Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collection: Worth It?
As we all have probably figured out by now, many gaming companies are releasing anniversary collections for many of their favorite franchises. Kirby, Final Fantasy, and even Mega-Man have something to be released due to their massive success throughout the years. I had the pleasure of purchasing the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collection for the PS3 and with fellow writer Daniel Gomez we will do a 360 review of the collection, starting with unboxing it.
Words could not describe the feeling I had when a huge brown box showed up at my doorstep with the words “Capcom Entertainment, Inc.” on it. For months, I had been waiting for the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collection to be released. $180 later, here it was. Upon arrival, the box was a relatively compact size with Capcom stickers plastered all over it. There was even a sticker on the side that stated “New Release Product: Display Before Store Opens On 09-18-2012”. And there it was…Tuesday, September 18, just waiting to be opened and touched. We grabbed a blade and opened it slowly…
The first thing we saw when we flipped open the cardboard flaps was the ever so exciting packing slip. But more exciting than that was the special Street Fighter lanyard that was exclusive to those who ordered the collection directly from the Capcom website. A closer look would reveal the various characters in a very Mega-Man-esque form pitted against each other. Some notab
le matchups included Ryu vs. Sagat, Chun-Li vs. Vega, Zangief vs. El Fuerte, and M. Bison vs. Guile. Removing the cardboard separator revealed the iconic Akuma symbol. It was displayed in raised lettering so you could feel how striking this collection was. Turning the box on its side revealed the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary symbol in raised lettering again. Flip it to the back and there was a picture of everything it came with and a breakdown in words on the side. Most of the games were downloadable content; only Street Fighter x Tekken and Super Street Fighter IV were actual game discs. Nevertheless, I will be clearing out some space on my PS3 for these.
And that was just the front sleeve of the box. Remove it and Akuma’s symbol shined once again, literally in silver, along with the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary symbol. Removing the plastic revealed how soft and soothing to the touch the box was. The box had a velvet-like touch to the fingertips, bringing a calm feeling to my soul and a smile in my heart. The edges of the box were covered in metal plating, giving the box an amazing look. But what was inside the box?
We opened the lid to reveal a collection that was very well organized and presented. The inside front cover had the Street Fighter Official Certificate of Authenticity, although one of the corners came off. But that is easily fixable at least. The words that Yoshinori Ono included in the collection were truly inspiring (and no doubt a translation from Japanese). His message to the fans was that of honor and love. We have inspired him to keep going with Street Fighter and making it the best it can be. His final line brought a smile to my face, both for the reasons of joy and humor: “Thank you and…SHORYUKEN!” The edges of the certificate were the commands for various moves, a nice subtle touch.
Onward to the inside of the box. There was Ryu…Shoryuken-ing it up, ready to be brought out. This was the mini statue that, with batteries inserted, lit up in an awesome manner. Capcom was so considerate to include batteries with the collection and a few minutes later…a collective “OOHHH” filled the room as the statue was lit up, bringing Ryu to life. The detail on this statue was very intricate. From the ragged, dirty looking pattern on his martial arts outfit to the way his muscles were molded and formed, it was clear that the individuals who were responsible for making this statue paid close attention to detail. They even included a little vein popping out of his foot. It is the little things that make me appreciate this collection even more. The only downside is that when the figure is taken out, one would want to display it somewhere. That leaves an empty spot in this huge box…
Moving onto the middle of the box, w
e have all of the disks, both the games and the soundtrack. The first disk is a combination of Street Fighter x Tekken and Super Street Fighter IV, exclusive to the collection. “Not for Resale”; that’s how you know it’s legit. After that, there was a small card that had the code for the Street Fighter II: HD Remix, Street Fighter Alpha 1-3, and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike full game and all of the downloadable content for Super Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter x Tekken. Included in the DLC were various avatars for the PS3. It makes me gla that I didn’t buy the games when they came out and had to pay for the DLC.
A Blu-ray box was sitting next to this card and it was the Street Fighter 25th anniversary film collection. In this film collection was a documentary titled “I am Street Fighter”, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Street Fighter IV: the Ties That Bind, Super Street Fighter IV: Original Film, and Street Fighter: The Animated Series. The animated series was the COMPLETE collection, so all of the episodes were there. Can’t wait to pop that in and watch it!
Finishing off the middle of the box was the complete soundtrack to all of the Street Fighter games. The order of the disks started from the oldest to the youngest, with the soundtrack for Street Fighter from 1987 leading the way. What was most interesting about this soundtrack collection was the artwork on the individual disks. As the soundtracks featured newer and newer games, the artwork on them reflected the change. The people who put together this collection really thought about the consumer and how they were going to present this product so it would give them the best possible experience. To have the order of the disks in a particular way, not to mention the artwork reflecting the change over the years, a lot of heart and soul went into this collection. The first disk we pop in: Super Street Fighter II: Turbo. Let’s flashback to our childhoods!
Finishing the collection at the bottom is a replica of Ryu’s black belt with the Japanese kanji for “wind”, “forest”, “fire”, and “mountain,” representing harmony in nature. I almost don’t want to take it out of the rubber band, considering I don’t know what I would do with it. It can’t be used as an actual belt, so what would I use it for? Perhaps if I ever get into some sort of martial art and I make it to black belt, I could wear it proudly. Or if someone needs a cosplay belt, I could lend it to them. Either way, still pretty cool to have it.
So that was it for the bottom part. But something is missing…I could have sworn it came with some sort of an art book…Low and behold, behind the certificate of authenticity was the Street Fighter art book. The front cover had the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary symbol in silver and in the back, Akuma’s symbol. Opening it to the first page was a message from Francis Mao, Senior Director of Creative Services & Events for Capcom, titled “Round One…DRAW!” From there, we flipped the pages to see artwork from dedicated fans of the franchise. Some of the images displayed the iconic Street Fighter characters in a different light and some were images that displayed true artistic talent with Street Fighter being their inspiration. At the bottom of each picture displayed the artist’s name, location, website, and a small blurb describing their picture. The artwork came from all around the world, showing how much Street Fighter is loved by all kinds of fans.
Taking apart this collection and analyzing each piece closely gave me an appreciation for the game in a way I could have never imaged. Now instead of just playing it for fun and competition, I will know and remember how much this game means to thousands of fans all over the world. Is it worth the $180? You betcha!
Stay tuned on Velocity Gamer for more information on the Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collection. Now that it is open, it is time to play…
(Reviewed on PS3, although I doubt it matters)
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