Street Fighter is without question the most recognizable name in the industry when it comes to fighting games. When Street Fighter II had been released in the arcades nearly fifteen years ago, it shocked and enthralled millions upon millions of gamers. Eventually, not only did its success result in dozens of arcade and home console iterations, many of which involved exclusive deals with both Nintendo and SEGA, but Street Fighter even spawned action figures, an anime, and, unfortunately, a terrible live-action feature film starring Jean Claude Van Dam as the Guile character. Nevertheless, unlike rival franchise Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter II’s success had been justified by smooth and addicting gameplay, and not some blood and gore gimmick used in Midway’s franchise fighter.
Street Fighter’s presence is so strongly felt within the industry that even to this very day, many, including yours truly, considers any version of Street Fighter II to be the greatest fighting game in existence, in any dimension. So, when Capcom announced Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, the dream of thousands upon thousands of Street Fighter fans was made into a reality. For the first time ever, veteran players and newcomers alike have been given the chance to experience every version of Street Fighter II in a compilation of sorts with Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. And along with this, players can also experience the disgustingly under-appreciated Street Fighter III: Third Strike.
In an era driven by 3D fighters like Dead or Alive, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter, Street Fighter II returns to show the world that no one does it better than Ryu, Ken, and the rest of the gang.
I write this with the biggest smile… HADOUKEN!
Gameplay
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
Over the years, Street Fighter II has received numerous upgrades with titles like Street Fighter II: Turbo, Street Fighter II: Championship Edition, Super Street Fighter II, and Super Street Fighter II: Turbo. Each following version featured minor upgrades over its predecessor, whether it was an adjustment in speed, the ability to play as boss characters, the ability to select two of the same character in versus mode, new character animations, minor gameplay tweaks, alternate costume colors, and in Super Street Fighter II’s case, the addition of a whole new cast of characters. It’s amazing that many hardcore Street Fighter II fans have played through each and every version of the game over the years, and now they’ve been given the chance to experience it all in one place. Well, sort of.
To breathe new life into the game, so to speak, Capcom has opted to dump each arcade version of the Street Fighter II games into one super package called Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Collection. In this Anniversary Collection you can choose any version of a fighter and pit him against any version of another fighter. What’s the significance in all this? Well, in the original Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, both Ryu and Ken were virtually the same characters. Over time, and many different SFII iterations, Ryu became the more powerful of the two while Ken became the faster. In addition to this, with later versions of the games, characters acquired Super Combos, aerial blocking abilities, and such. In this Hyper edition of Street Fighter II, players can take a super combo equipped Ken against a slower and seriously disadvantaged Ken from The World Warrior. Interesting isn’t it? Of course, it is. But thankfully, to prevent the game’s AI from being terribly beaten by a superior character from a later version of the series, the AI is taken up notch in order to make things feel a bit less handicapped, but unfortunately this can’t exactly be done in a similar fashion when facing a human opponent. They’re bound to be handicapped no matter what, that is unless both players choose characters from the same version of Street Fighter II. With this said, I wouldn’t have been bothered much if solely Super Street Fighter II: Turbo was included with the option to turn the game’s Super Combos off. Yet, in turn, Capcom has decided to include this complicated and at times worthless feature. But this is besides the point - Hyper Street Fighter II is still the game millions adored and still love to this very day. It’s still just as fun as it has ever been, and has proven that time does not take away from a game’s greatness.
I mentioned earlier that Street Fighter II is, to many, the greatest fighting game of all time. I stand by that statement to the end. With special attacks that involve
"Street Fighter II is, to many, the greatest fighting game of all time."
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commands like half-circle + punch, half-cirlce + kick, etc. Street Fighter II’s easy pick-up-and-play gameplay allows the game to be accessible to players of all ages and of all skill levels. Its range of fun is unparalleled.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Street Fighter III is an incredibly underappreciated fighter. With Street Fighter III, after the release of Street Fighter Alpha 3, Capcom brought the series back to its roots. No longer could you easily block aerial attacks. No longer could you perform super combo after super combo. No! Street Fighter III, my friends, is all about skill.
In Street Fighter III, very few members of the original Street Fighter II cast could be found, which were, Ryu, Ken, and Akuma. And it wasn’t until the series’ third iteration, Third Strike, in which fan favorite Chun Li returned. Aside from these four, Street Fighter III featured sixteen new fighters into the mix: Sean, Ibuki, Yun, Yang, Elena, Oro, Dudle, Necro, Hugo, Urien, Gill, Twelve, Makoto, Q, and
"Street Fighter III, my friends, is all about skill. "
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Remy. This new cast of characters became the new face of Street Fighter. While they aren’t as memorable as the original Street Fighter II cast, they’re badass in their own right, thanks to an interesting art direction, most notable of all being Necro. Fortunately for those who were skilled with classic SFII characters and miss them, the characters featured in Street Fighter III paralleled to many, if not all, of the original characters. Of course, it also helps that most of the attack commands were the same.
One of the most notable changes made in the series with Street Fighter III was the removal of the aerial block system and the inclusion of the parry system. The parry system involved pressing forward the moment your opponent threw an attack at you, doing so shrugged off your opponents attack and gave you an opening for a counter. At first, parrying becomes a difficult technique to master, but once mastered it feels as if the game has changed face, offering much more depth in gameplay than ever thought to be.
