Review: A solid anthology with online play, concept art, and useful extra features.
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Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is arcade nostalgia done right
- Thread starter JournalBot
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I still have the 15th Anniversary editions of the Street Fighter 2 Collection and Alpha Collection for the PS2. Crazy to think we're at the 30th Anniversary now.
Also a bit amazing to think that after ~15 games released in the first 15 years, we've only had two major Street Fighter releases in the subsequent 15 years.
Also a bit amazing to think that after ~15 games released in the first 15 years, we've only had two major Street Fighter releases in the subsequent 15 years.
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The 15th Anniversary collection is okay, this is much better really, but the Alpha Collection is pretty awesome. Has all the home port goodies, plus crazy extra stuff you can unlock, like Upper, which was a new version of Alpha 3 that only came out in Japanese arcades on Naomi (and the weirdly got GBA and PSP ports), and the console-exclusive Hyper Alpha, which added new ISMS that let you do wild stuff like Third Strike parries or Vampire Savior chain combos.
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Just to add: Aurich and I beat the crap out of each other during pre-release testing, and we found that online play worked pretty well for the both of us on Nintendo Switch (docked, connected via Wi-Fi at both of our home offices). But mileage is certainly going to vary, especially without cross-platform support.
Also, for some reason, Aurich failed to mention that I actually beat him in a couple of matches. Weird omission there, buddy.
Also, for some reason, Aurich failed to mention that I actually beat him in a couple of matches. Weird omission there, buddy.
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I think the best thing Capcom has done with the Street Fighter series in the last 20 years is naming a dead raising expansion that spoofed Capcom in general "Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha"
But this anthology is a close second.
But this anthology is a close second.
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That's not a fair comparison - in those "15 games released in the first 15 years" you're probably including all of SFII variants (Turbo, Super etc.), while in the following 15 years you're not including all of SFVI variants (Super, Arcade, Ultra etc.)
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There was a dead period of nearly a decade between Third Strike and Street Fighter IV when the franchise was put into a deep sleep that some thought it would never wake up from. Arcades dying and online play not being a real thing yet put a damper on the heart of the games, which are about playing other people at their core.
I have a lot of thoughts about single player content in fighting games, I may write an article some day about it, but player vs player is the real beauty of fighting games, and the avenues to do that just became fewer and further between.
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You won the majority of our test matches actually! Clearly we need to settle this at Technicon this year, offline.
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The CRT filters don't look half bad, and now that Retroarch CRT shaders have been ported to Reshade, we can perfect the look.
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MisterAlex
Ars Tribunus Militum
As someone unfamiliar with all of the different Street Fighter games—I pretty much just played around as Ryu on one version of SF2 on SNES—does that first game offer anything this new anthology doesn't, or does the new collection make it obsolete?
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Ultra Street Fighter II includes HD Remix sprites and audio as toggleable options, along with an immediate unlock of Evil Ryu and Akuma and the addition of Evil Ken as a character. (Oh, and a really, really bad "first-person Ryu" simulator mode which requires Joy-con waggling. That part's best left unmentioned.) If you would rather play classically styled SF2 with redrawn, higher-res sprites, and you don't mind the game balance being kind of broken by easily selectable Evil Ryu/Evil Ken/Akuma, then USF2 is for you. Otherwise, skip that one until the price gets below $15. This compilation is way better.
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Now to see if my Surface Pro 4 can run this comfortably with the minimum amount of RAM. Gah, if only the legal spaghetti could be cleared for CvS, CvS2, SvC:C, and SvC:MotM... and Card Fighter's Clash...
Also, I do wish that Dave Sirlin's HD Remix was included, but I'm guessing that was too much to hope for. I really liked that version.
Also, I do wish that Dave Sirlin's HD Remix was included, but I'm guessing that was too much to hope for. I really liked that version.
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I still remember the first time I walked into an arcade and they had a Rainbow ROM version running on one of the big projection screen presentation cabinets. Was a mouth drop open kind of moment. Sonic booms all over the place.What, no rainbow editions?
Rainbow was broken as all hell, but it was fast, and that's what inspired Hyper Fighting to be made, so definitely part of the history, even if not included.
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The CRT filters don't look half bad, and now that Retroarch CRT shaders have been ported to Reshade, we can perfect the look.
Eh, it still just seems to be the usual blur and mask.
For an example of someone doing a much more accurate job at recreating the actual look of CRT phosphors, see this guy's write-up.
