I remember the good old days of arcade gaming. I used to play Street Fighter II for hours on end in my favorite arcade as “I Touch Myself” by The Divinyls played on the jukebox over and over. I actually held the high score on that machine for years. In retrospect, had I saved all those quarters, I probably could have afforded to go to a better college. Still, I regret nothing. That arcade is gone now, but the memories will be with me forever. Today, those memories got one hell of a workout in the form of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which, for the rest of this review, will be referred to simply as “Street Fighter”, or “Street Fighter II Epic Title Edition” if I’m feeling saucy.

Above all other things, I have to hand it to this game for presentation. The reworked HD sprites, and high quality audio tracks make Street Fighter II Epic Title Edition one highly attractive fighting game.  In both the single player mode, and multiplayer mode, you are presented with two choices: remix mode, and classic mode.  Remix includes a wide variety of changes made for the sake of balancing the game. Some characters got nerfed, some got a much needed boost. For example, E. Honda’s jab torpedo can now destroy fireballs, and Chun Li’s lightening legs do less damage than they used to. The various tweaks lead to a far more level playing field, and if that’s not your thing, there’s always classic mode. Classic mode is a true recreation of Super Street Fighter II straight from the arcade.

The real star of this show is the online play. Sure, it’s fun to play through the single player mode, and see everyone’s ending, but there’s nothing quite like fighting a real opponent online. It took a little longer than I would have liked to find a match, but once that part was over with, the online experience didn’t disappoint. I saw no evidence of lag whatsoever, and I even had the option of turning off voice chat when setting up my own lobby—let’s face it, the denizens of Xbox Live can be rather distracting…. and racist…. and sexist…. oh hell, most people on Live are just plain old asshats.

The only fault I found with the game was the timing requirements for pulling off the various moves. I have an arcade style controller, which makes it easier (for me anyway) to pull off moves in just about any fighting game. In Street Fighter Epic Title Edition, I found, despite my fancy controller, I had to really work at perfecting the timing for even the simplest moves. I wouldn’t really call this a “complaint” so much as a warning. If you don’t have a lot of experience with fighting games, or patience, you may want to pass on this game.

Fifteen dollars is a little steep for a remake of a fourteen year old game, but considering all the work that went into this game, I’d say it’s worth it. If you’re a fan of fighting games, stop reading this right now, and go download it on your console of choice.

-Mike Kurz

Tags: Microsoft, PS3, review, Sony, Street Fighter, Xbox 360

Subscribe to the Check Your HUD RSS Feed