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World Warriors through the ages

Aug 21, 2013 // Minish Capcom

As mentioned Monday , all three SNES iterations of Street Fighter II arrive on Wii U Virtual Console this week. Better yet, North American players can grab two of them for 50% off by simply buying ONE of the games, while EU players can buy 2, get 1 free.

As I played them again in prep for tomorrow’s launch, I was reminded how much each character changed from version to version. World Warrior features some baby faced youngsters, while Turbo ages them up a tad and Super overhauls everything with brand new art. For easy comparison, I took some screens and thought I’d share the results!

Look at that fresh-faced Ryu! Whadda hunk-to-be. Turbo sees a little bit of scruff and some angry eyes, while Super introduces the stoic look we all know.

Ken retains his flowing locks throughout, but by Super he seems much more cocky and comfortable in his role as world warrior.

Chun Li follows a path similar to Ryu’s; starts young, gets a bit angry and then ages up into the strongest woman in the world. The arcade version of WW has Chun Li in an orange outfit, but that was corrected in the SNES port.

My personal favorite (and lifetime main) begins as a sort of piranha-man, then by Super loses his inhuman jaw and looks more like a slightly mutated monster man.

Dhalsim, like Ryu, begins with a slightly more hopeful expression, then gets more and more upset as the years pile on.

Sensing a pattern here. Honda looks fresh out of sumo school in World Warriors, hardens his resolve in Turbo, and then in Super becomes the hyper expressive fighter we know in IV.

Guile in his 20s, 30s and 40s, haha. His Super coloring also comes with a tan!

Gief actually tones it down a bit from Turbo to Super. He still looks intense, but perhaps a bit more focused instead of NEXT TIME WE MEET I’M GONNA BREAK YER ARRRRRMS!

Balrog decides to hide his gnarly teeth in Turbo, then lets ’em loose in Super. Maintains that iconic haircut in each though!

Vega hides his face for the first few years, but when the New Challengers arrive he removes the mask – but just enough to let his handsome features peek through.

Sagat really cleans up. From a weird pile of meat and scars with an eyepatch to the brooding warrior we know today, it’s a drastic transformation.

Bison (aka Dictator) increases the potency of his intense stare with each new game. By the time we get to Super, he’s all THIS PLACE WILL BECOME YOUR GRAVE!

That brings us to the New Challengers, but without WW or Turbo profiles to compare, T Hawk, Cammy, Dee Jay and Fei Long are left out in the cold.

Luckily Combofiend spent plenty of time remembering those new additions in this “Bonus Stage” look back at Super Street Fighter II.