Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (Nintendo Switch) Review

Capcom was there at the launch of the Nintendo 3DS with a Street Fighter release, bringing the excellent update of its fourth mainline entry, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, and managing to ride the early hype train, as well as receive enough plaudits to ensure word of mouth and early adopters both pushed sales higher than expected globally. Despite this, that was it for Nintendo fans, unfortunately, as Capcom did not see fit to bring the likes of Ultra Street Fighter IV or Street Fighter V either to the clearly already proven fan-base on 3DS, or even to test the waters on Wii U. Hopefully, that will not be the case here, since Ultra Street Fighter II plays just as well as classic Street Fighter should do - albeit with need of a Switch Controller Pro due to the Joy-Con controllers' face button and analogue setup working, but nowhere near as smoothly - and deserves to have other fighters accompany it on Switch.

Rather than port Street Fighter V, Capcom has changed things up, tapping into the nostalgia of older Nintendo fans, resurrecting the multi-million selling second series entry, and it works fantastically well, offering the standard options of playing through the barebones story mode, fighting against friends or the computer, and even giving the chance to pit yourself and a friend against the CPU, or you and a CPU partner if no friends are available. Use one console for two players, or get another Switch-owning friend to join in the classic hijinks. This is pure Street Fighter II fun, just the way it used to be. Jumping back into the arena feels like the years have rolled back and the good ol' days have returned. Guile, E. Honda, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Blanka, Chun-Li, and the gang, are all there, present and correct, complete with their traditional moves intact, facing off against each other in background settings that will tickle those old memories. You can even opt to keep the nostalgia trip going by choosing classic audio and visuals, or mix a retro and new feel by playing the classic gameplay with a far more polished look than the SNES could possibly have ever coped with, as well as spruced up audio.

Some will be disappointed that the 30th Anniversary of Street Fighter is being celebrated with a rehash of an older game, but just as Super Bomberman R worked so well at helping gamers reminisce about the good ol' days, so does Ultra Street Fighter II, coming now with a robust online multiplayer element and an intriguing - if somewhat short-lived - motion-controlled fighting mini-game, plus extras like checking out classic artwork. It is not the all-singing, all-dancing Street Fighter some may have wanted, but it achieves what it sets out to do, and that is to offer up some classic fighting, pure and simple. The inclusion of Violent Ken (from SNK vs. Capcom) and Evil Ryu (from Street Fighter Alpha 2) may seem trivial but they do add some spice to proceedings. Old school fighting fans and newcomers, alike, get ready for the battle with Ultra Street Fighter II.