Street Fighter II (GB)

Street Fighter II  is a fighting game developed by Sun L and published by Capcom for the Game Boy. It's a limited interpretation of the Arcade series, containing the changes seen in Street Fighter II': Champion Edition, but mostly based on Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (although yet taking elements of the subsequent revision). Considering all the changes and modifications to better accomodate in the cartridge, it's unique by its own.

Due the graphical and hardware power limits of the Game Boy, it has severe cuts and suffers of some lack of compromise from source material; Still is notable for being the pioneer of being able to translate the six button layout that the Street Fighter series is known for, for a two button scheme only avaiable in the handheld.

The story follows the same plot of the Arcade and console releases; With the World Warriors (six this time) entering in the fighting tournament organized by the criminal corporation Shadaloo, while traveling the globe.

Changes
To better fit in the limited memory space of the Game Boy cartridges, Street Fighter II had several changes and cuts; here a list of notable alterations:


 * Even though using same artwork seen in the The World Warrior release for the Super Nintendo as the American and European box art, the game is mostly based on Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers; Yet, there's no subtitle or addition to the game name; That's the only Street Fighter II release, at any system, to do so;


 * Three characters were removed entirely, as well their respective home stages;


 * The game contains the changes from Street Fighter II': Champion Edition, with the boses playable (three of the original four; since one of them was cut);


 * The game uses a two button layout, since was the amount of buttons on the Game Boy; This results in a drastic change of how to use Light, Medium and Heavy attacks;


 * Even though some characters have additions to their movesets based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo (never released on a Nintendo system), many original moves were simplified or completely removed due the lack of options for commands;


 * Characters and Announcer voice clips and many sound effects are absent;


 * There are no Stage interactions or destructible objects; All the people, animals or moving background elements are gone;
 * There are no character specific endings; After beating M. Bison you are presented with a default congratulation screen;


 * It's only possible to play multiplayer through the Link Cable or connecting the game on the Super Game Boy;
 * Mirror Matches are possible, but give the fact that the Game Boy is monochromatic, Alt. Colors doesn't exist (this is still in the case while using the Super Game Boy).

Gameplay


Roster
The characters are mostly the same as in the other Street Fighter II versions released on domestic hardware, with the addition of the playable bosses; But three fighters were removed due the system limitations (E. Honda, Dhalsim and Vega):
 * Ryu - from JapanStreet_Fighter_II_(GB)_(roster).png
 * Blanka - from Brazil
 * Guile - from the United States
 * Ken - from the United States
 * M. Bison (called Vega in Japan) - faced in Thailand
 * Chun-Li - from China
 * Zangief - from the Soviet Union
 * Balrog (called M. Bison in Japan) - from the United States
 * Sagat - from Thailand

Reception
The reception was slightly mixed but more towards to positive comments praising the translation of the commands being fluid enough, even with only two buttons on the handheld, and the presence of the unique Survival Mode. It was called excelent for the Game Boy standards. But critics were heavy on the slow speed and lack of general content.

Site AllGame gave it 4 stars of 5; and magazines EGM and Famitsu gave the scores 29/40 and 21/40, respectively.

Trivia

 * This is the only game in the Street Fighter II sub-series, released on a Nintendo system or not, to never be re-released in any kind of digital distribution nor compilations;
 * When playing the game on the Super Game Boy, the borders will follow the stage you're fighting on, with the graphics based on the Super Nintendo release of The World Warrior (although lacking movement).

See Also:

 * Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
 * Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
 * Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
 * Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival