"ST II' Turbo" refers to an altered prototype build of the Genesis port of Street Fighter II': Champion Edition (a port that was rejected in favor of Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition) that surfaced though bootleg/piracy outlets. It appears to be a late build before Capcom rejected the port, as it has several changes to unaltered prototypes dated March 25 and July 30, 1993 that was dumped by Hidden Palace Zone in 2021. The release of the two prototypes also confirmed that "ST II' Turbo" was not a custom-built or mere credit-removal bootleg, contrary to popular assumption.
The "ST II' Turbo" ROM was originally released by "The Boss", a short-lived Dutch warez group that released few 16-bit ROMs of Asian origin (including zero-day Japanese releases) on June 2, 1994, which may have originated from a pirated cartridge originally sold (and dumped) in China, as the original ROM was named "MD16061" (a copier filename standing for Mega Drive, 16-megabit, 61st 16-meg ROM dumped or released; the ROM were also split for floppy disk distribution purposes). It is likely the source for the pirated cartridge/ROM was an internal build that was only used at Capcom (or Sega, for approval purposes) before it leaked out; if true, it would have been similar to the case of the Simon Wai prototype of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
Differences[]
Compared to the March/July 1993 builds (that was also the source of magazine screenshots that previewed Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition), this build lacks the black bars on top of the screen (i.e. on the health bar/character name), instead moving them to the bottom of the screen, much like the final release of Special Champion Edition. The "ST II' Turbo" build does not have any copyright notices on the title screen, to the point that the graphic data for the Capcom logo on startup is missing entirely on the ROM (although the palette data is still there), although Capcom credits on the staff roll were not edited out. However, unlike the two prototypes, it does have a Sega logo on startup, although the trademark logo is misplaced. It also completely lacks any checksum checks, something that the March/July 1993 prototypes have and most Genesis pirate carts usually bypass.
"ST II' Turbo" also contains a different behavior when played with a three-button controller compared from that of the March/July builds; "P"/"K" is used as an indicator if the buttons are set to punch or kick inputs (changeable with the Start button). On the March/July builds, a red circle indicates punching input, which turns white if they are for kicking instead. While this compatibility mode was retained in the final Special Champion Edition, the indicator is absent in that version.
While it is playable from start to finish, only the four bosses have proper endings.[1]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The name used on the title screen may be a reference to the Japanese abberivation for Street Fighter II (ストII).
- Both the released prototypes and this build are in English, including international boss names. Coincidentally, the two prototypes have a region check that prevents it from being played on Japanese Mega Drives, which is absent on the "ST II' Turbo" build.
- The game's header contains the title "ARM WRESTLING". This header title was also used by an unreleased port of Ninja Gaiden and an early build of Crying Dragon (also an unreleased game).
See also[]
- Street Fighter III: 18 Person, a modified version of this prototype distributed by Glorysun
Videos[]
The Genesis Street Fighter 2 Which Never Was - Nostalgia Nerd
Documentary on "ST II' Turbo" from Nostalgia Nerd. Please note this video was created before the unaltered March/July prototypes were dumped, and may contain information that were disproven by these two builds.