Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

ARE YOU KEN? $79.95 | PC, PS4, XO, Switch | streetfighter.com

OVER THE COURSE of three decades, Capcom’s stellar Street Fighter series has delivered numerous entries and iterations, each one improving upon the last in small but significant ways. With the release of the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, almost every official two-dimensional sprite-based entry (a notable exception being the recently re-released Ultra Street Fighter II) has now been brought together in what can best be described as the ultimate historical package for long-time fans.

Arcade-perfect versions of each game is included, starting with the original Street Fighter (this does not hold up well), followed by Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 1, 2 and 3, Street Fighter III: New Generation, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and (our pick for best of the bunch) Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike.

Playing through each title again from the beginning brings to light the remarkable gameplay progression the series has made since its humble beginnings, particularly when it comes to the evolution of combos, super moves, cancels, parry moves, air blocking and more. On the presentation side, it’s also fun to see how much the animation has improved over the years, with the Street Fighter III games in particularly looking like a gorgeous (albeit pixelated) cartoon come to life. Online play is also available for four of the titles, with Hyper Fighting, Turbo, Alpha 3 and Third Strike offering ranked, casual and arcade matches along with global leaderboards. We did, however, experience some severe lag with the Nintendo Switch version in a number of instances. It’s also a shame that only the original arcade version of Alpha 3 is included, given that it lacks many characters that would arrive in later revisions.

Still, there’s no denying the wealth of content available here, and fans are sure to get a nostalgic rush while the many classic titles represented here.