FAQ

#01: What version is Super Turbo?

Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is the official fifth and definitive arcade iteration of Street Fighter II. All the games after that are just compilations, remixes, or console ports that haven't stood the test of time.

The World Warrior Arcade 1991 8 Characters
Champion Edition Arcade 1992 12 Characters (4 new characters)
Rainbow Edition Arcade Knock off (Not Capcom official) 1992? 12 Characters
a.k.a Hyper Fighting Arcade 1992 12 Characters + Turbo speed
The New Challengers Arcade 1993 16 Characters (4 New Characters)
a.k.a Grand Master Challenge Arcade 1994 16 Characters + 1 secret character + 16 secret characters from the previous version + Turbo speed
The Anniversary Edition Arcade Compilation 2003 All the characters of the previous versions (a lot)
HD Remix Console only (remake) 2008 HD mode (17 rebalanced characters) + classic mode (ST/2X)
The Final Challengers Console only 2017 19 Characters (2 New Characters)

ST or 2X (highlighted in blue) is the one that has been played competitively at EVO, SBO, and many other major tournaments throughout the last 20 years.

#02: Why are the names of the bosses wrong in the screen?

In Japanese versions of the game, the boxer character was named M.Bison (an homage to Mike Tyson). To avoid a potential lawsuit, the name of the bosses were switched around in non-Japanese versions of the game.

So to avoid confusion, the communities outside of Japan call them Boxer, Claw, and Dictator.

#03: Does this game have any competitive scene nowadays?

Yes, there has been a very active scene for many years all around the world. Everything is currently reported on the x-news on a weekly basis.

Japan has been organizing tournaments every week in many areas specially the three main ones: Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya. There have been major events every year since year 2000, they are mainly team events like X-Mania a 3vs3 event now known as X-EST, and Kakerugo, a 5vs5 event that occurs in the first week of May. Many foreigners have been travelling to these main events over the years but with a little more consistency [mirror] since 2013.

USA includes ST/2X as side tournaments in most of the Fighting Game majors across the country. ST/2X was also one of the main games at EVO from 2000 to 2010 and it came back to the main stage in 2012 and 2014. With EVO moving to other newer games, Canada Cup is hosting the biggest ST/2X major since 2016.

Europe has been organizing events in England and France since the late 2000s. France had dedicated events called X-Mania Europe from 2011 to 2014 and it's planning a comeback in 2018. Other events that include ST/2X in their list of tournaments are Stunfest and the Fightcade Offline Festival (FOF). However the biggest event nowadays is XSB in Lyon which is exclusively dedicated to ST/2X.

#04: Is it a balanced game? Why do most people prefer this version and not the others?

ST/2X is not the most balanced game since it has many 8-2 matchups. It's not the most fair either since damage and stun are calculated with a small random factor that was not present in some other versions of the game. It's not the easiest one in terms of execution due to its turbo speed and small input windows in the moves.

With that said, the game has some comeback mechanics and design features (including the many bugs in the game) that make it the most fun to play and watch. The game also seems to please a wide range of competitive players, from the ones who love fundamentals to those who like new tech, probably because of the depth in the game that has constantly evolved after so many years of play.

#05: Are there any differences between the Japanese version and the US version?

Barely any. Some players claim that some moves have different stun amounts in the two versions. The most well-known one is Zangief's vertical headbutt that can dizzy someone with just one hit in the Japanese version.

#06: What is the standard turbo speed for tournaments?

It's turbo 3 for the Japanese version and turbo 2 for the US version.

#07: Why did the community not move to games that appeared after 1994? What about the previous versions of SF2?

Although 'Champion Edition' and 'Hyper Fighting' were more popular in the arcades in the mid nineties most of the community moved to the latest arcade iteration for the reasons aforementioned. Only few places in South America and South Korea keep organizing tournaments for those versions but much smaller than ST/2X tournaments.

