weird and didn’t fit the vibe at all. The worst thing was that they’d changed Guile’s “Sonic Boom” sample from his original tough, badass sounding delivery, to a higher pitched, kind of camp sounding question 🤨 It didn’t fit his character at all. At this point, we went back to SF2CE and I never even bothered renting SSF2 myself. Got a Saturn a year or so later with SfAlpha and it was absolutely epic 👌😎

[@SeveredLegs]

I'm fucking IN for this content. It ain't perfect but it's the best 16-bit (non-neo) fighter.

[@oldskoolpaul77]

Awesome video! I love both the 16 bit versions!

[@ElComanche]

I remembered getting this and loved it for many years. It’s near and dear to me.

[@Sou1defiler]

Games Journalists back then are like most game journalists today. They don't really care how well a different port actually plays, they're always going to concentrate on the graphic eye candy or the sound just to keep system fanboys subscribing to their platform. If they actually knew their videogames then they would know that Street Fighter 2 appearing on the Megadrive was quite phenomenal given the restrictions the console had compared to the (which I'm glad you pointed out) SNES which was brought out after the Megadrive. As someone who lived during the pathetic "my console is better than yours" of MegaDrive vs SNES and owned both consoles and more games than I can possibly remember all I can say is, I enjoyed the Megadrive version a lot better than the SNES versions of both StreetFighter 2 SCE/Turbo/SSF2 respectively. Possibly because as also a huge street fighter fan I also had a working coin op in my bedroom if I wanted "arcade perfect"

[@Monhamd1000]

This is still pretty impressive for the Genesis, alongside Mega Man: The Willy Wars.

[@DarkPuIse]

The audio part of Super Street Fighter II was exactly as you said - it's on a less-capable device. That is, the Sega Genesis. Super Street Fighter II was the inaugural game for Capcom's CP System II hardware - and along with it, the new QSound audio technology the system used. This was a completely different audio setup (much more sample-based) than the CP System hardware the original Street Fighter II used (where the hardware was actually very similar to the Genesis - YM2151 vs. YM2612 on the Genesis, OKI6295 for samples on the arcade). This CP System II is what ran all sorts of later 90s Capcom classics like the original Marvel vs. Capcom, the entire Street Fighter Alpha series, etc. so it's absolutely no slouch in the audio hardware department! A few much later games in the CP System library (such as Cadillacs and Dinosaurs, The Punisher, and Saturday Night Slam Masters) used a hybrid of being mostly the same graphical hardware as the original CP System, but also having QSound (and some encryption on the CPUs, to try to thwart piracy). This revision is commonly known as "CP System Dash." Basically, the Genesis version didn't have a prayer of matching the Arcade here. It was in an entirely different stratosphere. The SNES version would've fared somewhat better since obviously playing samples is one of its strengths. Ironically enough, Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Collection on PS2 contains "demake" versions of the Super Street Fighter II tracks, done very authentically as if the game were originally released on CP System hardware (the game allows you to choose from the arcade original soundtrack, the excellent arranged soundtrack that used to be exclusive to the 3DO port, and this new "demake" FM soundtrack). If you'd like to hear how it "could have" sounded, that's well worth looking into. It does sound very different from what was actually on the Genesis! Now the samples... that I can't explain so cleanly. My guess is limited RAM was probably a major factor there (64 KByte isn't exactly much to work with), and possibly ROM size as well - the game needed to use bankswitching since the Genesis can only normally access 32 Mbit/4 MByte of ROM data. The tradeoff for this is that a certain amount of data must be kept at all times (IIRC, 4 Mbit/512 KByte), while the remaining 28 MBit/3.5 MByte is what gets to be shuffled around as needed. Samples would definitely be part of that latter group, since obviously we don't need to load samples for fighters who aren't fighting at the moment.

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

He meant a "less-capable device" than what was running the Special Championship Edition. There's no good excuse for how the music sounds in this game. Hardware differences don't explain it. They should've re-worked the music to sound its best on FM and gotten it to where it was at least as good as the music in SCE. This sounds like an early GEMS soundtrack.

[@DarkPuIse]

@@Prizrak-hv6qk It's almost definitely not GEMS though, GEMS was pretty much exclusively used by western devs. I think it's trying to do a very poor emulation of the QSound, but because there's so few sound channels (especially with the DAC being kept for voices and sound effects), there's just five channels and the PSG. That's hella thin, and trying to emulate it with FM over its original samples is gonna make it even worse. Obviously with infinite resources and time, something better-sounding could have been done, but even with that, there's only so much that COULD be done. Champion Edition could sound close as the hardware was similar. Super will never have a shot at that for simple technological impossibility.

[@Prizrak-hv6qk]

@@DarkPuIse It's not GEMS but sounds as thin as that stuff or some of the less impressive FM Module soundtracks on the Master System. A good driver can do a lot with 5 FM + PSG channels on the Genesis. Just ask Yuzo Koshiro. Yeah, they lazily converted the original CPS2 music without bothering to rework it for the hardware using a decent driver. This approach has always produced poor results on the Genesis. Then again, during the 16-bit era, even after Capcom was free to publish Genesis games, unlike Konami, they never fully embraced it or gave it their full effort, simply looking to cash in on the expanded user base, while Nintendo remained their main focus.

