This is a breakthrough... in a specific official Japanese region version of Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior on the SNES, Balrog (the boxer, named M.Bison in Japan) is actually controllable if you use alternative methods to select him! Read on for more information...
As many people know by now, in all other SNES official versions of SF2:WW, all 4 bosses are NOT controllable at all, even if you use alternative methods to select them. The game will just freeze/lock up.
However, this particular version of the game (an original and official version) allows Balrog (boxer) to be controlled by a human player if you use an alternate method to select him.
===== The Information =====
I remember reading about this years ago... from what I believe, this is a dump of the VERY FIRST batch of Super Famicom SF2 cartridges released back in June 1992. This version had a score flaw where Player 1's score would reset after each round. Because of this, Capcom immediately made a second and final revision of the game that fixes this flaw - and unfortunately they also made Balrog completely uncontrollable in the final revision.
===== How to spot the game =====
There is a way to identify this early version of the game - and that's by looking at the back of the Japanese game's original box. At the bottom-right of the box, the bar serial number for this batch is: T4976219044418. If you have this version, Balrog will be controllable if you use an alternative method to select him.
===== Playing as Balrog =====
So when playing as Balrog/M.Bison, he has all the basic moves, but you CANNOT perform any special moves with him. It seems that no human commands were programmed in to access his special moves. Therefore he is almost like a 'blank template' character.
Because of this, it seems that Capcom may have originally intended to make the bosses in SNES World Warrior playable, but decided against it in the end.
===== Additional Information =====
---- Unfortunately, the other 3 bosses (Vega, Sagat and M.Bison) are uncontrollable because they freeze the game if you try to play as them.
---- As mentioned above, there is a flaw with player 1's score count, as it resets after each round. This is reason why Capcom made the 2nd and final revision of the game, which also makes Balrog uncontrollable, unfortunately.
---- If you select him in 1-player mode, you can sometimes fight Ryu as your first match. Afterwards, the game will fly to a flawed value and lock up.
---- He is of course, a completely unique unplayable character.
---- This is an EXTREMELY RARE official version of the game. So if you actually have an official physical copy of this, congratulations!