Street Fighter Anniversary Collection Review

By Ronan Jennings Published 8 November, 2004

Hadoken? Yes, about 50 times, thanks.

Version tested: Xbox

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Intros are hard. You have to keep things short. You have to grab people's attention. You have to state your intent. You have to make a point. Often, to achieve all this, you have to say something new.

The question is, how in the name of M Bison do I say something new about Street Fighter? We're talking about one of gaming's most treasured memories here. Heck, we're talking about one of my most treasured memories.

The answer to that question lies not with me, or you, but with Capcom. It isn't our prerogative to think up new things to say about a 15 year-old game, nor is it yours to rush out and buy it. If Capcom wants new things to be said about Street Fighter, then let's have some new Street Fighter.

Strikes us as familiar

'Street Fighter Anniversary Collection' Screenshot 1

In many ways, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection is a wonderful gift to fans of the franchise. Not only does it contain Hyper Street Fighter II (an amalgamation of every version of Street Fighter II) but it has a port of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike too. On top of that, it lets you play both online. Sounds good, right? And so it should - to the fans at least. But think about it for a second. We are being asked to buy Street Fighter II... again. We are being asked to buy 3rd Strike... again. The only real incentive? Xbox Live, which only accounts for a fraction of players anyway.

This game will never play badly. That's a fact. It is brilliant on a core level, in the same way that Pong, Asteroids and Mario Bros still manage to attract new fans despite the uber-code that graces our shelves today. But I, for one, have had my fill of old Street Fighter. The prospect of online play might have struck a spark of excitement in me, but it fizzled out quicker than a drunken Ryu's fireball. 3rd Strike's artwork may still be gorgeous but, like Vega's mask, it can't hide the aging underneath.

Trigger Unhappy

'Street Fighter Anniversary Collection' Screenshot 2

It doesn't help that the Xbox controller was never really made with 2D fighters in mind. While the stick control works fairly well, the D-pad (surely the weapon of choice for console SF fans) is too flimsy and uncomfortable, and the use of triggers and the white and black buttons won't come naturally to fans of the series. In saying that, the face buttons are comfortably mashed, and help to ease painful memories of Street Fighter Alpha on the PSX.

The ability to choose any version of any character in the SFII universe is a nice addition, too, but why not add a few new characters? Sure, it would hardly add much to gameplay - and god knows there ought to be enough of them in there already - but that's the kind of thing fans like. It might sound naļve, but would it have been so difficult to let players customise their own characters for the game? Would it have been so hard to incorporate a simple paint program and let players touch up their favourites? Imagine taking to an online battle with your very own Ryu/Guile hybrid - now that would have been something.

Fight Club

Capcom have done some very good business with this series over the years. In some ways, by giving fans the chance to play against each other all over the world, they have marked its anniversary fittingly. The global appeal of a classic is thus embodied. The Street Fighter family is complete. But Street Fighter's 15th birthday shouldn't have us once again looking to the past. In a way, by selling this series on history alone, Capcom is killing its chance of having a future.

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5 / 10

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Comments (31) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • Killerbee #1 7 years ago

    Definitely smacks of a missed opportunity.

    Surely it would have been more than worthwhile to take the basic premise and characters of the game and give the game a bit of a make-over into 3D, stick on some new weapons / moves etc and make it into more of a solid contemporary beat 'em up.

    Mind you, given how many copies of Soul Calibur II (arguably the finest example of the genre) seem to be filling up the bargain bins on the high street, I wonder if the public at large has got a bit bored of pure beat 'em ups?

  • mad_caddy #2 7 years ago

    i had the ps2 version and the AI seemed to predict every single move you could and did make...it was a nightmare and to top that the SF2 film playback was rubbish!

    so i got rid of it in anticipation of the Xbox version....and i'm sorry to say

    the price isnt right brucey!

    as for making it more modern........rubbish, the simplicity is the beauty of SF2......which in turn becomes a beautifull balance of dexterity and knowledge!
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/04 @ 14:43

  • itamae #3 7 years ago

    *sigh* Instead of complaining about the controller for a whole paragraph the reviewer should have spent some time discussing the online aspect. It's not that I criticise the review, from an objective point of view the game simply doesn't deserve more than a 5, but some points should have been addressed.

