Street Fighter Anniversary Collection

Review by: Christopher Troy

1-2 Player Fighting Game

Company: Capcom

Version: US

System: X-Box

Rated: PG-13 (Violence)

EXTERNAL EXAM

To avenge a love one. For fame. For power. For a sense of identity.

They were all driven by different reasons. Ryu. Ken. Guile. Chun Li. Cammy. Akuma. Bison.

For 15 years the warriors of Street Fighter have fought tooth and claw to achieve their dream through countless consoles. Now for the first time ever, you can witness the birth of a gaming icon and see it conclude it one package with the Street Fighter Anniversary. So stand up and get ready to fighter young one, because the World Warriors don’t care why you’re here, they just know that you’re going down.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: Despite it’s age, you can still appreciate the character designs and effort put into this titles. The characters are the recognizable icons they’ve always been, despite Ryu ‘s eyebrows being wayyy fuzzier then than they are now, and Ken no longer having a mullet. And since Capcom’s just been importing sprites for the last couple of Vs. titles, they been putting out for the lest 5 years, the characters from SFIII look better than the outdate SF:Alpha character models you’re probably used to. Still, the game looks won’t take away from the overall experience, and Chun-Li still kicks high, so why do you care right?

AUDIO: Is it me, or was it a lot more impressive to pull off a dragon punch 15 years ago than it was today. I ask this because I noticed something odd when playing these two games. When playing the original SSFII, when Ryu or Ken pulled off one of those moves, you heard that Shroukyen. They streamed it out, loud and proud. Same thing with a fireball. Oh sure I giggled like a school girl at a tickling competition, but none the less, that “HA-DO-KEN!” was something awesome.

CONTROLS: Now as far as controls go, I hope that you pick up one of the Street Fighter Anniversary controller or at least own some sort of an arcade stick. Because it there’s one genre the X-box doesn’t handle well, it’s 2-d fighters. While the S-verison of the controller will give you a better experience than the original X-box controller (HOW DO YOU USE THAT THING?!?! YOU CAN KILL SOMEONE WITH IT!?!?) , it’s not saying much.

I really don’t know why it’s so bad, but compared to Guilty Gear XX#Reload, I found myself struggling to pull of many a combo and super move I could pull off with ease or with an PS2 controller. So unless you have an arcade stick, anniversary controller, or a PS2 controller converter, I suggest you pick up the PS2 version, unless you really need to play this game online. Then you BETTER go out and buy one of the mention items, or you’re gonna get spanked online something fierce.

EXTRAS: Hey look kids, the original Street Fighter II anime movie is package on the same disc. This is good except for three things:

1)It’s dubbed (and there’s no Japanese voice options)

2)It’s censored ( Oh sure, you can find better Chun-Li hentai on the net, but still...)

3) You need that stupid 30 dollar remote and adaptor to watch it (Damn you Gates!)

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

CINEMATIC EXPERIENCE: And by cinematic experience, you mean art work with text right?

Next topic!

BEST PLAYER: There’s no way I can make a decision and not get chewed out by someone for my choice. So I’m just going to a say Ken and drop my pants, so that you all now know I’m mooning you as you read this. And maybe flipping you off. Maybe.

CHEAT CODE YOU NEED: You have to play as Akuma in the original SFII right? Well, just look in the game’s instruction manual and they’ll give you the Akuma cheat code. Who said Capcom doesn’t love you?

CHEAT CODE YOU WANT: How’s about a new character or something. Hell, why not just port Mega Man, Dante or SOMEONE into this game? Or unlocking Street Fighter Alpha 3, the bestest of Street Fighters?

FAN SERVICE: Well all the nudity was taken out of the movie...I MEAN, you can pit various incarnations of your favorite Street Fighter characters against each other, what else do you want. And with 3^rd Strike, you’ll discover just where the hell 1/4 of those filler fighters from the Capcom Vs. titles come from.

FINAL EXAM

Witness the origins of the greatest 2-d fighting game and it’s evolution through the years all in one game! Presenting two arcade perfect ports of one of the industry’s best known franchises, SFII: AC allows the player to create any dream match of their choice, like pitting the original Street Fighter II Ryu against the Super Street Fighter II Cammy And when your done playing in the past, step up to the last chapter of the original series with Street Fighter III: Third Strike, a game originally only available for Sega’s Dreamcast, where you can see how Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Chun-Li have developed, as well a whole slew of new characters. Pluse the fight goes online with X-box, giving you countless hours of play without spending as many quarters as you would have in the arcade.

I can honestly say this game is better than the live action Street Fighter movie from the mid-90s and Capcom Fighting Evolution combined.

For the hardcore Street Fighter fan, this game is a dream come true. You get to play the best (non-Alpha) title in the franchise and create all sort of cool custom matches. Plus, when your friends get tired of getting their asses handed to them and go playing something that came out within the last 3 years, you can brawl online, assuming the lag that plagues all 2-d X-box fighters doesn’t drive you insane.

If you’re not a hardcore SF fan, this game may not appeal to you. There’s a learning curve to it, and the bad controls made turn you off. But the game offers a lot to those who stick with it, so you’ll get your money’s worth for doing so. But if you don’t get what’s so special about pitting SFII’s Ken against his Super Street Fighter II Turbo counterpart, chances are you’re not going to get as much.

While I’m on the topic of flaws, I really need to stress how god awful playing with any sort of standard X-box controller it. For all those combo monkeys like myself, the odd layout of the controller’s buttons only makes pulling off those precise move harder, and there were times where the moves I knew I put in right weren’t executed. Compared to the recent offering from Sammy’s Guilty Gear series, I don’t why the controls for this game is so bad, but they are, and you’ll need another means of playing this game to enjoy it.

On an additional note, the choice of adding Street Fighter III: Third Strike to this game was an odd choice, especially when the far superior Street Fighter Alpha 3 exist. Why one can argue that SF3: Third Strike is the last game in the series (for now), there’s only 4 returning characters from SFII, so those unfamiliar with Ryu, Ken, Akuma or Chun-Li are going to have to learn a new character real quick, or start learning how to use on the original four.

Now a days, it’s sounds like someone passed game. I suppose this is because a fireball is something any mooks in a karate gi can pull of, and the 10-Hit Super Art Combo move is far more impressive in terms of seizure inducing backgrounds and damage, but the poorly executed engrish name that accompanies it isn’t anywhere as cool or adrenaline pumping than the SFXs of the original game.

You’d think the music would get better with time right? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the original SFII soundtrack. Guile’s theme is still on my computer’s play list. All the classic tunes are present in Hyper Edition, and usually set the mood for whatever opponent your fighting. Good stuff right there.

But what will make you stab yourself in the ear with a screw driver is the so-called soundtrack that SSFIII:Third Strikes offers. I don’t know who told Japanese musicians they should and could rap, but their liars and should be shot for doing so. It’s awful and shouldn’t be force upon the good people who bought this game.

Despite the lag online and controller issues, Street Fighter faithful will be pleased with this collection. It’s still a solid game, and probably one of the best multiplayer games ever. This game doesn’t pride itself as being as accessible as some of it’s counterparts and peers, but it didn’t 15 years ago. One of the best and beloved video game franchises of out time, the Street Fighter Anniversay Collection deserves to be in anyone who’s enjoyed a 2-D fighting game’s collection.

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