Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

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As we played the Switch version of the game for this review, let's start with a couple of notes specifically for those who own Nintendo's hybrid console. This twelve-game collection, which is full of extras, is releasing with the same price tag as Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers (which landed a year ago), but it crushes last year's game in terms of content, fan-service, and playability. We tried to warn potential USFII:TFC adopters with our review last year, but those who bought that game recently at full price will likely see the release of Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection as a "reversal attack" by Capcom, so to speak.

The second note with regards to this version of the collection is about the platform itself and how suitable it is for fighting games. If you don't own a fight stick or a third-party controller with a proper d-pad for your Nintendo Switch (and we're looking forward to the Hori Joy-Con, even if it's not wireless), keep in mind that you won't have the definitive fighting experience on the system, as neither the little Joy-Con sticks, nor the button-based cross controls are the best fit for pulling off a tatsumaki senpuu kyaku. On the other hand, the Switch provides players with exclusive portability while also keeping the gameplay experience intact, and that in itself is potentially a game-changer for fans.

Otherwise, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection (which is also landing on PC, PS4, and Xbox One today) really is the collection we've been waiting for. It's respectful, stylish, and well-presented. It takes the (mainly CPS I-III) arcade versions of twelve milestones in the Street Fighter series (they're not the console ports) and lets you not only play them with the flavour and response times you remember, but it also helps you learn about why these games were so crucial to the series and to the genre as a whole.

The Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection includes:

1987 Street Fighter, 1991 Street Fighter II, 1992 Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, 1992 Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting (Online Multiplayer), 1993 Super Street Fighter II, 1994 Super Street Fighter II: Turbo (Online Multiplayer), 1995 Street Fighter Alpha, 1996 Street Fighter Alpha 2, 1998 Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Online Multiplayer), 1997 Street Fighter III, 1997 Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (Online Multiplayer).

Because Street Fighter means something different to each player there's no proper way to go through SF30AC's expansive array of content. We're sure many of you haven't tried the very first Street Fighter (which is almost unplayable in some respects even if it's an important inclusion after starting it all) before. Others will jump directly into the Museum and Interactive Timeline and enjoy the artwork and the well-written historical facts. Or perhaps you'll gravitate towards the original music, the 60+ character profiles, or the funny sprite viewer which clearly shows the effort put in from SF to II, from II to Alpha, and then again from Alpha to III.

Others, driven by nostalgia, will play their own favourite entry right away. In our case, it was Street Fighter Alpha 2 which left a mark back in the '90s. We still remember the many evenings spent at the local arcade amazed by the new moves and supers, the perfect pacing, balancing and difficulty, the introduction of Sakura and Evil Ryu, or the huge and clean anime sprites. There's always the neverending discussion about which one is the best incarnation between this and Alpha 3, but we're not fans of the Isms-system and, in our humble opinion, it's a shame that Alpha 3 was the one in this collection that was chosen to get an online mode.

When it comes to the five (!) Street Fighter II versions included, one could say that there are too many, but same as with the Alpha and III trilogies, there really are significant differences between them and it's great to be able to compare those changes in terms of gameplay, speed, and characters, either driven by nostalgia or just as a testament to how Capcom has evolved the series. And in terms of online multiplayer, both Hyper Fighting and Super Turbo are the natural choices as both are still played today in competitive tournaments.

One could argue between Alpha 2 and 3, and between HF and ST, but many fans will tell you Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is the finest expression of the formula during the pre-3D era. With the late '90s trilogy, Capcom was bold enough to take some huge risks, going as far as presenting a whole cast of brand-new characters, at the same time changing the art style and introducing another range of new combat techniques. The community was shocked by the sprites, backgrounds, and animations offered up back then, but the work was so fine and the gameplay so perfect that this became one-of-a-kind. And, again, we're fine with Third Strike being online-enabled here.

With so much documentation, artwork, and even little details relating to the lore explained, what we miss is a more comprehensive explanation of the various gameplay features each game brought to the table. There's a training mode, sure, but there are currently only idle AI opponents and there's no focus on new additions (you can check your character's moves, but there's no overall manual nor tutorials on what's new to each entry). In other words, you'll have to look elsewhere if you want to learn how to pull off alpha counters, custom combos, or parries. However, Capcom has told us that there's a Day One update coming that relates to training and specifically mentions "dummy controls" and "additional training options that work within the gameplay mechanics introduced in the respective series", and we'll update this review if there are any issues, just as we will if there are any problems with regards to the online experience.

All in all, it's not just a chance to travel back to the '90s, it's also a fulsome collection of twelve fighting games that still play surprisingly well. You'll be surrounded by legendary sprites (including TV and arcade filters), SFX and music, and at the same time, you'll learn a lot about Street Fighter lore (for example, the deeper-than-you'd-expect link to Final Fight). It's also a fun, challenging collection, with the arcade versions feeling more demanding and competition-oriented. At the same time, the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection includes state-saving for a more console-like experience. Every fighting fan will easily enjoy this slice of video game history; it's a proper celebration and a nice counter to last year's Ultra let down.