    - Online play is pretty much lag-free. Of the ~500 matches I've played so far only two have been unbearably laggy. The rest have been absolutely excellent, even against people in Japan or China.
    - 3rd Strike online suffers from the occasional "black screen of death" where the players agree on a rematch and the screen just turns black. You can simply sign off and sign on again, but it's very annoying nonetheless.
    - The original version of Hugo's stage music is buggy. Hardly an issue, but still.


    Anyway, cheers for reviewing the game at all. ;)

  • Schwabing #4 7 years ago

    hmm, i see that same thinking here as with those Transformers Cartoon boxsets you can get now - appealing to the nostalgic element in the mid to late twenty-somethings, rather than making something decent.

    pretty tempted myself - got the original SF2 on the first week of its Japanese release to play on my 'modded' US SNES (remember those two plastic chunks you had to snap out?).
    Played it 'til my fingers bled.. as Bryan would say. Didn't stop until I completed it on all difficulty levels with all characters. Or did I... maybe not with Zangief.
    Would sort of be nice to play it again - SNES got chucked ages ago. But nah, probably best to let it lie.
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/04 @ 15:15

  • yegon #5 7 years ago

    Warning: there is terrible slowdown in Hyper SF2 - not the deliberate slowdown thats a central part of SF lore, but bad slowdown of the non-deliberate kind. Must be poorly optimised as there isn't any (non-deliberate) slowdown in the PS2 version...

    Thankfully I bought it for SF3 (my DC died yonks ago :( and thats actually a really good conversion.

  • cloudaaa #6 7 years ago

    What Capcom did to the Xbox conversion of Hyper SF2 is unacceptable

    nasty anti aliasing with no option to turn it off for the full scanlines effect? sacrilege
    muffled sound effects with incorrect balancing of volume against music? outrageous

    3rd strike saves the collection though - is by far the best console version and well worth £30 on it's own

  • perilikid #7 7 years ago

    Could be fun to have a bash at this, but I agree... the price isn't right just yet. I doubt I'd want to go online anyway - I'd probably get beat within three seconds.

  • Eldritch #8 7 years ago

    HADOKEN!

  • luisalis #9 7 years ago

    I don't quite get the point of "We are being asked to buy 3rd Strike... again". This game has only been domestically available before for the Dreamcast console. Even if you're assuming everyone has a Dreamcast and everyone with a Dreamcast got 3rd Strike, still you're talking about a smaller number of gamers as compared to Xbox owners and potential SFAC users.

    This game alone is reason enough to go out and get the game, along with a decent arcade stick.

  • skalmanxl #10 7 years ago

    Why on earth did Capcom no release the PS2 version in the UK?

    No clue actually, but it must be a europe-wide thing, as it got Xbox Only stamped on the cover...not that it has to mean anything...

    But this really is a great package for anyone who likes fighters in general, nevermind the 2d bit, this if just fucking excellent. Those hours in CvS 2 pays off, and the Xbox controller works nicely, I'm using the Joytech Neo S, so it's smaller and got better button placement as well as a superior D-pad.

    Now, let's enjoy this until Ignition releases all those wonderful SNK games over here.

  • APR #11 7 years ago

    "painful memories of Street Fighter Alpha on the PSX."

    Um what, you mean Alpha 3? Best SF ever IMO and to me, the PS d-pad was perfect for it.

  • Pirotic #12 7 years ago

    Didnt think much of the review to be honest.

    Surely the best way to celebrate 15 years is to show how well the game still stands up today, add a lag free online play mode to an old classic, and sell it for £10 less than your normal game. personally i think its bloody brilliant idea and does the job perfectly.

    making it 3D would kill it, and re-drawing the sprites and animations would really wind up the profesional players who react in a split section based on a single frame of animation to predict the upcoming move.

    As for moaning about how your being forced to buy third strike again, most people didnt even have the chance to buy it the first time, plus you're getting the movie, and a special edition of SF2.

    Edit (forgot to mention) - out of all the current gen consoles i find the xbox d-pad is the best for beat-em-ups. both on this, and with the emulated CPS2 games its perfect.
    Edited by 2 at 08/11/04 @ 18:13

  • eviltobz  #13 7 years ago

    this is the single most depressing review i've ever read. not cos of the game or anything, just the realisation that sf2 is at it's 15 years anniversary. that makes me feel sooooo old :(

    /cwies

  • Abscido #14 7 years ago

    "Best SF ever IMO and to me, the PS d-pad was perfect for it."

