Special moves: Ryu, Ken, Guile and Chun-Li
Every command here assumes your fighter faces right. Facing left, swap Left and Right. Punches run U light, I medium, O hard, and kicks follow the same order with J, K and L. Light attacks come out faster, hard ones do more damage, and any of the three strengths sets off a special move. Where a move wants all three punches or all three kicks at once, pressing any two of them also works.
Ryu
- Fireball: ,+,+U
- Dragon Punch: ,++U
- Hurricane Kick: ,+,+J
- Shoulder Throw, standing next to the opponent: Hold+I
- Kick Throw, standing next to the opponent: Hold+K
- Axe Kick, up close: L
A clean hard Dragon Punch lands three hits, which is the single biggest thing Ryu can do to a careless jump. The Hurricane Kick has a hole in it: a crouching opponent ducks under the entire spin and punishes you on the way out. Keep pressure on with fireballs and they eventually come out golden, hitting a little harder than the normal ones.
Ken
Ken uses the same three inputs as Ryu, a little stronger and a little slower. The move that pays for the swap is his hard Hurricane Kick, which lands up to four hits when it connects properly, though it can still be ducked like Ryu's. Up close his Rolling Kick Throw (Hold+L) does very good damage, and a close L gives him the same two-hit Axe Kick.
Is Guile's charge worth the wait?
- Sonic Boom: Holdfor 2 seconds,+U
- Flash Kick: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Knee Bazooka: Hold+K
- Suplex, also usable in midair: Hold+O
- Reverse Spin Kick, up close: Hold+L
It is, but the charge costs you more than two seconds. Holding away to keep a Sonic Boom ready means you spend the round walking backwards, which is a strange way to play an aggressive character. The Flash Kick is the payoff: it takes anything out of the air, and lands twice when the timing is right. The Knee Bazooka is the one to remember when you are pinned in a corner, since it hops Guile forward past whatever is holding him there.
Chun-Li
- Lightning Kick: tap J as fast as you can
- Whirlwind Kick: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Fireball, Hyper Fighting only: ,+,,+,+U
- Yousou Kyaku, a straight-legged head stomp: +K
- Kaku Kyaku Raku, a high backflip into a falling kick: +L
- Wall Jump: press the opposite direction as she jumps into the edge of the screen
Her kicks are much better than her punches, and she is the fastest of these four, so most of the game is walking her into range and taking small pieces off. The Lightning Kick is where beginners lose rounds: mashing it from across the screen leaves her standing still while Ryu or Guile throws a projectile straight into her. Save it for point blank. Cornered, she can bounce out by jumping up and back into the wall, then pressing up and forward.
Special moves: E. Honda, Blanka, Zangief and Dhalsim
E. Honda
- Hundred Hand Slap: tap U as fast as you can
- Sumo Head Butt: Holdfor 2 seconds,+U
- Sumo Smash, Hyper Fighting only: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Flying Sumo Press, on a diagonal jump: K
- Hiza Geri, a knee that can hit twice: Hold+K
- Stomach Smash: Hold+O
- Knee Smash: Hold+L
The light version of the Hundred Hand Slap is the one worth learning, because Honda can drift forward and back while the slaps are going, which turns a stationary move into a wall you can walk into someone. The Sumo Head Butt is how he covers ground in a hurry, propelled forward head first by his own leg strength, and at 304 pounds it arrives with real weight behind it.
Blanka
Three specials and two grabs, and most of what he owns comes at you in a straight line. Electricity comes from tapping U rapidly and hurts anything that touches him. The Rolling Attack (Holdfor 2 seconds,+U) turns him into a ball that crosses the screen, and in Hyper Fighting the Vertical Rolling Attack (Holdfor 2 seconds,+J) sends the same ball upward at anyone who thought jumping was safe. Up close, Hold+I is a double bite and Hold+O has him chewing on their head repeatedly. His reach is beaten only by Zangief and Dhalsim, and he jumps better than either.
What makes Zangief worth the trouble?
