What is going on with our games? (WARNING: LONG POST, DETAILED)

[XTuroRu]

I have already spoken on KoF. Thankfully, most of them are as i remember, that is, what i do remember. I have brought it up in previous posts, but i have noticed a big difference in the Street Fighter series than i remember. I know i am likely ruining my potential reputation by talking about this, because it sounds insane, and i probably come off as some kind of troll or nutcase, and i understand that, and you know what? Maybe i am nuts. Maybe i've been half-awake all these years, and just now did i wake all the way up...So anyone, cut the bullshit and let's get on to SF.

Now let's start off with the information that i remember concerning Street Fighter 2. It is as follows:

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is a 1988 sequel to 1987's Street Fighter. At the time, we thought a sequel to Street Fighter was the worst decision they could ever make. Street Fighter was an awful game, borderline unplayable, and its machine setup was a massive indicator of severe incompetence as they tried to make punching pads that would wear out the machine in no time, so they had to replace it with a 6-button setup. However, when Street Fighter II finally did come out, it proved me wrong. Now it took quite a bit of time to get its popularity out there as it started out being seen as nothing more than a pretty game with no substance, much like the first one, and it looked slower, so people thought it was going to suck. The game almost became a hidden gem. Luckily, within a year's time, it started to finally gain a following, and by 1990, the game became a hit and a sensation.

The success of the World Warrior prompted Capcom to look back to the game to fix its game's flaws and release an upgrade. A common request is that they would allow the boss characters Mike Bison, Balrog, Sagat, and Vega to be playable, and as such, the wish was granted. Champion Edition was released in August of 1990. Among these changes, they also made minor graphical upgrades as well as minor alterations to stages, such as Guile's stage no longer snowing, and now being a warm, sunny day with a dusk sky, and Ryu's stage being at night with a big moon and scrolling clouds. They also made changes to portraits, and the character select/map screen was changed to blue water instead of a black background.

In November of 1991, Capcom released a port of Street Fighter II: The World warrior on both the SNES and Sega Genesis. The Genesis version was in the works for a longer time, and it almost came out earlier, but they decided to delay it so they could fine tune it and go ahead and let it compete with the SNES. The SNES version was a launch title for the console, and also made small updates that were featured in Champion Edition, such as the blue map, certain bugs, and also added in graphical/animation features the revisions had, though the portraits were kept intact. The SNES version also had the luxury of including the famous opening; a blonde guy punching a curly haired brunet in front of a building. The Genesis version, while it looked better, had more animation, and its music sounded identical to the arcade, played awkwardly and caused the Genesis to lose a point for the console war.

Upon Turbo's release at the same time as the ports, Capcom got to work on a sequel, but due to time constraints, they scrapped it and released another upgrade in October 1992 that was seen as unnecessary, but was ultimately welcomed. Super Street Fighter II was the first game to run on Capcom's new CPSII hardware, and thus featured upgraded(albeit inferior) music and graphics. It also featured new voices, and four new characters; T.Hawk, Wei-Long, Dee-Jay, and Sarah, all of whom had their own stages. Ryu and Ken were also updated as they were made to differentiate in terms of play style and to have different voices. The background graphics were also entirely redone, and some things, such as Guile's stage snowing, were restored from the original 1988 release.

As time went on, a Street Fighter III was a heavily anticipated/discussed game throughout the 90s, but it didn't happen until nearly the end of the decade. In the meantime, a prequel series titled Street Fighter Alpha(Zero in Japan) was released in 1995, but it was an unfinished product due to time constraints, as such severeal stages were shared, and one stage (Italy) shared music. Right after the game came out, Capcom began to work on a sequel that would perfect what they intended to do from the get-go. Street Fighter Alpha 2 was released in January 1996 and not only was it a more complete version of the previous game, it also had all new stages, older characters made a return; from SF2, Zangief, Dhalsim, Wei-Long, and Sarah, and from SF1, Eagle and Gen, and Rolent from Final Fight. It also featured an all new character, a school girl that is obsessed with Ryu named Sakura Kasuga, she is petite, wears a sailor uniform with converse shoes over 80s socks, and glasses. It also introduced Charlie, the man many suspected became Blanka due to him sharing a name with Guile's supposedly dead friend in the western release (in Japan it was Nash) Birdie also got his own theme rather than sharing it with Rose.

