Introduction
The most accepted revision after Super Turbo and Hyper Fighting
Characters
Terminology
Game Elements
Blocking
Holding away from your opponent on the controller while they are attacking results in your character defending their attack (blocking), and will take little to no damage. However, there are two blocking states, one standing, and one crouching.
Standing block (high block) will block your opponent's high attacks (including jumping attacks), while crouching block (low block) will block your opponent's low attacks (including sweeps, and some other crouching kicks). All attacks which are not specifically 'high' or 'low' attacks can be blocked either standing or crouching.
While blocking you cannot move or perform attacks, you must wait until the block has completed.
Normal Attacks
Pressing a button on the control panel results in a normal move. Punches are the top 3 buttons, kicks the bottom 3. Weaker normals are to the left, stronger to the right.
Normal attacks are your most basic offensive tools, and you should familiarise yourself with your character's normals as thoroughly as possible.
Some normal attacks only are available when holding particular directions on the stick, these are known as 'unique moves' or 'command normals'. An example is E.Honda's 'Hiza Geri' which is performed by holding left or right on the controller and pressing the Medium Kick button.
Special Attacks
Every character has 'special' attacks, which involve a series of controller movements and/or button presses. These will take some practice to get used to, but are very important tools. Generally, performing special moves using the weaker punch or kick buttons will do less damage or travel shorter distances, but be less punishable by your opponent.
Special moves inflict a small amount of damage to your opponent even when blocked.
Throws
If your opponent is blocking your attacks, Throws allow you to grab your opponent anyway and deal damage. Depending on your character, while near your opponent, holding left or right on the stick while pressing particular punch or kick buttons (usually hard punch) will perform a throw. Holding left results in the opponent being throw towards the left, and holding right will throw them to the right.
Some characters have holds rather than throws, they fill the same role but result in multiple smaller hits rather than one big throw.
Familiarise yourself with the ranges your throws/holds will work at, and how far away your opponent ends up afterwards.
System Info
Damage
Basic Elements
- Life Meter
Life meters for both characters are displayed at the top of the screen. Every character initially has the same amount of life, which is 144 "hit points". Once this is depleted through being hit, thrown, or taking block damage, the character with 0 life loses the round. Both characters may be reduced to 0 life at the same time, in which case the round is a draw.
- Stun/Dizzy
If a character is hit or thrown too often in quick succession, they are "stunned" or "dizzied". This results in a knockdown, followed by a considerable period of time where the character is unable to perform any actions and is at the mercy of their opponent. The state of characters' stun is not displayed.
- Timer
Hyper Fighting is a timed game, and once time runs out the round is awarded to whichever character has more health. If health is even, the round is a draw.
The timer starts at 99 and counts down faster than a real-world second.
Universal Abilities
- Basic Movement: Walk, Jump, and Crouch
- Blocking
- Normal Attacks
- Special Attacks
- Throws
- Reversals / Meaty Attacks
Movement
SF2 has very simple movement controls, with no dashes, rolls, or anything more complicated than a jump.
Pressing left or right on the controller while nothing else is happening moves the character left or right on the screen. Your character's backwards walking speed is slower than their forward speed. Some characters are faster than others.
Holding down on the controller causes your character to crouch. This lowers your character's body and can evade some moves, and is also important for blocking and some special moves.
Pressing up on the controller will make your character jump into the air. New attack options are available in the air, but no defensive options are present so it is dangerous to jump too much. Pressing up+left or up+right on the controller will jump left or jump right. Jumping is very useful for avoiding projectiles.
TIER LIST
TOP TIER: M Bison Guile Ryu Sagat
MID TIER: Ken Chun Li Blanka Balrog
LOW TIER: E Honda Zangief Vega Dhalsim
Regional Differences
Please note that the Japanese versions are not the same as the American versions:
| Boxer character = Balrog | Boxer character = M.Bison |
| Claw character = Vega | Claw character = Balrog |
| Dictator character = M.Bison | Dictator character = Vega |