[@DarkPuIse]

@@Prizrak-hv6qk Believe me, I know. I'm one of the Project2612 co-founders. I quite likely ripped the very songs you are no doubt referencing. :P I would agree that a fair bit of it is a lazy sound driver and Capcom never fully embracing the system. At the same time, even if we assume they would have went all-in, there is definitely a limit to how close to the arcade it could have hoped to sound (which is my point), and I'm not sure just how much Sega Lord X expected it to sound like the arcade - that is, if he would've taken something that sounded close to Champion Edition's quality, or if it would've dinged it for him even if it had. Take that FM Mode from Hyper Street Fighter II, for example (which I actually just learned isn't "new" at all - it's the soundtrack from the X68000 version of Super Street Fighter II) - that's basically about the quality it would have been able to be, but even then it would have needed to be slightly downgraded due to having eight FM channels compared to the YM2612's five (since the sixth is, again, definitely reserved for those ultra bitcrushed PCM samples). Probably could've been decently enjoyable, but it would've sounded, at best, on par with the Genesis version of Champion Edition. Honestly, to me the bigger question is "Why didn't they just port those?" since the other console ports were in development at roughly the same time (they came out a few months earlier), but that itself may answer why I suppose - SNES/Genesis release was simultaneous, and SNES was always going to be the lead platform among the 16-bit home consoles given Capcom's favoring of it. X68000 would've been a separate thing, but it was also hardware Capcom was super familiar with, owing to the fact that the X68000 served as a development system for the CP System I hardware.

[@DarkPuIse]

@Breath of Fresh Air But I didn't mention those hacks in my comments... because yes, not everyone is going to have or use those. And even then, it has nothing to do with my main point - the music will not, and never will, match the arcade version. The Genesis simply cannot come close to matching QSound. At least, not until someone does a ROM hack with the MSU-MD - and then you will need a Turbo Everdrive or something that supports that in order to take advantage of it. That, plus a color patch, plus the PCM driver patch, and you will have something a lot closer to the arcade. But it's also a heck of a lot of work, and it's not something that's idiot-proof to make.

[@stewartmcrae8007]

Excellent video I remember playing this with my sister when we were really young good times we had both the super Nintendo and Genesis

[@mattb9664]

I probably subconsciously detected that Champion Edition was the better version over Super back then- I'd get these cravings to go back and play Champion from time to time. It was the sound. I also started picking up on the gameplay balance updates to prevent some of those exploits.

[@petelikesstuff]

Had access to both snes and md versions of ssf2 at the time. Even with the snes version sounding much better, I always preferred playing it on mega drive due to the controller and gameplay.

[@funcionapramim]

Easily the most played game on my Genesis. With a 6 buttons gamepad, I had a blast everytime.

[@joshoshea3194]

I have a very specific memory of this game. I was visiting one of my cousins in Dublin, Ireland and I said to him that I'd brought with me some Megadrive games. I purposely picked out the first 6 or so games that were really old ones just to see his disappointment- then BOOM! Super Street Fighter 2! He couldn't believe as it was brand new at the time. And could I hell beat him at it. Either he was a Street Fighter genius or was really bad. Neither of us has forgotten that moment to this day.

[@legendsflashback]

Now review the hack that fixes audio, bet it'll be a 10/10

[@jayme69]

Been playing this on the Mega Drive Mini 2. Worth the price of admission alone. Keep up the awesome work :-)

[@andrewjozay]

Those EGM scans were such a a throwback. Who was Sushi-X?!

[@jacobprayer8656]

Sushi ex was a random person each time

[@midwesterror]

​@@jacobprayer8656 incorrect

[@midwesterror]

Ken Williams was Sushi-X.

[@azeez8399]

One other downside was the 3 button controller on the Sega Genesis. You had to switch between punches and kicks by pressing start, making fast transitions and mixed combos difficult. That was a major downside compared to the SNES version. Still the Genesis delivered a near arcade quality product at a time when that wasn't easy to accomplish.

[@Rohaldos]

I remember when I purchased this game for my brother, he was a street fighter fanatic! Was the summer 1994, I was a little kid back then and I was earning some money "working" in some local bar for cleaning up the bar. Still to this days it is the most expensive game I ever bought, price was 180,000 Italian Lire converted to Euro this is about 90 Euros if you add inflation its 160Euros today! I purchased the US version of the game( Europe ver the game was not available yet!) and I was purchasing games from ads on video games magazine(no video game shop back in the days on the Amalfi Coast!). The day that the game was delivered my brother was so excited we played it for hours,than some of my friends came home and I can never forget the first tournament game we played, 6 kids and so much excitement and fun. We played till the evening. I still remember we were all sweating for the heat(can get very hot summer time in the south of Italy) but we did not care, that afternoon was all about Super Street fighter! Great memories :)

[@MikeMeeple]

Growing up, it was huge win. I never even noticed the poor audio until you pointed it out in this video.