    Yeah, but it hurt my thumbs :) Xbox face buttons are kinder.

    "Surely the best way to celebrate 15 years is to show how well the game still stands up today, add a lag free online play mode to an old classic, and sell it for £10 less than your normal game. personally i think its bloody brilliant idea and does the job perfectly."

    Then again, why not do that with ALL classic games eh? Hell, I feel like playing Rock And Roll Racing again, but this time with online play. Or what about Bomberman Live? We could be charged £20 or £30 for those too.

    I do understand where you're coming from Pirotic, but in fairness Capcom have kicked the crap out of this franchise now, and though the gameplay remains timeless, it *doesn't* hold up enough to warrant spending your hard-earned cash on it for the umpteenth time, nor is it good enough for newcomers to have much interest.

    As for the whole '3D would kill it' argument - that's just crap. People could have said the same of Ninja Gaiden, Zelda, Mario, Castlevania (though the latter wasn't exactly the best game in the series :) ). I quite liked the 'EX' spinoff and would *love* to see a modern version of SF done properly.

    Still, as I said in the review, diehard fans have plenty of reason to go and buy it.

  • Pirotic #15 7 years ago

    It's an arcade game tho :p

    yer, i'd be annoyed if they released an upgraded version of Halo with online play for £30, but with arcade ports you're never going to get your moneys worth unless your a hardcore fan, and thats who the games are really made for.

    for me, Street Fighter II is old-schools last stand against the ever growing number of graphic whores. Maybe oneday they will make a lush 3D "Street Fighter 4", but for a 15th aniversary edition of the original, i still think its spot on.
    Edited by 2 at 08/11/04 @ 18:49

  • Pirotic #16 7 years ago

    Well, making it true 3D in that you can sidestep etc would kill Street Fighter, if you just replaced the sprites with 3D models it wouldn't kill it, but it'd still just be another victory for the graphic whores, it wont change the gameplay one bit.

    You seen that 'New Super Mario Bros' DS game, its good old 2D platforming but using 3D graphics, looks very promising and may be up your street :D

  • Daryoon #17 7 years ago

    Is it not Street Fighter 1 that's 15 years old? No way is SF2 that old...15 years ago is 1989 o_O

  • mal #18 7 years ago

    I really think they could get away with redrawing the sprites at high resolution and get away with it.

    I do think it's a shame that SF is turning into something of a museum piece at the moment. I remember owning a DC and every week there seemed to be a new SF of SF spin-off game out for it. The versus games, SF3 and SF Zero/Alpha. Damnit, if they'd continued at that rate while moving onto hardware that more than two people actually bought, we might have an established modern SF series.

    Eh well, they still have chance to actually redraw the graphics for once for the next anniversary edition.

  • skalmanxl #19 7 years ago

    No it's the Street Fighter brand that celebrates 15 years, SF2 is just the most iconic title to the market of that series.

    Street Fighters EX + Alpha (Yes that's the title) was in 3D, and while I haven't played the second one, the first one, and the third one sucked horribly on PS1 and PS2 respectivley. Just horrible games to my standards, to think that I bought the first one on release day...only to notice that it's a horrible and stiff fighter.

  • tengu #20 7 years ago

    All the SF Ex games were shit, without exception.

    Capcom should stay away from 3D beat em ups altogether given their track record.

  • skalmanxl #21 7 years ago

    The SF EX games where made by Arika mind...but Capcom watched over the projects, and all ended up shite.

  • Abscido #22 7 years ago

    It's true that the EX games were way too slow and cumbersome, but I really liked playing as my favourite SF characters and seeing their moves in 3D.

    I strongly disagree that SF's gameplay would be lost with the move to 3D. It would have to be a great game to pull it off, no doubt about it, but it would be a joy to see it happen. I can't see a new, high-budget SF game ever making its money back, though, no matter how good it was. Bloody shame.

  • mal #23 7 years ago

    Capcom should stay away from 3D beat em ups altogether given their track record.

