When you think of Street Fighter II, only one ultimate version of SFII comes to mind. Super Street Fighter II Turbo is considered to be the best and most balanced of all the past SFII versions. For me personally I sucked at it. I couldn't even pull off a Shoryuken. Regardless it will always be a great feeling to be able to pull off a one of the many super moves. It has been ported many times to various consoles, handhelds, mobile, and of course the arcadex but finding a copy to play with, or finding an open arcade that has a Super Turbo machine is hard to come by. Capcom had the solution when working with UDON Entertainment, Backbone Entertainment and OverClocked Remix, Capcom released Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix released in November 25, 2008. This is a must download for any fan of Street Fighter or fighting fan in general.

Now the storyline for HD Remix is the same story from past iterations of Street Fighter II. The Shadoloo (Shadowlaw) crime syndicate, led by M. Bison, organizes a second World Warrior tournament to gather all the world's greatest warriors and use them for his own devious plans. This serves as the main and interconnecting plot for all the characters, as each individual fighter has his or her own reasons for entering the tournament. Some come in search of strength, while others look for revenge. Once you get past the multiple story arcs for each fighter, it all comes down to one thing: beating the crap out of your opponent.

Now the good thing about HD Remix is that the game play has not changed very much other than a few tweaks. One of those minor tweaks is the new Remix control option. In past Street Fighter II games, to pull off a special move (the Hadoken for example) you would move the joystick in a quarter circle and press one of the punch buttons. Now with the Remix control option, you would use a semi-circle motion on the joystick and then one of the punch buttons. This is great for getting those who have never played Street Fighter II before interested and playing. But if you want that classic old school feel, HD Remix gives you an option called classic mode. Also included in HD Remix is the standard training mode which has a new training display called Hit box. When this is turned on, each fighter will be surrounded in a red box which shows the areas they can be attacked. Now when a fighter either punches, kicks, or pulls off a super move, that Hit box will expand, showing the distance the attack can do. This is a very useful tool when training as you can see the distance of the attack and how to find ways either to block, counter or dodge. Whether it's beating down your friend right next to you, or across the world (more on that later), the look and sound of HD Remix reinvigorate the series.

Now the game is called HD Remix for a very good reason. As soon the game loads up a remixed track of the game's menu theme, Clamato Fever, you already feel pumped up. The guys over at OverClocked Remix did a great job remixing each fighters stage theme, each one sounding more epic than the last. My personal favorite of the themes is Guile's Rush in the Wind remix, Combat and Service. The guitar riffs sound great and set the mood for an epic battle. The sound effects also get breathed new life, never has the shout of "HADOUKEN!!!" sounded so great. Now with epic sound comes epic graphics and the reason why its call HD Remix, the graphics and art direction. Capcom handed the art direction reigns over to the talented artists over at UDON Entertainment. These are the same artists that worked on the Street Fighter comic book series. These guys worked hard drawing each fighter, their moves, even the backgrounds by hand. Yes, that's right HD Remix was drawn by hand, and it looks great. Paired with a HDTV, and the game looks and sounds epic.

Now I mentioned being able to fight with friends across the world. Well the online play of HD Remix does exactly that and much more. The online aspect of HD Remix is taken from the Dreamcast port of Super Street Fighter II Turbo which was only in Japan. There are two reasons that Capcom deiced to go with a Dreamcast port. One, it was an exact port of the arcade version of the game. Two, it was the only one to feature online support. Backbone Entertainment took the DC code and added a new feature called the Quarter-Match mode. What this means that when two players are online, someone can come in to the lobby and get the next game against winner. Up to four players can be in the lobby, watch the match and talk to each other before and after the match. This simulates the arcade experience of calling "NEXT". In addition to world rankings and leader boards, the multiplayer is not to be missed.

Over all, HD Remix is just like any other past SF II game, great, addicting and utterly epic. This game is worth the download, even if you have past iterations of it. But with all the great improvement to the sound and graphic, and intact easy to pick up controls, why wouldn't you? Like I said, it's a great game to play, but fighting against someone else makes it greater.

- Mike V.