Back in 1987 Capcom created their one on one fighting franchise that would set arcades on fire across the world for years to come and helped pioneer the eSports scene as we now know it. Thirty years on thanks to Capcom and Digital Eclipse we get all twelve of the classic arcade versions of Street Fighter, from the very beginning up to the final version of Street Fighter 3.
So how does the compilation and the games within hold up on Switch?
It’s important to note these are the arcade versions only, over the years Capcom released many different variations onto consoles such as Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max on the Sony PSP with different game modes and options.
On the 30th Anniversary Compilation, you can change the difficulty and for some versions, speed and damage output if you want an easier time or a harder challenge when fighting the CPU.
Each game is on free play (unlimited continues/credits) and features a single save game which can be used anytime in menu for each version of Street Fighter.
The most up to date version of each of the four main Street Fighter’s offer practice and online matches, so that’s Street Fighter 2 Hyper, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter 3 Third Strike. Practice is great for having a go at all the combos and moves before taking on the sometimes brutal AI (I’m looking at you SSF2 Turbo) and venturing online.
Online was completely broken as of release, fights were a juddery mess resulting in matches devoid of any real skill and, worse still, enjoyment. That’s now improved for me considerably with 95% of fights being perfect online, I’d say personnel connection quality would be the biggest issue if your fights do lag.
The fights I did get into online had no lag issues and were very quick to get into, had no problems pulling off specials in Hyper Fighting, Alpha 3 and Third Strike.
Local coop is fantastic and there is nothing better then beating your mates in couch coop, if four of you own a copy of the game it’s possible to recreate the eight player tourname mode found in the arcades during the 90’s.
The best way to enjoy this collection when you first get it would be to sample each of the twelve games starting with the original Street Fighter, which was never great, however as a museum piece its fantastic to experience.
Street Fighter 2 needs no introduction, a massive improvement over the original that would be refined five times with Hyper Fighting and Super Turbo being the pinnacle of SF2. However Turbo edition is one tough cookie, I’m not the best Street Fighter 2 player so my preference is Hyper Fighting which is the most balanced and enjoyable of the series on this compilation.
Set before the events of Street Fighter 2, the Alpha trilogy added news fighters, returning fighters from the originals story and Final Fight.
Graphically stunning animation and backgrounds make the game look beautiful even today. Special moves are bigger then before and everything is just flashier then before.
Alpha 3 (my personal favourite) upped the rosta, combos and special moves. It would be fair to say Alpha 3 walks a fine line between playing like Street Fighter and feeling like the Marvel Vs Capcom series which proved to be slightly devise, as such some players prefer Alpha 2.
Having never played any version of Street Fighter 3, I had no idea what to expect and I’m still finding my feet and forming an opinion.
Visually the sprite work, backgrounds and animation are simply gorgeous. SNK have a real challenger to Mark of the Wolves and Last Blade for best looking 2D fighter.
From the few hours I’ve put into Third Strike I can say this is by far the most technical Street Fighter (up there with King of Fighters ’98 as best fighter on Switch) and quite possibly the best of the series overall even if Alpha 3 has a special place in my heart.
With regard to controller input, I played the games in handheld mode and docked with the Pro Controller. Obviously the Pro was better then handheld yet I had no problems overall, I’d love to have tried out the Hayabusa Hori Arcade Stick which I’m very tempted to indulge in.
Rounding of the collection is the fantastic and informative Museum, full to the brim of lore, pre-development art, character drawings, sprite animation, fighter biographies, music player and more. Even the most hardcore Street Fighter fan is likely to learn something new about their favourite game.
Summary
Hyper Fighting, Alpha 3 and Third Strike are the best in their field, SSF2 Turbo is in need of a fix due to its high difficulty making arguably the best version of Street Fighter 2 one for the veterans and masochists only at the moment.
Special mention must go to the museum, anyone interested in Street Fighter and game design in general will be impressed and inspired, hopefully other retro complications will feature similar content in the future.
9/10
Review by Simon
SwitchedOn Gaming 