11th June 2018

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection – Short Review: PC Version

Scott Pritchard Short Game Reviews 0 Comments

Capcom invented DLC before the internet existed.

Imagine this. You purchased Ultra Street Fighter II on the Switch at full price. A year later an Even-More-Ultra Street Fighter containing all classic variations hits all consoles! Just like the good ol’ days.

Classic Capcom.

For those that didn’t have the pleasure of being alive in the 90’s, Street Fighter II took over the world. We ask the single question that confirms just how good an old game really was: –

Is it still playable today and will it continue to be infinitely playable in another 10 years time? If the answer is yes, you got yourself perfect design, baby.

In order to hone my skills and throw the perfect Hadoken I have been putting myself through various gardening trials, such as – Pull up Bramble and the Weed Squat. I think it has really improved my skills* and for just £5.99 a week you too can benefit from my new top-secret Mr Miyagi style techniques.

Anyway. Street Fighter. That. Let’s hope I can get through this review without utilising the word “remember”.

*may actually reduce quality of play, due to knackered fingers.

This edition comprises of: –

• All the Street Fighter II’s.
• Those Street Fighter Alpha’s.
• Dat Street Fighter III’s.

Yes, it includes all incremental yearly editions. Street Fighter consists of three forward walks, followed by a side step and lastly a drag step. The drag step is when one leg closes to the other leg without changing weight. Cha-cha-cha.

The overall package is as slick as you would expect. The older games enjoy a robust training mode with the ability to change characters directly from the training menu. This is very pleasing. Having all super moves available to view from the pause menu is the kind of modern convenience we can all appreciate, although my favourite feature is being able to change games instantly. The front-end is perfect. Talking of changing games, have any of you tried out Pillars of Eternity II? It’s bloody brilliant. A real improvement over the original and I could talk about that all day…

… Anyway, back to Street Fighter. I hadn’t spent much time with Street Fighter III as the classic 2D fighter had fallen out of favour and I had succumbed into the world of Tekken. Thinking back, there had been a “new” Street Fighter nearly every year and there were (and always is) so many different gaming experiences to enjoy. Brilliantly Capcom competed with itself, as I was buried in Street Fighter Alpha 3 with such brilliant longevity! Street Fighter III is wonderfully animated with distinctive quirky characters and the tightest design. I guess that is the true benefit to owning this collection. If you missed out or partially ignored a version the first time round, here it is! There is a perverse joy to flick through each version to note the major and minor changes.

Arched eyebrow side note – I always thought the turbo editions ruined the animation with it’s hyperactive twitchy appearance.

As you would expect, this collection has to a lot to offer and a lot to mess with. Beyond the filters and aspect ratios you can change the speed and difficulty of each game, but a real bonus is the museum. Each game comes with an a historical sideshow that are an informative surprise. Light but interesting. There are tips and tricks within each editions “game info” telling you how to unlock additional outfits and secret characters, which is handy as you still have to manually input these secrets to reveal them. Call me old-fashioned or simply old, but I can’t be arsed with the secret button combinations to unlock things. I mean, it’s nice that it’s there, but I’d much prefer to have everything already unlocked. Just dump in the sexy little outfits and Evil-Ryu without the arseache.

I found it mildly surprising that not everything is on offer. Street Fighter Alpha 3 on the PlayStation has the fantastic single-player World Tour mode with characters to power up and secrets to earn. Dramatic Battle Mode had 2 individual players taking on a CPU opponent at the same time. These additions (and more) made a real difference to the lifespan of the game and this should have been included. I wish Third Strike had something comparable. I was mildly annoyed that I couldn’t customise the controls to include all three punches/kicks to a single button of my choice. An innocent omission that only bothers you once you realise it’s missing. Oops. Sorry for pointing this out.

I can’t believe I’m still talking about Street Fighter in such depth all these years later. So let’s not… Did you see what “Puff Daddy” said on that Twitters? “Never forget who you are” and everyone pointed out his various name changes! Brilliant. If you had to change your name, what would you choose? Here’s a list to choose from.

• Roman Butternuts.
• Jesús LaBamba.
• Norman Lickburgers.

So, what were we talking about? Oh yes, the terrible parking situation in London. No.. that wasn’t it. Oh yes. The 30 year old fight game that everyone on the planet knows everything about already. Hey, the main theme song on the cover menu is brilliantly awful. A plinky-plonky clusterfuck. Thankfully each games actual tracks have been left well-alone.

I best wrap this up before I get distracted again. The score doesn’t really matter here. Street Fighter changed everything and continues to have an influence today. Still, I could easily see Capcom release a better package in the future. Maybe next time they might actually include the various missing game modes. I guess you have to leave something out to include in the upcoming Super-Shin-Definitive 31st Anniversary Edition. I’d like to see something a bit more avant garde, like every variation of Ryu in a single game. Super Street Ryu. Anyway…

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A nearly-definitive collection of some of the best fight games of all time. 

I’m sure Capcom will pull the same trick again every 10 years until the end of time.