VGR: The Great Debate – Street Fighter Alpha Anthology vs. Street Fighter Anniversary Collection

It’s back!  It’s time for another great debate.  This time we pit two games from the same developer that, for the most part, are collection games of a great franchise: Street Fighter.  What can be said about the greatest fighting game franchise in history?  It helped usher in the fighting game renaissance of the mid 1990s, complete with various franchises that rose to gaming stardom or faltered and faded into obscurity.  As a franchise, it developed the most fighting games within its lifespan, be they original games, remakes of previous games in the series, or spinoffs into different series.  Regardless, the games have garnered a tremendous fan following, as well as permanent placement at any and all professional gaming tournaments around the world.  But, not all things last forever, as Street Fighter would go on a hiatus for a significant amount of time. 

Before continuing with Street Fighter 4 (although it wasn’t the 4^th game in the series), two games were released, celebrating the awesomeness of the previous games.  One game celebrated every game of the prequel series to Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter Alpha.  The other game celebrated the anniversary of Street Fighter 2 and opened the door for another arcade port to what some call the greatest fighting game of all time: Street Fighter 3: 3^rd Strike.  Both games are looked to as a means to relive the days when Street Fighter reached its peak as a 2-D franchise.  However, one has to wonder.  When it comes to the depth of said games and their general allure, which holds up as a more definitive title?  Or better question: which provides more of a lasting experience?  And better still, which does a better job giving us gamers an all-engrossing anthological feeling?  Let’s see what the debate tells us, in my humble opinion. 

Graphics: Tie

Ok, I know what you’re thinking:  you better have an explanation for this.  I do.  You see, neither game really does anything to improve on their graphics or take away from it.  Also, as gamers, we didn’t mind that.  In fact, if you’re going to add something, you better make darn sure it all pays off in the end.  After the releases of these games, there was an HD remake of Super Street Fighter II Turbo and Street Fighter 3: 3^rd Strike made for X-box Live and PSN.  Both games looked phenomenal.  However, these games came out years after the end of the PS2’s run.  Since the games we are dealing with are PS2 games, I’m not going to penalize them for not trying to improve, but I’m not going to award them either.  I am glad that they did keep most of it intact, with no errors in frame rate and such.  Although, if one commendation has to be given, it goes to the Anniversary Collection for allowing various versions of each street fighter to be placed in the game and allowed to fight each other.  How surreal is that to see SF2 Guile vs. SSF2T Guile?  And better still, who would win?

Sound: Tie

Yup, another tie.  Can you really compare Capcom’s music to…well, Capcom’s music?  It’s frivolous!  Both games have amazing soundtracks.  Anniversary Collection draws from the final SF2 musical iteration in its run along with 3^rd Strike’s amazing score.  Only difference here is that you can choose between musical scores for 3^rd Strike.  If you are a fan of the originals, go for the arcade score, otherwise, go for the home console remixes.  As for the Alpha Anthology, it’s all arcade scores, all the way.  Or at least it seems so.  If you unlock more things, you get more songs for different versions, if you know what I mean.  Still, the music is top notch.  The sound effects are very memorable as well, as they are part of history.  Lastly, when it comes to voice acting, they have their moments, and they are memorable and awesome.  So, Capcom vs. Capcom when it comes to sound is a win on both ends.

Control:  Anniversary Collection

And we get to the first win of the debate with control.  Now, it’s safe to say that the 6 button layout of the PS2 controller allows for all 6 buttons to be used.  That’s a given.  The shoulder buttons can do a handful of things as well, be it by configuration or by default.  That’s all covered.  So, how does Anniversary Collection win out?  That’s all due to the games in question, sadly.  While both games have pretty solid controls that don’t leave a lot of problems for the gamers, it then comes down to which controls are preferable, and which allow for a better gaming experience.  Alpha Anthology promotes the control schemes for all three games, their upgrades, and even Pocket Fighter.  However, I do distinctly remember a bevy of fans having their issues with Street Fighter Alpha’s balance due to link combos.  It came to the point where virtually a handful of characters could dominate without fail.  It was the reason they made custom combos in Alpha 2.  Then, we have Alpha 3, which, to its credit, is a very good game.  However, it also has balance issues, as tournament footage will show.  Even though Capcom did its best to weed out the problems, they still came up.  You do have an option to choose which style suits you in battle, but you have to unlock it, as an extra.  Reason being, each game is arcade emulated, not a port.  The ports are the extras, if any.  Unlocking Hyper Street Fighter Alpha gives you the chance to choose any person from the Alpha universe, but with any style.  Meanwhile, in Anniversary Collection, Hyper Street Fighter 2 gives you the option to choose any play style you like from any SF2 game (except Rainbow edition and all its glitches).   When you do choose a style, you are limited to the fighters who do take part in the game.  So, if you choose normal SF2, you only have the original 8.  However, if that’s your preferred style, you’re in luck.  3^rd Strike needs no further explanation when it comes to its play style.  It’s considered the most balanced of the 2-D SF games, although the learning curve is pretty high.  Still, if you’ve played enough SF, you know what you are doing.  Balance does come into question with characters that can do a ton of damage with priorities.  However, that’s not to say that they can’t be beaten, as it has been done.  Urien can dominate a match, but I’ve seen his style undone by Necro, or even Twelve.  So, the point goes to AC, if not for the fact that 3^rd Strike has the best control style, but also for the fact that you have access to the style you want initially.  If you want the Alpha 2 style, you’ll have to play Alpha 2, until you unlock the chance to do otherwise.

