Introduction
This guide is not intended to be a basic FAQ for beginners who have little-to-no experience with the game. It will not contain things such as a move list, and it will only contain gameplay/strategy-related info (no list of win quotes, no story lines, etc).
If you are looking for "general strats", there is now a wealth of footage available online, featuring the world's best players. That is probably the best way to get general strats, so go to ComboVideos.com, or if you use Direct Connect, you can hit up smash.servegame.com.
Other ST References:
NKI's random Japan log on Shoryuken forums
The ST Thread on Shoryuken forums
T.Akiba's site (entirely in Japanese)
NKI's translations from T.Akiba's site (thanks to BlazeD of ComboVideos.com for hosting)
TERMINOLOGY
Jab = weak punch
Strong = medium punch
Fierce = fierce punch
Short = weak kick
Forward = medium kick
Roundhouse (RH) = fierce kick
cr. = crouching
st. = standing
j. = jumping
WW = World Warrior
CE = Champion Edition
HF = Hyper Fighting = SF2T = Street Fighter 2 Turbo
SSF2 = Super Street Fighter 2
ST = Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Before a character's name, "O." means "Old" and "N." means "New".
O.Sagat = Old Sagat = choose Sagat, then hit Up, Down, Down, Up+Jab
N.Sagat = New Sagat = Super Turbo Sagat
Keep in mind that Super Turbo's old characters are not the same as they were in SSF2. For example, O.Sagat can cancel his st.Short and st.Forward after two hits, but Sagat can not do this in SSF2.
Not everyone plays on the American version, and some character names are different in the Japanese version, so to avoid confusion, I will not use the names Vega, Bison, or Balrog.
Claw = American Vega = Japanese Balrog
Boxer = American Balrog = Japanese Bison
Dictator (Dic) = American Bison = Japanese Vega
More terms will be added as it becomes obvious that people don't know what they mean.
Game Mechanics
Basic Strategy
Advanced Strategy
Multi-tap/Multi-release
Multi-tapping refers to hitting more than one button in an attempt to get a reversal. For example, if I simply hit F, D, D/F+Fierce, I have to time my reversal with the precision of a single frame (about 1/60th of a second), and that's pretty hard. But if I do F, D, D/F+press Jab~press Strong~press Fierce~release Jab~release Strong~release Fierce, I now have a SIX-FRAME window to work with, which is remarkably easier. This can also be used in conjunction with option select...
Option Select
Option select refers to doing one thing that covers more than one possible outcome. For example, I am Honda, and my opponent is trying to do a meaty attack to me as I get up. I do a half-circle to down/back and hold it, so now I have the command throw stored. I press and hold all three punches before I get up (so that nothing comes out), and with reversal timing, I multi-release the punches. There are only two possible outcomes:
1) I timed the reversal properly, and I will throw the opponent
2) I did not time the reversal properly, but I will block safely because I was holding down/back
Another good example of option select is safe jumping...
Safe Jumps
You can time a jump-in meaty enough so that it will force the opponent to block if they don't reverse, but if they do reverse, you can land quickly enough to block their reversal. This works because there are very few moves in ST that hit on the first frame.
Safe jumps are much more practical against moves that do not have hitting frames at the very beginning. For example, it's very easy to do safe jumps against Boxer's Buffalo Charge, because the quickest version (Jab) has 11 frames of non-hitting frames in the beginning, which gives you plenty of time to land. Safe jumps are extremely hard (or will not work at all) against moves that have very few (or zero) frames of start-up. Don't try doing safe jumps against:
-Ken's DPs
-Blanka's upballs and horizontal balls
-Akuma's hurricane kicks and uppercuts
--NKI 23:34, 9 April 2006 (CDT)
Game Versions
CPS2 (arcade)
The arcade version is the only version that can truly be considered Super Turbo. Every single home version suffers from some (usually grotesque) flaw. It should be noted that the American CPS2 version and the Japanese CPS2 version do contain some small differences. Known differences are:
-American version has speeds Turbo 0, Turbo 1, Turbo 2, and Turbo 3
-Japanese version has speeds Turbo 1, Turbo 2, Turbo 3, and Turbo 4
-the speeds appear to be the same; just numbered differently
-Japanese version has no Free Play option
-In the Japanese version, Zangief's j.U+Fierce (the stomach crunch) has insane dizzy properties (pretty much a guaranteed dizzy), but it was toned down considerably in the American version.
The following versions are listed in order of accuracy, from most accurate to least accurate.
Playstation 1 (tied with Dreamcast version)
Both the PS1 version and the Dreamcast version are considerably different from the arcade version, but for different reasons. Known differences in the PS1 version:
-Ken, Dhalsim, and Sagat can do reversal supers (which they can not in the arcade version)
-there is a slight delay between "Round 1, Fight!" and when you can actually move
-Chun Li falls extremely slowly after her medium upkicks (Short and RH are correct, though)
-Guile regains CPS1 chains
-only two buttons are required for three-button moves (ex: Zangief can do a lariat by hitting only Jab+Strong or Strong+Fierce or Jab+Fierce)
-inputs must be done more quickly
-tapping two buttons one right after the other counts as hitting them simultaneously
-when a character has zero life left, it takes two blocked specials to kill him/her
-characters don't seem to get dizzy as easily (speculation, untested)
Dreamcast (tied with Playstation version)
The main problem with the Dreamcast version is that all the character sizes are wrong (too small), and all the hit-boxes/ranges are slightly different. There are certain combos that just don't work anymore. Other differences include:
-Ken, Dhalsim, and Sagat can do reversal supers (which they can not in the arcade version), though this can be corrected in the DIP switch menu
-there is a slight delay between "Round 1, Fight!" and when you can actually move
Playstation 2 (Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, only the ST characters will be addressed)
This version has not been thoroughly tested, but the known differences are:
-O.Sagat's Tiger Shots have been toned down considerably
-Ken, Dhalsim, and Sagat can do reversal supers (which they can not in the arcade version)
-Claw's wall dives are way too hard to do (they just randomly won't come out), but using the release method seems to work more consistently
-if an ST character is facing a non-ST character, the ST character can not tech the throws (in ST, New characters can tech Old characters' throws)
Sega Saturn
Sega just can't seem to get the character sizes right. While the DC version's characters are too small, the Saturn version's characters are too big, which has the same consequence of hit-boxes/ranges being different. Guile also regained his CPS1 chains. This version is not thoroughly tested, and most likely contains more differences.
3D0
The most glaring problem with the 3D0 version is that the Old characters are completely missing. It also has lots of missing animation. For example, all of Zangief's ducking punches are the same animation in the 3D0 version. This version has not been thoroughly tested, but those two things alone make it unplayable.
PC
The programmers of the PC version probably tested it for a total of 20 minutes. This version should be avoided at all costs. It was patched multiple times, but none of them really made the game playable. It contained such colossal bugs as entire moves being inexplicably missing, and the game randomly crashing when you simply do a special move.
Game Boy Advance
Not even ST, really. It has the same characters and same basic engine, but the character sizes and animations are totally different. Way too many differences to try to list.
X-Box (Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary Edition, only the ST characters will be addressed)
The X-Box version appears to be at least decent, but it is still under review.
The Characters
|
Super Turbo Version |
Super Version |