Capcom has decided that the Street Fighter series fits the current trend of slapping a heap of old-school games into a single package. This decision coincides with the 15th anniversary of the original Street Fighter and is a fitting tribute to one of the most influential games of that era. The Anniversary Collection includes all Street Fighter 2 variants plus ‘Street Fighter 3: The Third Impact’. Somewhat puzzling was Capcom’s decision not to include the original Street Fighter game. Even in its day, the original may not have been the best fighter but PALGN would have loved to see it included in an “Anniversary Collection”, if even just for nostalgia’s sake.
Street Fighter 2 arguably holds the record for the most number of add-ons and zany names without getting a real sequel. Capcom have reworked all the Street Fighter 2 variants into one game for the Anniversary Collection. This allows you to select a fighter from any Street Fighter 2 edition you like. This means that you could have the original Chun-Li vs. Super Street Fighter 2 version. Although the fighters from the later games are more powerful, it’s still nice to play the older fighters at leisure. Apart from the ability to select the different fighter variants everything else is mostly untouched, incorporating that old school gameplay we’ve all come to know and love.
Also bundled in this package is ‘Street Fighter 3: The Third Strike’, which in keeping with Capcom’s tradition of tinkering, is the third adaptation in this series. Street Fighter 3 introduced some of the best character animations, even to this day, but sadly the game was never really caught on. This is a shame as Street Fighter 3 was a very balanced and technically good fighter. The only problem was its slightly slow pace. A possible cause for its low acceptance rate could be due to the timing of its introduction – it was competing for market share at the same time interest in the cross-battle fighters (such as Street Fighter vs. Xmen) were taking off. The insanity level injected into these games surely overshadowed Street Fighter 3’s basic but genius gameplay.
E. Honda gets the brutal "smell my arm pit" attack
From a technical stand point, the ports are arcade-perfect, capturing the animations frame–by-frame. Even though Street Fighter 3 is an older game, it still looks gorgeous and compares well, even against today’s offerings. Both sound and music made it across intact; however Capcom decided to use the announcer from Super Street Fighter 2, who is possibly the most annoying of the series.
Perhaps the biggest draw card with the Xbox edition is Live support. Every Street Fighter nut is probably giggling like a school girl, waiting to get online. Although you don’t get the sweaty feel of standing next to your opponent, the idea of taking on the world’s best must have fans smiling. Hopefully Capcom spend some time and include a wealth of online options plus play modes so we don’t end up with the bare-boned experience of ‘Capcom vs. SNK 2’s online functionality.
The PS2 version (which was released in the US earlier this year) included the Street Fighter 2 anime. It is not clear at this point whether the Xbox version will include this or other extras, but it is hoped that Capcom will add extra content to keep veterans happy.
I wager $10 on the guy with no pants to win
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection is shaping up to be a great compilation for Street Fighter buffs and with the added bonus of online play, PALGN can’t see this title going wrong. Although it would have been nice to see a couple more games introduced in this package, there is more than enough here to keep your fingers mashing for a long time. The Australian XBOX release is scheduled for late October, so look for PALGN’s final verdict then.
Loading...
