Review - STREET FIGHTER 30TH ANNIVERSARY COLLECTION - The Super Mega Ultra Version Prime+!
The Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is a great example of HOW a great port should be done, paying tribute to the best 2D Street Fighter games of the whole series.
You're getting no less than 12 Street Fighter arcade ports, whom 4 of them have been updated for online play.
Get ready for the best roundup of 2D fighting games ever made!
(Note: the screenshot above is a recreation of the original arcade game. This game doesn't have screen curvature, and the artwork on the sides is different.)
| Store | Platform | OVERALL RATING: 93% |
| Buy it on Steam | PC |
+ THE POSITIVE
- The best 2D fighting games of the 90s- Some of the best pixel art backgrounds ever made - Incredible animations, especially in the Street Fighter Alpha series - Street Fighter OSTs go with everything! - Perfect arcade emulation, but...
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THE NEGATIVE
...Apparently, some of these games are unpatchedoutdated versions of the original games - A.I. will destroy you even on lowest difficulty - Training mode would have been good for every game - INTERNATIONAL versions only! - Ultra Street Fighter II deserved to be in this compilation |
| Buy it on Amazon Buy on Playstation Store |
PS4 | |
| Buy it on Amazon Buy on Nintendo |
Switch | |
| Buy it on Amazon Buy on Microsoft |
Xbox One |
WHAT IS IT?Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is a compilation of every Arcade Street Fighter game released in the 90s (including the very first Street Fighter released in 1987!), up to Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (1999).
That's the biggest compilation ever made for this franchise, containing 12 games, and its purpose is to celebrate the recent 30 year anniversary of the original Street Fighter.
LIST OF AVAILABLE GAMES:
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| The best Street Fighter games ever made. Summer 2018 will be intense. |
• Street Fighter II
• Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
• Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting*
• Super Street Fighter II
• Super Street Fighter II: Turbo*
• Street Fighter Alpha
• Street Fighter Alpha 2
• Street Fighter Alpha 3*
• Street Fighter III
• Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike*
*Online play and Training Mode supported
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| Street Fighter II (1991) original artwork. |
Every game can be obviously played offline, against friends or CPU, but what makes this compilation very necessary is that you can also play ONLINE, in various different modes.
Of course, this was already achievable before thanks to emulators and Netplay, but not everybody has the knowledge/patience to set it up, not even mentioning how unstable it can be.
It has to be noted that this time, players can use save states as they progress in offline modes, which we immensely appreciate.
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| Only these four games have training mode, AND can be played online! |
The traditional offline modes include:
- Arcade mode
- Versus mode for playing against friends in couch co-op, like in the good old times!
- Training mode (There are lots of complaints about it because only 4 games have this mode! Every different version has some little gameplay differences, so it would have been good to have a practice mode for every game.)
Note!
There
are lots of complaints about ONLINE AND TRAINING MODE because it's available only in 4 games! - Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo
- Street Fighter Alpha 3
- Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike
Every different version has some little gameplay differences, so it would have been good to have a practice mode for every game.
On the other hand, these four games cover pretty much everything which has been done in the Street Fighter franchise in the 90s.
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| You can admire frame-by-frame EVERY special attack of the 48 characters available in the whole compilation. Here, the famous "Shoryuken"(which roughly translates as "Punching down your teeth down your throat") by Ryu. |
When you play online, you can create or join a lobby to set up custom games.
There are leaderboards, skill level options, and you can also tweak your input lag to refine how it feels to play, giving you a small advantage if you have poor network connections.
For your comfort, you can of course tweak the controls to your heart's content.
Every single button is configurable, and a nice touch, the second player can have his own setup while playing couch co-op.
Finally, the compilation has LOTS of goodies like interactive sprite animation breakdowns (48 characters!), high-resolution design documents, and various old artworks from the 90s which will remind you of the countless coins you wasted in arcade cabinets, and the nice smell of cookies you had at your friend's home while playing Street Fighter II on Super Nintendo, instead of doing your homework!
