Twenty years later, Street Fighter EX2 Plus is having a renaissance... Go figure.
The EX series was tremendously popular in its day by nature of the game being 3D. But EX2 came a little late and stood shoulder to shoulder with some serious competition. If you were around back then, you probably put your tokens into Tekken 3 instead.
With Playstation games slowly making their way to Fightcade via DuckstationGGPO, EX2+ is finally getting a second chance. It's electrifying! But for all the good this breakthrough brings to the EX Series, there are differences. Remember these are still ports. The PS1 is not a Dreamcast: "Arcade Perfect" netplay just isn't possible yet. With all that said, the PSX version of EX2+ is a fine product-- And everything you learn on Playstation still applies if you ever manage to track down the real thing.
Street Fighter EX and its sequels ran on revisions of Sony's ZN Board. EX and EX+ were on the ZN-1, while EX2 and EX2+ were on the ZN-2. Both of these boards were essentially suped up Playstations. That's good! Lots of arcade games received conversions for the home. In the transition, however, there were cuts. EX2's ports have compromised polycounts, new music, and slowdown that differs from the arcade. More on that later.
EX2+ on the Playstation isn't a bad looking game, and I personally prefer the CD audio, but netplay might change the standard for events in the future. Sony ZN boards are not nearly as revered, documented, or well preserved as Capcom's CP Systems. This hardware is gonna die someday... So if you ever attend a tournament for EX2+, expect variance.
Of Note:
- In the arcade, all of EX2+'s game data was stored on ROM Chips. Outside of the system startup, the game never "loads."
- PSX EX2+ has load times between arcade matches. In versus play, the game has a instant rematch feature.
- Character models are lower fidelity on Playstation. Hands and hair appear especially blocky.
- Transparency effects are downgraded from the arcade.
- Depending on the game's region, D. Dark's neck slice throw is censored. This has no effect on gameplay. Many other attacks that would've caused a bleed effect in the JP version simply don't elsewhere.
- Hayate, a character introduced with EX2, was strangely dropped in EX2+. He returned as an unlockable secret character in the game's Playstation port. By all accounts, this console exclusivity makes Hayate a banned tournament character. This may change in the future.
- Neither version of EX2+ features a stage select.
