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This was the first game my brothers ever put into our Genesis back in 1997, so I have memories, to say the least. I know it has problems though in that it lacks much of what makes a fighting game work despite being promoted in one magazine as the SF2 killer. The hack does not fix anything except the nostalgic agony of seeing the bosses playable. Everybody has seen the ad, the manual, or the box. Those screenshots showed the bosses playable. That time is finally now.

I tried 1.0 and this version is quite an improvement. One glaring problem shows itself as soon as you press start: You can't change your stats. This might be fine if it were a handicap system, but these stats actually have pros and cons. Power trades how fast you attack for damage, while speed connects your movement and gravity together. The default stats were also at 4 while this hack uses 1. You hit fast and weak, but you move like a snail with a floaty jump. It's not fun, unless you use a RAM editor or Cheat Engine and pull the addresses from Practice mode (pause during gameplay).

For those looking to possibly play TF Special Championship Edition, they're a little overpowered. Triceraton's low stature makes moves whiff, and his rolling attack is nearly impossible to block as he's considered airborne even while hitting your legs. Krang doesn't move as fast, but his zoning abilities are decent. He is definitely the weakest though. Karai's relatively-balanced specials are overshadowed by how easy it is to abuse throws using her speed and reach; easier than Triceraton. In all fairness, these characters feel more complete than Rat King in terms of how they stack against the normal characters, and aren't one-button broken like Karai in the SNES Tournament Fighters. It really is a shame these characters were never made normally playable.

The quality of this hack makes it worth downloading. It looks authentic and clean, though the lack stat customization with default 1s stops this from being the definitive version of the game.

This brings me right back to the days of looking in the Instruction Manual, Seeing the picture where Player 1 is Triceriton and banging my head against a wall trying to figure out how to play as the hidden characters. At last! This hack allows you to do just that plus the characters Krang and Karei as well!! The only thing I was hoping for from this hack was that maybe the Later Boss Levels would also be available to pick from the start. That may not be the case with this hack. But, This is absolutely a dream come true none the less. I never understood why the official manual showed Player 1 playing a character that was not possible to play as. But thanks to the creator of this hack, All of the mystery is finally over!