Gaming Target - Xbox: Street Fighter Anniversary Collection

Written by Ryan Genno on August 06, 2004

First Impressions: Bring your taped fists, your weapons, and your fireballs to this fight!

Capcom is one of those companies that are known for their famous games. Titles like Mega Man, Resident Evil, and Devil May Cry are just some of the reasons why they've been around for well over two decades now. Although I'm disappointed that Capcom hasn't announced a Mega Man title for Xbox yet, at least they are bringing another one of their popular series that just so happens to be celebrating a birthday. Street Fighter is over 15 years old now, and there is a special Anniversary Collection with two of their best titles coming out for PlayStation 2 and Xbox.

The original Street Fighter was first released way back in 1987 and it was a good, but ultimately flawed, one on one fighting game where characters Ryu or Ken could fight oddballs from around the world. A few years later Capcom would release a sequel with better arcade technology, and it was that game that became the real moneymaker. Not only were the graphics and sounds vastly improved, but you could now pick from one of eight unique combatants, each with their own fighting styles. If you couldn't beat a friend with someone like Ryu, then you can just switch with a quicker guy like Blanka to change up your game plan -- plus who can forget characters like Chun-Li? She was both a tough woman in male dominated tournament, and a damn hot looking character with a sexy outfit. The game had interesting fighters, it was easy to control, and it had tons of depth to keep everyone playing.

Street Fighter II became so big, Capcom would release no less then four arcade upgrades to balance the game play, make the bosses playable, and add new characters. There were more moves included too. The new Hyper Street Fighter II is a fun collection of all these games specially made for this Anniversary Collection. It is now possible to fight a Ryu from the original SF2, with a Ryu from Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

The second game on this set is none other than Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, a popular arcade game that was only translated on the Sega Dreamcast previously. The funny thing about Street Fighter 3 when it first hit the arcades, gamers were so sick of playing the same old 2D fighting that the response to the game was kind of underwhelming. Although the game had beautiful animation and some of the new characters like the one-armed Oro and the Capoeira expert Elena were a breath of fresh air, the game still only had 10 fighters. And why in heck was there only one boss! Since gamers waited forever for part 3 to get here, the anticipation couldn't match what the final game turned out to be.

Capcom didn't throw in the towel just yet. In their next upgrade called Second Impact they added a massive 400-pound guy called Hugo and the boss-like Urine to spice things up. The second version was great but it wasn't till Capcom's third try when this series started to some real attention. In Street Fighter 3 Third Strike, the game added 5 new fighters to the line up (including the returning Chun-Li) and the game also graded you on your performance, giving the title more depth. The game was so good, some gaming magazines have even gone as far as naming Third Strike one of the best 2D fighters ever made.