Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
The definitive Alpha collection you've been waiting for. Need we say more?
Preview by Chris Scantleberry (Email)
May 16th 2006
The Basics: Unless you're totally new to the Street Fighter II scene, there honestly isn't anything I could tell you that wouldn't already know.
Street Fighter Alpah Anthology represents the latest 2D compilation package offering fans every iteration of Street Fighter Alpha (yes, that even includes SFA2 Gold along with an added bonus in the form of Super Gem Fighter: Mini-Mix (aka Pocket Figther in the States).
Each installment will offer all the conventional bells and whistles featured in previous home editions including Arcade, Versus, Training and Survival modes. Hopefully you'll have an abundant degree of local competition because Anthology will not offer online support. (And while I'm at it, Capcom hasn't announced any plans to bring this to Xbox or 360, which to date, have been the only platforms actively supporting online fighters).
What we think: I've always been fond of compilation packages so picking this up is a no-brainer. I took the opportunity to get some hands-on time with the game (mostly Alpha 3) and was very satisfied with the arcade conversion. I also did my fair share of kickin' ass and taking names [heh]. It sort of bummed me out though that Capcom didn't go with the home edition of A3 which featured DeeJay, Guile, and T-Hawk.
And just for added emphasis, I'll never be satisfied with their decision to omit online play from the PlayStation 2 userbase. Know what would be really cool? If they waited to put this on the PS3 which promises to have an even cooler online network. [sigh] Well, one can dream. I guess MAME or visiting my old hangout in Chinatown Fair, NY will have to suffice till then.
