On important birthdays, a few photos of the birthday boy always pop up. Street Fighter does not shy away from the rule, and during the party for its first thirty candles pulls out some Polaroids (appropriately restored) of its second chapter.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is probably one of the fighting games, and more generally of video games, most loved ever. In practice, it is easier to list the gaming machines on which the title has not arrived, given the disproportionate number of re-editions that Capcom has packaged over the years, adding and re-balancing what is today the best-selling chapter of the series. With Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers the count of the "sometimes return" collected by the title rises to 8, as 8 are the years that separate this new edition from that Turbo HD Remix that has practically relaunched the Capcom series. An uncomfortable comparison, which (sorry to anticipate it) has spoiled the birthday party of the series a bit due to some “savings” choices by Capcom. But no more pleasantries, press start and get ready to face the three rounds of our review.
Old challenger, new clothes
The Final Challengers, pad in hand, convinces: the gameplay is respectful of the original but updatedThe minimum goal that The Final Challengers could set itself was to bring all the magic of Street Fighter II to Nintendo Switch, introducing some gems here and there to justify the € 39.99 required by Capcom to return to give them a good reason with Ryu and associates. To do this, it was essential to present on the screen - be it that of the TV or that of Switch in portable mode - a polished version of a title that, as mentioned, needs no introduction. And the goal fortunately it is centered, at least as far as the essence is concerned of the package: leaving aside the frills (we'll get to them shortly) the playful heart of the offer convinces and amuses as much, if not more, than at the original release of the title. Starting from the rock solid base of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, The Final Challengers goes to re-tune some aspects related to the balance of the experience, adjusting the execution times of some combos and going to introduce some mechanics, such as the possibility of freeing oneself from the opponent's tricks. In essence, these are small modernizations, which however, they leave intact the sensations and the "90s" approach of the original matrix: in fact, experience is more spartan and essential, even compared to last year's Street Fighter V (which had streamlined the game formula compared to the fourth chapter), given that for example the Super Combo bar is managed with an "all or nothing" approach, not allowing to enhance the special attacks available to the chosen fighter at the cost of only a part of the meter. A careful choice as a whole, since in one fell swoop it keeps the most fundamentalist fans of Street Fighter II at bay and gives this re-release for Switch its own raison d'etre.
In short, The Final Challengers manages to keep the player company without him wondering why Capcom did not bring Street Fighter V directly to the Switch.
Co-Op mode is a great additionAlso because if the playful sphere has only been retouched, on the content front Capcom has added a couple of things that we really liked. We are not talking, trivially, of the two new entries in the roster (Evil Ryu and, for the first time in a "traditional" chapter, Violent Ken), who still manage to differentiate themselves enough from their classic counterparts and offer some tasty variations on the theme for those who habitually (and not) use the two main characters: we refer in particular to the Co-op mode, which allows you to face a series of encounters along the lines of the classic Arcade but together with a companion, human or controlled by the CPU. Leave skepticism aside - we too, having read the description of the mode from the menu, immediately thought it was something extremely unbalanced - and imagine fighting yes two against one against the game's AI, but having to do it by sharing with your partner the health bar and automatically losing two rounds in case of defeat. In other words, the first defeat is game over, and the opponent can hit one or the other fighter to get closer and closer to victory: excellent challenge, especially if the difficulty of the fights is raised to the maximum.
What we didn't like
The decision to eliminate the speed selector did not go down well ...But then why at the bottom of the page (spoilers for those few who did not run to the box at the bottom as soon as the article opened: we assigned the title a 7.5) the evaluation was solid but not striking given the source material? Simple, why we just didn't like some choices, while what on paper was supposed to be the most relevant addition made us revive chilling moments typical of the Wii era. Let's proceed methodically, and first see what are the choices of Capcom on which we have to complain. And from this point of view, the most serious defection is undoubtedly that of speed selector, instead present in the aforementioned Turbo HD Remix: an extra that we would have taken for granted in a poke, and that instead once downloaded the title from eShop we have not found among the options. Secondly - but from this point of view we understand that we are decidedly picky - we would have liked to have available different icons depending on how you won a round. The Final Challengers, on the other hand, limits itself to showing a star on a red background next to the fighter's avatar, without distinguishing between Perfect and Super-Combo Finisher. It's a detail, but one that weighs more than it might seem given the presence of the infamous clone of the Share button on Switch controllers: hardcore gamers (and let's face it, suffering from a certain narcissism) would certainly have liked to be able to share a screenshot where it is clearly seen that the opponent has been defeated twice without receiving damage.
