Format: Cartridge
Genre: 2d Fighter
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom

As one of those game series that saw release on practically every video game platform that ever saw the light of day, this long-awaited Genesis version falls somewhere in the middle; the sprites are tiny compared to the arcade version's, but they are colorful and animated well, while the backgrounds are lacking the subtle shading of ports on other platforms. This version gains fascination points for essentially being a port to Sega's "System 16" arcade board, which was a direct competitor to the Capcom "CPS-1" board that ran the arcade release.

And on that note, both the CPS-1 and System 16 arcade boards utilize an almost identical Yamaha YM series soundchip-- lending this Mega Drive version of the game a pleasantly arcade faithful soundtrack. The system's high output frequency gives a real "pop" to many of the more moody melodies, such as Ken's or Vega's stage songs. Unfortunately, the custom sound driver that Capcom wrote for this game produces exceedingly scratchy voice samples.

The one thing that the Mega Drive became known for-- as seen from its total dominance in the sports game arena-- was fluid gameplay. This rendition of Street Fighter II is silky smooth, even at the more outrageous turbo settings. And speaking of turbo settings, this release contains the move sets and colors for both "Champion" and "Hyper Fighting" editions of the game, in one cartridge! Add the system's phenomenal six button controller into the mix, and you get one of the very best playing versions of this hit series.

From the release of the original Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo, Sega fans had an excruciating, nearly eighteen month wait for the game to appear on their platform of choice. But the wait was well worth it; despite its muffled voice samples and slightly smaller sprites, this Mega Drive release's fantastic music and razer sharp gameplay made for a game that was as difficult to stop playing as its arcade counterpart.