Not the best anniversary present one can buy, but still a welcome one.
+Street Fighter III: Third Strike gets a console release
+Bonus movie: "Street Fighter II: The Movie"
-SFIII's parry system takes a lot of practice to even use
-SFII hasn't aged that well, feels unbalanced with the new selections
In 1989, Capcom released one of the more unique fighting games around into the arcades: Street Fighter. While the controls are what people would consider to be archaic now, the pressure-sensitive buttons, VS-mode and unique fighters would draw enough cash for Capcom to make a sequel.
The sequel, Street Fighter II, set the arcade world aflame with its popularity. 1992 literally saw people flock to the arcade to see the two returning characters (Ryu and Ken) join 6 other fighters in fighting each other and 4 bosses in the game. From there, Capcom released expansion after expansion – Championship Edition, Turbo, and Super Street Fighter, with more expansions made for the home console market. Each game would change something for the better, often enough, or include new characters for combat.
In fact, Capcom was so obsessed with taking in cash from the Street Fighter II game expansions that it wasn't until almost 2000 when Capcom finally made Street Fighter III. Luckily, Street Fighter III was also a resounding success – getting two more expansions made on the game with new characters and slight changes being made each time like before.
Now, for the 15th Anniversary of the Street Fighter franchise, Capcom brings together the best version of Street Fighter III and all the versions of Street Fighter II ever made into one gigantic game for everyone to enjoy!
Hyper Street Fighter II takes all of the iterations of Street Fighter II and rolls them into one game, allowing you to select a combination of character and play style from the game they were from. While some characters are limited in terms of the forms they can take (Cammy wasn't in the original, after all), other long-lasting characters can become any iteration they want.
Besides, having control over what version of Ryu or Ken you get to play as is pretty cool.
However, there are a few problems with this idea.
Putting a Street Fighter II character against a Street Fighter II Turbo character sounds nice and everything, but each character has been refined as the game titles expanded – leaving the Normal versions of the characters stuck in 1992 while the later games expanded them into fighters to be feared. So, really, it tends to become a hindrance to replay value when the best form is the ultimate form…
Also to be found in this side of the game, however, is a delightful bonus: the Street Fighter II animated movie! While the movie is the edited version rather than the uncut one (or the Unrated Version released a year or so back), it's still a wonderful addition to the game – bringing back some nostalgia, even if the presentation is a little fuzzy.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike, on the other hand, is almost unchanged from the arcade incarnation – and that's a good thing. While this game doesn't contain the level of customization that Hyper II contains, the sheer amount of unique characters included within this game more than make up for it.
While Ken, Ryu and Chun-Li make a return from the main games, almost the entire rest of the cast is brand-new for the franchise (or as brand-new as it can get in the third iteration of the third game) – and it's a welcome change, if you ask me.
Meanwhile, the controls of this version are spot-on, providing some of the best and most fluid combat for a 2D fighting game I've never seen before. The parrying system also adds a new level of complexity I'd never even seen before this game outside the counter system in Dead or Alive – but the parry is so much more unique than that.
Matching the gameplay, the sprites are insanely detailed and deeply animated. This is quite literally one of the best-looking 2D fighters out there, even including the Guilty Gear series. However, the sound isn't as good – with some themes grating on the ears at times.
Honestly, just Street Fighter III: Third Strike would be worth the purchase, even if it's a little limited to just an arcade and vs modes. But the inclusion of the Hyper edition of Street Fighter II (originally an arcade game in Japan – with a sole, solitary PS2 release) and the Street Fighter II animated movie just make this all the better.
While it's not the best game combination around and the replay value is a little lacking without a friend to play against, this is just an excellent purchase for the Street Fighter fan… or someone looking to see how it began.
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Hyper Street Fighter II's Reivew Score
--Gameplay: 7.5
--Visuals: 6.5
--Audio: 7.5
--Replay Value: 7
--Personal Tilt: 7
Average: 7
Street Fighter III: Third Strike's Review Score:
--Gameplay: 9
--Visuals: 10
--Audio: 8
--Replay Value: 7
--Personal Tilt: 9
Average: 8.5
Combined Average: 7.8
Bonus points for including the Street Fighter animated movie: 1
Final Score: 9 out of 10