Note!
There are ALSO some complaints in Japan, about an interesting detail: This is a compilation of the INTERNATIONAL versions of the games, and therefore titles, voices, and text are all in English, which is quite a shame, when you think about it. More confusing, the names... For example, in Street Fighter II, M. Bison is actually called Vega in Japan, while Balrog (the boxer) is called M. Bison. It would have been VERY interesting, and not necessarily requiring that much more work to include the JAPANESE versions as well.
Boring and completely outdated, Street Fighter 1 is to Street Fighter 2 what GTA 2 is to GTA 3.
Forgettable and completely out-shadowed by its sequel. Despite this, it was successful and was the FIRST game ever to introduce the famous six button controls and command-based special techniques.
The basis of the Street Fighter games was already laid down.
Basically, you compete in a series of two or three-rounds versus matches, and you have to knock out your opponent in less than 30 seconds! Fail to do it in time and the fighter with the greater amount of energy left is declared the round's winner.
You must win two rounds in order to win the battle and proceed to the next one.
Playing against a human opponent was also already available, and interrupting a single-player game to annoy your friend was possible. (Aaahh the famous "here comes a new challenger!"😁)
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| 5 seconds later, Ryu was sent to the hospital with an open fracture. They forgot to replace the bricks with fake ones. |
Controls were already very simple and intuitive. Just use your gamepad(preferably) to move back and forward, jump and crouch, or defend against an opponent's attacks. You know the drill.
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| NONE of these guys are in the game. lol |
And finally, what made Street Fighter famous, the special techniques, which can be performed by inputting a specific series of joystick and button inputs.
Why is this game so outdated compared to its sequels?
You can play ONLY as Ryu! (The second player can play as Ken, in the 2-players matches.)
And the rest of the characters lacked any personality or imagination.
Not even mentioning how unbalanced the gameplay was.
THE timeless classic, the one that spawned countless sequels, and inspired more or less 95% of versus fighting games made since 1991.
This is the game which gave the Street Fighter franchise an international recognition. (console ports only sold more than 14 million copies worldwide...)
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| Certainly one the most famous screens in the history of games. By the way, isn't Ryu looking a bit like Kenshiro? |
This time, instead of just poor old Ryu, you can play 8 charismatic and unique characters, each with their own specific style! Combat has been improved with a combo system, making the game much more addictive!
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| My car! I hadn't finish paying it off! |
Apparently, they used a Volvo in the first version, but they had to change it because it was hurting the character hands too much.
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| Timing has always been VERY important in the Street Fighter games. One glimpse at this screenshot and I can tell you that it's already finished for poor Guile. |
Basic controls haven't changed, but they feel MUCH better.
And now, you also have grabbing/throwing attacks!
Note!
The developers didn't make the combo system on purpose! Players actually found out after a while that some moves naturally "flowed" into other ones. And thus the combo system was born by accident, and later adopted by the vast majority of fighting games, and of course expanded especially in the Street Fighter sequels.
1992 - STREET FIGHTER II' (CHAMPION EDITION)
Now you can play also the four bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison), and they have their own ending as well. As the CPU, their difficulty has been drastically reduced.
The gameplay has been refined to allow a more balanced competition. Especially Ryu's and Ken's techniques were changed in order to differentiate their styles.
Also, now, two players can play with the same character. If your friend chooses the same character as you, his color palette will be automatically changed.
Although, even in single-player mode, you can change your character's color by pressing the "start" button.
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| Try E.Honda heatbutt attack in real life to entertain your friends! |
TIP!
Complete
the single-player tournament without losing a match and you'll see the
new end credits sequence, with a very nice new music as well!Background stages were improved a bit, especially the colors.
The portraits for all the characters and endings of some of the returning characters were redrawn in a more realistic serious way.
