I have released my first version of Street Fighter II Champion Edition for the Neo Geo CD port. It's a beta and it has some graphical glitches and small bugs, but it's playable and enjoyable from start to finish. The game runs from a Neo Geo CD SD Loader, where it works really well, and you can also burn it to a CD-R. I should warn you, though, that I've tested it very little on CD-R; most of the testing was done with the SD Loader. Even so, given the interest the port has generated, I've decided to release it now.
I've tried to stay as faithful as possible to the game's scrolling, but I couldn't make it identical without running out of CPU; maybe someone smarter and more knowledgeable can do better. I've removed the intro animation because I couldn't get it to run smoothly enough, and in the end it isn't essential. The attract mode demo fights are also gone, since they would add unnecessary CD loading.
There's no need to report bugs: I already have an extensive list. Just enjoy it.
What else has been cut?
On some stages I had to remove some background animations or even objects, because for now I haven't found a way to stop them showing inconsistencies or appearing in the wrong background layer. These include Honda's red lantern, the top of a temple on Ryu's stage, the elephants' trunk movement on Dhalsim's stage, and the cyclists in Chun-Li's street. I went back and forth a lot on that last one, since they weren't causing that many problems. I also considered removing the rocking of Ken's boat, but I've kept it for now.
After two or three fights, Ryu's head usually starts flickering when you don't move him. Chun-Li occasionally loses a body sprite, though it comes back fine. Sometimes part of Ken's shoulder disappears, and strange things happen to Vega when he loses his claw. Honda's stage sometimes shows glitches on the ceiling, and on Guile's stage there's a horizontal band that takes longer to appear. In the bonus stages lots of things sometimes flicker, a sprite may appear incorrectly, and the original scoreboard shows up when they end. The fade-outs at the end of fights can show sprites disappearing too early. The game also has occasional slowdowns, which can be noticeable on stages like Honda's or Ken's. The game's endings, with their animations and texts, haven't been thoroughly checked yet.
If you burn this version to a CD-R, you'll notice the music sometimes starts late. Also, I've tested the game far less on CD-R, so I apologise in advance if it isn't stable enough. I recommend using a good quality CD-R.
How did you deal with the Neo Geo's 4 buttons instead of the arcade's 6?
The best solution I came up with is a Controls section in the options menu that appears before the game starts, where every button, including Select and Start, can be assigned any punch or kick. If you assign an attack to Select or Start, their coin and start functions are disabled during fights. The exception is single-player games: the free player can still press Start to challenge the one playing. There's also an "Easy" option for special moves that makes the game's timing less strict when accepting some attacks.
What is the "Floor" option in the initial menu?
Smooth moves the floor two lines at a time up to a certain point, where it switches to one line at a time so it doesn't look awful. Fast always moves it two lines at a time. The latter saves more CPU, so feel free to try it. With both options, the sky perspective on Guile's stage is disabled.
Will there be an AES or MVS version?
I don't think so, and I won't be the one to try. I believe something like that would need a custom cartridge with extra memory.
Why did I make this port?
Purely for fun, and to see how far you can go using AI for this kind of work. There's no commercial purpose whatsoever. I admit I liked the idea of being the first person to attempt it with such a popular game. I'm not a software engineer or an expert game developer, and I don't claim to be one; I'm just someone with too much free time who enjoys playing around with AI tools.
To those who don't like AI: I understand your reasons and I respect them. For me, it has been a way to make something real that I could never have done on my own, and that would never have been made officially. I only ask that you also respect those of us who enjoy this tool.
Download it at itch for free: https://teo-tormo.itch.io/sf2cengcd
