It's hard to believe that it has been eleven some-odd years since Capcom dropped the first Street Fighter Alpha game into the arcades (hard to believe because 1995 seems like only yesterday to an old man like me). This 1995 prequel (which was appropriately titled Street Fighter Zero in Japan) offered many of the familiar Street Fighter characters sporting a younger look, multiple new gameplay elements, new environments and a fresh veneer of graphics that fans enjoyed. Capcom's new compilation for the PlayStation 2, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, lets fans relive the series' crisp 2D gameplay and offers a myriad of improvements and extra unlockables. Sure, this collection isn't perfect, and a prerequisite to enjoying it is probably that you are a fan of the series in the first place, but what's offered in this anthology is certainly worth the price of admission.

To be a little more specific, SFAA offers direct conversions of Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Alpha 3. Also included in the collection is the pint-sized (and decidedly cute ) Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (also released on consoles as Pocket Fighter), a more simplified Street Fighter 2D beat 'em up that uses only three action buttons and features cartoon characters based on those found in Street Fighter Alpha. It's a nice little bonus for fans of the series and offers lot of SFA related appearances, humor and fun.

Most of the games in this collection will be very familiar to anyone that has played them for any length of time, with little real variation on the original games. The version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, for example still remains a minor upgrade from its predecessor, offering the return of Cammy and some minor balance tweaks. Street Fighter Alpha 2, which doesn't deviate from the original release either is probably the best game in this collection because it offers a lot of the characters fans loved and a lot more move variations. If I had to point my finger at the weakest link in this collection it would have to be Street Fighter Alpha 3, which wasn't exactly a hit when it was originally released - mainly due to the fact that Capcom changed the core mechanics of gameplay (which obviously agitated some long time fans of the series). Of course there's the usual battle modes in the game including the popular 2-on-1 battles

Luckily the collection doesn't stop there - there's a lot of unlockable content that fans of this series will love like the updated version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 which features some of the original Street Fighter gang added in for good measure (Dee Jay, Guile, Fei Long, etc.)

Of course these games include the original battle modes like the popular 2-on-1 battles, training, survival, etc. Curiously, Street Fighter Alpha 3 doesn't feature the World Tour Mode, which may break the hearts of hardcore Alpha purists.. There's also no multiplayer mode, save two-player battle. While most of these Capcom collections don't offer that to begin with, it still would have been nice to be able to slug it out online and maybe have the option of a leaderboard ranking system. Sure that's asking too much for a classic collection, and it wasn't something they promised but still it would have been cool.

Finally it's worth mentioning that if you have a Hard Drive for your PS2 this game supports it. Using this optional loading feature, players won't have to wait as long for the game to load, which makes it an almost immediate transition from menu-to-game. It's a nice feature, but if you don't own the PS2 Hard Drive, you'll only be subjected to a minimal load time anyway.

In the end, Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is a good deal and certainly a tribute to arguably the best 2D beat 'em series for its time. There's a lot of hidden extras in this game, and despite a few slight omissions, this collection delivers what it promises on the box. If you're still in love with the Street Fighter Alpha series then this collection is a required purchase.

Review by James 'Prophet' Fudge - courtesy of Gameshark.com