Street Fighter 2. What’s there to say about this game that hasn’t been said already? It paved the way for an entire genre and an entire generation of competitors in the early 90s. It’s also probably tied with Skyrim as the most re-released game in history. But this thread is about the latest (non-compilation) release of the iconic classic, which is quite possibly one the weirdest third party titles on the entire system. Of course I’m talking about Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers, the first true third party exclusive for the Nintendo Switch.
In the time leading up to its [formal announcement](https://youtu.be/k_1D5By-R98), rumors were circling that the then-fledgling Nintendo Switch would be receiving a Street Fighter 2 remake of some kind. Lo and behold, right in the middle of the ending sizzle reel during the big January 2017 Switch event the game was confirmed to be real, and it heavily resembled 2008’s HD Remix. But later on during the [Treehouse gameplay](https://youtu.be/eCfEW0fgnCk), we found out there were going to be some stark differences between that version and this new iteration, almost like Capcom was ignoring HD Remix and doing their own thing this time around. [Some people](https://youtu.be/dW2u-VZs7JY) even thought Capcom was making this the definitive version of Street Fighter 2, but understandably called out the contentious $40 price tag and Switch exclusivity.
So the game came. And went. And five years later it’s sitting in the dusty corner of the Switch’s catalogue. I finally managed to pick the game up just last week as part of the New Year’s sale. I haven’t had a whole lot of time to play it so this isn’t going to be a review or anything, just some first impressions from a casual fighting game player. Welp with all that preamble out of the way, lessago.
The game appears to use Super Turbo as its gameplay foundation, while also incorporating HD Remix’s redrawn style in addition to the option for classic sprites. The obvious big new additions to this version are the two new characters Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, and they are hilariously busted. They got moves and frame data up the wazoo and can curb stomp most of the roster, which I admittedly loved doing. Buddy Battle was also a fun time at least with my little brother; having double the firepower but also double the hurtboxes and a shared life pool was a neat idea, but I feel it could be expanded upon further. Other than that, it’s still Street Fighter 2 for better or worse. I didn’t bother with online or that weird first person motion control minigame because frankly they look super jank and I wouldn’t find them fun.
The artbook gallery and sprite editor are fantastic additions, although I haven’t fiddled around with the latter just yet. I loved peering through all the high quality art and soaking in every last detail. The general presentation itself? Eh. The main menu looks like something out of an early 2000s Newgrounds project and with the most royalty-free jazz music to accompany it. The remixed music for the stages is solid if somewhat forgettable, although [Violent Ken’s theme](https://youtu.be/fHpE358spo4) is really damn good. But I’m not a fan of just how pixelated the classic sprites look. They just look… off. The redrawn HD sprites look fine, but they also come off as kinda cheap and flash-gamey to me. Nothing terrible but nothing amazing either, but hey graphics tastes be like that sometimes.
So those were my first impressions of Ultra Street Fighter 2 playing it five years after it’s original release. So why is this game so overlooked nowadays? Well that answer is obvious. The obscene $40 price tag turned a lot of people away, there was no fight stick support for more serious players on top of the Switch exclusivity, and what was new wasn’t exactly polished. On top of all of this, Capcom would add insult to injury by releasing Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection exactly one year later, and for all platforms. So yeah that was the legacy of Ultra Street Fighter 2, which wasn’t much of a legacy to start and is now just a weird pocket in Street Fighter’s history. The main reason I wanted to talk about it here and what ultimately convinced me to try it was twofold: 1) Evil Ryu was added as a spirit in Smash Ultimate recently and 2) the game was on sale as I mentioned before and I definitely wasn’t going to pay full price for it. If you want to see a more in-depth review, I recommend [this one](https://youtu.be/w09_C4M8Uss) by Ash Paulsen of Good Vibes Gaming.