REVIEW:  Super Street Fighter 2: Turbo HD Remix is the first ever "remake" of a classic Street Fighter game and one of the most ambitious fighting game projects to date! What more deserving title of such a remake than the classic, long-time fan favorite, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the final installment of the immortal SF2 series (which got its start back in 1991). In HD Remix, every background, character sprite and frame of animation has been completely redrawn and resized to a much larger scale by the team of talented artists over at UDON Comics. 


As someone who grew up religiously playing EVERY incarnation of Street Fighter 2 in the arcades (and at home on SNES), I have practically every frame of animation from SF2 embedded into my brain. Like the other OGs out there, I can fully appreciate what UDON has done with this timeless classic. Redrawing and re-coloring every single frame of animation must have been an immeasurably frustrating and challenging process, along with countless hours of "trial & error" experimentation. That said, let me be the first to congratulate UDON for actually pulling this off. The final product is a beautiful sight for any old school Street Fighter fan... and it was well worth the effort guys. 

 

 

The all-new character sprites and backgrounds really stand out, even though they're based on "ancient" pixel-based artwork and animations. Even by today's standards of 2D fighting games, HD Remix's sprites are definitely larger than most and fill the screen like no others ever have. The iconic street fighters themselves have enough presence and charisma to fill the screen under normal circumstances, but these beefy & colorful new sprites simply light up the room! The new and improved renditions of the classic locations and backgrounds are also excellent and breathe new life into the game.


HD Remix really does look like a completely "new" game, complete with fabulous redrawn selection screen artwork and endings! The brand new character endings drawn by UDON are a much appreciated addition. The in-game character sprites match all of this new art very nicely, not to mention each individual frame of animation being its own unique artwork. Overall, I'm pleased with almost every character sprite in the game, as far as looks go. They really nailed the faces and facial expressions. The art style also somewhat resembles the way legendary Capcom artist "Edayan" draws them (who in my opinion is one of the best Capcom artists of all time, famous for his amazing work on Rival Schools & SSF2T Revival).


Due to the nature of redrawing such significantly smaller pixel-based sprites, the new sprite animations in HD Remix do have a dated look and can sometimes appear "jittery" or "choppy". The backgrounds, while looking awesomely sharp, also still contain characters that poorly animate (2 frames ftw)! It's a forgivable flaw, given the nature of this project and the original source material. It was obviously a requirement to keep the "frame count" for each move the same as in the original, so that the gameplay remains unchanged. On that front, UDON definitely succeeded. 

 

 

Capcom kept gameplay mechanics intact from the original arcade version of Super Turbo, but also included a new "HD Mode" featuring new gameplay tweaks, character balancing, extra moves, more combo possibilities. HD Mode also features some brand new character colors, which is always cool to see. Speaking of colors, all of the iconic character colors from the likes of Championship Edition, Turbo, and Super are all remastered in HD Remix. (Old school fans remember how big of a deal it was to have new alternate colors for your characters back in the early 90's). If you were ever a fan of the Street Fighter 2 series, there's no reason not to love playing this visually superior version of one of the biggest arcade hits of all time. Don't forget that this is the series that sparked the competitive fighting game community and brought fighting games and arcades in the early 90's to a new level.


Speaking of arcades, where ever did they go? ...I'll always miss the smell of token machines and old arcade cabinets.  How times have changed. Seems like the best arcade you can go to these days is in your own home with online mode. HD Remix's online mode isn't perfect and I had some trouble finding matches and staying connected at first. Once I did connect with a few friends, the game ran smoothly for the most part. There's also a Network Smoothing option which also helps out when any lag pops up. Overall, it seems like you can play the same type of intense game online as you can offline. Unfortunately, online options are bare bones in HD Remix, but the essentials are there.


As far as gameplay goes, you know this game is OLD school. As much as I love playing HD Remix with my old school buddies, honestly, I'd still rather pop in a game from the Street Fighter III or Street Fighter Alpha 1, 2 or 3. Being able to parry a fireball when your life is down to nothing (so you don't die of chip damage), or use a wider variety of super moves to mix things up are fighting game novelties that I dearly miss when playing SSF2T. Even as someone who grew up in the arcades playing Street Fighter 1 and 2, I still prefer newer, more advanced gameplay systems these days. Besides, sometimes my thumbs don't feel like working so hard anymore..... After playing an old game like Super Turbo for an extended period of time, you're reminded how much work these old games used to be: Shoryuken, Hurricane Kick, Low Jab, Low Jab, Shoryuken, Shoryuken, Hadoken, Shoryuken, Hadoken, Fake Hadoken, Jump in, Low Jab, Shoryuken... Carpal Tunnel, and I lost... Dammit, and 2 more rounds to go.