- Spinning Clothesline: U+I+O
- Turbo Spinning Clothesline, Hyper Fighting only: J+K+L
- Spinning Piledriver, standing on them: a full circle of the direction, then U
- Flying Body Attack, on a diagonal jump: +O
- Double Knee Drop, on a diagonal jump: +J
- Kuuchuu Headbutt, on a straight-up jump: +I
- Back Smash: Hold+O
- Backwards Suplex: Hold+L
Two things, and the first one is the Spinning Clothesline. Zangief is invulnerable above the waist while he spins, so most projectiles pass straight through him, and he can keep walking forward the whole time. That is the answer to every opponent who plans to sit at the far end of the screen and throw things. The second is the Spinning Piledriver, which is hard to input and harder to land, and does absurd damage when it works. He cannot jump to save his life, so the ground is all he has.
Dhalsim
- Yoga Fire: ,+,+U
- Yoga Flame: ,+,,+,+U
- Yoga Teleport forward, Hyper Fighting only: ,++U+I+O
- Yoga Teleport backward, Hyper Fighting only: ,++U+I+O
- Yoga Slide, on the ground: +L
- Yoga Mummy and Yoga Spear, in midair: +O and +L
- Yoga Headbutt, up close and worth two hits: O
Dhalsim weighs 107 pounds and takes damage like it. Everything about him is built to keep the fight at arm's length, and his arms reach halfway across the screen, so a poke that whiffs from that distance costs him nothing while a single trade costs him plenty. The Yoga Flame does frightening damage for a move you can throw out of a half circle, and the Yoga Slide goes underneath projectiles, which is how he crosses ground he has no business crossing. Swap the punches for kicks on either teleport and he lands further away from his opponent instead of right on top of them. If a teleport refuses to fire, run the same motion mirrored.
Special moves: the four Grand Masters
Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison were toned down from the versions the computer used in the first Street Fighter II, and they are still stronger than most of the original eight. Nothing in the game explains their inputs, and two of them are genuinely strange.
Balrog
- Dash Punch: Holdfor 2 seconds,+U
- Dash Uppercut: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Turn Punch: hold U+I+O down, then release
- Headbutt Hold: Hold+O
The Turn Punch is the odd one. Hold the punch buttons down and let go: Balrog shouts a number as the punch lands, and the longer you held, the bigger the number and the harder the hit. The dash moves both come off a back charge, and a stronger attack button sends him further across the screen, so the light version is a poke and the hard version is a commitment. He is a boxer, which means every attack he owns comes from the waist up, kick button or not. There is no low kick coming, so stop waiting for one.
Vega
- Claw Roll: Holdfor 2 seconds,+U
- Claw Dive: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J to hit the wall, then U
- Wall Leap into an air suplex: the same jump, then +U when you are next to them
- Back Flip in Champion mode: ,
- Back Flip in Hyper mode: U+I+O
- Slide: +L
Vega is faster than Chun-Li and his claw gives him reach on top of that, which sounds like a free win until you notice what blocking does to him. Block too much and the claw breaks off, and his punches lose damage for the rest of the fight. The Back Flip changes input between the two modes, and it makes him invulnerable while he is in the air. The Claw Dive sends him to the edge of the screen first: on his own stage he catches the back fence, everywhere else he bounces off the back wall.
Sagat
Sagat throws the same fireball twice. ,+,+U sends a high Tiger Shot, the same motion with J rolls a low one along the ground, and both of them cancel out an incoming projectile. He needs the low version because he stands 7'4" and the high one sails clean over a crouching opponent. His Tiger Uppercut (,++U) knocks down anything it touches, and the Tiger Knee (,+,,++J) hops him over a low attack and lands two hits when the input is clean.
M. Bison
- Psycho Crusher: Holdfor 2 seconds,+U
- Scissor Kick: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Head Stomp: Holdfor 2 seconds,+J
- Psycho Fist, after the stomp bounces him off their head: U
- Slide: +L
Two of his charge moves come off the same back hold, so you decide between them at the last moment: punch flies him in head first wrapped in blue flame for very good damage, kick sails him over low attacks instead. The Head Stomp is the one that wins rounds against people who have not seen it. He bounces off their skull, and pressing punch on the way up sends him back down again with the Psycho Fist, which means a single charge can hit twice while the opponent is still working out where he went.
