@Celebrate Nite and others, please allow me to sperg along to your great post. I was an arcade fighting game freak in the early 90s, along with having a SNES to get my fix at home as well as a Neo-Geo and a number of their FG offerings (Fatal Fury and World Heroes being my faves)... My comments are in
bold.
SF2 World Warrior - The original SF2, also on SNES
I first encountered this game in the summer of 1991 in a local bowling alley and was immediately blown away by the depth and detail of this game. I couldn't get enough of it. Besides playing it in whatever arcade/bowling alley/convenience store/laundromat that had it, I ended up sending off for the Japanese version and a converter for the SNES just so I could play the home version a few months early, lol. SF2 is also why I ended up springing for the Neo Geo, I wanted their fighting games as well, and since they were literal clones of the arcade versions, so much the better.
SF2 Champion Edition - Adds the 4 bosses as playable, also "fixes" and removes things from the previous version
Being able to pay as the bosses and the same character head to head was a huge plus at the time. I loved this version even more than the original.
SF2 Hyper Fighting - Was only made because the various chinese hacks (such as rainbow edition) was doing better than the official capcom games (even though they were fucking bonkers and broken as fuck). Makes the game faster (which was one of the main complaints about SF2 to begin with), gives the characters new moves, and another color pallet.
I was never too impressed with this version, or Super Turbo. Sure the original SF 2 was on the slow side, but these versions were too fast. I thought a slight tweak of speed up from Champion Edition was viable, but this was a bit too much for me, lol.
SSF2 The New Challengers - As you said, adds 4 new characters. This game was made on the (at the time) new CPS2 board with "Q-Sound" technology, which is why the announcer sounds like Big Bird with a cold. The new moves the characters got on the last version were tweaked (mostly for the worse). Also removes turbo for some asinine reason
The arcade I was frequenting in Northeast Philly had a big rollout for this version. Nice big machines with huge screens... and no one was playing them, lol. I put this version thru its paces, mainly because I liked the Bruce Lee-alike Fei Long. The rest of the new characters did nothing for me. based on the local arcade reception, the new characters didn't do much for anyone else either, lol.
SSF2 Turbo - The "true" SF2 version that people flock to in droves. Brings back turbo (as the name implies). Tweaks characters even more but also allows you to play their TNC versions (via a code when highlighting each character). Also Akuma makes his first appearance and is also selectable via an even harder code and is broken as fuck.
I don't think I played this version until it came out on a PS1 compilation..too fast.
Hyper SF2 - Anniversary game where it gives you every single SF2 character from every single version of the game. IMO it's the "definitive" edition, but tourneyfags hate it because it fixes some of the bugs that were present in SSF2T
It has it's merits, but I don't play this one much.
Ultra SF2 - The "latest" version that's on Switch. Basically the HD Remix of SSF2T but now it has Evil Ryu and Violent Ken as selectable characters. HD Remix is notorious for it's crap art, OCReMiX soundtrack, and adding wonky shit to characters nobody asked for (like Dictator's fake slide).
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Alpha 1 - The original game. Dictator, Akuma, and Dan are hidden characters you need a code to select.
I read some of the gaming mag hype and reaction to this one before I tried it. It was OK. Backgrounds were uninspired, When was 3 coming?!?
Alpha 2 - Same game, but mechanics are tweaked up a bit. This is where Custom Combos were born, but are supercharged to 1000x (basically your character is on crack cocaine the entire time). People prefer this version over Alpha 3 strictly because of the Custom Combo mechanics. Also some characters are unlockable and only available depending on which console version you get (Shin Akuma = Playstation, Evil Ryu = Saturn).
I somehow completely missed this one in the Arcades. I think I played a version on PS1... I think...
Alpha 2 Gold - Has every character from regular 2 including the alternate versions and secret characters and is also where Cammy makes her appearance again (but only in VS mode console). Fixes the bugs that were in regular 2 and again because of this tourneyfags scoff it off (starting to notice a pattern?)
I can't remember if this one hit the Arcades in my area, but I really liked the PS1 version. Played this a lot.
Alpha 3 - Music and theme is COMPLETELY different from the 1st 2 games. Mechanics are also revamped. Grooves are now a thing. X = SSF2T, A = Standard Alpha bar, V = Custom Combo only, which has been slowed down greatly from how it was in 2, but you now have a shadow in the tail end of the trail that follows you and does extra damage for you (depending on which button you press it's either close or far away). Boxer and the two dolls are secret characters.
I only played this on home console (again PS1 I believe... I was kind of meh on the Street Fighter series at this point as I really didn't think 3 was ever coming out and Capcom was just going to milk SF2 forever.
Alpha 3 Upper - Based on the home ports minus World Tour. Has the home verison characters are in this. Also on the GBA that has 3 characters from CVS2 (Maki, Eagle, Yun)
Alpha Anthology - Has all Alpha versions + a exclusive VS mode where you can pick every Alpha character from every version. Also adds 3 new grooves. Red Boss groove (which is the one Dictator uses), Green Darkstalkers Groove (uses the same mechanics as that game), and Blue SF3 Groove (can use supers AND has the Parry mechanic)
Alpha 3 MAX - PSP version that doesn't have the extra grooves or character versions, but gives you everything else, including Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution. Also had a fuck-ton of playable modes.
By the time New Generation finally came out, my local arcade had closed, and I'm not sure if even the local Dave and Busters had it, and I wasn't going to go there just to play games at this point. I think I finally got to give the 3 series a spin when they hit the Dreamcast. I liked Second Impact and really, really liked Third Strike. I never really got into the 3-D fighters, but I was really impressed with the animation of the 3 series and the parrying in Third Strike. Out of all these games, TS is the one I go back to the most.
Thanks for reading...if you got this far, lol.
