Super Street Fighter II – Definitive 50 SNES Game #08

Click here to view our list of the Definitive 50 SNES games. Links to each video and write-up are included.

When Capcom unleashed Street Fighter II: The World Warrior to arcades in 1991, they changed gaming. The arcade scene had its next juggernaut, and no stack of quarters was safe. The title kicked off a fighting game craze that consumed the 90s, and lingers to this day.

The first Street Fighter II that was tearing up arcades finally came to consoles in 1992, with the Super Nintendo’s version of The World Warrior. It went on to become Capcom’s best selling title, ever.

Capcom continued to tweak their overwhelmingly popular game and released numerous versions to arcades and across platforms for much of the 90s.

The SNES got its second iteration in 1993 with Street Fighter II Turbo. This game added 4 additional characters (those being unplayable bosses in the original version), as well as selectable speed for varying the intensity of matches.

In 1994, the system got Super Street Fighter II. This final Super Nintendo version of Street Fighter II contains the most options and most playable characters of any of the three. It’s my favourite in the series, and takes 8th place on the list of Definitive 50 SNES games. Really though, they’re all worthy of the spot, and any serious collector would make sure to pick up the set.

In Super Street Fighter II, you have 16 towering legends of video game celebrity to choose from as your fighter. Martial arts masters like Ryu and Chun-Li are there, as well as Russian wrestler Zangief, sumo wrestler E. Honda, the psycho power-infused M. Bison, and so many more.

Battles take place around the globe, in some of the most incredible video game sets ever imagined.

Characters and environments are rendered in stunning detail, with every glorious, insane, and over the top nuance beautifully drawn with pixel perfect precision.

Fights are, quite simply, poetry in motion. Skilled players can dance around one another, blocking attacks, jumping toward and away from each other, sneaking in quick hits and waiting for those perfect moments to unleash brutal moves like Hundred Hand Slap, Spinning Bird Kick, and the world renowned Hadouken.

Street Fighter II pioneered a genre that changed the arcade scene forever. The game and its fighters live on, deeply ingrained in popular consciousness, endlessly parodied and celebrated online and by fans everywhere.