Author: grimm
Well, let me first start off by saying I will try to review this game on its own merit, as if no one knew it, and not as part of the never ending variations of SF2. I feel that would just end in a vicious circle of comparisons back and forth. So, here we go!
Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Hyper Fighting is like the game suggests; it’s a fighting game for the Super Nintendo, and released back in 1994. The game is your standard Player 1 vs CPU/Player 2 fighting game affair. Let us first talk about normal mode. This is the default speed setting of the game. It’s how the game was intended to be played from the developer, and is a good platform to get to grips with the game’s controls and characters.
Speaking of characters, you have 12 to choose from including four of the bosses from the original game. They are now playable, and have their own strengths and weaknesses, just like the original cast of fighters. Some are quick and agile, while others are slow but powerful. In between those you have the fighters which have compromising attributes, having moderate speed and strength.
You will do well to study your fighters, pick the one which you fancy the most, and learn all his, or her, special moves. Each character has a number of them, which vary from short range speed attacks, throwing balls of flame or other nasty stuff, or even hurling themselves at their opponent!
Some of the special moves are trickier to perform than others, and they mainly consist of 
different d-pad combinations, coupled with an action button. The action buttons are programmable in the sense of mapping, so you can choose exactly where you want your strong, medium or weak punches and kicks to be placed. These naturally are slow, medium or quick to execute, and each of your opponents has a special weakness for one of them. Therefore you will do well in not ignoring them all together, even if you prefer one over the others. Beating the quick agile characters with only heavy attacks will be a challenge, especially on the higher difficulty settings.
Speaking of difficulty, the game has a good range from easy to hard to choose from. It will suit the complete novice, to the skilled veteran of fighting games, and everyone in between. You can also choose 4 levels of turbo, which will increase the speed over the normal setting. One thing worth mentioning, is when you beat the game at an easier level, you will not get an exciting ending scene. The game challenges you to try at a harder setting, and will reward you with tougher fights, but also character specific endings.
One thing that is not so nice is that as you increase difficulty, the game gets cheaper. Characters will start spamming certain moves (yeah looking at you Ryu!), or use other cheap tactics, and your strategy will sometimes fall short because of these things. But you can still beat them. With a good strategy, everyone is beatable, and it does not feel quite as impossible to beat as a Neo-Geo fighter on the higher settings.
Graphically, the game looks nice for an early to mid-life SNES title. The animations are fluid, but i feel as you get beaten, or beat the opponent, they could have afforded one more animation as you fall and hit the ground. It can look really awkward, especially if it happens in mid-air. The colors are nice and vibrant, and there are several levels of parallax scrolling which gives a nice sense of depth to each stage.
The stages are set all across the world. They are nice and varied, have their own theme song, and while they are for the most part nice and catchy, some are less inspiring than others. However some will grow to be your favorites. They never get to the point where they distract you from the action though, which is a good thing.
The sound is also of a good quality, but not spectacular. Like I said, the theme songs are nice and varied, and won’t hurt your ears in the least. However they also aren’t the most stellar of SNES soundtracks, but for a fighting game they are good. Voice samples are pretty nice and crisp, and you never struggle to hear what people are shouting as they try to pound your face into the ground.
The controls and actual gameplay is where this game is at its best. They execute well, and 
whilst some moves are hard to perform, at least for me (I feel that’s more about me), overall the controls are superb. If you push a certain combination right, it will execute quick with no delay, something that can be crucial when you want to send that opponent sky-high with a dragon punch! The fighters all move, jump, crouch and block immediately if you tell them to. With a nice selection of characters, you have all sorts of combos to learn and master! This really extends gameplay and replayability.
So, closing statement. The game is good, but it’s not great. Nothing really shouts out, aside from the great controls and gameplay. The animation is good, the sound is good. But they are not great. This is probably one of the better fighters on the system however, and will definitely keep you busy, especially if you have a friend, or several, to play with. These games were made for multiplayer sessions, and this is where the game shines!
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I just realized i forgot to cover the mini-games.. Ah well..
par 7, what does it mean, “Characters will start spamming certain moves…”? That they use only a select few for predictable results?
Nice article.
I lost so many nights of sleep playing this with my best friend. Mt. Dew and Peanut M&M’s were our friends!! LOL!! I still pull it out & play it from time to time. My favorite is SF Alpha 3 for Playstation though but this would probably be my second pick!
Jr, I think grimm means many of the characters will keep using a certain move over and over in succession, i.e. Ryu throwing 5 or 6 hadokens in a row.
Yeah, what masamune said.
I love this game is a kid and I could never be the computer and I could never be my older brothers. now I prefer Street Fighter Alpha, but I’ve yet to obtain a copy of that.
This game was fantastic for the time, but doesn’t hold up so great. I actually find the Genesis version plays better (with a 6-button controller) though the SNES version definitely looks and sounds better.
They actually brought a version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 to the SNES, though I never played it.
Modern fighters (Street Fighter IV, Mortal Kombat 9, etc.) have actually made big improvements over their 16-bit predecssors to the point of almost making them obsolete. Not many genres you can say that about!
I know, Right? Haven’t played SF4, but I LOVED Mortal Kombat 2011! That was one of the few modern games I like! (There are a few….)
the Genesis had a great controller for fighting games. But I prefer Street Fighter third strike when it comes to fighting games
Mongunzoo, definitely check out Super Street Fighter 4, you won’t be disappointed. It can be had for around $20 these days. It’s got much better online play then MK9.
It feels like a logical refinement of the old Street Fighter 2 games. A true modern classic.
I always played as the boss characters. No one could touch me as the Spanish assassin Vega.
Wouldn’t it be great to have a dedicated modem to allow retro gamers the chance to play games like this against each other on the SNES, now that would rock!
Playing SNES games online would be great, but this isn’t one I’d want to play. There are much better versions of Street Fighter available with online play already.