Why does Street Fighter have so many versions of the same game? I know The New Warriors gave us Cammy, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, and Fei Long...but there are so many versions of Alpha and 2...
I had Alpha on GBA and it was.......meh at best because so much shit got cut.
Capcom Fighting Collection 2 has another version of Alpha....I don't get it lol
SF2 World Warrior - The original SF2, also on SNES
SF2 Champion Edition - Adds the 4 bosses as playable, also "fixes" and removes things from the previous version
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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).
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?)
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.
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.