Alpha 3 came along and introduced new characters, all new stages, and all new music, though it is supposedly rushed as just about everyone has an ending with Vega aside from Blanka, whom you unlock by beating the game with Guile, who has an ending where Charlie supposedly dies, but implies that he gets mutated in the blast. Blanka instead has a Guile ending where he doesn't recognize him, but Guile senses something familiar about him. This nearly cemented the fact that Charlie from 2 was indeed Blanka, and that Capcom accepted this as well as Charlie's full name being Charlie Nash.

Now let's get onto how it is now...

Upon going back, i see a site stating its release to be February of 1991, and i attempt to correct the person by showing him the release date from elsewhere, but to my surprise, all places read its release date as February 1991. I at first thought it was stating when the game was in its prime, but nope, apparently it was released then and was an instant hit. SFI was out of the picture entirely by this point and no one remembered it.

So i download it in Kawaks to see if information is being messed with, and oddly enough, it no longer has a copywritten release date. It also has a blonde man punching a black man in front of an audience that is animated with two frames of animation slowly rather than a quicker four animation. So then i get Champion Edition, and there it is...Copyright 1991, 92. No 1988 anywhere.

I also notice, in the World Warrior, the select screen and map is blue water like in champion editon(and its ports). Ryu's portrait features him having a very meek looking blank stare rather than his angry baring teeth face that Ken and later versions of Ryu had. I also notice Russia is now called U.S.S.R. And then i play it further and notice something...M.Bison is now called Balrog, Balrog is now called Vega, Sagat is the same, but Vega is now called M.Bison...I thought that was a hacked rom at first until doing research, finding out that they switched the names because of some lawsuit from Mike Tyson over M.Bison, which makes no sense due to fair use laws. Guile's stage is no longer snowing and is instead an oddly dull and depressing looking sunny day. Also some of the stages feel slightly off, though they are details i had to pay attention to, such as Blanka's stage's sky having a more vibrant blue sky, and Bison's stage featuring a sign reading Wedding Chappel. Sagat's theme is also weird sounding; it feels gritty, abrasive, and is much shorter than i remember. It lacks the solo. Though the stage looks the same

Other changes i notice are the lack of cheering when one wins a fight, the voices are stripped down so the characters no longer grunt, Balrog no longer has his own KO voice, and the weirdest part...Guile no longer says Flash Kick and Vega no longer says Psycho Crusher. Interestingly, the cheering was restored for SNES port.

Champion Edition is the same aside from it featuring a couple changes from the world warrior, but the dusk sky is still intact, but the new names are present. I never played Vega much, but i do seem to remember his ending featuring him being apparently furious about something as his select portrait is in front of a black screen as he shakes furiously over hectic music that doesn't seem to be there now, but i could be mixing things up.

For the ports, now it seems The World Warrior never made it onto the Genesis at all, and the SNES version came out in June of 1992. It also now misses the opening, where as originally, the Genesis one lacked it. Champion Edition port is the same aside from the minor changes from the arcade versions. World Warrior on the genesis had better graphics and music that was closer to the arcade, but they did away with that for Special Champion Edition to make way for better gameplay. The years they came out are also one behind what they once were.

So along comes super...what has changed? Well, other than the fact it was released in 1993 now, two of the new challengers have new names; Wei-Long is now Fei-Long, and Sarah is Cammy. Also Dee-Jay no longer has a dash in his name. Wei-Long's portrait has his hand now half open rather than the rest of his fist closed shut and his index finger way up. Guile's stage is, again, not snowing but is a bright and sunny day, now a very vibrant looking one. Also Sarah, now Cammy, says Cannon Drill and Thrust Kick rather than Spiral Arrow and Cannon Spike, and Dee-Jay now says Max Out instead of Slash. The ports have also altered the music in the SNES version. They were once in line with the Genesis version exactly, but now only the Genesis version remains the same. It also sounds slightly different in terms of sound design; it used to sound even more like a variation of Mega Man X.

