Anybody got tips for learning how to play Street Fighter 2?
It's mostly Super Turbo with tweaks from what I've read.
Correct, it is a re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-you-get-the picture-rebalanced version of Super Turbo. The game plays slower than than Super Turbo, though. I believe it's supposed to be slightly faster than turbo speed 1 in ST.
What username said is the best place to start- fundamentals.
Check out this article and google some videos on it. Once you get the basics down, you can play pretty much every Street Fighter and most 2D fighting games, for that matter, using the same skills.
SF2 in any form is very old-school. There are combos, but there's less of an emphasis on them and damage is pretty high, especially from throws. Something that they added in ULTRA SF2 specifically are throw escapes -you can now get out of throws- which changes up the game drastically and can potentially stop a lot of abuse/shenanigans, which I much appreciate.
Basic tips to start off with:
-Don't jump unless you really need to. You might think that this is obvious, but so many n00bs/scrubs will just keep trying to jump in at you. Don't do this...you will be anti-aired into oblivion. You can, however, bait people into thinking you're going to do this, which then makes them throw out a dragon punch or flash kick, leaving them wide open. You'll also be amazed at how many players you can take out by jumping very little (or not at all, in some cases), because they can't seem to comprehend this. This actually applies to most fighting games and the same will work for you in SF2...up through SFV.
-When you do have to jump in, find out the best attacks you can use to land a hit trade or a clear hit without getting knocked out of your jump.
-Everyone has a way to deal with projectiles/zoning. Find your favorite character and then find out if this is their own projectile or a special that goes over/through fireballs.
-If you come across a Blanka who spams electricity, study up on which normals (or specials) you have that will knock him right out of it. It's far from invincible.
-Ken/Ryu and perfect characters to learn the basics with and are all-around characters. You might want to switch to Ryu since his super is easy to get used to for beginners, IMO. If you want to try a charge character, go with Guile, although his super may be difficult to perform early on.
-Master throw escapes. They will save you in a lot of matches and when trapped in the corner.
-Keep grapplers like T. Hawk and Zangief far away from you! You don't want to be sucked into 360 throws! Alternatively,
use T. Hawk since he not only has a nice 360 throw, but also has a dragon punch-like uppercut and a move that sends him from a jump down and into the opponent- so you get this insane combination of anti-air, command throw, and a method to easily get close to your opponent/stop zoning, among other abilities.
-Avoid getting backed into corners when able. Also keep yourself in a position to be mobile.
-Learning character spacing and the best normals for pokes/combo starters are key. This is the most important thing, IMO. I can use basic fundamentals to get a foothold on just about any new 2D fighting game keeping this in mind. People think that you have to spend countless hours in "the lab" training when you really don't. That's for learning advanced setups and combos.
-At least right now, Violent Ken, Evil Ryu, and Akuma = Shoto ASSHOLES. You will probably run into a lot of players using Violent Ken especially, because they are kind of over-powered and possibly even "broken." I know that at least one 99% damage combo for Evil Ryu has already been discovered. However, they all have less life and generally take more damage than everyone else, too. Use that to your advantage. Violent Ken's teleport is also very annoying, but you can knock him right out of it with normals and some specials (not fireballs, though), which can help to stop spammers dead in their tracks.
-It's SF2- matches can go fast and you may be perfected quite often. Don't let this get to you...in this game, it's possible to lose from just a couple of attacks!