Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for PlayStation 2

You know some companies are just too damn cheap. Doesn't really matter whether it's video-games, music or movies because you can pretty much guarantee that they are all the same. They treat their products like a poor farmer treats that good strong cow; they sell the milk and then rather use the money to buy a new cow they simply milk it and milk it until they can milk it no more. Eidos have done it with the Tomb Raider franchise, Fox have done it with their Die Hard franchise, and Britney Spears has done it with a pair of breasts. Yet throughout history nobody has been as guilty of this than Capcom who have not only been milking the same cow for nearly 20 years, but that cow represents, not a series, but an individual game. That game is Street Fighter II, sequel to the less than classic Street Fighter and followed up by Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Street Fighter II: Turbo, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Since then we have had 3 Street fighter Alpha games, 3 Street Fighter Ex games, at least 3 Street Fighter III games and countless spin offs involving the likes of Marvel Super heroes and Capcom's own rival company SNK. Needless to say this poor cow is now producing more blood then milk but will Capcom ease up on the milking? I doubt it, but one thing is certain, and that is that they have decided to give that second game one last, hard, cow killing tug with Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. (Yes they are aware as to how convoluted these names are getting and they are doing it on purpose) The strangest thing about all of this is that I couldn't be happier about it.

The fact is that Street Fighter II is the grandaddy of all modern beat-em-ups. Without that one little bug that allowed sneaky players to combine two moves into one the combo system would never have been invented. Tekken, Virtual Fighter, Soul Blade and many others would never be viable and we would be stuck in a hell of constant Way Of The Exploding Fist clones. Though in this critics humble opinion the many years of 3Dimensional competitors; not to mention a few updates, will never really impact the simple quality of the 2D Street Fighter system.

That system is the very definition of the phrase "Simple but effective" as all you do is select your favorite character, fly them to an exotic part of the world and then kick somebodies head in. However rather than try for the intense realism that 3D games are now aiming for the early Street Fighter incarnations used a nice family friendly form of cartoon violence. Characters battle with punches and kicks only in emergencies with the majority of damage being caused by big balls of energy and other such over the top moves. Those moves are not of the clunky Mortal Kombat variety though, but rather they are require smooth motions on the part of the player; a quarter circle on the D-pad, a charge away from the screen and a smooth push forward, or for the really strong characters a full 360 degree spin that needs to be done at lightning speeds to prevent the character from merely skipping on the spot and losing. Of course if that all sounds a little hard then there are a few characters designed for the new generation of Street Fighters (pathetic amateurs that you are) that involve nothing more than hammering away at a single button to produce a decently powered attack; the best of which is a comical electrical attack that shocks your opponent to the point of you seeing nothing but their X-Ray, but of course these kind of unholy tactics are easily countered by those of us who are; how you say, undefeatable.

I do feel that this smooth control system is the reason that the Street Fighter style has survived to become the standard for 2 Dimensional fighting, but the fact is that amidst all of the clones Street Fighter II remains the best. At a guess I'd put this down to the wonderful range of quirky characters who vary in size, and while a lot have similar moves still vary in tactics too. You'll have the classics of Ken and Ryu who are the fan favorite fireball throwers, and then you'll get Sagat who utilizes the exact same motions for his move list but because of his being stronger but slower requires very different tactics for both those playing as, and against him. Then you have other characters like Blanka who requires a more defensive stance to beat, followed by Chun-Li who again utilizes the same button mashing move but this time requires an all out assault if you want you best shot at victory. That is just the beginners though and once you get to mastering the really hard characters like Vega you'll find a fresh experience with every round.

Of course the question remains as to what this new anniversary milk feast actually is. Capcom says that it's a combination of every Street Fighter II game of the past, which it is. You can finally settle those arguments over whether the original Vega would stand a chance against Super's fireball throwing Chun-Li. (No seriously we have had these arguments) You simply choose your character as usual, but then go on to select which game you want that character to come from and play through using the appropriate moves, animations and voice acting. Skeptical as to how this makes it worthy as an all new game? So am I, but truth be told the games presentation is so polished that I just couldn't care less.

Rather than re-release Street Fighter II with a wider selection of characters Capcom have actually gone to town in order to ensure the game can stand its ground in the 21st Century. You just have to see this thing in motion as complimenting the classic selection of theme tunes is a speed that can rival the Alpha games. You have to set it yourself, but once you've put the speed up to Turbo four you will find a game that moves fast enough to please even the most seasoned gamer, with just the very occasional slowdown interfering with the otherwise fantastic new pace.

It also seemed, to me at least, that the character sprites were now much larger. Still lacking the detail and classy animation of the Street Fighter Alpha games; this isn't those games afterall, the characters in this anniversary edition seemed to fill the screen much better than the tiny sprites I was used to from the arcade machine in the local chip shop.

It may seem shallow but thanks to the new speed and minor graphical enhancements Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition takes the best designed Street Fighter game and once again turns it into the most playable. It may not be worth full price but then it's only #20, (dunno how much in America, that price is around $35 but you get everything cheaper) plus I get a discount from the local games shop, and a gift voucher for the same shop, so it only cost me #5. Considering that for this cheap price I was able to get one of my all time favorite games, plus was able to silence the employee at the game shop who claimed to be an elite player ( 6 fights to 0 in case you were wondering) then I'd say that it was certainly worth the price. Definitely a five star game. Welcome back my old friend, now please let that cow rest in peace.