Miscellany Vol. II: Beta Karin, Necro’s Story and Tournament Mode
A page of discoveries from ROM data, cut content and rare merchandise.
Karin was nearly in 1997
Rage Quitter 87 made a remarkable find: Karin Kanzuki, officially introduced in Street Fighter Alpha 3, had been planned for Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter in 1997, a year earlier. Taking the game’s ROM apart revealed sprites that belong to no playable character. They show a girl dressed exactly like Sakura, and once the right palette is applied it becomes clear that this is an early Karin. Borrowing the missing parts from Sakura allowed a complete, animated version to be assembled. This form matches how Nakahiro draws her in the Sakura Ganbaru! manga.
The likeliest explanation is that Capcom dropped Karin from the Marvel game because of time pressure, and that her design was revised later. The Alpha Karin is set apart from the beta version, and from her rival Sakura, by a very different costume.
Necro and Effie
Illia turned into Necro after the Illuminati, led by Gill, experimented on him in the G-Project. Like Dhalsim and Blanka, he can stretch his limbs and generate electricity. That power cost him his looks and his freedom: he was held prisoner and, in the New Generation ending, tricked, tied up and left to die when Gill destroyed the island facility. His girlfriend Effie, another mutated victim, saves him at the last moment.
In Third Strike the pair are fugitives from the Illuminati, and especially from Twelve, the G-Project’s final product, who is sent to hunt them. In Necro’s ending he saves Effie’s life using his stretching arms. Effie is also one of the “judgement gals” in 2nd Impact and Third Strike, though despite her loyalty in the story she does not automatically vote for him in the game.
Cameos in Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter
Several non-playable Street Fighter characters show up in the backgrounds of this 1997 game.
- Mall stage: Jessica and Cody are among the crowd on the ground floor, and Birdie can be spotted on the first floor by his unusual hair.
- Death Valley stage: Blanka sits on a rock. The stage is shared with X-Men Vs. Street Fighter, where Beast takes that position.
- Park stage: Charlie sits reading on the left and Rose stands on the right, with Gambit and Rogue in between.
Cut characters in Final Fight: Streetwise
Reference sketches for Final Fight: Streetwise (2006), printed in books such as SF20: The Art of Street Fighter, have led to talk that Guile, Chun-Li, Maki, Sodom and Rolento were all planned. Later concept art by Trent Kaniuga exists for Sodom and Poison/Roxy too, but they are missing from the final game, reportedly cut for time. The returning characters who did make it in are Cody, Guy, Haggar and Cammy.
Tournament Battle
Besides the usual one-player and two-player modes, the arcade Super Street Fighter II had an eight-player single-elimination tournament called Tournament Battle. It works only when four Super cabinets are linked and all set to tournament mode, with three rounds of four simultaneous matches: the opening eliminations, semi-finals and final. This explains why Super has so many colours per character, because everyone could pick the same fighter and needed to be told apart.
Home ports copied the idea, except that matches do not run at the same time. In the arcade version the intro differs slightly, with lightning bolt screens accompanying the flashes. There is also a versus fanfare and a champion’s theme, labelled 3F and C1 in the sound test. The champion theme later appeared in Hyper as the music for the credits.
Battle Vinyl
To mark Street Fighter IV and the 2008 HD Remix of Super Turbo, a limited red vinyl soundtrack called Battle Vinyl was pressed, with catalogue number RYU001. Side A has vocals and effects and side B has the music. The back cover is a collage of HD Remix sprites of Zangief, Cammy, Ryu and Blanka drawn by Udon’s team. Copies are hard to find.
Chun-Li Ni Makase China!
This 2008 pachislo machine was the first Capcom game to give Chun-Li the starring role. Capcom drew new cel-shaded artwork instead of reusing old assets, and players pull handles to control Chun-Li in battles with other Street Fighter characters. Despite polished visuals, a Capcom press release in November 2008 said the machine had “severely underperformed”.
