Video - Street Fighter 2 - Genesis vs. Super NES

Sometimes I think my brain must be playing tricks on me.  I'm finding that my memories of Street Fighter 2 are crashing head-first into the experience of playing them today.  Case in point: this two-part comparison video by Classic Game Room HD - SF2 Turbo on Super NES is paired with SF2 Special Champion Edition on Genesis.  Despite my experiences long ago, heck, even against my short playing time late last night, this is a revealing experience.

The bottom line foe Sega and Nintendo fans is that both versions are equally brilliant.  There are some small graphical flourishes on both versions, little bits here and there.  I still insist the Genesis version has more moves, but these are the light and medium moves that no one ever touched.  The Super NES translation did a masterful job of masking its omissions.

The audio still seems like a case of lesseer of two evils.  SNES Street Fighter has that mellotron sound, softer and toned down on the high and low end, almost a remix on some tracks.  It's smooth bit dull much of the time.  Genesis Street Fighter has a heavier bass and drum sound, and some really terrific keyboard effects.  Pity those scratchy-as-hell voices get in the way.

I really wish Classic Game Room had included the PC Engine version, which seems to shock everybody by competing evenly.  It gives the SNES Street Fighter a serious run for its money, and that's a stunner.  In fact. many arcade purists might prefer the PCE.  Who would have guessed that?

Update: Right now, I'm thinking its a tie for the lead, between the PC Engine and the Super Nintendo.  The Genesis version gets sent back to third,  for two reasons.  First, the scratchy voice samples are driving me batty.  Play Chun-Li on Dhalsim's stage with the elephants, and try not to go bonkers.  Two, and this is a shocker, Champion Edition plays slow.  I knew I wasn't imagining things last night!  Genesis CE runs slow.  Thank goodness Hyper Fighting is perfectly fine.  But for now, Genesis gets sent to the basement.