For Alpha, now apparently Birdie has had his own theme since Alpha 1, wheras before he shared a theme with Rose, although it is mostly as i remember except Charlie seems to have been in this game as well. Alpha 2 is where the changes mostly are. The most noteable one is that Sakura no longer has her glasses, and is now named Sakura Kasugano as the added "no" almost feels like it's taunting me. Dhalsim's stage is also in some weird palace instead of a skinny wooden bridge over the water that leads to landscape on both ends. I also remember Alpha 2 having an N64 port which was solid aside from its weird music, which sounded like a weaker version of the arcade's music, but now it has an awful SNES port for whatever reason.

Alpha 3 now has Blanka available from the beginning, and Guile is only in some versions. Guile's ending is the same, but Blanka now has a Vega ending and his story now seems to be a bunch of nothing and featuring Sakura and Dan.

So yeah. Does anyone out there remember it like i do? I can't seem to find anyone that does. I have researched stuff like this on the mandela effect, but this has not been reported anywhere else. I have asked, but no one has really responded with anything, at least not anything meaningful. I am seriously freaking out. As i have stated previously, i accept i may very well be crazy, but i swear up and down i remember it the way i speak of.

UPDATE: Made some edits of how i remember the games looking.


Original select screen. The background is pure black, the land is green, Ryu is barring teeth, and U.S.S.R. is Russia. Note, it is only highlighted to make it stand out. Also slightly modified the map cause i remember the world map, both here and in life, being different.

Edited the SNES stage cause it was easier. I got as close as i could recall.

Minor difference. Took me a minute to see, but something felt off. This is how it looked.

Got as close as i could. Not perfect, but it gets the idea across.

Better edit of his portrait. Used Genesis version because it was easier. This is the pose he had. Familiar?
Yes, it looked better than this, but i have bigger things to do than sit there and meticulously edit a portrait.

Also Sakura looked like this.
https://s21.postimg.org/c82toeflz/sakurawas.png

[XTuroRu]

Whoah...Okay, sorry to potentially spam with posts here, but i did some looking up with names, and damn, more names are different...

I went to look up Ken Mastiff, and at first i was getting suggestions for Ken Masters from Twisted Metal 2, which i thought was odd. However, when the photos showed up, i got photos of a mastiff dog, and when i searched up Ken Masters...i got photos of Ken Mastiff...Well apparently he has always been Ken Masters now. So i looked up TM2 Spectre's ending, and i got Ken Masters still being said...Is that residue from the old reality, or, in this reality, did they honestly copy his name? I don't get it. I know his last name was Mastiff, a friend even had a mastiff that she named Ken, and we would call it Ken Mastiff.

So then i look up the other character's full names and get something crazy...Some of the characters no longer have first or last names...Now apparently those names only existed in the movie. Guile is no longer Colonel William Guile. Yeah, he was never William F Guile outside of the movie, but he had a name, which was originally only said in the american version until super. Now he is just Captain Guile. But i KNOW, in the ending, they called him William. Zangief was apparently never Victor Zangief in either version, now it's Sagat's movie name, Ryu was never Hoshi, Chun-Li was never Chun-Li Zang, and these following names appear to have been deleted from this timeline altogether; T.Hawk is Tom Hawk, and Dee Jay's real name being Deegan Jaylor.

Also, considering i imagine no one believe a word of this, maybe this might convince you. I don't know if this is residue, or in this timeline, if someone fucked up, but check this out...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyper_Street_Fighter_II
As you can see, it is celebrating its 15th anniversary of the game...And it came out in 2003...15 years after the original release of Street Fighter II in my reality. It also claims 15 years of SF...but Street Fighter originated in 1987, 1987 + 15 = 2002. And it's not even like it came out at the beginning of 2003, it came out in December, right around the exact time in 2003 as SFII did 1988, at least its (HSFII) Japanese release. Now a friend of mine had this game back in the day, and i almost wondered if it even existed anymore, and it did, and it came out at the same time alongside celebrating the same year of SFII. Finally, something is getting it correct for once, even if it does claim 15 years of SF, still, the idea this is still here is refreshing. Also check here for the physical boxes to make sure it is indeed getting the release year correct.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/ps2/918998-hyper-street-fighter-ii-the-anniversary-edition/images
The back of the box in the first Japanese one says 2003. There you go.