1992 - STREET FIGHTER II' - HYPER FIGHTINGReleased the same year as the Champion Edition, Hyper Fighting introduced a faster gameplay and new special moves for most characters, as well as further refinement to the character balance.
As a result, the inputs for special moves and combos require more precise timing.
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| A VERY rare sight in any Street Fighter game, the Double K.O.! And by the way, yes, that miniskirt girl in the background is playing with the guy's growing bulge. |
1993 - SUPER STREET FIGHTER II: THE NEW CHALLENGERSFinally a big evolution!
Super Street Fighter II introduces FOUR new characters, and refined balanced gameplay.
Graphics and audio are now a bit more sophisticated, thanks to the new CPSII hardware!
- The HUD, stages, and character portraits were reworked. The game looks brighter and more colorful in general.
- The original opening sequence, which used to feature two completely generic characters which were not in the game at all, is replaced by a more appropriate - although not necessarily cooler - new opening featuring Ryu launching a "Hadoken" towards the screen.
- Victory poses AND special moves are more detailed with more complex animations.
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| Ken stage used to take place at dawn, while now it's more bright and colorful and looks more like it's noon. |
Note!
The faster gameplay introduced in Hyper Fighting was reduced to the same speed level as Champion Edition.- The music and sound effects were completely "re-orchestrated", and although it's a hit and miss, it does sound better in general.
- New voice samples were recorded for some of the characters (Ken, Guile, and Sagat).
- This time, you can choose up to EIGHT color schemes for your characters!
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| The four new playable characters! Fei Long is by far the most enjoyable of all, while Dee Jay is forgettable. |
- Thanks to the FOUR new characters, the number of playable characters is now raised to 16! The new characters include:
- Dee Jay, a "kickboxing musician from Jamaica seeking inspiration for his next song".
Yeah I can relate to that. Me too, sometimes I like to beat up people to find inspiration for my articles. You can't imagine how many people died for this long article, actually.
- Fei Long, a super-fast Bruce Lee clone, who happens to be a movie star in Hong Kong, wishes to test his martial arts against real opponents.
- Cammy, a 19-year-old female with botoxed asscheeks, working for the British special forces. She has a mysterious past tied to M. Bison.
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| Cammy's assvolution.😁 |
He can't wait to turn M.Bison into a traditional Native American stew.
1994 - SUPER STREET FIGHTER II TURBOThe FINAL Street Fighter II version present in this compilation, and therefore maybe the best Street Fighter II, it introduces notably, among other things:
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| The new secret character, Akuma! |
He is the most powerful character in the game, and banned in ALL competitive tournaments!
- "Super Combos"! They're just enhanced versions of the original special moves, and deal MUCH more damage.
Their use is limited by a Super Combo meter which fills as you "connect" attacks against the opponent (whether blocking or not).
It's easier and faster to fill the meter with special moves(such as fireballs), though.
When the Super Combo meter is full, it is replaced with the word "super".
You can perform your Super Combo by inputting a rather complex command sequence, which usually requires you to have 8 hands and 5 left brains.
- "Throw softening"! Super Turbo introduced the ability to "soften" your fall, if your opponent throws you(a bit like in the Streets of Rage games)!
Again, it needs VERY precise timing, though!
Note!
"Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers" was a bit criticized because it was slower than "Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting". "Super Street Fighter II Turbo" fixes this problem and is the FIRST Street Fighter game released in arcades to feature an adjustable speed setting. (4 different choices)
1995 - STREET FIGHTER ALPHA: WARRIORS' DREAMSStreet Fighter takes a completely different turn with the first version of the Alpha series!
There are LOTS of changes this time!
- Anime graphics! The first thing that grabs our attention is the new graphics, drawn in a cartoonish style, similarly to Darkstalkers or X-men: Children of the Atom.
This big change didn't please everybody back then, but the incredibly improved animations make up for it. Characters look much more lively and believable than before, despite their pixelated "anime" look.
