Super Power System cards from Korea

Found at a British car-boot sale, we ask the question: what are these mysterious Street Fighter II themed cards, and what other weird merchandise is out there?
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Over on NTSC-uk, forum user Cauterize, of RetroGameDepot, posted a conundrum regarding some mysterious Street Fighter II themed cards he’d found for the Korean Super Power System (presumably South Korean, though I do know that North Koreans also like to get their GAME ON, and ALSO HERE and AGAIN HERE - though I think those last two photos are actually from the same North Korean computer camp).

Click the links for higher res shots of the cards.


Cauterize says:
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These cards I picked up at the boot sale years ago, but never got round to scanning or sorting out. I only found these 6 cards with nothing else to go with them. All I can make out is that they were for a 'Super Power System' that was made in Korea. My first guess is the small black marks are for scanning somehow. So any information on these will be greatly appreciated as Google isnt providing the info today
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(Original forum topic)

For our American readers, a boot is a car trunk, and a “car boot sale” is like a yard sale, except a whole bunch of Englishmen go and stand in a muddy farm on a Sunday morning, selling tat from their boots. Tat kinda means junk, except more valuable. I often buy tat from other people’s boots. It’s a stonking way to spend the morning, guv.


One forumite replied suggesting it might be some Korean form of Barcode Battler. If you have any information, please post in the comments section here, or directly in the original topic. I am eager to find out! Searching Google has yielded NOTHING.

Otherwise have a look at Cauterize’s blog, since he has an awesome collections of scans and photos, of ads and arcades.


But back to the topic of strange Street Fighter merchandise...

Despite being a well known, highly popular series, with SFII receiving maybe more magazine coverage than any other game at the height of its mania (I seem to recall every issue of EGM having something on it – or is that just my imagination?), there is a vast swathe of highly obscure stuff relating to SF which has been forgotten over time.

Part of the problem is that because it was so popular, Capcom and licensees rapidly started producing and selling merchandise (and some nefarious groups produced unofficial merchandise), all of which was regarded at the time as disposable. So records of what was available are shoddy at best.

Here’s a random link to a page talking about the series (which I’ve borrowed a magazine scan from).

I’d go as far as to say there’s mileage for a serious HG101 article in covering all the quirky merchandise and bumph that came out. The problem being of course that most would be impossible to source and photograph, leaving us to rely on random internet posts and old magazine scans.
I once found a dusty pack of SFII collecting cards in a rundown little store, hidden away on a shelf. From what I recall they had been printed in Australia for sale over there - how they ended up in the UK I don't know.

Then there was an EGM competition from way back (the issue with M Bison attacking Guile on the cover), where in the letters page they spoke about someone winning a rare set of commemorative gold SFII coins. I've never seen a photo of these - but the mysterious item has remained on my mind over the years. Then of course there’s forum talk of Taiwanese pirate copies of the arcade game, where you could do crazy things like a hurricane kick that shot out multiple fireballs. Or something like that. Plus Famicom hack jobs, of which I've seen at least half-a-dozen in print, and played two of. It all gets very confusing.

(Image taken from NesPlayer)

Do you have any bizarre Street Fighter related merchandise? Then email Kurt photos and if there’s enough we might do... something with them.