Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection
  

  
REVIEWCreated to celebrate the Street Fighter's 15 years young, and 27 million copies sold worldwide, Street Fighter: Anniversary Collection contains two games: Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (which was previously only available on Dreamcast & Arcade in North America). Basically, if you don't own a Dreamcast or have access to a local arcade with 3rd Strike, Anniversary Collection is your ticket to one of the best 2D fighting games in existence. A new spin on Street Fighter 2 also might be worth the price of admission, if not for nostalgia value alone.

 

Thought Super Turbo was the final SF2 installment? Think again!

 

Before we get to talking about 3rd Strike (a game that deserves to be talked about more often), good old Street Fighter 2 received an innovative new feature. Just when you thought Capcom was surely finished with the SF2 series, they drop Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition on us. This unique edition of SF2 enables players to use and fight against all previous versions of characters from previous installment (World Warrior, Champion Edition, Turbo, Super, and Super Turbo) for a total of 65 different variations! For example: Chun Li from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo can face off against the original Ryu from Street Fighter 2: World Warrior... (complete with accurate character selection screen artwork, by the way!) This crazy new mode allows for some very fun flashbacks, dream match-ups, and the ability to experience SF2 in an entirely new way!
 

Blanka spinning head first into a Yoga Flame.

 

Finally, as the true "headliner" of the collection... the brilliant 2D masterpiece known as SFIII: Third Strike makes its debut on PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles. Capcom crammed everything from the arcade classic into the PS2 port without compromising any animations or smudging any of the 2D brilliance. Capcom also included a new "color filtering" option which lessens the color intensity, but nicely smoothes out some of the jagged edges of the 2D sprites. 
 

Bwahahahaha... these guys are cool.

 
Overall, I'd say the PS2 version looks equal or possibly even better than the Dreamcast version with the filter turned on (especially when using an HDTV). Funny though, how the intro still maintains some noticeably jagged edges within those beautiful sketches by Daigo Ikeno. (Ahh well... I'm nitpicking.) The new port also includes an all new "original" soundtrack which was made specifically for Anniversary Collection. The "Arrange" soundtrack is turned on by default, and I actually prefer it over than the Original... but it's definitely nice to have the option for some fresh new tunes!
 

Dream match-ups!
(Super SF2 Fei Long versus Super Turbo Dee Jay.)

Page Updated: February 21st, 2022
Developer(s): Capcom
Publisher(s): Capcom
Platform(s): PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release Date(s): Aug. 31st, 2004         PS2
Oct. 28th, 2004
         Xbox
Feb. 22nd, 2005
        Xbox
Characters Ryu, Ken Masters, Chun-Li, Guile, Dhalsim, Blanka, Zangief, E. Honda, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, M. Bison, Cammy, Fei Long, Dee Jay, T. Hawk, Dudley, Alex, Yun, Yang, Ibuki, Necro, Sean, Oro, Elena, Hugo, Urien, Remy, Makoto, Q, Twelve, Akuma, Gill

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Featured Video:

Related Games: Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, Street Fighter Alpha: Anthology, Street Fighter, Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition, Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Super Street Fighter 2, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: Revival, Super SF2 Turbo HD Remix, SFIII: New Generation, SFIII: 2nd Impact, SFIII: 3rd Strike, SFIII: 3rd Strike Online Edition, Street Fighter 4, Super SF4, Super SF4: Arcade Edition, Ultra Street Fighter 4, Street Fighter 5, SF5: Champion Edition, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, SFA3 Upper, SFA3 Max, Street Fighter EX, Street Fighter EX2, Street Fighter EX3, Street Fighter: The Movie, TEKKEN 5
  

Music / Sound Effects  9.0 / 10
Innovation  8.0 / 10
Art Direction  8.0 / 10
Customization  9.0 / 10
Options / Extras  8.0 / 10
Intro / Presentation  9.0 / 10
Replayability / Fun  9.0 / 10

BOTTOM LINE

 9.0 / 10

  Review based on PS2 version    

 

Final Words:

In addition to two genre-defining 2D fighting games from Capcom, the Anniversary Collection disk contains a full (but sadly censored) version of Street Fighter: The Animated Movie... still one of the best video game animated movies of all time, of course. What a cool package!

This compilation was no doubt an entertaining and appreciated release for old school Street Fighter players, and especially for fans in the mid 2000's who didn't really have any "new" Street Fighter games to play at the time, sadly. (By the way, you guys should come over to TEKKEN 5 scene at arcades, because it's hot.) Just because you enjoy the classic doesn't mean you can't experience the latest and greatest 3D fighting games also!

But I digress... Also worth mentioning, the text in the intro of Anniversary Collection looks like it came straight from TFG... doesn't it!? "Fighting is Art"... and "True Fighting Game Enthusiasts". While it's simple and to the point, Anniversary Collection still holds up as one of the best Street Fighter compilation titles to date. (Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is another compilation not to be missed!) A full movie, two legendary fighting games, and a new and unique way to enjoy the Street Fighter II engine. Worth owning? Hell yes.
~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen
  

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