Same-Character Select

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting · SNES · 1992 · Cheat Code

Hold L + R while selecting your character, then press any button

Effect: Allows both players to choose the same character in versus mode, which was disabled by default.

Street Fighter II's original SNES port mirrored the arcade cabinet's restriction that prevented mirror matches. Capcom included a hidden method to bypass this in Street Fighter II Turbo: holding the shoulder buttons during character selection unlocked same-character versus play. The trick was widely circulated in Nintendo Power and gaming magazines, and mirror matches became a popular way for players to settle skill disputes by removing character advantage as a variable. The feature was eventually made a standard, front-facing option in later revisions of the franchise.

Key Facts:

Mirror matches were considered a balancing risk by Capcom and disabled by default
Published in Nintendo Power, dramatically increasing player awareness
Later Street Fighter titles made same-character selection a standard menu option