But if there is one thing that has gone the wrong way, it is The Way of Hado.
… But the Hado route does worseIt is about the mode that in practice it had to act as an added value for the experience, where in the role (in first person) of Ryu the two Joycons disconnected from the console were used to take out Shadaloo's henchmen (and from time to time some more substantial bosses) with Hadoken and Shoryuken hits performed mimicking the techniques, exploiting the much vaunted superiority of the two new remote controls compared to old Wii Wiimotes when it comes to motion control. In short, a response in motion sauce to the Tekken Force mode of Tekken 3 (or, for older players, to Street of Rage / Double Dragon / * insert scrolling fighting game at will *). All intentions destined to remain on paper. Meanwhile, because Capcom has decided to include only Ryu's three special techniques in-game (plus his Super and parade), eliminating the possibility of using normal punches. But above all - and hence the bulk of the frustration associated with this particular mode - because the detection works poorly on average, being easily "cheated" and often misunderstanding the intentions of the player. It happens that you want to attack from a distance with a Hadoken and see Ryu instead engage in a Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (his round kick), inevitably being hit by the opponents' ranged attacks.
While waiting for Arms, this first attempt at marriage between fighting game and motion control fails.
Watch out for the left JoyconThen, on a general level, one thing must be considered: the left Joycon of the Switch, to respect the symmetry between the two remote controls, it does not have a D-Pad in the traditional sense: although there are several beasts of Satan people who approach fighting games by playing them through the use of the analog stick, who is part of that population that instead negotiates for the directional arrows takes this thing into account, given that Street Fighter is a game that thrives on "half moons" run on the controller.
4: 3 vs 16: 9
Visually? A feast for the eyes. And even the ears are not doing badlyThe last round, as usual, is dedicated to the technical performance of the title. Without going further, The Final Challengers runs smoothly on the Nintendo Switch, whether you play it in classic mode (that is, with the graphics of the original) or instead you approach it in its modernized guise, which uses the whole screen available thanks to a ratio of 16: 9 and that - with all due respect of those who at the time of the Turbo HD Remix had accused Capcom of treason - it is in general a feast for the eyes, which removes bags under the eyes and wrinkles to a title that still is aged beautifully, mechanics side (it is no coincidence that we are at the eighth reissue, after all). The possibility of being able to play the title with updated graphics but with original audio - or vice versa - is also very appreciated, which will surely make everyone agree. As on the other hand the soundtrack of the title will also do, full of pieces that have become iconic (and in some cases, they have also become memes, such as Guile's theme), on which Capcom has intervened in full respect of tradition, confirming the excellent work already done on Street Fighter IV (whose assets are then used in La Via dell 'Hado to make scenarios and enemies of the mode).
Verdict 7.5 / 10 At least here they are remembered by Blanka Comment One cannot but admit the limits of Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers. Some due to the cumbersome comparison with the Turbo HD Remix released on PS3 and 360 (and sold at a significantly lower price), others to some decisions by Capcom not exactly happy and still others - and beware of those who tell you otherwise - deriving from the characteristics of the Switch itself, or rather its left Joycon. But on the other hand, it cannot be denied that this is a very important piece of videogame history, a title that is still capable of thrilling and entertaining fans of the series and not, and that some of the proposals found are really spot on. Ultimately it won't be the best version of Street Fighter II, but it's Street Fighter II nonetheless - one of the most successful chapters, if not the chapter, of the series. Pros and cons ✓ It's Street Fighter II, and he doesn't forget it✓ Co-Op mode and two new characters x Via dell'Hado to forget
x Watch out for the left Joycon if you play with the D-Pad
x The speed selector is missing, why?
