Ultra Street Fighter II Announced for Nintendo Switch

2017 is the thirtieth anniversary of the first Street Fighter game and to celebrate, Capcom is releasing an updated rerelease...of the first Street Fighter game people actually cared about. Announced for the Nintendo Switch, Capcom will be giving us Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers.

Since first showing up in 1991, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior has been known for its constant upgrades. Capcom’s tendency to rerelease the same game with new bells, whistles, and occasionally characters instead of moving on to Street Fighter III was one of the big running gags of the gaming community. We had Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Hyper Street Fighter II, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

HD Remix was a version where all the sprites were redrawn by UDON comic artists. Ultra Street Fighter IIwill allow the player to choose between that look and the original early 90s sprites. The aesthetic updates also include new voices and sound effects.

The biggest selling point of this nostalgia trip is the inclusion of two “new” characters: Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, who are mostly just recolored versions of Ryu and Ken with a couple additional abilities.

Evil Ryu was first introduced in Masahiko Nakahira’s Street Fighter Alpha manga, depicting Ryu’s tendency to lose himself to the darkness of his fighting style as he inches his way towards becoming like his antagonist Akuma. Evil Ryu made his first video game appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and has since become a regular addition to the Street Fighter roster.

Violent Ken is a more surprising inclusion. The concept of Ken being under the influence of M. Bison’s power was introduced in Masaomi Kanzaki’s Street Fighter II manga, then later used in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Oddly enough, while Violent Ken has made an appearance in a video game, it was SNK vs. Capcom Chaos by SNK. Ultra Street Fighter IIwill be Violent Ken’s first Capcom game appearance.

The game will also bring back Dramatic Mode, something from the console version of Street Fighter Alpha. In it, two players can team up against one computer-controlled opponent and basically mess around with combos.

No word yet on when Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengerswill be released for the Nintendo Switch.

Gavin Jasper would have been down with an HD update of Street Fighter 1 for the hell of it. Follow him on Twitter!