Developer: Capcom Publisher: NEC Release: 06/12/93 Genre: Fighting
Once Street Fighter II hit the SNES the floodgates were open. Arcade games previously thought impossible for home release were ported to the 16-bit consoles en masse. While the Sega Genesis would have to wait over a year for its own version of the Capcom classic in Japan the PC Engine was the lucky recipient of the latest version of the arcade game, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. While that may seem odd considering how popular Sega’s system was worldwide in Japan they were a distant third. Street Fighter II was highly anticipated for the PC Engine and the conversion, while not perfect, turned out far better than anyone expected.
Capcom released Champion Edition at an interesting time. Nintendo had a 1-year exclusivity agreement with Street Fighter 2 for SNES. By the time the Super Nintendo game released Champion Edition was already in arcades. Of course the game sold well but there was disappointment that the boss characters were not playable. Champion Edition for PC Engine enjoyed a brief period where it was the most up to date version you could buy at home. But Capcom would soon release Street Fighter II Turbo for SNES. While the game does not stand up to that release in every category it is pretty damn good nonetheless.
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition is a stunning technical achievement for the PC Engine. Most of its graphically superior games saw release on CD so the fact that this is a standard Hucard is shocking. Considering Fighting Street was a CD game makes this doubly surprising. At 20-megabits Champion Edition is the largest Hucard title, literally; it is notably thicker. Right away this version is more vibrant than the other two ports as the PC Engine can display more colors simultaneously. The sprites were carried over from the original SNES game and so are identical in terms of size and animation. The black bars along the top and bottom of the screen reduce the playing field a bit but you will not notice within a few minutes. The endings are closer to the arcade and most of the voice samples are intact.
It is once you examine the smaller details that you begin to see the compromises bringing the game to this system. The PC Engine cannot do parallax scrolling in hardware and so all backgrounds are flat. This is very noticeable and hurts the presentation. It sucks as the line scroll effect is intact but the flat backdrops make the game feel lifeless. While the voice samples are clear the quality of the music is lacking. You can hear the original composition but the arrangement is terrible. Despite these faults I will say this PC Engine version still manages to keep up with the later Special Champion Edition and Turbo editions on rival systems.
If you are going to play this version you will need to invest in the six button controller. Like its Sega counterpart you must press Select to switch between punches and kicks with the default controller. It is even worse as this controller only has two standard buttons! Run serves as your third button but the finger gymnastics required to attempt to use it regularly is completely mental. With the six button controller the game mimics the arcade perfectly. The controls are responsive and you can pull off special moves with regularity. While it sucks to have to pay extra to play the game normally it is worth it.
In terms of content pretty much everything is here. Champion Edition was a light update to Street Fighter 2, making the four bosses playable, allowing 2 players to pick the same character and alternate costume coolers to boot. Multiplayer is the life blood of any fighting game and the addition of a dedicated Vs. mode facilitates that. It is a bit barebones but most fighting games during that period were that way.
It is a damn shame Champion Edition was a Japan exclusive. This is the type of title the Turbo Grafx-16 desperately in need of in the US. There were a plethora of fighting games in Japan that could have bolstered its lineup, some arcade ports of popular Neo Geo games using the arcade card and plenty of original titles like Algunos. I would imagine aside from the Turbo Grafx lack of popularity in the US plus the amount of extra hardware required for even basic multiplayer, a key feature in the genre, played a part in the game not coming overseas. A Turbo Tap plus two extra controllers and what would surely be expensive releases means loyal Turbo fans missed out.
In Closing
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition is a solid version of the arcade classic. Capcom went above and beyond creating a good port for its time. It showed the PC Engine had untapped potential and was a great addition to its library. Too bad no one on the other side of the Pacific got to experience it. While the later SNES and Genesis games would soon eclipse this it remains a good game overall.