Etc.: Alpha Anthology

The stories for both games need not much explanation, and seem even to me.  Alpha Anthology pretty much is the whole story of what happened between the first and second Street Fighter tournaments, along with Pocket Fighter’s own storyline.  Anniversary Collection tells two stories:  the 2^nd Street Fighter tournament and the aftermath of the 3^rd Street fighter tournament.  I guess you can give the point to Alpha for continuity, but we all know that at this point, you either know the story or don’t care since this is a celebration of the games in each.  So, we can rule that out.  When it comes to extras, Anniversary Collection allows you to unlock Akuma in Hyper Street Fighter 2 as done in SSF2T.  Meanwhile, in 3^rd Strike, the unlockables include new colors, Gill as a playable character (hence breaking the game, due to his unbalanced nature), and the ability to modify the game style to allow for all super arts to be activated as super combos and link combos to be executed.  In other words, you can make the game like the first Street Fighter Alpha game.  For Alpha Anthology, you have unlockables per game, when it comes to characters and modes, from Akuma, Bison and Dan in SFA to Dramatic mode in SFA3.  Once each game is ended, you also unlock the extra versions of each game, which include the home version of  SFA3, adding extras from Alpha 2 Gold into regular Alpha 2 and vice versa, and Hyper Street Fighter Alpha which allows you to choose any character, any style, in any stage.  I have to give it to Alpha Anthology for more options to choose from, as you might want a little more out of your gaming experience.  When it comes to lasting appeal, this is where things get a bit hairy, in my view.  On one hand, you have Anniversary Collection, garnering more attention, if not due to the fact that it was out longer, but it has the more popular games.  Everyone loves SF2, and wouldn’t turn down the chance to play it.  The same can be said about 3^rd Strike.  This is true enough based on the level of attention these games got at tournaments (I believe this game was at 3 straight E.V.O. tournaments, with both games well represented with entrees, until SF4 came into the fray).  I only get to see Alpha games get represented in Japanese tournaments.  In fact, even with the release of this game, they weren’t anywhere near E.V.O., at least not on the main floor.  However, as a diverse game, you have to give Alpha Anthology this:  it has a more diverse set of games to play.  If you feel like going retro, start with the first game.  If you want the latest and greatest, the third game is there for you.  But, if you want more balance for your Alpha buck, the 2^nd game is where it’s at.  I’m sure more people will lean towards that one.  The Anniversary Collection, as popular as the game is, doesn’t really have much to celebrate with as it is mostly an attempt to celebrate the 2^nd Street Fighter game and finally port 3^rd Strike to the PS2.  But, that’s not necessarily the worst thing.  There just seems to be more to work with when dealing with Alpha.  However, it seems more of a blast from the past, especially if you’re a big fan of 3^rd Strike.  Honestly, I found myself rushing to finish Alpha Anthology than I did want to even start Anniversary Collection.  So, I’d give the point to the former.

Final Verdict:  Tie

Yea, I’m sure a lot of you will have a problem with this.  I understand that, and in turn, I expect you to voice it.  I just think it’s too close a call to see which is more pliable as a game.  I can’t give the graphics advantage because, even though both work with varying versions of CPS technology, one shows the strength of the CPS2 in spades, while the other shows that for CPS3, with the retro style next to it.  I can dig both for what they are worth.  The sound in any Capcom fighting game is downright amazing.  Both games definitely bring that to the forefront in the best way.  However, when it comes to controls, 3^rd Strike makes for a more balanced experience in the long run, with Hyper SF2 gives you multiple options to choose from so you aren’t limited.  Alpha doesn’t give you that full option until you unlock the necessary games to do so.  And compared to 3^rd Strike, they don’t quite measure up.  The extras, however, are enough for me to give Alpha Anthology a means to continue.  Anniversary Collection can be played, without the extras in question.  But, if you do want more out of the game, it’s not much.  It all lies with versus gaming.  To me, there’s just more to deal with.

In conclusion, both games give you a decent experience, gaming wise, and I’d be hard pressed to say to get one over the other.  If I were you, I’d get both. They don’t cost much.  They help give you a complete gaming experience when it comes to Street Fighter’s history.  However, I can’t say which is better than the other.  So, secure both.  You won’t be disappointed. 

Next time on the great debate, we do the fighting game anthology comparison again, but, this time, it’s 3 games.  WHAT???