Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition/Development
From Sega Retro
| Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition development |
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| Missed release date(s): |
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Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition began development as a straight port of Street Fighter II': Champion Edition scheduled to be released worldwide on Summer 1993. Initially Capcom outsourced the development of the Mega Drive version to an undisclosed developer while they were working on the Super NES version of Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (which was actually a port of both, Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting, allowing players to use rules from either version).
However, Capcom was ultimately unsatisfied with the way the Mega Drive version was turning out and choose to delay the game to an October release so they could develop a better version in-house with all the added content from the Turbo version. Due to an exclusivity clause with Nintendo, Capcom couldn't use the Street Fighter II Turbo title on a competing platform, so they used the subtitle Special Champion Edition instead to make the Mega Drive version stand out.
The development and release of Special Champion Edition is notable for other, arguably more important reasons. It was the first Sega game to be produced in-house by Capcom (previous Capcom ports had been handled by Sega under license) - a relationship that would continue on with the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast (and even in the arcades, with Capcom's use of the NAOMI platform). It was also developed in conjunction with the Mega Drive six button control pad, which debuted in most regions at the same time and whose design became a staple for console fighting games going forward (not to mention the basis for the Sega Saturn control pad).
Summer CES 1993
Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition was officially announced at Summer CES 1993 as an official replacement for Champion Edition. Now a 24-megabit cartridge, the game was set to arrive in September 1993 with turbo and move additions from Hyper Fighting[1]. The game was also playable on the show floor, but was somewhat overshadowed by the more completed Super NES game Street Fighter II' Turbo, which Capcom were also demonstrating.
It appears two demos were featured at the event, both only featuring Ryu's stage. On the first day, both players could only play as either Ryu or Ken (in a build calling itself "Street Fighter II': Super Champion Edition"[2]), however an updated demo was swapped out on the Sunday[1] allowing the second player to control Chun Li[1] and Guile instead.
Timeline
| Timeline (Mega Drive) |
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| History not known (yet). |
References