Champion or Hyper: which mode to start
The first menu gives you three lines: CHAMPION, HYPER and OPTIONS. Champion runs Champion Edition, Hyper runs Hyper Fighting, and the choice decides which moves your character owns for the whole run. More than half the roster is missing something in Champion mode, so start there only if you want the version without a speed setting attached.
What does Hyper mode add?
- Ryu and Ken: the Hurricane Kick works in midair
- E. Honda: the Sumo Smash, a down charge that drops his weight on you from above
- Blanka: the Vertical Rolling Attack, the same ball fired upward
- Chun-Li: a fireball, which she simply does not have in Champion mode
- Zangief: the Turbo Spinning Clothesline off the kick buttons, faster and shorter than the punch version
- Dhalsim: both Yoga Teleports, forward and backward
- Vega: the Back Flip moves from a double tap onto all three punches
Hyper also puts a speed setting on the menu. Press Left or Right on the mode line to move the star rating up to ten, and it opens on three. Every star above that speeds the whole fight up, and the inputs you were getting away with slowly stop coming out. One cosmetic detail catches people out online: Hyper mode gives every character a new primary colour scheme and pushes the familiar one onto the secondary slot, so if your Ken looks wrong, press Enter on the select screen instead of the attack button.
The Options screen is worth thirty seconds
Difficulty is a bar of eight cells running from EASY to HARD, so there is a lot of room in both directions. TIME LIMIT can be switched to NO, which is how you practise a motion without the round clock cutting you off halfway. KEY CONFIG is set separately for player one and player two. MUSIC TEST and S.E. TEST are sitting there too, unhidden, if you want to hear what the sound driver did to those voice samples without taking a beating first.
Blocking, dizzies and throws
Blocking is holding the direction away from your opponent, and two rules decide what it covers. A standing block covers high and mid attacks and does nothing at all against a sweep. A crouching block covers mid and low and leaves you open to jumping attacks and overheads. Most rounds are lost by holding one of them and expecting it to cover everything.
Why does blocking still hurt?
Because special moves push a small amount of chip damage through the block. Turtling against a fireball character still drains your bar, just slowly, and the health bar that runs out first still loses the round. Blocking is the right answer when you are already low or eating a string of hits, but it is a way to survive the next few seconds, not a plan for the round.
How to get out of a dizzy
Take enough hits in a row and your character goes limp, uncontrollable, while the other one lines up whatever they want. You are not stuck there for a fixed time. Wave the direction back and forth as fast as you can while mashing the attack buttons and you come out of it noticeably sooner. The same wiggle breaks you out of a grab, which is the difference between losing a chunk of health to Zangief and losing the round to him.
Throws
Stand next to someone, hold the direction into them and press a medium or hard attack: Hold+I or Hold+O. Throws cannot be blocked, at all, by anyone, which makes them the honest answer to a player crouching in the corner. Guile and Chun-Li can even throw in midair. Different characters get different throws, and the list above tells you which button gives which one.
A special move that whiffs leaves you standing there to be punished, so throw one only when you are fairly sure it will land, unless the opponent is nearly finished and the trade is worth it. And you can remap your buttons in the middle of a run: after you pick your fighter, while the plane is flying to the next location, press and hold Enter to bring the control screen up.
Two cheat codes, one sequence
There is no password system in this game and no level codes, so the only things you can type at it are these two, and they go in before the first fight. Both use the same eight inputs. Only the moment you enter them changes what you get, so the cue is where the Capcom logo is in its fade.
Five Star Mode
Wait for the Capcom logo to fade, then for the building to rise with the logo on it. The moment the screen stops moving, enter:
- OUJIKL
A short Zangief sound confirms it. This one is entered on Champion mode.
Special moves and throws only
Enter the same eight inputs earlier, while the Capcom logo is still on screen, and a Chun-Li sound effect answers instead. Now your character cannot throw a single normal punch or kick for the rest of the session. Specials and throws are all you have. The computer is not affected, so it keeps its full moveset while you work with a fraction of yours.
That sounds like a joke code and it is the best training tool the game has. Strip the normals away and the only way to touch Sagat is a clean Dragon Punch or a throw you had to walk into range for, which is exactly the part of Street Fighter II': Special Champion Edition most people never bother to learn. Try it on three stars first.