[Custle]

Intresting read. Your memories makes it sound you were playing some prototype version back in the day

I've heard of this Mandela Effect. I've noticed something similar in real life, like dad insisted he bought me a green jacket, but it wasn't true. But sometimes I feel true memories are mixed with dreams.

[XTuroRu]

Hey, thanks for the response.

It was not a prototype at all. The arcade machine all over of the original game looked just like what i described. I can see why you might think it was a prototype if you're used to this current reality version, but i can assure you, the original game in the arcades had a lot of weird unfinished stuff that got fixed in the Genesis and SNES versions (though in this current reality, it only came out on the SNES) However, despite it seeming more finished now, it also lacks things, such as Flash Kick and Psycho Crusher actually being spoken. It's not me confusing it with later games because i remember that SF2 voice saying "Flaaaash-Kick!" and "Psycho Crusherrrrr!" In super, their voices were less gruff and spoken faster. Now they're as good as having their mouths taped up when doing those attacks.

I also know quite well of the Genesis world warrior port, which no longer exists, but a friend had it. It looked slightly better than Special Champion Edition, but it lacked in some of the moves, being some of the kicks felt like sprites had parts pasted on to some sprites, but their standing animation sprites were more fluid and akin to the arcade version. The music also felt slightly closer to the arcade having guile's theme in the correct key as well as having a huge drum beat, but was possibly chunkier than the arcade, plus it actually had low-energy renditions, something no other 16-bit port had. It also used a very sonic-like bass. The sound design also kind of feels like wily wars on that same console mixed with SCE, but with amazing chunky drums. It also had clap samples in the intro theme that the arcade version never had. It sounded weird but kinda cool at the same time. I also recall it having more drum fills and more drum beats. It also lacked the iconic intro, sadly, and its select screen was blue, yet it lacked the water effects around the map. It was an awkward game, clearly a failed experiment, but i kinda wished it still existed so i could show you.

[uncleaner]

I'm going with dreams mixing into reality too, it happened to me a lot when I was younger and having multiple vivid yet false memories is crazy to deal with, especially when they fade and your brains has to start filling in the gaps. One of mine was even about a 1991 arcade game that I remembered in complete detail and went nuts trying to find because it was so cool (I eventually played through most of MAME ffs) before realizing it most likely didn't exist. It's crazy because even when you know and tell yourself things don't exist, you never really believe it, you know?

Just wondering, how many times did you actually play these weird game versions?

[uncleaner]

Anyway the alternative is that capcom and the nwo are putting chloride in the water supply to make everyone forget the real Street Fighter 2. I'd go with the memory thing.

[XTuroRu]

How many times do i remember playing them? Well, SF was a massive part of my teen years, as it was for a lot of teenagers in the early to mid 90s. Me, my brother, my sister, my family, my friends, their friends, their family, etc. We were either fans of it, or at least spent a reasonable amount of time with it. I used to go to the arcades in the late 80s and early 90s to play the world warrior. I remember when Champion Edition came out in 1990, that they used a blue screen on the character select screen and cleverly put a water effect around the land. The ports for the world warrior came out a year and a half later, and they included the CE style blue map screen with water effects, although in the genesis version, it was just blue. I know what i saw. The world warrior apparently never came out on the genesis, but i know i played it. A friend had it, even brought it over while staying the weekend. I can hear the music clearly in my head. The extra drumrolls in themes, the claps in the main theme, the clapping in honda's stage (i'm serious), the crazy blanka rendition, the sonic-y pick bass, and the fact that i played wily wars some years later and wondered if the sound design was by the same person, because it sounded like a cross between it and SCE. I even remember my sister was the only one that could master this version. However, oddly enough, she has no memory of this game, but does have memory of playing SF2 with a black select screen. Was also the only console port to include low-energy renditions, and the only non super port to lack the iconic intro screen.

