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Celebrate the 30th anniversary of 'Street Fighter 2' with a new SNES Cartridge

With the upcoming launch of the SNES Classic Edition, many gamers are feeling nostalgic for their early days of gaming. Capcom must be feeling the love too since this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Street Fighter franchise. In celebration, the company is re-releasing the Super Nintendo version of Street Fighter 2 in November.

To release the special edition cartridge, Capcom is teaming up with iam8bit, a creative production company that specializes in video game memorabilia. Unlike the traditional gray color of the SNES, these freshly manufactured Street Fighter 2 cartridges will feature one of two colors. Of the 5,500 available, most will be colored Ryu Headband Red. For the remaining cartridges, 1,000 thousand lucky buyers will walk away with translucent, Glow-in-the-Dark Blanka Green. Which cartridge buyers will receive is anyone’s guess. During production, the cartridges are randomly inserted into sealed, unmarked boxes. There is no guarantee which version people will receive.

Aside from the game itself, the packaging also deserves some attention. Instead of a plain box design, this “Legacy Cartridge Collection” amplifies the core design with a foil sheen, embossed texture, spot varnish, and an innovative tri-fold cover. Opening up the folds reveals bonus vintage art. Inside the box, the original instruction booklet has been completely restored along with a new archival cover print and secret pack-ins. These extras won’t be revealed until buyers rip off the shrink-wrap seal.

Within each cartridge is original game code that makes the game fully playable on any NTSC console. One thing to keep in mind is that the SNES is considered a vintage collectible at this point and can be prone to unexpected issues. While iam8bit encourages buyers to have fun with Street Fighter 2, they also warn that using a reproduction game cartridge could cause the console to overheat or catch fire. This may be extremely rare, but it is probably not the best idea to leave the console on and unattended overnight.

This is not the first time iam8bit has produced a special edition SNES cartridge. To celebrate the indie game Hyper Light Drifter, they created a custom blue cartridge. Unlike Street Fighter 2, this one is just for looks.

The 30th-anniversary edition of Street Fighter 2 is available for pre-order through iam8bit for $100. Shipping begins late November. For those hoping for a glow-in-the-dark cartridge, may the odds be ever in your favor.

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A free Street Fighter 6 demo is available now on PS5 and PS4
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There is a little over a month to go until the launch of Capcom's highly anticipated fighting game Street Fighter 6, and we just received new information from a dedicated Street Fighter 6 Showcase hosted by Lil Wayne. The biggest announcement came at the end of the show, when Capcom revealed that the game is getting a demo today on PlayStation 4 and PS5.
Street Fighter 6 Showcase | 4.20.2023 | US English
During the presentation, producer Shuhei Matsumoto explained that this demo will allow players to create a character they can carry over to the full release. as well as experience the start of the World Tour and play some matches in Fighting Grounds. While the demo is a PlayStation exclusive right now, as it only came out on PS4 and PS5 today, it will arrive on PC and Xbox Series X on April 26.
While the demo was certainly the most notable thing to come from this Street Fighter 6 Showcase, several other things were revealed. At the start of the showcase, we got a new trailer highlighting the World Tour and Battle Hub modes. For Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode, we saw a new locale called Nayshall; for Battle Hub, we learned that players can fight in the center of the hub with their created characters. 

Then, game director Takayuki Nakayama talked more about World Tour mode, revealing that players start in Metro City, where they are coached by Luke. Players gain experience, level up, and learn skills to get more powerful. While there are a lot of fights to be had throughout World Tour's locations, players will also have to build friendships with Masters like Chun-Li to gain access to their specific moves. Players can fully customize their own characters moveset, but will also meet other characters not necessarily part of the main roster that were built from those same skills.
After a brief overview reminded us of what Battle Hub has to offer, Fighting Ground then took center stage. During this segment, Capcom revealed that fighters' outfits will get more beat up and worn down over time, sounds indicating certain move types and distance can be turned on to make the game more accessible, and there will be an offline-only AI-assisted gameplay style called Dynamic. We then saw Arcade Mode in action, where players can earn illustrations for each fighter and compete with others for the highest online ranking score.
Street Fighter 6 also features detailed fundamentals and player-specific tutorials, Team Battles, Extreme Battles with unique stage gimmicks, Ranked Matches, Casual Matches, and the ability to make custom rooms when playing online. Finally, Capcom teased what players can expect from Street Fighter 6 after its launch. Year 1 of support will include four new characters: Rashid (summer 2023), A.K.I. (autumn 2023), Ed (winter 2024), and Akuma (spring 2023). 
If you weren't already convinced to pick up this game, then this presentation probably had something that could win you over. Street Fighter 6 launches for PC, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X on June 2. 

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Street Fighter 6's recent beta left an amazing impression on me and, according social media chatter, lots of other fans too. The upcoming fighting game has already delivered on many fronts, even during its beta, with stylistic battles and a thoughtful social integration.

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Fighting games live or die on their online communities. Of course, basic functions like rollback netcode and cross-play are essential to a healthy fighting game, but Street Fighter 6 goes further by creating an online hub that celebrates the series and gives players somewhere to hang out between matches. Call it a metaverse if you must, but in reality, the Battle Hub is one-third of the Street Fighter 6 package and will likely be home to the communities and tournaments that ensure people will play the game for years to come.
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Multiplayer hubs as a replacement for simple menus aren't a new concept for fighting games (Bandai Namco games like Dragon Ball FighterZ have done this for a while). Still, for Capcom’s first attempt at one, the Battle Hub is full of personality and things to do. Its stark blue colors, a plethora of screens, and many gameplay cabinets make it feel like the high-tech arcade Capcom wants it to be.
As soon as I entered, I could walk around, emote, and perform classic Street Fighter moves the Hadoken with button presses. I was also near two kiosks. At one, I could register and view tournaments and Street Fighter 6 events, although none were available for me during this Closed Beta. The other one was the Hub Goods Shop, where I could buy clothes and other gear to customize my character further with the currency I accrued while playing.
The other kiosks on the main level weren’t available in this Closed Beta outside a screen that showed which player in our server was performing the best. I then headed toward the arcade cabinets, most of which form a circle around the center of the Battle Hub. One person has to sit on each side to initiate a Street Fighter 6 match. While it’s a bit annoying to sit and wait for someone to play with you, I could always find an opponent if I looked around at every cabinet. Hopefully, the final game will have an option to get into fights slightly faster for those who want to simply jump into it.

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