Street Fighter II': Champion Edition (ストリートファイターIIダッシュ -CHAMPION EDITION-?) is a competitive fighting game released for the arcades by Capcom in 1992. It was the first of several updated versions of the original Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. The main changes consisted of the addition of the Grand Masters (the final four computer-controlled opponents in the single-player mode) as playable characters and mirror matches (same character vs. matches). The fighting techniques of the eight main characters from the original game were also further refined to allowed for more balanced competitive play.
Champion Edition was followed by Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting, released several months later.
The ability to play as the four Grand Masters (Sagat and M. Bison shown here) was made possible in Champion Edition.
Playable bosses: The four Grand Masters (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison), who were the final opponents controlled by the computer in the single-player mode, are now usable by players. The four bosses were considerably toned down from the previous game. However, they still remained strong.
Mirror matches: In The World Warrior, players were not allowed to choose the same character. In Champion Edition, this restriction is removed and each character has two color palettes. The original palette is selectable by pressing any attack button, while alternate palettes are chosen with the Start button.The font of the player's name tag also changes colors from yellow to blue if his or her character is using the alternate color scheme.
Refined character balance: The returning eight main characters had many of their techniques and priorities modified in order to allow for more balanced competition between different characters. Ryu's and Ken's fighting techniques in particular were changed in order to differentiate their respective fighting styles.
Single-player mode: The matches in the single-player mode was increased from 11 opponents to 12 due to the addition of the mirror matches. This also changed the order in which the third bonus stage occurred (the drum-breaking minigame): in the original game it took place after the match with Vega; wherein Champion Edition, it took place after Balrog. The endings of some of the returning characters were redrawn (particularly Ryu's, Ken's, and Zangief's), while each of the four bosses received an ending as well. The ending for the boss characters consist of an image of all four Grand Masters (with the character used by the player on top), with scrolling text overlaid on it specific to the player character. The special ending credits shown when the player completes the single-player mode without losing a single round (or having another human player interrupt for a challenge) was also changed.
A version of Champion Edition was originally developed for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. However, after the release of Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting to arcades, this port was retooled into Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition, which also included a version of Hyper Fighting. A Champion Edition mode was also included in Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES. In the SNES version, Hyper Fighting is the default game mode, while in Special Champion Edition, Champion Edition is the default mode. Both the SNES/Genesis versions have been released on Virtual Console. The arcade version is also included in Street Fighter Collection 2 (Capcom Generation 5) for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, as well as Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and Capcom Classics Collection: Reloaded for PlayStation Portable.