The compilation Hyper Street Fighter II (2003) had so many characters from the previous versions of Street Fighter II. Many of them were extremely overpowered, so it didn't seem like a good fit for competitive play.

The remake HD Remix (2008) had several balance changes to many characters that didn't seem to please most of the old school players at that time. However, one of the main reasons is that there was no arcade version of the game which made it difficult for Japan to adopt. Without the Japanese community, it's harder to move all the other smaller communities in the world to the newer games.

Theoretically, USF2 (2017) should have the same problems as HDR if there is no arcade version in Japan. Only time will tell.

#08: What are the old characters in the game?

There are 16 secret characters, named old characters, that can be selected through a code. Those 16 characters are the ones from the previous version (Super Street Fighter II) and they are the only way to select the classic colors. However, only three of those characters are definitely better than their new counterparts: old Sagat, old Ken and old Hawk. You can check the tiers section to see more details.

#09: How do I go from the beginner level to the intermediate level?

It's a mix of watching a ton of videos, learn the matchups of your character, and practice execution. Nowadays, Fightcade is the best place to practice online. If you are nice towards other players there will be plenty of people willing to help you which in turn will save you a ton of learning time. During the times that you don't connect online, practice execution in training mode instead of playing against the CPU.

#10: How can I find a character that suits me?

Everyone tries many characters at first. Eventually, you will find yourself more comfortable with a few of them depending on many factors.

An important one might be your preference between charge characters and motion characters. Any fireball character will base their gameplay in zoning at one level or another. There are a lot of non-fireball characters that need to counter that zoning to get close to the opponent and unleash all the damage quickly. If you like to be the underdog, you will probably play one of these non-fireball characters as they are usually low tier.

But not all non-fireball characters are low tier. There are some that have tools to play very aggressively with minimal risk, such as Boxer or Feilong, and there are others that have a lot of air mobility, like Dictator and Claw.

If you want to show off your execution skills, you can also go with characters with crazy combos like DeeJay, Feilong, or Dictator. You can also go for the grapplers, Zangief and T. Hawk. On the other hand, if you prefer a scientific approach, there are characters that take a while to learn as they need a different button for every given situation like Dhalsim or Chun Li. Otherwise, you can go for simpler game strategies with immediate results like old Sagat and Boxer.

#11: I am travelling to Japan soon. Where can I play this game against the legendary players?

If you don't want to end up playing against the CPU like you could do at your own home we strongly recommend to go to the arcades only on the specific days they are meeting up to play the game. Here is a list of the main events (not all):

Tokyo (Kanto area)

  • Gamespot Versus weekly team tournament (East vs West format): Tuesdays at 8.30pm
  • HEY Akihabara casuals: Every day from 10am to midnight (the ONLY arcade you will find players at any time)
  • Game Daytona Shiki weekly tournament (winner stays on format): Fridays at 8pm
  • Gamespot Versus bi-weekly team tournament (various formats): two Saturdays per month at 9pm [contact Mattsun to confirm dates]
  • Game Newton Ooyama team tournament (various formats): one Saturday per month at 8pm [contact Mattsun to confirm dates]
  • Mattmouse tournament (various formats): Thursday eveneing [contact Mattsun to confirm dates]

Osaka (Kansai area)

  • HL-SEGA arcade weekly tournament (East vs West format): Tuesdays evening
  • Ko-Hatsu monthly tournament (single bracket format): [contact Shogatsu to confirm dates]
  • Kawachieiwa Enpara arcade ranking battle: once every two months [contact Shogatsu to confirm dates]
  • Neyagawa ABC ranking battle: once every two months [contact Shogatsu to confirm dates]

Nagoya (Chubu area)

  • Space Shuttle arcade: they used to do a weekly team tournament on Fridays. [contact MAO to organize one if possible]

Note: East vs West format is just forming two big teams that go against each other. It has nothing to do with where the players are from. An exception to that is the actual East vs West tournament that happens only once a year.