Street Fighter Alpha Anthology

THE BAD:
Occasionally unresponsive conrols.

SUMMARY:
The latest retro compilation put out by Capcom, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology focuses on the more advanced SD fighting series from the late 1990s. This version includes the 3 original Alpha titles, an updated version of Alpha 2 not released in US arcades (it did get a PlayStation release), and the arcade version of the console title "Pocket Fighter", among others.

The graphics are arcade-perfect, simple yet solid but not totally spectacular. The characters look like they always have and don't really change from game to game in terms of looks. The backgrounds are generally nice to look at although some clearly show more detail than others. The frame rate is always smooth with no unintentional slowdown. Sounds are also arcade-perfect, which generally is decent overall. Most of the character voices are good and don't change much from title to title, but the announcer voices in Alpha 1 & 2 are so horrible it's almost funny-it makes "Perfect" sound more like "Paahfekt". The music varies by each stage but is good overall. Controls are slightly complex and occasionally unresponsive, although that largely varies on your setup: With a PS2 controller the layouts, while adjustable, are rather cumbersome and difficult to work with in most of the games. If you have an arcade stick or specialized 6-button controller of some sorts, the default controls are arcade-perfect and easy to pick up, but there is still occasional unresponsiveness when trying to perform certain commands. Gameplay is traditional Street Fighter 2D but these games are considered more advanced due to several changes over the originals; The most notable changes were the introduction of Super Combos and Alpha Counters as well as various other technical upgrades. The collection also boasts 5 original fighters: The original Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold (mostly adding new characters), and the still-popular Alpha 3, which also featured multiple fighting styles giving it incredibly high replay value. Also featured is Super Gem Fighter Mini-Mix (Pocket Fighter on consoles), an extremely hilarious anime-style spoof of the series also featuring brief cameos by other Capcom personalities. Additionally, skilled players and those who experiment can find hidden options to enhance gameplay for each title plus there are at least 2 hidden games to unlock through gameplay. The load times for each game seem a little long at first, checking in at about 10-15 seconds each (what's also interesting is if you're one of those few people out there with the PS2's Hard Drive, you can "install" the game to the HD and it loads faster) but the tradeoff is once the game starts, there's zero load times until you quit. No loading whatsoever during gameplay! The games play as well as they did before but also boast fairly extensive options as well, and Super Gem Fighter is a great way to unwind and have fun after you've done "serious" playing of the other games for a while.

Despite the occasionally finicky controls, this is about as perfect an SF compilation as there ever could be. Although Alpha 3 alone is worth the $30 price tag, adding the other titles and hidden games makes this title even more worth it. Anyone that has ever called themselves an SF fan should go out and pick this one up and keep their quarters in their pockets afterwards.