Super Street Fighter II: Turbo Revival

"Lazy port of a perfect game"

Ok, disclaimer: Super Street Fighter II Turbo is my favorite video game of all time. This game is the reason I bought a Gameboy Advance. Even after all these years, I still feel that this is the best fighting game ever made, although with games like Soul Calibur, Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves, and Virtua Fighter 4, the competition is getting tough.

Playing this game for the first time on my GBA was pure gaming heaven. I still can't quite believe that a handheld can pack a punch like this. Not only is the complete game included, but Capcom also threw in a Time Attack and Survival mode as bonuses to unlock. All the World Warriors you know and love are here, minus an animation or two, which is almost completely unnoticeable.

But man oh man - the ending credits list a few individuals under ''Bug Checkers,'' and I swear these people must have just sat around drinking coffee during the whole development cycle. This game is full of bugs, in fact, anyone who owns the game or is thinking of buying it needs to read the Glitch FAQ here at gamefaqs. PC gamers are used to seeing this sort of thing, but it's completely inexcusable in a cartridge. However, none of the bugs really affect the actual playing of the game (other than the Akuma glitch); they're minor annoyances, unless your heart is set on keeping track of the statistics that the Akuma glitch will erase.

Graphics: 9/10 If you're a big Street Fighter fan like me, you'll be blown away by how great this game looks. The inadequate screen isn't really an issue with a colorful game like this; it's never difficult to see what's going on. It's a perfect port, except for...

...some obvious laziness. In Time Attack, the game often suffers from slowdown. Also, Blanka's electric special move puts the background graphics into what seems like an extremely low resolution. You'll also see some occasional flickering. None of this seems to occur in arcade mode though, and overall, the game just looks stunning.

I don't like the new intro or how they reworked the character endings, but these are very minor complaints.

Sound: 7/10 Maybe it's just me, but I don't think the GBA's teeny little speaker is at fault for the low sample quality. The music is sort of beepy. The voices seem very good though, especially if you remember the voice quality in the old Genesis Street Fighter games.

Gameplay: 10/10 The back of the box states ''Universally recognized as the most balanced fighting game of all time.'' I'm not sure about ''universally,'' but I can't help but agree. No character is overly weak or strong, except Akuma of course. The game is just perfect.

Capcom did an excellent job in solving the problem of how to convert this game to a system with only 4 buttons and no joystick. Basically, medium attacks are removed. The default controls have light punch on the B button and light kick on the A button, and you're supposed to hold them down for medium attacks. While this seems to work for some people, it doesn't for me, but I'm not complaining - I rarely used those attacks anyway.

Also, Capcom included an ''easy mode'' for special attacks. Instead of having to perform the normal pad rotations, a simple forward + lp or hp with Ryu will execute his fireball, while down + lp or hp will execute his dragon punch. Charge moves are made easier also; you just tap back, then forward + lp or hp for Guile's Sonic Boom, for example. I love this idea, and I hope fighting game developers use it on future games even on regular consoles. I've never been able to do dragon punches reliably without a joystick, and this feature makes the game much more fun. I can actually use Zangief's special moves now. This will cause some unintentional moves - you'll probably do a hurricane kick now and then when you meant to do a regular kick - but again I love this idea.

Overall: 8/10 This is one of the very few games I'd rate a 10/10, but this port can't quite claim that score. There's no excuse for the bugs at all, and with the power of the GBA, I see no reason why those graphics glitches should be present either. But this game is an easy must-buy. It's still the champ of fighting games, and once you give it a go, you'll see why.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/04/02, Updated 08/04/02