Looking back, I’m surprised I didn’t second guess that this game had an update that required people to re buy the whole game again. My first exposure to Champion Edition I was unaware of because I’m pretty sure I played Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting on the Super Nintendo first. For those who don’t know, the Normal version of that game as oppose to the Turbo version is actually a port of Champion Edition. My true memories of Champion Edition begin with the Genesis version. It was called Street Fighter II: Special Championship Edition and it was called that due to it also including Hyper Fighting. However, it was also because Capcom was forced to focus on the Champion Edition portion of the game rather than the newer Hyper Fighting due to Nintendo paying extra to have their version of the game, the previously mentioned Turbo, potentially sell better. It worked as many thought the Genesis version was based on the older update, even though it had a Hyper mode right in the main menu.
I rented it from my local rental store, Fastlane Videos, all the time, or when I had a Sega Genesis. I used to pawn my consoles and go back and forth between the Genesis and Super Nintendo if I wanted a particular game to play. The Genesis version had better controls if you had the 6-button controller, the graphics were more accurate to the arcade original, and even had an additional Group mode, which I used to enjoy a lot. However, the accuracy didn’t matter to me back then. It ultimately looked and sounded worse than the Super Nintendo Turbo version. I did like the better controls and overall enjoyed it but otherwise preferred Turbo. Didn’t stop me from owning a complete copy of the game nowadays though.
There was a hamburger stand near where I lived called Celebrity Burger and while my family would normally just use the drive thru, occasionally we would go inside, where they had a Champion Edition cabinet. Every single time we went inside, I would play that cabinet. By this time, I believe Super Street Fighter II was already out, but I didn’t care. I still had a lot of fun with it. I would actually grow an appreciation for Champion Edition as a result. Whenever I’m in the mood for some older Street Fighter, while I’ll typically go for Hyper Fighting (more on that next time), it’s not uncommon for me to pick Champion Edition. In a lot of ways, I think it’s because it preserves the original gameplay while adding an additional color and access to the boss characters. It’s the best version of the original fighting game that started the genre proper. Of course, that doesn’t mean further improvements couldn’t be made…
Hey Colorwind! 