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| Two of the new characters, Rose and Sodom! |
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| Although we miss her previous look, Chun Li has never been stronger than in the Alpha series! |
ONLY FOUR characters "survived" from the previous games: Ryu, Ken, Sagat, and Chun Li!
Another disappointment: we don't see Chun Li beautiful legs anymore, since she's now wearing pants! 😅
The new characters:
Birdie, a black punk whose stage is in Italy, despite being British...Adon (Sagat's former apprentice) from the original Street Fighter.
Guy, one of the main playable characters from Final Fight.
Sodom, a boss character from Final Fight.
Charlie, Guile's combat buddy who uses the same special techniques
Rose, an Italian female fortune teller who uses an energy known as "Soul Power".
- Interestingly, the game is supposed to take place BEFORE Street Fighter II, therefore, most characters are younger versions of established characters. (maybe that's why Chun Li feels very fast and strong in this one!)
There are also a few characters from Final Fight, and a few completely new characters as well.
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| It's unfortunate, but because the game has been rushed, some characters share the same stage backgrounds! |
- the Super Combo system is improved with a three-level Super Combo gauge. This time, when the gauge reaches Level 1 or higher, you can perform a Super Combo technique. The number of punch or kick buttons pressed simultaneously when performing a Super Combo determines the amount that will be used.
- Alpha Counter (Zero counter in Japanese version) is a special counterattacking technique, used after blocking an opponent's attack, which consumes a level of the Super Combo Gauge.
- Finally, you can choose two playing styles: "Normal" and "Auto".
With "Auto", your character automatically guards against a limited number of attacks.
Also, you can perform easily a super combo by pressing a punch and kick of the same strength simultaneously, but at the expense of reducing the maximum level of the Super Combo gauge to one.
Note!
The game has a hidden battle mode called "Dramatic battle", featuring both Ken and Ryu VS M.Bison, like in the 1994 animated movie.
1996 - STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2 Everything like Warriors' Dreams, but better!
More characters, beautiful stages, and refined gameplay!
- It's starting to get annoying, but they improved AGAIN the combo system!
So this time, you have the "Custom Combo system" ("Original Combo" in Japan), which replaces the "Chain Combos" from the first Alpha.
"If the Super Combo gauge is on Lv. 1 or above, the player can initiate a Custom Combo pressing two punch buttons and a kick or one punch button and two kicks.
The player can then perform any series of basic and special moves to create a Custom Combo until the Timer Gauge at the bottom of the screen runs out.
Additionally, each character now has two Alpha Counters instead of just one: one that can be performed with a kick button and another with a punch button".
- Now you can play the hidden characters of Warriors' Dreams right away!
(M. Bison, Akuma, and Dan)
- GREAT NEWS: Dhalsim and Zangief are coming back! Now it starts feeling like a real Street Fighter game!😁
- EVEN BETTER NEWS: 3 new characters appear, and this time, they feel REALLY GREAT.
Gen, a very old assassin from the original Street Fighter!
Rolento, a member of the Mad Gear gang who originally appeared in Final Fight, and newcomer.
Sakura, a Japanese schoolgirl who takes up street fighting after witnessing one of Ryu's battles.
Finally the ultimate version of the Alpha series, Street Fighter Alpha 3!
(And also arguably the best game in the entire series!)
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| Yeah.. I agree, it's perfect... he he he😋 |
Gameplay isn't that much improved, but offers more possibilities.
First, say bye bye to the "manual" and "auto" mode.
It's being replaced by some new confusing terms representing the THREE different gameplay styles:
- A-ism (Z-ism in Japan), which is based on the previous Alpha games, with the old three-level super combo gauge.
- X-ism, which is much simpler and based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
So you have a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single but powerful Super Combo move. No air-block and alpha counters.
- V-ism (meaning "variable" style), which is new and allowing players to perform custom combos like in Street Fighter Alpha 2, but cannot use Super Combos.
