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Street Fighter Collection II PSX Capcom
Three Street Fighter games for the price of one -- what could be better, right? How about three GOOD Street Fighter games? Like Alpha 1, 2, and 3? Or better still, SFIII, Second Impact, Third Strike? Actually, I think the first SF Collection had the two Alpha's together with something else. Unfortunately, I've never managed to get my hands on that little gem; so I make do with the Sega Saturn versions. Anyway, what we have here is Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, SFII: Champion Edition, and SFII: Turbo Hyper Fighting. For those of you who don't know (i.e. missed the arcade scene in the late Eighties because you were too young or because you had a life... no bitterness intended, of course... jerks...) the World Warrior was the first incarnation of Street Fighter II, which was itself, like ninety-eight percent of Capcom games, a remake of a previous game by the same title. Actually, the predecessor in this case was called Fighting Street... big diff, I know. A perfect recreation of the arcade original, SFII:TWW acquaints us with the series' eight most classic characters: Ryu, Ken, Guile, Zangief, Dhalsim, E. Honda, Blanka, and, of course, Chun-Li (the first video-game girl we ever loved). Plus, it ideally captures the slow-ass, clunky, one-move-at-a-time-buddy-or-you're-up-a-creek gameplay we knew and loved before we knew any better. Right. Moving on now. In SFII: Champion Edition, rather than just fighting against the bosses, players were finally allowed to fight AS the bosses. That's right. You could play as the super-powerful, ultra-cheap M. Bison, Balrog, and Vega (whichever way you want to assign the names outside of Japan -- some of you know what I'm talking about, right?) and even the super-pathetic, ultra-get-hit-in-the-face-with-all-the-fireballs-your-opponent-wants-to-throw Sagat. That's it... that's the difference. Next song. SFII: Turbo Hyper Fighting was the natural evolution of the game from its lowly origins. You see, in the early days of arcade Street Fighter, we all struggled desperately to execute these alien, complex moves, like Down, Down-Forward, Forward, Punch and Down, Down-Back, Back, Kick. And if you could do the impossible Forward, Down, Down-Forward, Punch... well, fuggeddabouddit -- you ruled ass, simple as that. With practice, though, everyone eventually became so good they were actually able to imagine doing a special move without a three-day waiting period before its completion. That's when the "Turbo" and "Hyper" came in, and the dull went out. So much for the trip down memory lane. SF Collection II has some nice art galleries, funny character bios, and even funnier (though unintentionally so) playing tips for each game, as well as some secrets to unlock by (surprise, surprise) beating all three games repeatedly. Ok, now, here's the breakdown. What liked: Nostalgia. Simplicity. Ability to rule ass with any character using just ONE move. What disliked: Poor color choices. Slow freakin' gameplay. Ability to rule ass with any character using just ONE move (when your opponent's doing it to you, that is). What to expect: Same as above. Plus, the greatest examples of cpu-opponent cheapness since... well, ever actually. What not to expect: Supers. Combos over four hits. Strategies more complex than "Jump-kick, sweep". How is this game different from others in the genre?: SFII IS the genre. It is the grandaddy of ALL modern fighting games. Every time you execute a move, a combo, a finish, in ANY martial arts video game, you have Capcom to thank for it, pure and simple. Ratings on: Controls: 10 - The ultimate fighting game control system. Everything is intuitive, no move is beyond execution, the flow and the timing are perfect -- the foundation of the Street Fighter empire. Graphics: 4 - Boy, they sure seemed a lot better to us in the arcades... a dozen years ago. Ah, my misspent youth... Sound: 2.5 - That's one point for each of the only two important voice effects: "Hadoken!" and "Sho-ryu-ken!" Oh, and a half for the elephant noise on Dhalsim's stage. Style: 5 - Try to understand, I am the greatest fan of the Street Fighter series on earth. But, like anyone who has played through all the generations of Capcom's greatest creation, I can't accept an SFII version less than Super SFII Turbo without complaining at least a little. 1st hour: 5 - Oh, the sweet memories... 5th hour: 3 - Oh, the bitter memories... (Yes, I will continue AGAIN, thanks. @#O(*@%# Chun-Li and her @#O*$& triangle jump.) 1st week: 1 - Ok, finally beat all three SFII editions with everyone, gaining all the secrets. Saved game. Now I can put this freakin' thing away and go back to the SFIII coin-op machine in my other bedroom. 1st decade (just because I happen to know for the games in question here): 2 - And that's only as long as you remember to play them no more than once every couple of years. AND, the #1 reason I HATE THIS GAME: Ken has NO flames on his fierce Dragon Punch in any of these SF's. How am I supposed to finish my opponents properly without lighting them on fire, huh? Arrrggggh! |
