Posted in: Games, Review, Video Games | Tagged: capcom, game review, nintendo, nintendo switch, Ultra Street Fighter II, Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers

Reliving Nostalgia On The Go, We Review Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers

There was a point in time in my youth where we had a rental store that just let you come in and play video games to try them out for hours before you convinced your parents to drop the rental fee to take it home. One of the first titles I got to try out this way was Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Aside from having a weird controller designed for it by Capcom, it's the game that first introduced everyone to Akuma — which, depending on the kind of fan you are, was either the best or worst decision they ever made. Flash forward about 23 years and we have that game brought back to life on the Nintendo Switch with Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers.

The game looks and feels like the original with a modern graphics update, but everything about the game feels a bit off. First of all, the controls are kind of clunky when working on the Switch. They're not completely messed up, and after a few fights you'll get the hang of your favorite character, but there's a slight learning curve. I recommend going more the pro controller route, since playing it on the Switch as a handheld is hard to get used to.

You get the normal array of fighters from before, as well as being able to select Akuma and two additional fighters: Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, both who play much like their normal counterparts with some added fury attacks.

Arcade Mode plays fine as it always has, with the usual trips around the world to battle in exotic locations. The versus mode works great, especially when linking two Switch consoles together for a fight. But one of the best additions I enjoyed was Buddy Battle, where you and a friend can take on a single opponent together. The upside is you get double the hits going for you, the downside is you share the same health bar and it only takes one win for the CPU to beat you.

Online play is great and offers a wide range of challengers. It's always awesome to see how you stack up to others, though there are some issues with connectivity that seriously need to be worked out, since everyone is playing through a Wi-Fi connection.

There's a training mode that offers you the ability to figure out how the new controls work, as well as get used to playing as your favorite characters or learning new ones. The weirdest mode is called Way Of The Hado, where you take out the Joy-Cons and practice fighting as Ryu, performing all of his moves all the way to the hadouken.

It looks like Street Fighter V if you played it in first-person mode, which is kind of cool. (And shows that SFV could come to the Switch if they really wanted to.) But having this kind of motion-controlled game in the system is an oddity that doesn't add anything to it. Kids may like it, but adults may find it to be a cheap add-on to show off what you can do on a Switch.

The graphics in this game will throw fans for a bit of a loop and might slightly depress you. First off, the characters are far better animated than they usually are, and have a better flow to their combat style and animations for victory. However, the backgrounds have become generic, almost like those you would see in a flash game.

A good example of this is E. Honda's stage in Japan, where the usual fanfare victory you would see for winning has been dulled down to almost nothing. Guile's stage still has the soldiers in the back cheering him on, but now there's no added excitement from them when he wins. It's the weirdest trade-off in graphics that I feel didn't need to happen, and longtime fans will not only notice it, but feel cheapened by it.

The last few sections of the game include a gallery that shows off a lot of the art that went into the original and the updated versions, which hardcore fans will dig. There's a color editor that allows you to create your favorite characters in whatever palette you want — so if you want Chun-Li with bright red hair and black fighting gear, you're free to do so and then play as that design.

If you miss the old-school look and feel of the game, there's an option to go in and witch it back to its original graphics in 4:3 mode like you would be playing it on the SNES, which is a nice addition. And finally, there's Player Data, where you can see how well you're doing and how specific characters perform under your guided hand.

Overall, I enjoyed going back in time with Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers. However, there's a bunch of stuff in here that either doesn't quite sell me on the game, or makes me wonder what Capcom was thinking in the design of it.

It's not a bad game, let's stress that above all, it is mechanically still the Street Fighter you know and love. It just has some changed aspects and a lot of added bells and whistles that don't make it feel like a proper Street Fighter game. It's a must-buy for nostalgia's sake, and I can see the appeal for some average gamers to get back into the series again, but I can also see where hardcore fans will dislike it.

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