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| Not gonna lie, we have a preference for the more accessible X-ism style. |
You get also a "Guard Power Gauge" ,
which depletes every time you block.When it's completely depleted, you'll be vulnerable to an attack.
Along with all of SFA 2 characters AND some old characters coming back, several new characters have appeared!!
Cammy, E.Honda, Blanka, Balrog, and Vega are coming back!
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| God it's good to see most of the old characters back!😍 |
New characters:
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| The PSP version has the biggest character roster!! |
- Karin, Sakura's rival who was first introduced in the Street Fighter manga Sakura Ganbaru!
- Cody from Final Fight, who has since become an escaped convict.
- Juli and Juni, two of Shadaloo's "Dolls" who serve as Bison's assassins and guards.
What a shame that this isn't the PSP version of Alpha 3 though, which contains...
38 characters!😲
1997 - STREET FIGHTER III: NEW GENERATIONNo, there's no mistake, it was released in 1997, one year before Alpha 3!
Produced for the advanced CPSIII hardware system, Street Fighter III has more elaborate graphics, like very realistic(at the time!) backgrounds, and the most detailed animations ever seen in any Street Fighter game.
Likewise, most gameplay mechanics have been revamped and are the most complex of the entire series.
Like in the Darkstalkers series, you can now dash, retreat, perform high jumps and "leap attacks"(against cheating crouching opponents, a VERY nice touch!), and do a quick standing after falling from an attack!
The developers took a big risk and discarded EVERY previous character, except the everlasting Ryu and Ken.
Most of them look like freaks and aren't as lovable as the original roster, though.
(Blanka and Zangief looked like regular friendly people compared to SFIII characters!)
The new boss is now "Gill", and the game's main character is "Alex"!
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| Backgrounds are way more dark and don't look like touristic places like in the previous Street Fighter games. |
The main new feature in Street Fighter III is to "parry" an opponent's attack.
Parrying(blocking in the Japanese version) is the ability to deflect an incoming attack without receiving damage. (and yes, it requires VERY precise timing, again.)
At the exact moment your opponent's attack is about to hit you(even if it's a special move), move your controller up or down to parry the attack without receiving damage, leaving your opponent vulnerable for a counterattack.
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| Nadia from "the secret of blue water" sure has changed, huh? Cammy called and she wants her ass back!😅 |
The other new feature introduced in Street Fighter III is "Super Arts", which is simply a powerful special move similar to a Super Combo in Super Turbo and the Alpha games.
You have to select one of the three available super arts BEFORE a battle begins.
"Like the Super Combo gauge in previous games, the player has a Super Art gauge which will fill up as the player performs regular and special moves against an opponent.
The player can only perform a Super Art once the gauge is filled."
1998 - STREET FIGHTER III: 2nd IMPACTYou know the drill. It's like the first one, but better in every way!
New gameplay mechanics, new characters, and new special moves!
Also, let's welcome back the bonus rounds, which we didn't see since Super Street Fighter II!
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| Bonus rounds are back, and this time the car is MUCH bigger! On a side note, the 3D model doesn't have the charm of the old pixel art seen in the first games. |
Remember "Super Arts"? Well, developers considered that they were not enough, so now you can also perform more powerful versions of your Special Moves, and it's called "EX Specials".
By using a certain amount of your Super Art gauge, you can perform an EX Special version of a regular Special Move by pressing two attack buttons of the same type(such as two punch buttons) instead of one.
A few more goodies: "Other new abilities added to the game are "tech throw", the ability to escape from a throwing attack, and "personal action", a character-specific taunt."
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| Hugo: "Did you just call my girlfriend a tranny?" Alex: "well, she does have a bulge". |
1999 - STREET FIGHTER III: 3rd STRIKE Whew! Finally! The last Street Fighter game of the 90s!(at least on Arcade...)
Still running on the marvelous CPS3 system, it's the most complete version of Street Fighter III, giving you access to 20 characters, and yes, they still look like complete freaks, but beautifully animated freaks!
