Three amazing fighting games in only two discs, one answer...
Written: Aug 31 '01
Product Rating:
Pros: Three of the latest Street Fighter games in near-perfect arcade transition
Cons: Horribly slow load times between every scene, unbalanced AI issues
The Bottom Line: While not adding anything "new" to Street Fighter, not owning these classics means you're missing out on a piece of true gaming legacy.
NMD85's Full Review: Street Fighter II Collection for PlayStation 1
If you've ever owned a Panasonic REAL 3DO (or a Goldstar brand), you probably have played the system's only flagship title by Capcom, Super Street Fighter II Turbo. A near perect arcade port of Capcom's 3DO-bound final arcade update to the Street Fighter II series. Although the game was not planned to see the light of day on Super Nintendo or Sega Genesis, Capcom has re-released the only never before released game (outside a dead system like 3DO, PC, or the arcades) to add to this 32-bit collection package. Amongst a never before released Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, and current Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis release, Super Street Fighter II (the last Street Fighter II with bonus games). This is one collection Street Fighter fans will definetly add to their library of games.
GRAPHICS: B+
In all the Street Fighter games on these 2-CD's, the graphics couldn't have been more perfect that how precisely they have been ported from their arcade counterparts. Each fighter contains the lost animations from the Super Nintendo, and Sega Genesis versions plus larger sprites with smooth animation to accompany their arcade perfection. Each character has six uniforms in Super Street Fighter II, and a special edition "new uniform" for Super Street Fighter II Turbo as their default uniforms. In Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, each character has their classic Champion Edition, special, and "evil" uniforms that we're hidden in the original Street Fighter Alpha 2. Some of the super combos newly added to Super Street Fighter II Turbo have rather shoddy animation, in essence (like the coin-op/arcade version) they could have been done better since they look poorly worked-out or sloppy. Nonetheless, all these Street Fighter titles now do not miss any loss of animation that their arcade versions had...perfection at last?
One problem ultimately plagues Street Fighter Collection, those are the frequent load times between every match and every scene. You'd think, since these games are rather old, the Playstation could possibly advance past loading simple 2-D animted sprites. Another subject may trick people into thinking Super Street Fighter II & Turbo has slowdown. When you project a fireball at an enemy and the screen slows down significantly, it's simply "slow-motion" like when you defeat an opponent. This is not slowdown, but the slow-motion gets irritable when it happens nearly every time.
SOUND: D+
More arcade perfection so you can listen to what you remember from playing in the arcades so many years ago. The same old arguable problems have not changed, the annoying and "fruity" sounding announcer, the hit sounds, and the awful remixed music designed for the Super Street Fighter II & Turbo titles. The same problems have not changed, and of course, you shouldn't have expected them too either. It's only the fact that Capcom twisted and tangled the soundtrack so much, it doesn't even sound "classic" anymore.
What is a newly occuring problem in porting these Street Fighter games is the lack of sound balance. Luckilly, this is not a problem since the sound and music can be altered in the options menu. The default sound controls have it where the music is too high and the sound effects are too low. Otherwise, the sound and music found in Super Street Fighter II & Turbo is arcade perfect. No problems occur in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, same superb soundtrack, and sound effects from the arcade version of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
CONTROL: B-
Although the control isn't perfect in Super Street Fighter II & Turbo, the control is exact of it's arcade and 3DO counterparts. Super Street Fighter II & Turbo play on the sluggish side while Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold plays beautifully, with smooth responsiveness.
-Super Street Fighter II-
Performing moves is no issue, new characters like Fei Long, Cammy, Dee Jay, and T.Hawk are newer fighters to master since they weren't in the original. Some of the older "classics" like Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li (amongst all the other original World Warriors) have a few newer commodities to keep them from becoming ancients, but revitalize to meet classic status.
-Super Street Fighter II Turbo & Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold-
In Super Street Fighter II Turbo, new abilities have been added for all of the characters. One new special ability for each character, to keep most characters from getting "old", even the "new challengers" from SSFII. Plus, each character now has the ability to perform super moves which usually reflect off the specific character's overall move performance. For instance, Ryu's super combo is the Shinkuu Hadouken, which is his original Hadouken wave-motion twice, like his original Hadouken which is only one wave-motion. Some can be slightly different for characters like Vega and Guile. Guile, for example, has the Super Somersault Flash Kick super move, which requires one to hold a diagonal-pad button down-left for two seconds, then slide forward, then back, then diagonal up-right. Much like Guile's Flash Kick which requires one to hold down for two seconds, then revolt upward while simultaneously pressing a kick command. Some are harder to pull off then others, but usually redeem in intaking massive damage towards the opponent.
Like all the Street Fighters you have a few categories of fighters. The "chargers" like Vega, Guile, M.Bison, Balrog, Dee Jay, E. Honda, and Blanka mostly require one to charge for two seconds either back or down to perform most of the moves. The "all-around (motion-wave commands)" characters like Ryu, Ken, Dhalsim, Sagat, Fei-Long, and Cammy require one to wave-motion down sliding to foward or inverted to perform the move. Lastly the "rotating" characters, also the smallest category are T. Hawk and Zangief. These characters usually require a 360 degree motion to perform most of the moves, plus all three buttons of punch or kick for other moves like Zangief's Double Lariat. Although most characters fit into a specific category, most characters often blend a comparison of two categories, like T.Hawk, who is a "rotater" and an "all-around", or Dee-Jay who requires "charging" and a "little all-around". And then some fit into a specific category like M.Bison whose moves require all charging, no wave commands. In essence, the wave-motion characters are set for beginners while some of the chargers and rotating characters are set for advanced players. This makes Street Fighter's versatility ratio expand further so no two characters are very similar by comparison.
LASTING FACTOR: A-
The Super Street Fighter series does falter with some unbalanced AI issues. For instance, when you put the game on "one" star (in difficulty level), after the fourth match you'd swear you accidently put on the "eight" star by accident. This hampers the gameplay to some degree, aften gets a little frustrating since the Super Nintendo or Genesis versions never had these unfortunate problems.
The only final statement to make is that Street Fighter Collection barely introduces anything new to these classics, generally speaking everything that has been a secret in the past is no longer one, everything is now unlocked. In Super Street Fighter II, you have the bonus "Flamming Drumcan" mid-game to earn a higher value of points, never offered on the Super NES or Sega Genesis versions due to memory issues. In Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Akuma (the black-ki shotokan master) is now easily available by entering a simplified (and much more reasonable) code. And finally in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, all the "Champion Edition" and "special" outfits are unlocked by pressing "select". The only "new" qualities is in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, you can play "Akuma mode", which allows you to fight Shin (True) Akuma on the Australia area like in the Street Fighter II (Animated) Movie.
This is clearly the best collection or Street Fighter game you can buy for a full-priced game title. Now, with Street Fighter Collection retailing at around $19-$29, you now have three more Street Fighter classics to enjoy on the Playstation (and Saturn). All in all, Capcom has done the right thing in bringing many great classics home at an affordable price on a reliable game console. If you don't own this title yet, you're missing out on a piece of gaming legacy.
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