The Genesis version was originally intended to be a standalone port of Champion Edition, similar to the PC Engine version. However, following the announcement of Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES, Sega ordered their version to be delayed so that Capcom could add all of the extra content from the SNES Turbo version as well, resulting in the title change.
A six-button control pad for the Genesis, the MK-1653 (or SJ-6000 in Japan), was made primarily for the game, adding three action buttons labelled XYZ in addition to the standard ABC buttons. The game can also be played with the original three-button controller, in which the ABC buttons are used for attacks (light, medium, and heavy), while the Start button is used to toggle between punches and kicks (the pause function cannot be used with a three-button controller as a result).