    /points at the Rival Schools games

  • luisalis #24 7 years ago

    It is true that Rival Schools was a good 3D fighter, and so was the Star Gladiator series. The Arika experiment was not a total failure in my opinion, but the games were not good. Terribly flawed and didn't provide with anything remotely satisfactory when compared to any other 3D fighter.

    As for re-doing SF with more pixel resolution and better animations, well, 3rd Strike does that, along with a genius revamping of the fighting system and a plethora of new characters. 3rd Strike is the best Street Fighter ever, really. You'd be surprised.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/04 @ 09:55

  • luisalis #25 7 years ago

    I think it all boils down to game journo boredom-induced, mind-forged manacles.

    These people are spoiled with games, have playable code before it's released and are required to know about virtually anything that's out and being developed at the moment. They live in the edge of novelty and they have been for long years. I know because I was one.

    So how does this translate when they review something as great as SFAC? Unable to contextualise it and make an objective judgement that's useful for today's gamer, they reminisce on the first times they played SFII in the arcade, how they played frantically on Snes, how they got progresively burnt out with all the Turbo and Super Turbo itinerations, how they got frustrated with the cow milking on the mechanics that Capcom did with Alpha series, DarkStalkers series, Marvel Super Heroes and the VS series and so on, and how we had Street Fighter Collections on PSOne and Saturn and Dreamcast releases and EX versions and 3D versions and then came the recent Anniversary Edition for PS2...

    And suddenly when this is released on Xbox they get cynical and just don't feel it's that great anymore, even if it comes with something as amazing as online capability which they've probably been fantasising about for ten years, and forget that many consumers out there only own an Xbox and might not be familiar with anything Street Fighter at all, and forget that this release is many games in one for a very reasonable price, including one of the best 2D games ever made, let alone fighting.

    They have also been so blinded by marketing hype and shiny 3D third person shooters that they feel uncomfortable with "ancient" style of games, games that are not mass market anymore, suddenly unable to recognise its isolated, immense and entertaining value, feeling that if they start rewarding semi old-school graphics or playability then they would need to revise their whole set of criteria on what makes a game great. But, they would stick a 7 or an 8 to £15.99 GBA's Pac-Man without thinking - just because retro is cool and it's selling a lot. Now there's a game journalist for you.
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/04 @ 11:40

  • Nillsens #26 7 years ago

    John Kiddier's words warm my heart in the icy lands that are this review.

  • Abscido #27 7 years ago

    Guys, online Street Fighter 3 is *not* worthy of recommendation to anyone but diehard fans of the series, which you lot clearly are. There is no way I could recommend it to an Xbox owner in place of the many other fantastic Live games that are available at discount for the same price.

    I know you'll enjoy SF Live (I'll see you there, in fact) but 99% of Xbox owners, in my opinion, couldn't give a crap.

    Sensi Soccer is probably still the best 2D soccer game around - should we be looking to pay for a Live version of that too?

  • PinkSpider #28 7 years ago

    Thats bollox my perfect condition boxed arcade stick came to 8 quid from Gamestation, it was like it had never been used aswell!

    edit: dreamcast doesent need a mod chip so in theory for under 30 quid u can get a DC, a Arcade stick and a few games (6 if you buy your CDR from pound shop (more if you buy in bulk)).
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/04 @ 19:54

  • Feanor #29 7 years ago

    "Um what, you mean Alpha 3? Best SF ever IMO and to me, the PS d-pad was perfect for it."

    I tried Alpha 3 on the PS1 and my thumb just couldn't take the beating. I'm sure with a good arcade stick it was a great game, though.

  • skalmanxl #30 7 years ago

    Sensi Soccer is probably still the best 2D soccer game around - should we be looking to pay for a Live version of that too?

    Abso-fucking-lutley!

    No disrespect here, but that is somewhat of a wet dream of mine, the only thing I can think of that would beat a old skool Sensi, is a Old Skool Pong, via Live...now THAT's where it's at.

  • mal #31 7 years ago

    Third Strike on DC still fetched £20+ 2nd hand

    Eh, don't tell tengu that - I just bought a copy of that off him for just over a tenner. And it's mint. Cheers tengu!
    Edited by 1 at 09/11/04 @ 20:52