In the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection you get to play both Street Fighter II - Turbo and Street Fighter III - Third Strike.

First, realize that this set lets you play OLD versions of Street Fighter. So you have to expect lower quality graphics and sound than modern games have. It's a way to let you see the origins of this series, and to see how far the game has come in only a few years.

That being said, it is actually quite fun to play these games. Street Fighter II Turbo has a cartoony feel to the characters, who only move left and right against stationary backgrounds. You might get an elephant trunk to curl occasionally, but that's about it. The characters are reasonably detailed, and most are white males with an occasional girl or monster thrown in.

The moves are fun but have very basic animations. There are only a few voices that all characters share.

With Street Fighter III, you get a pretty impressive upgrade in graphics. The characters are much more anime-like with smooth attacks. The characters in general are fluid, with moving belts and fabric. The backgrounds are more detailed, with flying birds and moving people. It is still a left-right fighter but gameplay is much more enjoyable.

The sound in the levels is themed to each level and gets you in the mood. I do get annoyed by the entry screen music which is loud and rappy, but luckily you don't have to listen to that for long. There are more women available on this version, and the characters in general are ones you can feel a connection with instead of looking at them as random pixel people. There are bonus stages and grading to enhance replayability. In one bonus stage, you beat up on a SUV!

While I only play Street Fighter II occasionally for historical interest, Street Fighter III is quite fun even in modern times and is great either alone to beat your previous scores or against a friend for head to head fun. And you can't beat the low price!

Score: 8/10

Buy Street Fighter Anniversary Collection from Amazon.com