[@MuaadElSharif]

Great seeing you post consistently Mel. Still waiting for that Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel review I asked you for a couple of years back.

[@stevesteve0521]

I love both this and the snes ports. Sure the music isn’t the greatest in either and the snes port specifically removed the announcer saying the rounds but I love that a speed option was added since the arcade port of new challengers had champion edition gameplay speed and I also liked that it added extra vs modes like group battle and tournament mode. One of my favorite games on the genesis for sure

[@lordrayden3045]

Pretty sure you could add stars on the SNES version too

[@stevesteve0521]

@@lordrayden3045 yes I was talking about both ports

[@lordrayden3045]

@@stevesteve0521 Gotcha I was going to say I never used them, but I was pretty sure they were on the snes version

[@BurritoKingdom]

Kinda crazy that the SNES is 32megs and the Genesis is 40megs. You'd think they'd used that additional space on the sound quality.

[@dad7275]

@@BurritoKingdom it would have been nice.

[@RolandoMarreroPR]

I had a SNES by that time and got that and MK2 because of the terrible sound dome to them! After playing Lord Hiryu’s hack with Stefan’s audio driver that made SSF2 the version Sega fans deserved! That is the version I recommend!

[@angeles2425]

One good thing about the music. It continues playing between rounds unlike SNES where it starts over every round.

[@tec5x5]

When it comes to Super SF The New Champions I own it on every system that its available for and then some, I even own an OG CSP2 Arcade version. By far one of my fave version of Street Fighter

[@kazvall8157]

Another great video, SLX. You keep making em I'll keep watching em.

[@ryanpc2]

I'll always favor arcade games on Sega over Nintendo. The 6 button controller that Sega came out with was perfect for the arcade games particularly for Street Fighter II.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Prefer games that don't make my ears bleed though.

[@osmondtw1206]

The music quality differs between Genesis 1 and 2, you can test it on Genesis mini 2. Music is much better on the Genesis 1.

[@HappyLight.]

I love SF2 Hadouken!

[@Wolfblue7]

Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition on the Sega Genesis was my very first Street Fighter game PERIOD! since 1997, I did not have a problem with the voices and music whatsoever, it's the way the Sega Genesis is, same goes Super Street Fighter II, I don't understand why everyone thinks the voice and music is terrible, it is not! To me it's legendary

[@pokepress]

Regarding the ROM size, I believe both the SNES and Genesis needed in-cartridge mapper hardware to go above 32 megabits. Such a mapper did exist for the SNES, but wasn’t used for this game (perhaps due to cost or availability). A few years later, Capcom used a special compression chip in the SNES port of Street Fighter Alpha 2, so perhaps that was an idea that also fell through for SSF2.

[@Edexote]

The SNES can address much more ROM whithout needing a mapper. I believe it can go to 128 Mb of ROM.

[@camulodunon]

​@@Edexote64mb*

[@alexan2930]

The audio suffered on the SNES version as well. The music was reorchestrated to suit the console shortcomings obviously and it was terrible. Shame that I couldn't say the opposite for the Genesis version. The sound effects however have more punch on the Geny.

[@illygotbeats]

I just couldn't get past the sound when this was out lol. And the lack of colors allowed on the screen at any one moment. The genesis had huge limitations on how many colors were allowed that's why for example the match of Ryu vs Zangief really shows the flaw. Its so GREEN. But ya, it makes some things look muddy and sound like crap. Gameplay wise it was totally fine and I have had fun playing it but personally preferred the SNES versions.

[@puwazatza]

I love how you present four new characters by featuring Ryu beating them.

[@MaxAbramson3]

I loved many of those Genesis soundtracks, but yeah, there were some duds, too. Still, this version of SF2 was one of the best looking, best playing ever. It really exceeded expectations in every way, as many of the 1993-98 games did. Those of use who'd put years into promoting SEGA were finally proven right.

[@aikidoisshinitalia]

There was a too huge gap between the 16 bit consoles of the time and the new arcade board SSF2 was based on...while the SuperNintendo/Famicom could still count on its wider color palette and Sony audio chip to make that gap appear narrower, this is the occasion where we realized our beloved Genesis'/Maga Drive's architecture had reached this match "old and tired". SF2CE is far superior and technically closer to the original board: Capcom made an absolute masterpiece and delivered THE best home version of the game (not even talking about how better it could have been if we look at the sound/color hacks that were released recently)

[@thetypicaljoe1674]

Nostalgia overload! 🧨🧨🧨

[@SPac316]

Despite the short comings, it's still a serviceable port. If you only had the Genesis as your one console, then that was your only choice. I grew up with both and I was grateful. But I understand others couldn't be so privileged. Anyway, good review! I always wondered if SSF2 Turbo could've been ported to the 16-bit consoles of the time. SFA2 was ported to SNES so who knows...