 

 

Options... HD Remix has em! Firstly, there are a nice variety of arcade style Dip Switch settings, which allow you to tweak some interesting details about specific character moves and abilities. You also have the option to set the stage music back to the original arcade themes, or keep the default "remixed" themes (most of which sound extraordinary)! And, as funny as it sounds, you can even switch out the character sprites back to the original pixels! The old style sprites have a filtered and "blurred" look to them, and although they look rather out of place in front of the HD backgrounds, they come out looking fairly decent for old-ass pixels.   

 

Page Updated: July 26th, 2021 Developer(s): Backbone Entertainment Publisher(s): Capcom Designer(s): David Sirlin   Lead Designer Rey Jimenez   Producer Artwork by: UDON Comics Platform(s): PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, PC Release Date(s): Nov. 25th, 2008    PlayStation 3 Nov. 26th, 2008    Xbox 360 Characters:  Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Guile, Dhalsim, Blanka, Zangief, Edmond Honda, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, M. Bison, Cammy White, Fei Long, Dee Jay, Thunder Hawk, Akuma Featured Video: Related Games: Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Super SF22T Revival, Ultra Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter, Street Fighter 2, SF2 Champion Edition, SF2 Turbo, Super SF2, SF3: New Generation, SF3: 2nd Impact, SF3: 3rd Strike, SF3: 3rd Strike Online Edition, Street Fighter 4, Super SF4, Super SF4: 3D Edition, Super SF4: Arcade Edition, Ultra SF4, Street Fighter 5, SF5: Arcade Edition, SF5: Champion Edition, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, SFA3 Upper, SFA3 Max, SFA Anthology, SF: Anniversary Collection, SF:30th Anniv. Collection, Street Fighter EX, SFEX2, SFEX3, SF The Movie, Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo, SPF2T HD Remix, Pocket Fighter    Gameplay Engine  7.5 / 10 Story / Theme  8.0 / 10 Overall Graphics  8.5 / 10 Animation  7.0 / 10 Music / Sound Effects  9.0 / 10 Innovation  9.0 / 10 Art Direction  9.0 / 10 Customization  9.0 / 10 Options / Extras  9.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation  7.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun  7.5 / 10 "Ouch" Factor  8.0 / 10 Characters  9.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE  8.8 / 10  Review based on PS3 version       Final Words: Quite the ambitious project... SSF2T HD Remix is clearly a love letter by Street Fighter fans, for Street Fighter fans. In 2008, it's beautiful to see all of the original World Warriors brought back to life in a new art direction, and in full HD (for the first time). The new sprites and backgrounds are nicely done, and the attention to detail on will not soon be forgotten. The visual overhaul of HD Remix didn't translate without imperfections. The fact that the massive 2D character sprites keep the same amount of frames of animation as the originals (which are 17 years old), often makes them appear "jittery" and choppy. After being spoiled with the amazing fluidity of the Street Fighter III series and the cool "anime-esk" look of Street Fighter Alpha characters, the ancient SF2 cast look a bit stiff. Also, everyone still turns into M. Bison when they're set on fire (or they turn into Zangief if they're T. Hawk)... I was curiously hoping they'd create new fire effects for everyone, but for nostalgia purposes, it's fine as it is. I'm sure every old school player will draw their own opinion on just how "good" the classic characters look with the updated graphics, as compared to the timeless 90's pixel-based sprites. If you want my two cents, Cammy went a little overboard on the eye makeup... and Fei Long's noggin is a bit large. Other characters like Dee Jay look excellent and very happy to be in a new PS3 / 360 game. Nitpicking aside, "perfection" in a project like this is pretty much impossible. UDON and the team put in a lot of hard work on this game, and it shows! Gameplay-wise, there are also some imperfections and quirks. For one, charge characters can actually "walk forward" while charging their special moves (as demonstrated in this DESK video). An arcade perfect translation of SSF2T... it's not. Glitches and nitpicking aside, HD Remix is still one of the most impressive remakes of any classic 2D game to date. I have good memories playing this on PS3, back when there weren't a whole lot of fighting games on the system! ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen    Click Here for all concept artwork!             Click Here for all character sprites!