I will say that i even played the arcade games on kawaks early on this decade, and i know it was still as i remember. Only just now did i notice the games were off. My sister, back in 2013, even joked to me how only she could figure out that weirdo world warrior on the genesis game, and we even downloaded it for a rom and played through it again. We commented on how it was a technical marvel, but lacked a lot in the gameplay department. Also felt far more unfinished than the arcade and even the SNES version.

Also, when you mentioned dreams, there is one thing that might have been a dream. but i remember, in champion edition, if you win with bison, there is his portrait up against a black screen that has been edited to animate like he is shaking with fury with hectic music playing along with it that kind of sounds like his theme mixed with the continue theme. That could have been a dream, but i remember me and my brother and sister laughing our asses off at this because it looked hilarious. I don't think they would include this, however, as i've no memory of text here.

[uncleaner]

Okay to be more exact, how many times do you specifically remember seeing things like the black screen, and changed sound effects?  That's the sort of thing I'm talking about. I'm guessing you had a dream about playing a strange version of sf2 a few times and those memories were completely mixed in with real over time. Your sister having different memories from you also points to this.

Also trying to remember dreams, or what might be dreams doesn't mean much since those are things your brain already knows are false. Dream memories are almost completely indistinguishable from reality, which is why thew screw with you so hard.

[XTuroRu]

Well, i know i have seen the black screen as many times as i have played World Warrior in the arcade. I saw it back in the late 80s and early 90s, and then i switched to the revisions such as champion edition and super, and the console versions do not have that. I saw it again when i started getting into emulation. I always knew it was there, and when i saw it again, it brought back a lot of memories of first playing this in 1989 and 1990. I played it on emulation through the 2000s and early 10s, and only recently did i see the blue screen was around in world warrior. I remember this because i remember in this game, everything that was not in game was black, such as the title screen, the select screen, vs as well as stage end theme. Then Champion Edition comes in and makes it blue, but also adds in water effects in the map, which was a nice touch.

As for the sound effects, as far back as i can remember SF2, i remember hearing the audience cheer in the arcade versions, all of them, and would be left out of all ports of SF2, but be included in both ports of super. The extra voices, such as Guile's Flash Kick and Vega/Bison's Psycho Crusher, that was in all versions, including all ports, even super had it. Guile's flash kick was like his sonic boom, and psycho crusher sounded like his laugh voice, it was higher pitch than SF2, but was still lower pitched than gulie's voice. The hit voices for SF2 were also included into the ports, and we at first were shocked to hear chun-li's added into the SNES version because i genuinely thought she cursed, but i later realized it was more like "ack!". Balrog/Vega also had a KO voice of his own, which i thought was weird. For super, they did not include these hit voices. Funny thing is, my sister even knew about that, but now she thinks i am crazy.

I do remember dreams of SF2, and they were never that close to SF2, they were more like SF on crack, like where you could play as Chun-Li and do a super fast kick move that would deflect any projectile, and one could not prevent it, and then the opponents would just throw in the towel, and i think that is where the furious vega (M.Bison) dream comes from, so i think that actually was a dream, although i also oddly feel like i actually saw it after winning with him, and we were laughing, so i don't know. I also remember a dream where i played as E.Honda, but he had to quit because he shit himself during a fight, and i got something similar to the continue screen with bizarre funky music playing, and he had a body and someone behind him was wiping his ass, and then the fight resumed and he had a Gi on, ala Ryu/Ken. None of them were games that were the same with minor albeit noticeable differences.

[XTuroRu]

Well, i just found other differences in our current reality. Who here remembers a "Here Come The New Challengers" screen in the world warrior after you defeat all 8 opponents and the bosses begin to appear? Do you remember the jingle? It had the same beat, or at least very similar beat, to the rank jingle. It sounded like a cross between the rank jingle and the game over jingle...However, i went into the sound test and it turns out the song itself does exist here, but it just went unused. So i also looked further into the sound test and guess what? I found the audience cheer, i found the hit grunts of both male and chun-li, and just as i remember, it sounds like she is cursing. Just...mind blown. I thought i'd never hear those again, i felt at home hearing those. It's just, they don't appear in the game itself. I spent time sitting there constantly hitting play on those sounds of them getting hit, it was such a relief hearing those again. Sadly, there was no flash kick and no psycho crusher.

