Street Fighter EX2

• 1. Introduction

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  The 1st of July 1998 issue of Game Machine declared Street Fighter EX2 the most-successful arcade game of the month in Japan. Capcom and Arika co-produced the game, releasing it as an arcade title for the Sony ZN-2 hardware. Street Fighter EX2 was the direct sequel to Street Fighter EX and the second spin-off in the Street Fighter franchise. What new systems shaped how players fought in EX2? Which fighters made the roster, and which did not? And what changed when Capcom and Arika returned to expand the game?

• 2. A New Kind of Cancel

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  Street Fighter EX2 carried forward two features from Street Fighter EX Plus. "Guard Breaks" are moves an opponent cannot block. "Super Canceling" lets a player cancel one Super Combo directly into another. Both returned unchanged.

  The headline addition was "Excel Combos," with "excel" short for "extra cancel." The system drew a comparison to "Custom Combos" from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Like that mechanic, Excel Combos opened a window for stringing basic and special moves together in sequence.

  During an Excel Combo, a player starts with a basic move. They can follow it with a different basic move or with a special move. A special move can then feed into a different special move. One rule held throughout: no move could connect directly into the same move that preceded it.

  The full character roster for EX2 gave each fighter access to these systems, though not everyone from earlier entries in the series returned to use them.

• 3. Fighters In and Out

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  Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief, and Guile, all five of whom appeared in the original Street Fighter EX, returned in EX2. Hokuto, Doctrine Dark, Skullomania, and Cracker Jack came back as well. Dhalsim, who had appeared in Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, also rejoined the lineup.

  Four fighters joined the EX series for the first time in EX2. Blanka and Vega arrived from Street Fighter II. Sharon joined the lineup as a new character: a redheaded female special agent. Hayate, a Japanese swordsman, also appeared for the first time.

  Allen Snider, Blair Dame, Darun Mister, Pullum Purna, and M. Bison were all absent from the original version of EX2. Allen and Blair went on to feature in Fighting Layer, a separate 1998 arcade game also developed by Arika. Sakura Kasugano was omitted from EX2 as well.

  Four hidden characters rounded out the roster. Kairi, from the original Street Fighter EX, returned as a hidden fighter. Shadow Geist, a costumed vigilante described as similar to Skullomania, joined as a new addition. Nanase, a young girl who wields a staff, made her first appearance in EX2. She was identified as the sister of both Hokuto and Kairi. Garuda, from the original EX, returned as the boss character. All four could be unlocked by meeting certain requirements.

  Sakura Kasugano's absence extended beyond EX2 itself. She would not appear in EX2 Plus either, returning to the series only in Street Fighter EX3, released in 2000.

• 4. EX2 Plus

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  Street Fighter EX2 Plus arrived in arcades on the 11th of June 1999. It retained the full character list from the original EX2 with one exception: Hayate was removed from the arcade version. Returning to the roster were Darun Mister, Pullum Purna, and M. Bison. Sagat made his debut in the EX series. Vulcano Rosso, an Italian martial artist, appeared as a new character. So did Area, a young girl fitted with a large mechanical right arm. Nanase, previously one of the game's hidden characters, moved to the standard selectable roster.

  EX2 Plus also introduced "Meteor Combos," a more powerful tier of special moves. Performing one required filling all three stocks of the Super Combo gauge. Earlier EX games had given some characters a Lv.3-only Super Combo option. EX2 Plus made the Meteor Combo available to every character in the game. The Excel Combo system was revised as well. The earlier restriction on connecting the same move twice in a row was lifted.

  A non-selectable version of M. Bison named "Bison II" appeared as a secret final opponent in single-player mode.

  The home console version arrived in December 1999 on PlayStation. It included arcade, versus, and practice modes, along with a new "Director mode" and a satellite-smashing bonus game. Hayate, removed from the arcade version, reappeared there as a secret character.

  Takayuki Aihara, Shinji Hosoe, and Ayako Saso, three former Namco composers, wrote the game's score.

• 5. Score and Reception

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  Scitron released a soundtrack CD on the 18th of June 1998. A second album followed on the 23rd of July 1998, published by Suleputer. This 13-track arranged album featured contributions from the original compositional team alongside Yasunori Mitsuda and Toshimichi Isoe.

  GameSpot praised the new characters and the graphics but complained about static ending sequences and a perceived lack of originality. PSX Extreme, reviewing the PlayStation version of EX2 Plus, placed it beside SNK's Fatal Fury: Wild Ambition. The reviewer called the SNK title "cheap and blurry" and described EX2 Plus as "one of the most polished looking fighting games to date." The same review summarized the game as "one of the most enhanced and entertaining Street Fighters ever."