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Seems like these days, it doesn't take much for companies to think twice before planting the o-kay on budget compilations. Take Capcom for example, quite possibly the most notorious icon in gaming history to repackage said old games. Capcom Classics Collection, Mega Man Anniversary Collection, Mega Man X Collection, Darkstalkers Collection are but a few of their releases within the past two or three years. Still, it's hard to deny the fact that these are usually solid ports.
The Alpha series was always seen as somewhat of a gamble after the hellacious fame that Street Fighter II created. It was a dramatic change with its vibrant graphical style and anime influenced art. Still, with all of the additions the Alpha series created, it was a pleasant addition to the Street Fighter franchise. And while Street Fighter Alpha (or Zero as it's known in Japan) didn't create quite the stir Capcom expected, Alpha 2 still remains to this day as one of the most responsive and greatest 2D fighters to this day.
Unlike most collections which are strangely incomplete (we're looking at you Sonic Mega Collections), Alpha Anthology avoids this problem by including every Alpha game in one package. Meaning Street Fighter Alpha 1-3, Alpha 2 Gold, Pocket Fighter and even Hyper Street Fighter Alpha Mode, which like SF Anniversary compromises every character from every SF iteration to battle against each other. Meaning to purists, this sums up to a multitude of possibilities and endless matches.
Technically, the game is as right as rain and pitch perfect when it comes to its accuracy to the arcade versions of each game. It's nice to witness a compilation of ports to great games which weren't given sloppy ports to cash in and given the time to be as responsive as possible. Still, they are all rather old games and were initially expected to not be a problem to port in the first place.
So there you have it, another one of Capcom's quarterly compilation cash-ins. Thankfully, they're always sound when it comes to not being sluggish ports and are worth picking up if you're an old fan of the Alpha games. There's no online support and no real worthy extras, but since it's a compilation, it is what it is and good for what's it doing. There's little reason to not pick this up, but then again, if you've been an Alpha fanatic since day one and are expecting some new surprises aside a solid port, guard cancel your way out of this battle. |