Upon other findings, it turns out that Sagat apparently is saying Tiger instead of Hyper. I realized that after typing in hyper uppercut and instead getting tiger uppercut, and then i took a closer listen and it is tiger. Super Street Fighter's subtitle was just New Challengers, not THE New Challengers. Somehow did not notice that until recently. Turbo was not changed in localization, it WAS turbo in the arcades. Now it's just hyper fighting and has a boring blue champion edition-esque screen.

So those are interesting, but not the biggest one of them all. The biggest one is there is actually another difference aside from Alpha 3 having Blanka playable from the start and Guile in the ports. The Ending theme has changed...This really blew my mind, and even confused me. This current ending theme is terrible. It's kind of similar in a way melodically, but it is MOST CERTAINLY NOT THE SAME SONG AT ALL. I remember a house song. It had a piano. It sounded kind of like Funky's Fugue from DKC. Seriously...What happened? Does anyone remember this theme? The one i grew up with was cool and actually felt like a reward to win even if it didn't fit just about any of the endings, though not that this one does either, but this current one is too slow and it feels like someone phoned in a song that is meant to sound like an epic ending theme.

[steamwolf]

This is a troll Halloween post. Good job in freaking out maybe two people. I don't see any point in this charade continuing. The Angry Video Game Nerd just did a Mandela effect Halloween episode. This is clearly someone trying to do an FGC one for spooky Halloween. Dunno if admins are in on it or not since it was posted on Facebook. If so, poor timing for this kind of joke.

[XTuroRu]

As much as i would love this to be a halloween joke, i am afraid i cannot say it is truthfully. Past Halloween i can assure you this will still be going on. Believe me, i would feel far more at ease to find out i was crazy, and that the games are as they always have been, but i know what i dealt with and what i saw, and what i heard. If this were a halloween post, me and the admins would have gotten together and started making posts on a count of days leading up to halloween, not several weeks prior. We would also be more consistent with our posting. Not just random stuff that we can find on our free time and report on.

My brother remembers what i remember as well, but my sister remembers everything as you do, so something is definitely weird here. My brother even gave me a name for the ending theme that doesn't exist here in its original form, and it is called Metal Diamonds. However, if you look up Street Fighter Alpha 3 Metal Diamonds on YouTube, you will see i am not alone in remembering this theme, as there actually exists a remix of this theme, so someone out there definitely remembers this ending theme. I am not alone.

[steamwolf]

Yeah I don't believe you. Nice try. But just in case you really do believe this? Go read up on how memory works...your memory is not a perfect recording. This is why in the legal system, witness testimony is not considered credible.

Fun joke, but Mandela effect has been done to death. Try something else.

[XTuroRu]

Fair enough. This is as much as i expected. I will still continue to report what i find, and what i know for a fact, and what my brother remembers quite clearly. I knew people, especially those of you native to this reality, wouldn't believe me. I did this with the expectation of having a terrible reputation around here. The thing is, i am reporting what i see no matter how many of you people believe a word of it. You don't have to read it. I see no reason to report something if i feel my memory was off, nor fake stuff. That kind of stuff is meaningless to me. You have every right to ignore this post, this is not for those of you who will not buy this, and for you personally, it is true, this never happened, but for me it has. And it has for my brother as well, but apparently not for my sister. The thing is, i remember this stuff. I remember SF2 being out earlier, i remember SFA3 having a different ending theme, i remember Sulia being a character in three games, i remember Momoko being in the games early on, and i remember other stuff like Cal Dodd voicing Kim Kaphwan in the animes, or Guile having flag tattoos(was just tatoos in my past) in the SFII anime as well as Sarah having a british accent, and e.honda complaining when his hut is destroyed. So i just want to present my fairwell to you for this post.