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BloodyCactus
Ars Praefectus
Super SF2 was my fav. Cammy + Feilong are my fav characters. I prefer that over Super Turbo any day, but I guess beggars cant be choosers and SF2 Super Turbo it is..
I did play the heck out of SF3 W Impact on the dreamcast (I think thats double impact?) I still have the gdrom!.. will be interesting to see how the dreamcast versions compares to the one on ps4
I did play the heck out of SF3 W Impact on the dreamcast (I think thats double impact?) I still have the gdrom!.. will be interesting to see how the dreamcast versions compares to the one on ps4
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The CRT filters don't look half bad, and now that Retroarch CRT shaders have been ported to Reshade, we can perfect the look.
Eh, it still just seems to be the usual blur and mask.
For an example of someone doing a much more accurate job at recreating the actual look of CRT phosphors, see this guy's write-up.
I love Pittman, he's awesome.
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It always cracks me up a little that people with LCD screens are doing whatever they can to dirty them up, meanwhile those of us with CRTs are trying to get them as clean as possible, buying up old broadcast monitors with razor sharp scanlines and recapping our arcade monitors.
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Interesting, that's not a common opinion. I remember when the original Super came out we were pretty mad about how slow it felt after Hyper Fighting.
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BloodyCactus
Ars Praefectus
A lot of people hated on Third Strike too back then, I remember thinking it was pretty awesome.
I have the most time on Guile, I remember him being easier to play than Cammy or Fei Long
The Dreamcast had awesome fighters for a home console.
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This is a must-get for me. From Elena, to Ibuki, to Dudley, there are a lot of fun characters I really liked that never really made it anywhere else. I was fire with Ibuki back in the day.
The one thing I really miss from these retro Street Fighter love-fests is Street Fighter EX. It holds a special place as the first 3D Street Fighter, it had a much slower, more deliberate pace, and it had interesting experimental fighters like Skullomania and Crackerjack. It likely wouldn't translate well in a world that has grown up on Tekken and Soul Caliber, but it would be fun to include in a pack like this for history's sake.
The one thing I really miss from these retro Street Fighter love-fests is Street Fighter EX. It holds a special place as the first 3D Street Fighter, it had a much slower, more deliberate pace, and it had interesting experimental fighters like Skullomania and Crackerjack. It likely wouldn't translate well in a world that has grown up on Tekken and Soul Caliber, but it would be fun to include in a pack like this for history's sake.
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Companies make games in order to make cash. USF2 was a new, original sequel to SF2 on a new platform. Why drag them for that?
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Because it was nothing more than a glossy coat of paint on a 20 year old game sold for $40. A terrible value, especially considering the 30th Anniversary offering at the same price. Game companies rely on goodwill to keep selling games, too.
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You probably already know, but if not you should check out Fighting EX Layer. Skullomania's back, baby!
https://twitter.com/FightingExLayer
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I guess that kind of comment passes muster on Polygon or something?
USF2 has new and rebalanced characters, net code, and active servers. For a launch title it's a lot more of a show of faith than other companies gave the Switch. You could argue it's overpriced at $40, but it's not a throwaway garbage title.
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Compared to what's offered in 30th Anniversary, it's a pretty thin veneer, IMO. The exact same launch price, with 12 games, four of them with at least as good online support and tutorials, more rendering options on launch, etc.
It's say it was a shallow update compared to 30th Anniversary.
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It wasn't anything of the sort though. It was Super Turbo HD Remix with a couple palette swapped extra characters that were way overpowered and had touch of death combos.
It wasn't new or original or a sequel. Now we get the real Super Turbo, along with 11 other variations, for the same price. That's value.
Edit: I bought it by the way, I like supporting Street Fighter. But it was a crap value still, I just didn't care
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Street Fighter III was really polarizing, they tossed a lot of fan favorites for a new cast, and people were mad about it. Same people who probably complained when they did versions using the same old characters, you can't please 'em!
Also, parries are an amazing mechanic, and create super hype moments, but some people hate how much they change the game, and that's fair.
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I’ll be getting this for sure. I really loved the original SF (with 6 buttons, not those punch things, because I’m not a lunatic). Big characters, holy shit I can throw a fireball??, lots of crazy opponents, karate chopping bricks between rounds - it had it all. SF2 and up are way better games of course, But man was it cool back then. I bought the turbo grafx cd version of “fighting street” just to have a taste at home.
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I really love the series and 30 years nonetheless.
