Of all the games revealed at the big Nintendo Switch event in January, Ultra Street Fighter
II: The Final Challengers was certainly one of the most surprising, coming seemingly out
of nowhere.
After all, the last re-release of any iteration of Street Fighter II — not counting Virtual
Console ports — was Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, released digitally for
the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 way back in 2008.
Why, then, did Capcom decide that now was the best time to bring their seminal fighting
game back into the fold — and as a Switch exclusive, of all things?
Of course, the answer presented itself as soon as the Switch’s unique functionality
became common knowledge.
With the Switch positioned as a console that can be played on the go with two built-in
controllers always at the ready, and with Street Fighter V being a PS4 console exclusive,
bringing a new iteration of the Street Fighter that started it all to Nintendo’s portable
console feels like a natural fit.
But now that Ultra Street Fighter II is here, it’s time to find out if Capcom has delivered
on all this latent potential.
Much like fellow Switch title Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Ultra Street Fighter II doesn’t
offer much in the way of major unlocks, instead letting you run wild with all its various
gameplay modes — both old and new — from the get-go.
There’s the basic arcade and local versus modes, which include the usual suite of options
for difficulty level, match time, and number of rounds; Buddy Battle, AKA the Street Fighter
Alpha series’ “Dramatic Battle,” in which you team up with a friend or AI-controlled
ally in two-versus-one matches against the CPU; a complex Training Mode with options
to display inputs and other granular information for the hardcore competitive crowd; and finally
the all-new Way of the Hado mode, in which you control Ryu from a first-person perspective
and use motion control-powered special moves to fight off waves of approaching Shadaloo
soldiers.
Let’s get that last part out of the way right now: despite being the only gameplay
mode in Ultra Street Fighter II that is truly new or original, Way of the Hado is easily
the worst part of the package.
Performing motion-controlled special moves while holding both JoyCon vertically is somehow
even less fun in practice than it sounded in theory, with the game teaching you the
various motions needed for each move but then being completely unable to distinguish between
them during regular play.
I can’t count the number of times I knew I had done the specific motion for a Hurricane
Kick but got a Hadouken or Shoryuken instead.
Sometimes both!
It’s a shame too, because there’s evidence of potential in Way of the Hado.
I like that you can level up between rounds and earn skill points, which can be used to
improve Ryu’s stats in one of six areas.
I also like that there are three different stages to play of varying difficulties, and
that Bison himself appears to take you on at the end of the hardest level.
But at the same time, it constantly feels limiting that all you can do is perform special
moves or block — and that’s on top of the fact that the few moves you can do don’t
register accurately to begin with!
Fortunately, even if Way of the Hado totally misses the mark, it’s easily ignored in
favor of the rest of the game, which is a strong representation of one of the very best
and most influential 2D fighters of the ‘90s.
To be clear, what you’re getting here is an updated version of Super Street Fighter
II that includes all-new balance changes like the ability to tech throws, alongside an expanded
character roster: Akuma, previously a hidden character, is now a fully selectable fighter
alongside two “new” challengers, Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, bringing the final roster
count to 19.
Now of course, when I say “new,” I really just mean “new to this game” — Evil
Ryu has been around since the Street Fighter Alpha 2 days and Violent Ken debuted in the
fairly obscure crossover fighter SvC Chaos.
Here in Ultra Street Fighter II, they’re essentially glorified palette swaps of regular
Ryu and Ken with juiced-up special moves, faster movement speed, and other minor tweaks.
While there are certainly differences to appreciate at the competitive level, it’s also painfully
evident that Evil Ryu and Violent Ken are tacked-on, minimum-effort additions to the
roster.
They don’t take away from the game, but they don’t feel like meaningful or necessary
additions to it either.
But that’s okay, because the rest of Ultra Street Fighter II’s iconic, diverse roster
forms the backbone of an excellent, time-honored fighting game that is still a blast to pick
up and play almost 25 years after its initial release.
Even better, the barrier of entry is lower here than it’s ever been before.
Perhaps to compensate for the wide variety of controllers that are compatible with the
game, special moves and even super combos can be mapped to single button presses, at
least for local play, ensuring the game remains accessible even if you don’t know your QCFs
from your HCBs.
You can even map special moves and super combos to touch-screen hotkeys when playing in handheld
mode, similar to Super Street Fighter IV: 3D Edition on the 3DS!
Speaking of controllers…
like I said, Ultra Street Fighter II gives you plenty of options!
You can play with both JoyCon vertically, one JoyCon sideways, and - of course - the
Pro Controller.
After trying them all out, I’m happy to report that the various JoyCon configurations
all work better than you’d expect for a fighting game requiring precise inputs — at
least for casual play.
Serious players will want to stick with the Pro Controller, but even then, I was surprised
to find that the Pro Controller’s D-pad didn’t quite offer the level of precise
control I wanted.
