Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers

Genre: Fighting Game

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local), 2 Competitive (Local, Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

Ultra Street Fighter II is the latest in a long line of games based on the 1991 arcade classic that defined the Fighting game genre, Street Fighter II. Over the years, that game received numerous ports to various platforms, and upgraded versions: Championship Edition, Hyper Fighting, Turbo, Super, Super Turbo… at the time, gamers joked that Capcom didn’t know how to count to three. In 2008, Capcom would revisit the game again with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, which had comic maker Udon updating the graphics with high-definition hand-drawn visuals, and rebalancing the game to make for what many considered to be the absolute definitive version of one of the greatest Fighting games of all time.

Ultra Street Fighter II, at its core, is a game that takes that version of the game, adds in two characters (Evil Ryu and Violent Ken), does more game balancing, adds in remixed music along with voices and sound effects from Street Fighter IV, as well as some extra content and gameplay modes. Released on the Nintendo Switch in 2017 a few months after the console’s launch, this game is now arguably the new definitive version of what is still one of the greatest Fighting games of all time.

In terms of presentation, this is gonna’ be a love it or hate it thing. On the one hand, I really appreciate the clean look of Udon’s redrawn visuals. On the other hand, these character designs look… off in a way I can’t quite describe. What’s more, drawing the characters in this way really highlights the lack of animation they have. On top of this, while the remixed music is mostly pretty good, I do not care for the newer voice samples or sound effects at all. Thankfully, you can independently switch back to the classic look and sound of the original Street Fighter games if you like, but you can’t independently opt to use only the new music, sound effects, or voice samples – it’s all or nothing.

In terms of gameplay, I’m not so much a die-hard series fan or tournament-level Fighting game expert that I can detail the changes that rebalancing has brought to the gameplay here. I can only say that the game seems to play as great as ever, and the rebalancing doesn’t seem to have altered the way the game feels all that dramatically. This is still one of the finest 2D Fighting games ever made, bar none.

As for the extra content here… I’m not really convinced most of it brings much value to this package. You have a co-op mode where two players can share a life bar and fight against a few opponents two-on-one, but this mode was absurdly easy – one player can hang back out of harm’s way and just chuck Hadoukens while the other player gets close to the enemy. There’s also a first-person motion-controlled “Way of the Hado” game mode that’s gimmicky, doesn’t control well, and not really worth your time. At the very least one bonus that is nice is an included selection of promotional art that’s nice to look over (though not as extensive as what’s in the 30th Anniversary Collection).

However, we can’t talk about this game without addressing the elephant in the room – it’s horrible price tag. At $40, this game is nearly three times the price of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix on other platforms, and a full $10 more than the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection which contains multiple games from throughout the series including 5 different versions of Street Fighter II. While I would argue that this version of Street Fighter II is a slight improvement over Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, and subsequently better than any of the versions of Street Fighter II in the Anniversary Collection, I’m dubious that it’s so much better that it can come anywhere close to justifying its outrageous price tag.

What’s more, that price tag isn’t just insultingly high, it actually makes the game worse, because no doubt as a result of a lack of people willing to pay $40 for an upgraded port of a 29 year-old game, the online lobbies for this game appear to be completely empty.

As a result, what should have been the pinnacle of the Street Fighter series and in turn arguably the pinnacle of the 2D Fighting game genre ends up being something I hesitate to recommend. Yes, this is still a fantastic game, and if you want the absolute best classic Street Fighter experience, this is it… but the price tag is so atrocious, and the lack of an online community is so disappointing, I feel like only the most die-hard Street Fighter fans will find it worth the cost to get this game. For everyone else, you’re better off going with the 30th Anniversary Collection, even if I’d still argue that no one game in that collection is as good as this one.

tl;dr – Ultra Street Fighter II is the latest, greatest version of Street Fighter II that takes the visuals of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, adds two new characters, rebalances the gameplay, adds in a few throwaway extra game modes and a decent art gallery… and then slaps on a $40 price tag. Make no mistake, the gameplay here is still fantastic, probably the best that Street Fighter II has ever been, but the cost is so absurd that it’s hard to recommend this game, and so prohibitive that it has left online lobbies empty. This is a game for die-hard series fans only – everyone else is better off going for the 30th Anniversary Collection, which is $10 cheaper and includes way more content.

Grade: B-

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