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Profile
General: Along with Capcom's classic 2D fighter being completely re-made and going HD (SSF2THDR), Capcom surpised us all by announcing an "HD Remix" to Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, properly titled, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. The HD Remix features graphical enhancements, online play, and of course, the same amazing gameplay that made Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo an underground hit since it's original debut in 1996.
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So what's so "HD Remix" about SPF2THDR? Well, for starters, the classic red, blue, green, and yellow gems are all definitely in "HD" ...OooOooh, shiney... Yeah, those are some true HD gems alright!! Well, moving along, and probably the best graphical enhancement, are the completely re-drawn backgrounds drawn by Udon (the company that makes the official US Street Fighter comics). The backgrounds are based on the old classic stages, but are ever so crisp, and cameos from several classic Street Fighter characters are more noticable than ever before! The background music has also remained the same, thankfully... With a notable mention to Sakura's original theme appearing on the main menu screen (Love that song!). Nice job on the slick menu style and easy navigation as well!
Also re-done
is the character art for the character selection screen, as well as re-touched
victory art, now at a much higher resolution then before... Very nice.
This leads me to one of my biggest complaints about this game, "Gem breaking
effects" have also been changed quite a bit. Gem breakers look a lot different
from the "swirls" seen in the original. Instead of the swirly hurricane
looking gem breakers, they are based on elements (red = fire, yellow =
electric, blue = water, and green = smelly gas???) 
Eww... Umm... Okay?
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Yes, it's new fresh look for the game and all but; Personally (with a capital "P"), I definitely prefer the old style breaking effects!!! The "glass shattering" sound and the way that the gems break "in trails" in the original are just classic, and simply put, much more satisfying! The new elemental breaking animations also appear to be much faster, even when breaking in a long horizontal or vertical line, which takes away from the suspense factor, especially when your opponent can hear all those gems breaking over on your side. No, the new effects aren't "bad," I just think they may have overdone it, and should have just kept them the same, re-working the original animation.
Lastly, the original character sprites were "resized" and "cleaned up," but not completely redrawn like the backgrounds. They've also been outlined with a dark black line to make them stand out better, but overall they look a bit out of place and somewhat dated. They still do their job overall, and first time players probably won't be able to notice the difference. As a puzzle fighter veteran, I think I still prefer the original sprites, NON HD and all! With that said, I think I prefer the original game to HD Remix by far... A surprise to you and me both!
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Other "new" features are some new game modes, but of course there's still the option to play the original arcade perfect version. The different gameplay modes include "X Mode" - Gems fall into your character's playfield; "X' Mode" - Rebalanced X mode with adjusted drop patterns and damage to level the playing field; "Y Mode" - a modified rules version of X Mode that challenges players to connect 3 or more gems in a linear fashion: horizontally, vertically or diagonally; and finally, "Z Mode" - Place your cursor over any group of 4 adjacent gems and rotate them clockwise or counterclockwise to quickly join them to other same-colored gems.
Finally, the
online play is of course also a nice addition to the downloadable package,
making it well worth the $10 price tag. Although it's not the first time
I've played Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo online (thanks Kaillera),
it's still great to be able to challenge for friends from miles away and
players across world to see who is the master of gem combos. However, the
characters are still quite unbalanced, which makes the online mode
a bit gimmicky. Players that really want to win will pick the more
powerful (cheap) characters like Akuma and Devilot... Come on you guys,
quit picking Akuma. 
There are
even some hidden characters in the game, such as Anita, Morrigan's bat,
and others!
Platforms: Playstation
3, Xbox 360, PC
Release: August
30th, 2007
Characters:
Ryu,
Chun-Li,
Sakura,
Ken,
Morrigan,
Lei Lei, Donovan,
Anita,
Felicia,
Dan,
Devilot,
Akuma
Related Games:
Street
Fighter, Street Fighter 2, Street
Fighter 2 Champion Edition,
Street Fighter
2 Turbo, Super Street Fighter 2,
Super
Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Super Street Fighter
2 Turbo: Revival, Super Street Fighter
2 Turbo HD Remix,
Street Fighter 3: New Generation,
Street
Fighter 3: Second Impact, Street Fighter
3: Third Strike,
Street Fighter 4,
Street
Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street
Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper,
Street
Fighter Alpha 3 Max, Street Fighter
Alpha: Anthology, Street Fighter
Anniversary Collection, Street Fighter EX,
Street
Fighter EX 2, Street Fighter EX 3, Street
Fighter: The Movie,
Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo,
Pocket Fighter
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Closing Comment:
Still one of my all time favorite games of all time... One of the most
addicting, creative, and competitive puzzle games is back, and is in full
1080p HD!!! Who would have thought SPF2T would even make a comeback! PS3
and Xbox 360 owners, that are fans of the original Super Puzzle Fighter
2 Turbo, know this is a must have... ~F.Yagami,
Webmaster
of TFG