The High-Def Arcade Page 2

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (XBLA/PSN)

Then: Now:

It's one of the first and still one of the best arcade fighting games around. Street Fighter II first hit arcades in 1991, and was soon followed by numerous console ports and upgrades. Super Street Fighter II Turbo was the last major version of the game, with the largest roster and most polished combat. Players could choose from 17 different fighters, ranging from karate masters Ken and Ryu to Russian strongman Zangief to psychic supervillain M. Bison. The game is over 25 years old and is still loved by gamers everywhere.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (or SSFIITHDR for "short") takes the sterling gameplay of the original Super Street Fighter II Turbo and gives it a full-blown HD makeover. Every single sprite in the game was redrawn by Udon Entertainment, the publishers of the Japanese street fighter comics. These new sprites pack almost 5 times the resolution as the original games' sprites, putting enormous detail into what were once pixilated blobs.

Music was given similar treatment, with the game's classic soundtrack remixed by game tribute group OverClocked Remix. The new soundtrack, based on OC Remix's tribute album Blood on the Asphalt, contains the works of 20 different gamer musicians putting their own spin on every fighter and level's theme. Both the game's soundtrack and the original Blood on the Asphalt albums are available to download for free at ocremix.com.

Besides the new look and sound, SSFIITHDR was kept nearly identical to its predecessor. Characters, moves, and gameplay mechanics were generally left untouched. Even the framerate is the same; the sprites were redrawn, but they weren't given additional animations. Hardcore gamers, who have memorized frame counts of each move will find their decades-honed reflexes are still valid with this new title.

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