Another big change in the series was the addition of Super Arts. Super Arts are like toned down Super Combos from the Street Fighter Alpha series. Each character has three Super Arts to choose from, one of which must be chosen before the match. Some Super Arts have multiple levels which can be filled, while others have only one. Also, some characters have shorter Super Art bars than others. Just like the combos in the Alpha series, Super Arts are pretty easy to perform in a fight, but what has to be the most useful change in the game, thanks to Super Arts, is the ability to enhance special moves by pressing the punch or kick button twice instead of just once. This only uses about a third of the Super Arts bar and adds great depth to the game by allowing players to manage special moves a bit more easily.
While the parry system and the addition of Super Arts was a big change, Capcom also managed to change other things with Street Fighter III as well, which included the slowing down of gameplay compared to the Alpha series and TURBO editions of Street Fighter II. This forced players to focus on skill and not rely on hectic button mashing which often came as the result of a faster paced fighter.
Now, as mentioned earlier, Street Fighter III: Third Strike had been the third and possible final version of Street Fighter III ever released. What differed between Third Strike and the previous Double Impact version, along with the addition of five new characters, had been the return of the always fun bonus stages, one of which, just like Street Fighter II, involves the destruction of an automobile. Not only this, but players have also been given the option to turn on an air-blocking feature, turn off blocking in general, disable the use of parrying, and other things of this nature. What this allows for is an easier game to pick up, but I believe in its originally thought out form, Street Fighter III is one of the best fighting games ever created.
Sound
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Addition
Capcom’s soundtrack to Street Fighter II is without question one of the most memorable in videogame history. Anyone who has experienced any iteration of the game will tell you this. I don’t even think it can be argued. Just as the theme to the original Super Mario Bros. is burned into the minds of many gamers, just as many recognize the stage themes of Ryu, Ken, Guile, Zangief, and the rest of the Street Fighter crew. Luckily for fans of the series, Capcom has included the remixed soundtracks used in the different Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II games used over the years for The Anniversary Edition of Hyper Street Fighter II, allowing players to customize the soundtracks used in bouts.
Of course, not only are the themes in the games memorable, but the sound effects are too. How’s this? Well, I’m assuming that they’re memorable enough that most reviews about the game probably use the terms “Hadouken” or “Sonic Boom” at some point or another within its text. Of course, this could just be nostalgia kickin’ in, but truthfully, the sound effects and brief voice-overs used are intense, complimenting the game’s fast pacing excellently.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
Being the modern take on the franchise, Third Strike features a soundtrack that has hints of techno and hip hop in it, thanks to the game’s title theme (a Street Fighter III rap anyone?). Definitely not as memorable as SFII’s themes, but still
"In the end it’s still Street Fighter II, and that’s what matters."
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nicely put together. The sound effects also do the job well, even if most seem to be ripped off from previous Street Fighter games.
Graphics
Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition
It’s been more than a decade since Street Fighter II first caused a frenzy in arcades around the world. After those many years, I don’t think anyone is expecting the game to hold up well against today’s graphical standards. However, thanks to the excellent hand drawn sprites and colorful backgrounds used in the Street Fighter II games many years ago, the game still looks pleasing to the eye, and runs smoothly enough to garner zero complaints from me (no more instances of slowdown folks). However, things have been changed a bit in terms of presentation. For starters, every different version of the selectable characters in the game features the appropriate animation changes according to the Street Fighter II games they were featured in. Not only this, but their in-fight avatar will represent this appropriate change as well. To top it off, the stage backdrops have been touched up a bit to feature traits from the many different versions of Street Fighter II. In the end it’s still Street Fighter II, and that’s what matters.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike
When Street Fighter III: Double Impact was first seen in arcades, and then on home consoles with the SEGA Dreamcast, it was commended for its excellent level of animation thanks to the use of Capcom’s CPS-III arcade board. However, with the home release of Third Strike on the Dreamcast four years ago, the game actually looked worse than its predecessor visually, being heavily pixilated and a bit bland color-wise. Luckily, for the release of Third Strike with this Anniversary Edition, the color problems found in the Dreamcast version of Third Strike have been resolved. Although, the game’s pixel-related problems haven’t really seen much of an improvement. Instead of featuring an updated high-res version of the game, Capcom has opted to soften up the details of the character sprites. This isn’t exactly an attractive feature. It makes the game look very low in resolution compared to the stunning Guilty Gear Isuka and Guilty Gear X2 #Reload, two games which are arguably the best looking 2D fighters ever. Nevertheless, the game’s animations are still beautiful, and its art direction is equally commendable.
Final Thoughts
Without question, both Hyper Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III: Third Strike are two of the most enjoyable fighting games around. They can be picked up at any time in order to provide hours upon hours of fun when playing alone or with a friend. The only thing that is lacking with this PlayStation 2 release of the game is the online multiplayer aspect which is scheduled to be found within the Xbox release of the Anniversary Collection in January of 2005. Sure, the game could’ve used some art galleries and such, but the actual gaming experience is what matters most. Although, even with that said, Capcom has included the full length and English-dubbed Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie within this budget-priced collection, but unfortunately for the many hardcore Chun Li fans around the world, her nude scene has been removed from the edition featured.
Street Fighter fans should pick up Street Fighter Anniversary Collection A.S.A.P.
