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Top 10 Ways Street Fighter’s 30th Anniversary Rocks

Top 10 Ways Street Fighter’s 30th Anniversary Rocks

First was Mega Man Legacy Collection . Then, the Disney Afternoon Collection. Now, Capcom and Digital Eclipse are shooting for the moon with Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection , a massive collection that comprises classic Street Fighter history all the way through its 2D, arcade roots leading up to the flashpoint that was Street Fighter IV . Not only are these 12 games impeccably emulated, but the Digital Eclipse trademark museum mode is mindblowing for any diehard fans of the series.

We’ve spent some time with the collection and want to shout out the key reasons why, even if you have this stuff individually or emulated, it’s worth having this specific release on your shelf.

Top-notch Emulation

Top-notch Emulation

Digital Eclipse has built its reputation on not just porting or remastering, but recreating and preservating. These games run as if you had 12 different arcade cabinets set up in your room. It’s incredible. Put the arcade visual filter on, and it almost tricks your brain into thinking you’re looking at an actual arcade screen. The way things just move have that distinct arcade feel, and them all being set to free play has that gleeful, little cheating feeling. Sure, none of these are home ports, therefore features are “missing,” but as a historical document of sorts, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is flawless.

So much art!

So much art!

The museum stuff in Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is so extensive, the only way to truly give it justice is to split it into multiple slides. Luckily, there are distinct enough ways to break it down. First, there’s the concept art. Concept art isn’t new to games or anything, but the sheer amount of it here is wild. For each game there’s several pieces of art from multiple artists, from multiple sources. There’s concept art, promotional art, advertisements, even some looks at merchandise! It’s all super-high-res, too. Most of it is scanned by hand for this release!

Documentation

Documentation

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection doesn’t just have art, music, and fun games. It also has a bunch of internal documents you probably haven’t seen before. This is the closest look behind the scenes at the beginning of game development you can probably get in an official product. Highlights of particular interest are a series of design documents for multiple versions of Street Fighter II , and the original pitch documents for the original Street Fighter .

Music

Music

All of the music is in this game. Yes, all of it. As you can see in the image, all the in-game music from all 12 titles here is available to listen to. All the little variations and even goofy stuff like stage results are present. You can even set songs to shuffle or repeat, so you can have the Street Fighter house party of your dreams. Or just listen to the Third Strike soundtrack for several hours because everyone should do that at least once.

A Documentary, sorta

A Documentary, sorta

Included in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection museum are several “making of” galleries that show things like the aforementioned design documents. But there’s also the “history,” section, which almost functions like a documentary in gallery form. Here, you get to see the greater timeline of the entire Street Fighter series, that not only guides you through each game, but also provides extra tidbits and fun facts that don’t fit into the conversation as well otherwise. Did you know Street Fighter almost ended up on the NES? I didn’t either, until now.

Online multiplayer!

Online multiplayer!

Not every game is playable online, but four of the most popular games are playable online with ranked matches and casual matches. There are also arcade leaderboards and online lobbies. But the lobbies are the standout feature here. You can set a lobby to either stick with one game or rotate through multiple titles. In fact, you can even have it change and random between matches, and due to the way the game is built, it’s not cumbersome at all. That’s super neat, and makes for experiencing this collection as a virtual museum work really well as a concept.

Handheld!

Handheld!

Sure, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is worth picking up on any platform. But there’s one serious boon you get from picking it up for the Nintendo Switch. Street Fighter on the go, and arcade-perfect Street Fighter at that. This is not the portable debut of the series by any means of the imagination, but it is the portable debut of several of these games ( Third Strike in portable fashion is wild), and it’s the only arcade-perfect portable Street Fighter to my knowledge. If you’re into handheld gaming, this is a no-brainer.

Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle

Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle

Portability isn’t the only reason to pick up Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection on the Nintendo Switch. There’s also a unique version of Street Fighter II , one that has made its way outside of Japan for the first time. Street Fighter II: The Tournament Battle is a recreation of an arcade confirgutation that connected multiple cabinets and allowed players to contruct tournaments. Aptly titled, this one. Of course, there’s some setup and multiple Switched needed to get this going, but the fact that it’s even there is a testament to Digital Eclipse’s vision and talent.

Streamlined Play

Streamlined Play

Earlier in the list, I hinted at how Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection is actually structured in terms of playing the included games. You don’t just go in and boot up each game individually and navigate the modes and such. Remember, these are the arcade games running as purely as possible, which didn’t exactly have online leaderboard menus built in. Instead, you choose the mode you want before you pick the game, and the emulation runs the game in the context needed. Pick versus, and the game will boot into a multplayer character select screen. Select arcade, and you’ll hit the start button to begin right away as the cabinet is set to free play. You still get to see the introduction sequences and everything, but the whole experience is very streamlined, designed to get you moving across games as quickly as you want.

It’s a Fight for the Future

It’s a Fight for the Future

Okay, listen, time to end this list with a soapbox moment.

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection isn’t just a cool game or a neat collection of cool games. It’s a major step forward in a long-fought battle for game history preservation. Digital Eclipse has been making incredible strides in this space, and the fact that these keep coming out tells me, in a wishful thinking kind of way, that it’s working. We need more games like this, because history is important, and the people who made these classic, revolutionary video games aren’t getting younger. We’re going to lose access to these people eventually, and things like pitch documents, concept art, even little anecdotes about how these games came together and were enjoyed by people, will disappear. It’s already happened for games well before Street Fighter ‘s time.

The technology we have now is great for new games, sure, but it’s also perfect for these kinds of digital conservation efforts. Wouldn’t it be nice to see more?

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