The Bottom Line
- These are direct ports (save one) of the arcade Street Fighter Alpha games
- Super Gem Fighter MiniMix (aka Pocket Fighter) is a real treat
- There are tons of arcade specific modes and options to tweak
- These are some of the best Street Fighter games in the series
- The anthology's interface is dull
- There are practically no extras or bonuses
- Great games, but a bare bones collection
Description
- Graphics: 3 Street Fighter Alpha is looking as old as it is
- Sound: 2.5 If you think game graphics have improved, wait until you hear the difference in sound
- Control: 5 Street Fighter has always had the tightest, best mapped, responsive controls
- Difficulty: 4 The computer should pose a fair challenge, but your 30 year-old uncle will mop you up
- Gameplay: 5 Street Fighter Alpha 3 is a near perfect fighter
- Multiplayer: 5 This is the type of game you and a buddy can sit at for hours
- Online: 0 Yeah, online match-making would have brought back that arcade feel... too bad
- Documentation: 1.5 The manual is practically useless you'll have to surf for a moves list
- All scores are out of 5. The overall rating is not an average of the above scores
- Rated: Teen It's pretty mild violence, I'd rate it an E10+ in comparison to other Teen games
Guide Review - Street Fighter Alpha Anthology Review (PS2)
The Street Fighter Alpha Anthology features five great arcade games: Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 (special "arranged" version unlockable), and Super Gem Fighter MiniMix (known as Pocket Fighter on U.S. consoles). It also includes PSOne and SEGA Saturn fave Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, essentially a remix of the arcade version of Alpha 2. While each game has its strengths and history, causal gamers will skip right to Alpha 3, the most balanced and frantic game of the bunch. It's one of the crown gems in the pantheon of Street Fighter.
Now, we all have to wonder what Capcom lackey got stuck with assembling this collection. From dull packaging, dry menus, NO bonus content... this is not what one expects from such a high profile franchise like Street Fighter. How about some ads? How about a trailer for the Street Fighter Alpha movie? How about some history? Most annoying, how about a stinkin' move list? It's been a while for some of us. Yes, they are downloadable, but really, I'm buying 10+ year old games, throw a guy a bone.
