Street Fighter II: Champion Edition


Street Fighter II': Champion Edition is a fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in 1992. It was the first of several updated versions of ', part of the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games. The main changes were the addition of the Shadaloo Bosses as playable characters and mirror matches. The fighting techniques of the eight main characters from the original game were also further refined to allow for more-balanced competitive play.
Champion Edition was followed by ', released several months later.

Gameplay

Gameplay was similar to other versions of the Street Fighter II sub-series. The following changes were made from the original edition of the game

Characters

In addition to the eight main characters, the four Shadaloo Bosses, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison ), who were controlled exclusively by the CPU in World Warrior, are now playable characters. The Shadaloo Bosses were toned down considerably from the previous iterations, but remain relatively strong compared to the standard eight fighters.
The returning eight main characters had many of their techniques and priorities modified in order to allow for more-balanced competition between different characters. Ryu's and Ken's fighting techniques in particular were changed in order to differentiate their common fighting styles.

Matches and rounds

In World Warrior, players are not allowed to choose the same character. This restriction has been eliminated in Champion Edition, allowing for "mirror matches". Each fighter now has a standard palette and an alternate palette that can be chosen by pressing the Start button. If a palette is already chosen by one player, the other player will be automatically assigned the remaining palette.

Graphics and audio

Minor graphical changes include color improvements, particularly for background stages. The portraits for all the characters and endings of some of the returning characters were redrawn, while each of the four bosses received an ending as well. The ending for the boss characters consist of an image of all four Shadaloo Bosses, with scrolling text overlaid on it specific to the player character with a large army of demonic-looking soldiers marching below and accompanied by the same ending music.
Ryu's face in his ending was redrawn with a more serious expression. Ken's fiancée in his ending was given a more-realistic design. The Soviet President is drawn with a more-serious expression in Zangief's ending. The clothes Chun-Li threw away were redrawn in her ending. The drinks Guile's wife is holding were redrawn.
Champion Edition features new music for the end credits sequence. The special credits sequence, where the player completes the game without losing a single round, was changed to depict the twelve playable fighters performing their special moves on oil drums and crates.

Ports

PC Engine

The PC Engine version was released exclusively in Japan on June 12, 1993. The accuracy of this port is high compared to the Super NES port of The World Warrior, as it featured the barrel-breaking bonus stage that was cut out from that version, along with numerous voice clips by the announcer and the elephants in Dhalsim's stage. This version was released on a 20-Megabit HuCard. NEC Avenue released the Avenue Pad 6 specifically for the PC Engine version of Champion Edition, which added four additional action buttons in addition to the standard I and II buttons. Other six-button controllers were later released for the platform such as the Fighting Commander PC by HORI and the Arcade Pad 6 by NEC Home Electronics. When the game is played on a standard two-button controller, the Run button, along with buttons I and II, are used as switchable attack buttons, while the Select button is used to toggle between punches and kicks. This version was released on Virtual Console on November 16, 2009.

Mega Drive/Genesis

The Mega Drive/Genesis version titled Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition, was released on September 28, 1993 in Japan, September 27, 1993 in North America, and October 29, 1993 in Europe. It was first of two Street Fighter II ports for the console and came in a 24 Megabit cartridge.
The Genesis version was originally intended to be a standalone port of Champion Edition, similar to the PC Engine version. However, following the announcement of Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES, Sega ordered their version to be delayed so that Capcom could add all of the extra content from the SNES Turbo version as well, resulting in the title change.
A six-button control pad for the Genesis, the MK-1653, was made primarily for the game, adding three action buttons labelled XYZ in addition to the standard ABC buttons. The game can also be played with the original three-button controller, in which the ABC buttons are used for attacks, while the Start button is used to toggle between punches and kicks.
Special Champion Edition consists of a "Champ" mode with Champion Edition rules and a "Hyper" mode with Hyper Fighting rules, similar to the "Normal" and "Turbo" modes in the SNES Turbo version. This was the first console version of a Street Fighter II game to feature the original opening sequence which depicted two generic martial artists fighting in front of a cheering public. The ten-stars speed settings in "Hyper" mode, which were only accessible in the SNES version through a cheat code, is available by default in the Genesis version, and a cheat code that allows players to adjust the speed in "Champion" mode was added in its place. Special Champion Edition was the only home version at the time to allow players to cancel simultaneous button inputs.
This version was a bestseller in Japan, the UK and US. In November 1993, Famitsu magazine's Reader Cross Review gave the II' Plus version of the game a 10 out of 10.
Special Champion Edition was released as a plug and play system in 2005 as part of the "Play TV Legends" series by Radica. It also includes the Genesis version of Ghouls 'n Ghosts.

