 There were four Street Fighter 2 games for the Super Nintendo. That's a lot for a genre game that consists of one-on-one fighting and not much else. Are there really that many differences between the four games? In some ways, yeah, definitely, but in other ways, no, not really. The core gameplay of Street Fighter 2 has never changed that much, the more sequels it spawned, but I still thought it would be helpful to at least compare the four games to see how they hold up today. The games at their core are so similar that ultimately I have to admit it comes down to pure subjectivity. You're just gonna like what you're used to, or what you grew up with, and of course there's nothing wrong with that. Anyway, let's start with the original Street Fighter 2, the World Warrior. There's only eight playable characters here, and the first thing you notice when you play the game is how slow it is. Like, the fights are happening underwater, and I'm not saying just compared to Street Fighter 2 Turbo, I mean compared to every other Super Nintendo fighting game. To be fair, though, this game still holds up really well. All the inputs and special moves are responsive, and have a consistent rhythm. The sound and music are both great, and the pixel art is top-notch. If you were to play this game on its own without knowing the existence of the other Street Fighter games, you'd think this game was as good as any fighting game could get, really. It's just that the other Street Fighters came along and made it that much better. Starting with Street Fighter 2 Turbo, and yeah, the speed increase here can't be overstated. Some people don't like how fast it is, and that's fine. Personally, I love it. The speed increase adds another layer of difficulty onto the gameplay. Going from the first version to Turbo is like drinking Jameson to drinking 21-year-age Jameson. It's a whole new ballgame. But it's a fair, even test of skill that is unlike any other game. Seriously, if you're able to master the controls of any character here with how fast this is, then dang, you are the real deal. I guess that's what I really like about this version. The challenge is really appealing to me, but the difficulty is never unfair. But hey, if speed isn't your thing, you can still play normal mode here, too. One thing I gotta point out about the first two Street Fighter games is the sound. I love the heavy kick and heavy punch sound effect. It just has this deepness to it. It's so satisfying just to crush someone with one of those. Plus, the voices here, from the announcers and the characters, are really well done. There's 12 playable characters, and you fight your own character, which I always liked. A few of the characters have some new moves here, like Dalsim's yoga teleport, and Chun Li has a fireball now. I remember this being a really big deal at the time. It also warrants mentioning that the Nintendo Power Player's Guide says that less energy is drained when you're attacked, so the matches last longer. So that's pretty interesting. I never realized that at the time, but after playing for a while, it's definitely true. The pixel art is cleaned up a bit as well, so Gal doesn't look like J.K. Simmons with a flat top. Lots of little touches were added, like the animated backgrounds, and the announcers more involved. Street Fighter 2 Turbo is really what sequels were all about in the early 90s. More, better, faster. Can't argue with that. Next is what I would consider a true sequel, Super Street Fighter 2. The Turbo aspect is pretty much gone, but the pacing is still faster than the original. There's some new game modes here, group mode, tournament, and time challenge. And these are very welcome additions to the series for sure to add some variety. The gameplay is also spruced up a bit with a combo system, so that's pretty cool. There's four new characters here, and they're hidden miss. Phelan and Cami are good additions, but T-Hawk and DJ don't really stand out. The big difference here between Super Street Fighter 2 and the first two games is the sound. Listen for yourself. That might seem minor, but to me, that's a big deal. The whole point of kicking someone's ass in a fighting game is that it should feel satisfying, and a big contributor to the feel of a game is the sound. That weak slapping sound is not satisfying at all. There's a new announcer here, too. What happened to the original guy? This guy sucks. Anyway, the difference here depends on how you feel about Super Street Fighter 2's extra game modes. The sound and the challenge the extra speed presents are the biggest differences that have me prefer Turbo over Super Street Fighter 2. Then we have Street Fighter Alpha 2, and wow. This game is in another universe. It's almost like alternate timeline Street Fighter. There's all-new artwork, some incredible graphics, and animation. There's tons of new characters, including some from other games like Rollento, one of the bosses from the original Final Fight Arcade game. This game plays like a precursor to future fighting games like the Marvel vs Capcom series. There's fundamental changes to the gameplay here, too. While most of the moves are the same, there's another layer of complexity on top of everything. You can stick with the old, reliable moves, but you gotta learn the new combos and special moves to beat the tougher opponents. Street Fighter Alpha 2 brings back the Turbo feature, but there's fewer game modes overall. And also, there's no button map here. You can't switch around what button is what attack, and that's kind of a bummer. Anyway, Street Fighter Alpha 2 got at least a dozen ports to all sorts of other systems, but the Super Nintendo port is very well done. One of the most impressive pieces of work ever put together on the console, especially in terms of visuals. In fact, this along with Star Ocean is one of the only cartridges to feature the SD-D1 chip, which decompresses graphics on the fly. That's high-tech stuff. As for the gameplay, they did a nice job keeping it familiar while adding some new wrinkles. Anyway, like I said at the beginning of the video, there's no wrong answer between any of the four Street Fighter games. All four are really well made, but your preference is gonna depend on what you're most comfortable with. Whether that be the more deliberately paced Street Fighter 2, the World Warrior, the intense challenge of Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the updated graphics, additional characters, and game modes of Super Street Fighter 2, or the off-the-wall, alternate universe gameplay of Street Fighter Alpha 2. My preference is still Street Fighter 2 Turbo, because I love the sound and I really enjoy the challenge the speed presents. Feel free to list your favorite and why in the comments. Thanks for watching and have a great rest of your day.