It is hard to believe that it has been 15 years since the Street Fighter hit the streets. I remember when I was a young kid, people cramming quarters in the arcade vying for a chance to get to play this fighting masterpiece. Since that time Capcom has milked the Street Fighter II and III series for all that it is worth, releasing countless variations of the same game. Each edition has a nice additional name tacked on in the end such as: turbo, championship, or something that made it sound different, and players were given slight tweaks. Yet in spite of this, millions of people purchased these games in droves over the course of several generations of console hardware. Capcom has now released Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the Xbox, but the question remains: how does this game stack up in comparison to other compilation games? Read on to find out.

This game is composed of two different games: Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. First we are going to discuss the Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition portion of the game. This game includes five different renditions of the Street Fighter II rolled up into one game. It includes Street Fighter II, Street Fighter II Championship Edition, Street Fighter II Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

The neatest thing about this game is that it is unlike many other “anniversary editions” that are floating around today. For instance players will be able to fight a Super Street Fighter character against a Super Street Fighter II Turbo character. The game’s flow is something like this, you pick what character you wish to fight as then you pick which game version you wish to play. As cheesy as this might sound, picking certain characters than which version really expands the game because certain versions have more powerful moves that are harder to execute. This gives players a multitude of options to play with, and for the Street Fighter II hardcore players it is a dream come true.

The emulation of the graphics and the gameplay for this game are really good. The thing is that younger players will not appreciate the older looking sprites and crazy animations that older players will love to see once more. The gameplay side of this title is just like the original game where timing is everything. If you mistakenly press a button at the wrong time you could lose your life due to another character doing a beat down on you. The sound will take you back to the days of old.

The true gem in this collection is Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. This game takes everything from its predecessors and really expands upon it making it even better (which is what a sequel is supposed to do.) The graphics are really crisp, clean, and look extremely nice. The animation is top notch, making it a perfect arcade translation. This game throws some of the fan favorites back into the game that were lacking from the first two incarnations of Street Fighter III, and really expands upon the moves.

The most notable difference in this game is that when you pick your characters you will get to select a super move to perform before the start of the game, so it mixes the gameplay as well. This game is faster, better, and is more “tactical” than previous Street Fighter games. For instance, if you see your opponent charging up for a super move about to hit you, you will be able to block it and that gives you a chance to do a powerful counter attack. It is things like this that made the Street Fighter series so great because it wasn’t afraid to add new things to help balance out gameplay issues that people were having.

Street Fighter Anniversary Collection is rated T for Teen.

Gameplay: 8.5
The game feels and plays exactly like it did back in the old days which is really good. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike really shines in this game and is the game that many of you will be spending most of your time playing. Also another big plus for this game is that there is hardly any loading time!

Graphics: 8.3
The graphics for Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition look old and not as sharp as the other games. On the flip side of the coin, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike looks really nice and has smoother character animations.

Sound: 7.9
The sound and music to both of these games is decent and will take you back to the days of your youth.

Difficulty: Hard
When I first booted the game up I was confident of my street-fighting skills, but I got it handed to me the first couple of rounds until I got adjusted to how different the games truly were. It was nice playing a game that was this challenging once more, and it made you want to continue to play until you see that ending screen.

Concept: 7.8
I really liked having the opportunity to play six different versions of Street Fighter on one system in the comfort of my home. On top of that, if you haven’t seen Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie you will get a chance now since this game has it as a bonus feature. What is sad is that even though this is a compilation of 15 years of gaming, the game doesn’t really contain as many goodies as one might think.

Multiplayer: 8.2
Not only do you get to play against friends in this game, you will be able to play against people from around the world. With so many hardcore dedicated Street Fighter fans out there, you will be in for the shock of your life when you decide to try your skills online. While playing each version I ran into slight lag ever so often which can kill a game like this, but it wasn’t enough to make me want to turn off the game.

Overall: 8.3
If you are a hardcore Street Fighter fan I am sure that you already own this game. If you are not, this game is a great blast from the past. If you want to see where one of the fighting genres' own got its roots from then you will definitely want to check this game out.