X68000

On November 26, 1993, Capcom released an X68000 port of Champion Edition exclusively in Japan, which consisted of four floppy disks. The port is almost identical to the arcade version, with identical graphics and almost identical soundtrack. The game includes a joystick adapter for the Super Famicom and Mega Drive versions of Capcom's CPS Fighter joystick controller. On an X68030 with multiple PCM drivers installed, the music and voice quality can match that of the arcade version's ADPCM sound system.

Master System

A Master System port of Champion Edition was released in 1997 in the Brazilian market, published by Tec Toy, although the character portraits in the player select screen are based on Super Street Fighter II. It features only eight characters; Dhalsim, E. Honda, Zangief, and Vega are not in this version.

Other releases

Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES, while based on the succeeding game in the series, allows players to choose between Champion Edition rules and Hyper Fighting rules.
The arcade version is also included in Street Fighter Collection 2 for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, as well as Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for PlayStation Portable. The company Arcade1Up later released a home arcade cabinet featuring Street Fighter II': Champion Edition, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Reception

Critical response

In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter II': Champion Edition on their May 15, 1992 issue as being the most-successful table arcade unit of the year, outperforming titles such as Aero Fighters. Street Fighter II Dash was awarded Best Game of 1992 in the :ja:ゲーメスト大賞|Sixth Annual Grand Prize , as published in the February 1993 issue of :ja:Gamest|Gamest , winning once again in the category of Best Action Game. Dash placed 3 in Best VGM, No. 6 in Best Graphics, No. 5 in Best Direction. The Street Fighter II Image Album was the No. 1 Best Album in the same issue, with the Drama CD version of Street Fighter II tied for No. 7 with the soundtrack for Star Blade. The List of Best Characters was not dominated by Street Fighter II characters this time, with the only character at the Top Ten being Chun-Li at No. 3.
The Mega Drive version, Special Champion Edition, received positive reviews. In November 1993, Famitsu magazine's Reader Cross Review gave Special Champion Edition a 10 out of 10. It received 10 out of 10 for both graphics and addiction from Mega, who described it as "a candidate for best game ever and without a doubt the best beat-'em-up of all time" and gave it an overall 92% score. MegaTech scored it 95%, and commented "the greatest coin-op hits the Megadrive in perfect form". Edge gave the PC Engine version of Champion Edition a score of 8 out of 10.

Sales

Street Fighter II': Champion Edition sold 140,000 arcade cabinets in Japan alone, where it cost ¥160,000 for each cabinet, amounting to ¥22.4 billion revenue generated from cabinet sales of Champion Edition in Japan, which is equivalent to $ in.
In North America, it was number-one on RePlays May 1992 coin-op earnings chart for upright arcade cabinets, above Midway's Mortal Kombat. On RePlays April 1993 charts, Champion Edition was No. 4 on the upright cabinets chart, and remained No. 4 on the uprights cabinet chart in May 1993.
Street Fighter II': Champion Editions arcade earnings exceeded $2.3 billion in gross revenue, making it one of the top 10 biggest grossing arcade games of all time.
The Sega Mega Drive/Genesis version, Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition, sold 1.65 million cartridges. Despite this, the port sold under expectations, with competition of the original Mortal Kombat game being cited as a reason for sales not meeting Capcom's expectations.