Additionally, most stages are either completely new or totally redesigned.
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| The late 90s is when things started looking a bit weird in fighting games... It was the end of an era! |
As if Street Fighter III wasn't complex enough, now you can perform a "guard parry" during a
guard stun, IF the timing is perfect. Last but not least, you get a "Judgement System", which means that you'll be graded after a victory, based on your offense, defense, techniques, and extra points.
Special points are also awarded after fulfilling specific requirements.
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| "I don't always hit women. But when I do, I do it with style!" |
GRAPHICS - WE'RE BACK TO THE ARCADE ROOMS! GIVE ME A COIN!
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| This is how real curvature should look like! And I'm not talking about the screen!😍 |
The CRT and arcade filters available are VERY nicely done, although a curvature effect would have been great.
Also, using full or widescreen modes does stretch the image.
So, if you want the proper ration, you'll probably want to avoid doing that.
Finally, you can fill the rest of the screen with "bezels"(a border around the screen, especially the sides).
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| Sagat teaching Dan to respect women at the pool. |
STREET FIGHTER MUSIC GOES WITH EVERYTHING😎🎶🎹🎸🎷
Don't forget that you can enjoy the complete OSTs in the music player, in the options!
Do we need to mention that these are among the best soundtracks ever made for video games? You could listen to them all day long without ever getting tired.
You can listen to these OSTs while beating up thugs, shaking hands, blocking leftist assauts, walking down the street like a badass viking, dancing with chicken, or even installing Windows XP. 😂
For those who want the original Street Fighter II OST as mp3/vinyl =>
COUNTLESS versions have been made since the early 90s, but this game focuses on the original arcade OSTs ONLY, which is perfectly fine, and the best versions for true nostalgic fans anyway.
It has to be noted that the remixed Ken's theme that we heard in the announcement trailer was made by "Charlie Parra Del Riego", an incredible metal guitar player from Peru, who has been tingling our eardrums since years on Youtube, without needing ASMR!
This guy could turn Benny Hill's theme into metal.(oh wait, somebody did it. 😅)
Well, that's all folks! Have fun beating up your challengers this summer!💪😁🐬
RATING BOX
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VERSION TESTED: Super Mega Ultra Version Prime+
Publisher:
Developer:
Release Date:
29 May, 2018
Genre: Fighting
Single-player/Multiplayer
Difficulty: Normal to Very Hard
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| GRAPHICS: 96% | |||||||||||
| Setting the bar higher than anyone else in the 90s, the games have barely aged and look even better than most recent 2D indie games. EVERY background is so beautiful that it can be used as a wallpaper, and characters animations make them look alive. | |||||||||||
| MUSIC: 97% | |||||||||||
| Timeless classics, which you can listen all day long without ever getting bored. That's how good it is. We destroyed the play button in the music player. | |||||||||||
| SOUNDS: 92% | |||||||||||
| Although most sounds are lo-fi, they're funnily very brutal and extremely satisfying to hear. Voices, like the music, are timeless and everybody can recognize Ryu's Hadoken or Guile's Sonic Boom! You'll surprise yourself imitating the characters after playing for too long.😅 | |||||||||||
| GAMEPLAY: 95% | |||||||||||
| It's Street Fighter. Maybe the most accessible combat system ever invented. Whether you're a newcomer or a hardcore fan since the early 90s, you'll feel at home and execute special moves like there's no tomorrow as soon as you grab the gamepad. | |||||||||||
| OVERALL RATING: 93% | |||||||||||
| Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection has incredible value and is the only compilation you'll ever need to enjoy 2D Street Fighter games.(until the 35th anniversary!) Featuring new online modes and CRT filters to recreate that great retro 90s feeling, it takes you on a nostalgic trip throughout 30 years of the franchise's history. Street Fighter spirit is well alive! | |||||||||||
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