A mild collection of peak early Street Fighter
There was a time when all the early generation Street Fighter games weren’t available in the same place. Us old-timers had to own multiple systems and collections on those systems to complete the library of fighting street games. But then along came the 30th anniversary of the landmark fighting game franchise and wouldn’t you know, Capcom thought it prudent to offer a bonanza of Street Fighter. Whether or not it’s a bountiful buffet is still up for judgment.
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection aims to do one thing: Give you all the Street Fighter you can shake a stick at. Included out of the box are: Street Fighter, all versions of Street Fighter II (including Tournament Battle, exclusive to the Nintendo Switch); Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper; and, Street Fighter III: New Generation, 2nd Impact: Giant Attack and 3rd Strike. This essentially covers all the bases for early Street Fighter, which is great. Give me everything in one package and let me choose what I want to play. But alas, there is a catch: All the versions included are the arcade versions of the games. That means, for example, with Street Fighter Alpha 3 you aren’t going to get World Tour Mode. Whatever you received in the arcade is what you’re getting here so I hope you like the vanilla versions because that’s what’s served here. That’s not a bad thing if you love Street Fighter, and it’s the smart solution because including the home additions would have pushed this collection to double discs or more.
The package is fine graphically. The games included are going to look exactly what they way they did when they were released, which is exactly how they should here and isn’t the focus. What should be the focus is the surrounding package and it’s nice. The graphics look clean, and menus are inviting. However, I do have a gripe with the menus: Capcom is in dire need of a copy editor. I found at least one error in the text (Akuma’s bio in Super Street Fighter II X for the curious), and this isn’t the first time I’ve found this type of thing (there’s an error in Super Street Fighter IV’s text as well).
As a former professional editor, this type of thing in video games gets on my nerves. Capcom is a billion-dollar company; hiring a copy editor to spell check the menus and text shouldn’t be a problem. It reeks of sloppiness, though I shouldn’t be surprised as this is the same company that refuses to translate the board game in Project Justice or the dating sims in both versions of Rival Schools. But I digress. The presentation is good, and it looks fine on modern systems.
The music is the same as the graphics: just as you remember it and perfectly fine. There is a sound test and that’s helpful if you don’t already have any of the tracks in your music collection. There are a few remixes in the menus that you may not have heard before, but there isn’t anything noteworthy like say Mega Man X Legacy Collection. The extras are mid, though some of the artwork and the official timelines provided are neat. It’s just that there isn’t a lot of it and there should be with this many games included.
And just like the presentation, the playability is just as good as you remember. I was able to finish several games in the arcade mode — once I adjusted the difficulty, which is a godsend — and everything felt great even with a PlayStation 4 Pro controller. I also jumped online to test the netcode, and it was decent. However, with the superior Fightcade now in full swing, fighting online with 30th Anniversary has been made irrelevant.
This is the collection to end all Capcom collections for their fighting games. Yes, Capcom insists on releasing other collections with these games, but this is a good stop gap if you want the mainstream stuff all in one place. Come for the nostalgia and the convenience and maybe stay for the extras. Three decades of Street Fighter should be a spectacle to behold but it’s lacking in the knock your socks off draw-ins. It’s still a rad street fight, however.
Score: 4.5 out of 5
parkour-type jumps to get to other parts of some stages. In some parts of the game where Ayane is called upon, she is a little more flexible than Ryu, but that doesn’t make the controls more difficult. I did have a few issues with controls regarding battles with bosses that require more focus to strike various spots. Also, when Ryu is required to use his kunai to climb, timing to focus on climbing is needed while various enemies fiercely attempt to eliminate you. It taxed my patience and was kind of tedious. 
Turbo, with the North American or Japanese versions available for play. In all cases, these are arcade rom versions gathered together in one spot and you can freely switch between them on free play. Collection-wise, this is a top-tier package for those who love fighting games made by Capcom. Mainstream money maker that’s still around today? That’s Hyper Street Fighter 
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looks phenomenal. It’s the first game to use this technique, and it set the standard in 2000 in terms of presentation. The backgrounds are also well done and inspire runs through the game. It’s clearly an early 2000s game, but that only portends good things about the Dreamcast and what it was capable of.
While everything is great in terms of presentation and control, I’d be remiss in mentioning that there is one bothersome flaw with Jet Grind Radio. While the controls are easily analogous to early Tony Hawk games, it wasn’t easy to pick up the game and know what’s going on immediately. It’s a little too inaccessible at first, like it’s asking you to have some in-depth knowledge ahead of playing for the first time. You may not be familiar with the concepts the game is throwing at you, and it’s the game’s responsibility to ease you into the fray. Thankfully, the surrounding game is so good that you’ll come back to get more in-depth with the trappings of Tokyo-to.
hunter, go into the world to hunt monsters of all sizes. During your hunts, you’re using your wits and the environment to your advantage, careful not to faint too many times while working to take down a creature so that you may get new parts to craft gear and weapons. The crafting aspect is fantastic. The variety of gear and equipment that can be generated is off the charts, and there is nothing more satisfying than taking down a new enemy and obtaining new, more powerful gear. Capcom knew the essence of the high that comes from winning a hard-fought battle, loot, craft better gear and repeat. And they’ve captured that essence masterfully here with increasing incentives and nuanced pacing. Fighting never feels weird, and it quickly becomes second nature to swing your sword and make waves in battle. My only gripe here is that there is so much to learn with the battle mechanics and item crafting and usage that sometimes it gets overwhelming. Taking your time to read the tutorials and work through scenarios in training is the way to combat that. I’m pleased with this setup because I’d rather get too much information than not enough.
And, I want to especially highlight the impressive character creation suite. If I can create my own character in a game, I want bold and accurate tools to do so. Monster Hunter: World gave me that and more. I spent two hours with it alone and I still wanted to spend more time there. The wealth of options is outstanding, and I’m extremely impressed with the diversity found within. I can make a character that accurately looks like me with gorgeous options for hairstyles … or not. But I love the options given, and I can’t praise that feature enough.
roster, even the lower-tier characters.
Also adding value is the soundtrack, one of Capcom’s masterpieces. The game is set in the mid-to-late 1980s and it sounds appropriate to that era. Beyond the bangers for multiple characters — Sagat, Balrog and Juli/Juni instantly come to mind — even the narration deserves praise. It’s over the top but it fits perfectly. The soundtrack also works well with the graphics. The sprites are big and colorful as are the detailed and stunning stages. It’s one of Capcom’s better-looking games and is a massive improvement from the rest of the Alpha series. It almost looks like it belongs in an entirely different game series.
characters in the Ratio System is questionable and their movesets being pressed between 
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