Street Fighter EX2 Plus/FAQ

Should I play Street Fighter EX2 Plus?

Yes! EX2 Plus is a remarkably complex game with lots to like.

With the exception of E. Honda, EX2+ features every World Warrior and three of the four Shadaloo Bosses. Returning characters have expanded movesets, new supers, and tremendous combo variety. Even if you aren't a Street Fighter player, you can still find your function in one of the game's fourteen original characters.

"Akira Who?"

Founded in 1995 by former Capcom employees, Arika is a Japanese game developer and publisher. Lots of talent from Capcom's golden age ended up working under Arika. The company was founded by the creator of Street Fighter II, Akira Nishitani.

EX2's development staff features Capcom alum from X-Men: Children of the Atom, Marvel Super Heroes, and Street Fighter Alpha 2. Multiple Namco composers worked on the series' music.

Who are all these weirdos?

The Street Fighter EX series has always featured strange original characters. Arika characters are often more outlandish than their Capcom counterparts. EX2+ has a bit of an Arika bias in its Tier List, but being weird isn't entirely a measure of strength.

Among the newcomers, we have:

Doctrine Dark, a former soldier gone insane from an encounter with Mad Gear's Rolento. D. Dark tosses bombs, chokes his foes with wire, and steals games with devastating setplay.

Area, a rollerblading inventor with appropriate walkspeed, a robotic arm, and deadly mixups.

Sharon, a Secret Agent with a Glock.

EX2+ rivals anime games in character variety. It's rare for anybody on the roster not to have some crazy tech attached to them (Dhalsim's Off Axis Jank, Rosso's Infinites), and new stuff is being discovered all the time. Lab Monsters eat good in this game.

How do I approach Street Fighter EX2 Plus?

EX2+ is essentially a spicier version of Street Fighter Alpha 2. Fundamental SF skills still apply, with an Arika flair thrown in to keep things fresh. Despite ripping loads of ideas from the Alpha games (Ken's Commando Roll, for example), some abilities fail to make an appearance.

Notable omissions include:

Air Blocking - Anti Airs are brutal. A typical Ryu sequence can take 35% life from one bad jump.

Ground Teching and Delayed Wakeups - Oki is insane. EX2's roster doesn't quite approach SFIV levels of Vortex, but a good knockdown still invites juicy setups.

Guard Cancels - Normals have tremendous range and most grant frame advantage. We get out of pressure the hard way: Mashing.

To compensate, EX2 has its own unique mechanics:

EXCEL - A Custom Combo standin with new rules; Tremendously freeing. Most players believe EX2 would be a worse game without it.

Guard Breaks - Spend a bar to instantly stun an opponent. EX2 has no "random" stun. Cancel Break from blocked Super Moves!

Super Cancels - EX2+ gives out a lot of meter, and you're going to be using it. On hit or block, you can cancel Super Combos into each other. A three bar jump in can nearly kill.

Playing good EX2 Plus is playing good Street Fighter:

"Don't jump. Play footsies."

There's a lot going on in EX2+, but it doesn't stray too far from tradition. A la Street Fighter II, normals are good and frame data is cursory. You can get very far with pokes and anti airs.

EX2+ comes from an era in fighting game design where move properties weren't as distinct. Nearly everything is cancelable, advantage on block can be huge, and high pushback intends to keep pressure from being endless. Having released a month after Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, EX2+ feels older than it is.

Of note:

Street Fighter EX2's new mechanics put a twist on the Rock, Paper, Scissors structure of traditional fighters.

Multiple Option Selects nerf throws.
Guard/Cancel Breaks reward a full combo on hit.
EXCEL blows through strikes.

It isn't that everything is "worse" in EX2, there's just more to track. Downbacking in this game can still get you killed.

Meter and Neutral

A simple three bar punish in Street Fighter EX2 Plus averages 75%, and optimized EXCEL routes grant most of the roster TODs. Everything is a hard knockdown, and at any time players can spend meter to land an unblockable starter or become totally invincible.

"So no neutral, right?"

In many ways, EX2 "fixes" the meter system from Street Fighter Alpha 3. For the uninitiated, A3 is a very explosive game. By default, matches start with full meter for both players. It's common to see a scramble custom combo activation in the first few moments of a round. Sprinkle in optimized infinites, and the attacker usually builds enough meter for another round start activation.

Meter is just as good in EX2. But it's earned, not given. The game has every right to be explosive, but matches often start slow with safe pokes and deliberate movement. First Attack Bonus grants half a bar of meter, and leveraging that resource is very important in EX2.

Defense without bar is very hard, so losing the resource lead carelessly is discouraged. Even blocked normals build more meter for the attacker than defender.

Street Fighter EX is 3D

While they're largely taken for granted today, 2.5D fighting games were rare in the mid 90s. Where modern fighters use 3D graphics as a fancy overlay for their 2D hitboxes, Street Fighter EX is a fully 3D game. There's no sidestep or ring outs, but characters still dip into the Z-Axis constantly.

Arika was keen on making sure this quirk in their engine didn't affect the series' typical 2D gameplay, but there are always outliers:

As far as we know, SFEX uses 3D spheres to handle hit detection. This is rarely noticeable compared to traditional hitboxes, so long as both characters remain on axis. More on that in a bit.
Unlike every other Street Fighter, SFEX doesn't force open stance. P2 side will always face away from the camera. Most moves have strong enough key poses to be readable from both angles, but footsies might look a little off to newcomers. Claw's grounded throw looks especially janky on the "wrong" side.
SFEX does its best to keep both characters facing each other. Teleports, certain setups, and even throws can put a character off axis-- Inviting truly ambiguous offense.

What about Street Fighter EX+A?

EX Plus Alpha, or EXA, is awesome.

Detractors may call it unfinished compared to the mighty EX2+, and they'd be right-- But otherwise it's a neat diversion in 2.5D Arika gameplay and has a community all its own. With both games experiencing a revival over GGPO, why would someone choose the older version?

But at it's core, "EXA" is a prototype, and it's got issues:

Character balance is a wash, damage is way too high, and Command Throws don't have whiff animations. Like most Sophomore Street Fighter, it's best not to take this one too seriously. At the moment, EX2+ is the more popular game by virtue of it being more open ended, balanced, and polished.

Tier List

This Tier List is from notable Japanese player @18goSFEX2plus, released in 2015.

While you should never make tier lists your end all be all for character choice, they're a good way to determine how much effort you'll need to put into a character. Choosing who you like will always be the optimal way to pick, and EX2+ is still being actively explored to this day. Who knows? Maybe you're the Blanka tech monster who'll take him to S Tier!