everal weeks of earnings have provided rock-solid confirmation:
Capcom has done it again! Even before the game was previewed at ACME in March, Capcom's Street Fighter II Champion Edition had already generated more player excitement than any game in recent memory. It was the spring show's hottest title and instantly became the industry's greatest "demand" item in five years. By early May, some operators were calling it "the greatest video game since PacMan! "
"This isn't just a hit game; with most players it's a cult!" smiled Capcom USA's Jolly Backer. "Kids are telling locations, `if you don't get Champion Edition we'll go somewhere else.' Street ROI on this piece is 15 weeks, and arcades earn the cost back in four or five weeks. The game is burning 'em up! It's a phenomenon we didn't expect," Jolly added.
UNIVERSAL PRAISE
Praise for the game was universal. "It's a lot more challenging than the original edition," said game player John Grund. "You have to get used to the idea of both people playing the same characters at the same time, but most players strongly prefer the Champion Edition because it's new and they can be more characters. Almost all of the Champion Editions have bigger screens and
wider control panels, and I think that's because the company realized that's what players want."
John added that the release of Champion Edition has not hurt the popularity of the original Street
Fighter II. "A good number of players still like the earlier version and they're still playing it just as much," he said. John added that most games he's seen in the L.A. area were set on 500 to start and 250 to continue, although some were set on 500 to continue.
Operators are also pleased with earnings. One arcade owner (who had just worked all night installing new Champion Editions when we phoned) told RePlay: "I'm quite happy with the results. Of course, I would have liked to have paid less, but I sure can't argue with these numbers. Weekly earnings are better for Champion Edition than for some games I paid $12,000 for. In addition, the overall gross of our gameroom increased dramatically after we installed our first Champion Editions. It didn't take a quarter out of any other game that I could tell. In fact, earnings on the original Street Fighter Its went up initially for a time, after Champion Edition came in."
Distributors were also delighted with the performance of Champion Edition. "From what operators are saying, the game has actually raised collections of existing Street Fighter Its by 10 to 20%," noted Betson Pacific's John Lotz. "Many operators thought they could pull Street Fighter II from their prime locations and move it down the route, but locations wouldn't let them. Everybody feels the earning curve on