Now, don’t get me wrong — the Pro Controller is still the way to go for serious players
— but until a Switch fight stick becomes available, you may find that there’s no
perfect control solution for Ultra Street Fighter II at present.
That’s not the game’s fault, though, and Capcom should be commended for anticipating
this and offering the accessibility options I mentioned earlier.
Rounding out the Ultra Street Fighter II package are a Color Editor mode and a gallery containing
high-quality scans of an out-of-print Japanese Street Fighter art book.
As its name suggests, the Color Editor lets you edit each character’s costume, hair
color, and even skin tone to suit your liking — so for those of you who’ve always wanted
to play as a Cammy with neon blue skin and purple hair, your time has come!
Once you’ve edited a character’s colors to your liking, you can save them to one of
10 presets and then use your creation across the game’s various gameplay modes.
The Color Editor is a neat inclusion, except for one obnoxious detail: the user interface.
Moving your selection icon across the entire spectrum of available colors takes way too
long, to the point where I eventually stopped bothering with the Color Editor altogether.
I like the idea and I appreciate that it’s here, I just wish it was less of a chore to
use.
Fortunately, each character comes packed with 10 alternate colors that are available from
the get-go, so you can still get a little color-crazy even without the Color Editor!
On the other hand, the gallery is an excellent bonus, offering up incredibly high-resolution
scans of a 273-page Japanese Street Fighter art book that has long since gone out of print.
Each page can be zoomed in up to 400%, letting you take in every last detail, and if you’re
viewing the book on the Switch’s screen in handheld mode, you can pinch, pull, and
swipe between each page just like you would on a smartphone.
I really can’t overstate the clarity of these scans — they’re so high-quality
that I suspect they account for the majority of Ultra Street Fighter II’s nearly 3 gigabyte
file size!
To be clear, all of the book’s text is still in Japanese, but it hardly matters since there’s
so much art to look at on each page.
You can also listen to any of the game’s music while you browse the gallery, which
is a nice feature.
On the graphics front, Ultra Street Fighter II wisely allows you to choose between two
styles called “New” and “Classic.”
The “new” style combines Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix’s redrawn sprites
and backgrounds with a widescreen presentation, while the “classic” style allows you to
play with the original graphics in all their pixelated glory.
There’s no wrong choice here as both styles have their merits, both look particularly
great on the Switch’s screen in handheld mode, and you can switch between them at any
time.
Ultra Street Fighter II takes the same approach to its soundtrack, which also comes in “New”
and “Classic” flavors.
The former combines newly-remixed tunes with the Japanese character voices from the Street
Fighter IV series, while the latter is exactly what you’d expect, putting the original
music, voices, and sound effects front and center.
While I appreciate that the remixed soundtrack is brand-new to this game, the quality of
the remixes is pretty inconsistent — some hit the mark, like Ken’s theme, while others
fall flat and feel ill-suited to a fighting game, such as Vega’s theme, Cammy’s theme,
and the character select music.
For me the classic soundtrack wins across the board, but it’s still nice to have the
choice.
It’s also worth noting that you can mix and match the two settings — so if you want
to combine the new music with the classic graphics or vice versa, you can do that!
Capcom could easily have gone the “all-or-nothing” route here, but they chose not to and I think
that extra consideration is worth praise.
As I wrap up, there’s one major element of Ultra Street Fighter II you’ll notice
I haven’t mentioned, and that’s online play.
To be clear, Capcom left all of Ultra Street Fighter II’s online functionality disabled
for the review period, so I really can’t comment on it one way or the other.
Naturally I can’t help but worry about why Capcom didn’t want reviewers testing the
game’s online functionality before release, but either way, online play will be enabled
with a launch-day patch and we will publish a follow-up video putting it through its paces.
Unfortunately, this makes for a problematic gap in my review because online play represents
most of what Ultra Street Fighter II has to offer if you don’t have friends to play
with locally.
Running through Arcade Mode by yourself quickly wears thin — as it does in most fighting
games — and Way of the Hado should not be seen as a single-player attraction by any
stretch of the imagination, meaning the vast majority of Ultra Street Fighter II’s single-player
value is riding on the quality of its online play.
This is an important point to consider if you’ll mostly be playing by yourself, especially
considering the game’s contentious $40 price tag.
Let’s be clear: right now, I’m liking Ultra Street Fighter II!
It’s a strong representation of one of the most influential 2D fighters from the ‘90s,
and throwing down with your friends is just as fun today as it was back in 1993.
It’s a well-rounded package, too, with a nice suite of graphics, audio, and control
options, as well as a fantastic bonus in the form of a high-resolution digital art book.
But at the same time, as I just described, there’s not much here for the solo player.
Of course, a strong online component would make up for this, but the jury’s out on
that until the game launches, and as such, we’re going to hold off on a final score
until I can properly test the online functionality.
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