The recent trend in the gaming industry has been the porting of old games into high-definition downloadable formats. Personally, I hope this keeps up for a while; there are plenty of classics still wanting the treatment, where they'll be reworked into crisp, sharp and streamlined iterations that don’t look oddly square on our widescreen TVs. Of course, it's inestimably important that developers keep these ports as faithful to their standard-def originals as possible. "Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix," released by Capcom in late November, is a shining example of a remake done right.
The visuals bear first mention: it turns out "Street Fighter" sprites look fantastic in high def, lovingly detailed and not even the slightest bit blocky. You have never seen a psycho crusher or hundred-hand slap look this good. The characters have undergone a major overhaul, and a few look vastly different from their original counterparts. (Compare HD Blanka to the original, for example.) Though the environments have received a similar treatment, Capcom has wisely kept the spectators' twitchy two-frame animations to maintain a familiar feel to each location.
The gameplay has remained unchanged, which is hardly a bad thing. The online matches are equally enjoyable and rarely suffer from any form of slowdown. Since the 1987 series debut, "Street Fighter" has always been more fun with two players, and you can up the inherent nostalgia of playing old-school "Street Fighter II" by getting your grade school friend involved -- even if you're in New York and he's in California. The lobby system is very straightforward and intuitive, and there are always plenty of people to challenge, no matter what time you sign on.
The music tracks are remixed beautifully and capture the unforgettable tunes with precision. If that’s still not enough, there’s a "classic" setting that allows you to hear it exactly the way it used to sound. There is a glitch that will occasionally cause the music to go silent, but this rarely hampers the fun, and it can be easily fixed by returning to the title screen.
As for the controls, they’re tight, responsive and everything you remember from the good old days. However, if you have the choice between the two, I would have to recommend the PS3 version over the 360, simply because the control feels far more natural on the Dualshock 3, since the D-Pad is more like the Super Nintendo controller. Otherwise, it’s the same game on either system.
Unfortunately, if you’re new to "Street Fighter," you may find this game underwhelming. There aren’t any crazy aerial juggle combos or super-ultra damage multipliers. "Street Fighter" has always been about simplicity, skill and fast-action fighting. Newcomers might find its bare-bones gameplay a little too basic, but let's be honest -- this game wasn’t made for them. It was created for the fans who never got tired of the hurricane kick and the sonic boom. Loyal followers rejoice; the essential version of "Street Fighter II Turbo" has finally arrived. Hadouken!
