Back in the halcyon days of coin-op gaming, players were split by the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat franchises; half committed to the complex, honourable skirmishes of Capcoms classic, while everyone else got off on MKs gratuitous gore and juvenile gags. However, over a decade later, Street Fighter has emerged as the superior beat em up, consistently offering slick, lightning-paced thrills while Mortal Kombat too often strayed into mediocrity and self-parody. And for fans of digital fisticuffs, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is a perfect package.
Featuring the complete Alpha collection Street Fighter Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold and Alpha 3, along with the cute, cartoonish Super Gem Fighter MiniMix (aka Pocket Fighter) Anthology is a fine introduction to the Alpha series, which adopted anime-inspired visuals in favour of Street Fighters traditional art style, and changed how the scuffles played out by including air blocks and an expanded roster of combos.
The chance to play as virtually every fighter from the Street Fighter mythology makes Anthology worth the price of admission alone, and even though theres no online play or bonus features to unlock, its still a compelling compilation.