Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Hands-on

Ryu vs. Ken in an HD showdown.

by Jeff Haynes
October 19, 2007 - It's been months since Capcom announced the redesigning of their classic fighting franchise with Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. The game was finally on display at Capcom's recent Gamer's Day, which highlighted the upgraded gameplay with new artwork and 1080p visuals, although purists will be able to select the classic 4:3 design if they want. Capcom did not allow screens or video of the project to be released, but it was at least playable for the first time. We took on all comers and tested our skills with the new title, which should be coming to PS3s and 360s in Q1 2008.

Although the demo build at the event only featured Ryu and Ken as playable fighters, we observed that all 17 of the original Super Street Fighter II Turbo will be selectable within the game. That includes familiar characters such as Bison and Akuma. Players will be able to check out a training mode that will allow them to hone their skills before trying on their opponents via online play or the same console. Players will not only have continual updating from rankings and stats that tracks your win/loss record across all of the game characters, but they'll be able to spectate match-ups with "virtual quarters" as they await their turn.

What was very impressive was the visual presentation of the title, which clearly utilized the redrawn textures of Udon Entertainment to present the game action. Reminiscent of the animated Street Fighter movies, all of the backgrounds were extremely sharp and popped off the screen. The jaggies that players were once accustomed to were gone, and the details in the background, particularly the "busier" stages, looked much crisper. For example, Balrog's Vegas level, Ken's dockside stage and Blanka's village really stood out, with the background characters cheering on the fighters. The warriors themselves looked as though they benefited from the enhancement, with larger character models and smoothed out textures.

While it was only playable on the 360, we noticed that the standard controller issues that affected the 360 for the earlier Xbox Live Hyper Fighting release still affect this title. The Directional Pad is still a weak choice for inputting commands and maneuvering smoothly during a fight. The analog stick is a much better option for tossing fireballs or dragon punches, as well as triggering super attacks. The arcade stick with redesigned button layout for fighting is obviously the best, as you can trigger moves much easier with the joystick.

We'll have more on Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix as soon as it becomes available.