slateblog

It feels as if it were only yesterday I imported Hyper Street Fighter II as part of the series’ 15th anniversary. It later came to the US with SFIII: 3S as a pretty sweet package. As 2017 is now more than halfway done, I remain curious as to how Capcom plans on celebrating. News started to surface this week that an anniversary collection might be coming.

As exciting as it might be, a wishlist of what could be should be reality-checked. Does anyone remember the Street Fighter Collection from back in ’97? After months of hoping for a complete compilation of SFII we ended up getting two games rather than one. Surely the arcade ROMS couldn’t fit in one collection?

That may be unfair, as we later got the excellent Fighters’ Generation / Alpha Anthology which showed Capcom could do it right. But while I should really be cautiously optimistic, I’m going to throw that caution to the wind and express my excitement over the possibilities.

With Ultra Street Fighter II newly-on shelves, I’m not sure that’ll be part of this package and they can’t realistically put out the HD Remake if USFII is already out. Hyper Street Fighter II may be more likely, but both games are just broken from a competitive standpoint. However, either game would be great for the collection and USFII may be the easiest to port over. I think a form of SFII is almost required for the 30th anniversary.

As for SFIII, a collection of all three versions would be sexy as hell, but I think a 3S Online Edition translation would suffice for most purposes. It could be done easily enough as they’ve brought Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Ultra Street Fighter IV over to the current-gen systems.

Speaking of…I wouldn’t expect any original SF or SFIV games to be involved.

So what are we left with? Oh…just my favorite Street Fighter series of them all. The Zero/Alpha games launched as I got into college and the animations, style, sound effects, roster and overall feel remain the best of them all. They hearken to a different time of my life, of gaming, that whole thing. I remember going to the mall to play as Adon in SFA. I bought my first Playstation alongside a fight stick and SFA2. I imported SFZ3 and my fascination turned into an obsession. The aforementioned collection of Zero/Alpha games is so utterly spectacular and complete, I would do anything to have those games playable on the PS4.

However, that may be a bit too optimistic. That’s an awful lot of upgrading, but I truly don’t think a 30th-anniversary collection would be complete without the Zero/Alpha games. I’m not sure precisely how they could work them into this collection but I think it has to happen. It’s entirely possible we just get one game and as Zero 3 really encompasses everything the series stood for, with its Isms and vast roster, you then wonder what version of SFZ3 they’d include. The GBA and PSP versions are the most complete, but with a max resolution of 480×272, it’s simply unacceptable on a big screen. That’s a dilemma. I’d prefer not have an incomplete collection all these years later, but a full one might require too much work. Oh, if I could just get Z2A/A2G, I’d be so friggin’ happy.

I think we’re above a anything would be better than nothing. We’re a far cry from the bare-bones ports and translations of the mid-to-late 90s. There’s no reason this shouldn’t be a kick-ass collection. Having bought so many versions of SFII (no fewer than 6), SFIII (maybe 2?), SFIV (vanilla, Super, AE, Ultra, Ultra on the PS4), and now SFV (base game + 2 seasons of DLC). Please don’t fuck this up, Capcom. The 30th anniversary should celebrate US as much as it should celebrate SF.

With Arika moving forward to release a new fighting game next year, we’re set to see Kairi, Skullomania, Garuda, Darun and Hokuto return to the ring.

There is no official tie to Street Fighter EX just yet and it may remain that way. However, it seems evident that Arika and Capcom have
some open relationship going, as EX characters appeared on the CFN portal.

It’s never been a viable topic to even imagine an EX collection, but with the new changes, one might wonder: could this actually happen? Certainly I am not the only person who would be elated if Fighting EX Layer (unofficial working title) actually turned out to be SFEX4, however it is ultimately extremely unlikely. The small Japanese team was taking input from people at SDCC which means they don’t have the big backing Capcom would offer, particularly with the name Street Fighter affixed. However, one could just imagine the possibility of a collection of the first three SFEX games actually coming to be.

They would likely have to come to the PS4 only, as the trio of games never appeared on any other home console. And while the first two games had basic arcade version that differ from the final ports, it seems unlikely those versions would ever be playable. The only real issue would be the requisite online play. Outside of that, the remainder of the games could truly remain the same. From the great trials to the training mode to the arcade options, it could be a very straightforward game. I don’t need enormous major changes. Just a nice game choice splash screen and the full games ported over. However, maybe I’m being naïve. Perhaps it’s not quite so simple without fully remastering them. If it were possible, I would gladly plunk down the cash for:

• Street Fighter EX + Alpha (PS1)
• Street Fighter EX2 + (PS1)
• Street Fighter EX3 (PS2)

How sweet would that be? As usual, the sheer awesomeness is directly proportional to the unlikeliness of it actually happening. *sigh*