But i find kind of ironic that at the same time it made arcades huge, it also killed all the other genres which ended killing the arcades.
Sorry for the kids that will never experience an arcade like playland, at Times Square back in the day.
But i find kind of ironic that at the same time it made arcades huge, it also killed all the other genres which ended killing the arcades.
Sorry for the kids that will never experience an arcade like playland, at Times Square back in the day.
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How do you figure?
Home consoles murdered the arcade, don't think you can put that on Street Fighter.
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At its peak, all arcades only had street fighter machines and nobody was interested in any other type of games (at the arcades), hence other publishers simply moved to consoles, as you stated, bringing along the gamers that wanted something else, besides a fighting game.
And you are partially right, SF wasnt the only one, MK and KI were also culprits.
Well, as i said, the genre did, which exploded with SF II.
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The US's (and too a lesser degree, the rest of NA's) absolute distain of socializing as well as the media, government, and anyone who was over 30 years old in the 80s painting people who played video games as sub-human and the games themselves as more damaging to society then crack cocaine on PCP killed the arcade.
It's still a very, very healthy thing in countries that didn't do that, even the ones where the number of people who own a console is much higher then in the US.
As for street fighter ... ahhh no. That is the opposite of the truth. Street fighter 2 lead to a resurgence of arcades as the locations like bowling allies that kept cabinets in them found themselves having to get rid of SF2 cabinets because they were so popular people would loiter all day waiting to play. SF also changed forever the way arcades take your money by being the first game that you could play pretty much indefinitely if you were good at it ... because anyone else could pay to challenge you so they didn't need to "end" your quarter and get another. So it made a shit ton of money while also encouraging people to practice ... which made even more money.
Hell, back in my prime, I don't recall ever having to stop playing SF2 unless someone beat me, I had to leave, or it was one of the versions that ended when you won the game.
Or rainbow. My god the rainbow computer could kick my ass. How do you dodge 90 fireballs?
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Is there any version of Street Fighter II that supports Guile's glitch moves (statue, handcuffs, invisible throw)? The first time someone crushed my Ryu in an arcade with a continuous barrage of invisible throws before I could even stand, I was equal parts pissed and mesmerized.
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I came into SF2 "backwards" as by chance I bought Street Fighter II on the SNES as an impulse buy as a middle school kid, not knowing what it was...
I got totally hooked, and I didn't even realize it was originally an arcade game.
Imagine what happened when I happened across an arcade cabinet. Holy F*$#)@
lol. Bonus is that, by chance the people playing at that arcade I later realized were awesome, cause after stomping this scrub kid a few times who kept whining "I wish I had a controller" (go ahead, laugh) they taught me how to play.
So many good memories, and that comradely of fellow players ingrained into me. The only reason I got into Mortal Kombat? Another awesome guy taught me at the arcade after stomping my butt, cause the best thing you could ever have is if someone you train comes back as a true competitor.
I'll stop, had to post with people bringing up death of arcades due to SF2 and consoles. No that came later. I ironically starting going TO arcades because of SNES SF2. It was a revival. Most arcades in my area died because mall rent skyrocketed (as indoor malls died) and suffered a painful death via "ticket redemption games" and "6 credits to play" as they got squeezed out by higher rent.
I got totally hooked, and I didn't even realize it was originally an arcade game.
Imagine what happened when I happened across an arcade cabinet. Holy F*$#)@
lol. Bonus is that, by chance the people playing at that arcade I later realized were awesome, cause after stomping this scrub kid a few times who kept whining "I wish I had a controller" (go ahead, laugh) they taught me how to play.
So many good memories, and that comradely of fellow players ingrained into me. The only reason I got into Mortal Kombat? Another awesome guy taught me at the arcade after stomping my butt, cause the best thing you could ever have is if someone you train comes back as a true competitor.
I'll stop, had to post with people bringing up death of arcades due to SF2 and consoles. No that came later. I ironically starting going TO arcades because of SNES SF2. It was a revival. Most arcades in my area died because mall rent skyrocketed (as indoor malls died) and suffered a painful death via "ticket redemption games" and "6 credits to play" as they got squeezed out by higher rent.
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With the mixed reviews on Steam, the price, and no Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold I might pick it up someday after it drops a lot in price for the Alpha games and SF3 3rd strike.
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You're thinking of the original SF2: World Warrior, which is included in this package, so yes, it's possible to pull off Guile's gamebreaking shit in here.
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