I remember exactly where I was the first time I played Street Fighter II, the game I believe boosted the fighting game genre to superstardom. I was doing a report for the high school TV station at Smoky Hill High School on how far video game technology had come, and one of my examples was Street Fighter II. I remember playing it. And playing it. And playing it again. After I turned in the camera and finished the report, I went back to play some more.

The original Street Fighter, which came out in 1989 (and was followed by a Turbo Grafx 16 release called Fighting Street) was fun, but, man, did Street Fighter II catapult things. Soon after, Capcom released revision after revision, from Street Fighter II: Champion Edition to Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The series evolved with Street Fighter Alpha and Street Fighter III, before slowing things to a simmer and involving Street Fighter characters in crossover games like Capcom vs. SNK and Marvel vs. Capcom. But, ah, the bliss of Street Fighter II remains fresh in the heads of many fighting fans, and I still know a certain few of you who yank out your SNES just for the sake of playing some Street Fighter II for old time's sake.

If you don't have the priviledge of owning a SNES or a copy of Capcom's masterpiece, you're in luck. Capcom had delved back into their Street Fighter roots and emerged with this new Anniversary Collection, celebrating the 15 year anniversary of the series. Included in this package are two discs jam packed with games- all of the Street Fighter II titles and the superb Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, which initially saw a release on the Dreamcast a few years ago- and remains one of my favorite fighters to date.

The first disc contains all of the Street Fighter II games- the original, the Champion Edition, the Turbo Edition, the Super Edition, and the Super Turbo Edition. It sounds ridiculous, but each one brought something new to the Street Fighter table. Champion allowed you to match a particular character versus their twin; Turbo built up speed; Super introduced interesting new characters to the mix; and Super Turbo introduced even more speed and the significant Super Move, allowing you to pull off a super attack with a complex but learnable joystick and button motion. All of the games are here, in their arcade glory, and look and sound great. You can also tweak different options in the game in order to gain fighting supremacy, and can choose from a couple of different soundtracks (Original and Arranged) for your listening pleasure- all in classic Q-sound.

The real interesting addition to the first disc is the criss-cross factor. Like Vampire Chronicle in Japan, Street Fighter Anniversary Collection gives you the option of taking a character and then choosing their particular fighting style, depending on which game you're playing. Want to match up Blanka from Street Fighter II against Blanka from Super Street Fighter II Turbo? Have at it. Let's see how Street Fighter II Ryu fares against Super Street Fighter II M. Bison. This option won't be for everyone, and I'm sure some balance issues will come into play, but the hardcore will find an appreciation here of the challenge at hand.

The second disc contains Street Fighter III: Third Strike, a game that was made popular both in arcades and on the Sega Dreamcast years ago. It's the most focused of the Street Fighter games, with a gameplay system that's wonderful and the kind of graphics and sound that show Capcom's 2-D glory at its finest. The home conversion is fine, although not as smooth as the Dreamcast edition. You can again tweak with options to make the fighting experience better, including reworking your Supers and Cancels, and it works out well. However, it would have been nice to see the first two Street Fighter III's included.

That's a big problem with this Collection. As jam packed as it is with explosive fighting action, it's lacking in extras. The original animated Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie is included for your viewing pleasure (sadly, it's edited, so no Chun Li boob shot), but that's about it. No boasting galleries, no extra games, no hidden items. Worse yet, the game is lacking completely in online play, an option that will be included in the forthcoming Xbox edition. This is a crushing blow, as online play could have easily been included with just a little reworking. Also, where are the Alpha games? Was the original Street Fighter Alpha not legendary? And how hard would it have been to include the original Street Fighter? It would've taken up a couple of bytes on the disc at best.

These are slight gripes, but being a Street Fighter fan, I'm sure you can understand why I'm making them. However, don't fret, the game is still well worth the money, as it provides a fighting experience on both discs that simply can't be beat, not even with the new-fangled 3-D fighting games dominating the market right now. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection is a must-own for fighting fans and definitely worth a look if you're just now warming up to the series. Shoryuken!!

Our Final ScoreGood

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