Originally Posted by
klausien
That Retroware TV spot really hit the mark on this (though they didn't mention that having a TurboDuo negates the need for any controller modifications or adapters). While the requisite "import-cred" and truly stunning technical achievement of the PCE port of SFII are tantalizing, there really is no doubt that the SNES version of Hyper Fighting is the best from that era. Period.
It is tough to see in those videos, great as they are, but outside of the necessary line-scrolling floor, the PCE version is completely devoid of any additional parallax scrolling. The character size is NOT larger than on the SNES. If anything, they are ever so slightly smaller. It does school the Genesis version though, lack of parallax notwithstanding, due to the color palette. The text under the lifebars is the most authentic on the PCE version, but it is blacked out under the score. To its credit, it also covers a bit more of the screen than the SNES version, which is letterboxed quite badly. It is more noticeable now than it was then for some reason. Also, it being the Champion Edition, there is obviously no Turbo speed in the PCE version. In all fairness, this fact shouldn't be held against it, but I wonder if they could have even had a Turbo mode without some serious slowdown. This game pushes the hardware to the absolute limit.
The PCE music and sound effects (not including voices) are of a much lower quality than either the SNES or Genesis versions. Very 8-bit sounding due to the fact that they are chip tunes. The designers were rumored to have been attempting a HuCard/CD combo for the game to circumvent the sound limitations, but that never panned out due to problems with synchronization between the two. That would have allowed for arcade-exact music on the PCE version, but alas, it wasn't to be. The PCE voices are indeed excellent, though still grainier than the SNES voices to my ear. At this point everyone is fully aware of the horror of the barely tolerable Genesis voice samples.
Everyone has mentioned "Casio-sound" in regard to the SNES version. I think this is a bit unfair as all three have the arcade music arranged to use the native synth voices of each hardware to their fullest. The Genesis music sounds like Genesis music, the SNES like a SNES game, and so on. Quality-wise they are all in the upper echelon for their respective systems when it comes to the music. They all lack that characteristic CPS cymbal crash sample that is so incredibly prevalent in SFII, though the SNES sample is close.
Control-wise, they really are all about the same. All of the ports have good timing, though experts may feel one is better than the others. I would never profess to be an expert in this arena. Needing a new controller is not an issue. All of the ports really need one to be more arcade-like, though the SNES version is the only one that has all 6 buttons available on the default controller. That said, getting a full PCE setup with 2 Avenue Pad 6's and a multitap, game converter or JP system aside, is a prohibitively expensive proposition when there are very close ports out there now on the PS2 & XBox for $20 or less.
There is one area where PCE version wins out unanimously though: the packaging. No contest. The double-thick HuCard packaged in a white double CD case is simply sublime.