Street Fighter turns 25 this year, and to commemorate the illustrious franchise milestone Capcom has lined up a full year of celebratory festivities, including a global tournament series that is scheduled to open in July and end in December (details will soon be posted at www.streetfighter.com/sf25/).
There’s also this behemoth of a 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set that’s sure to jolt fans into a Street Fighter hyper-mode frenzy. This bad boy is a Street Fighter birthday party in a box containing: four Street Fighter games; two discs loaded with bonus videos, animated series episodes, and the Street Fighter II animated movie; a statue of Ryu; a full-size replica of Ryu’s karate belt; an art book; an epic 11-disc soundtrack set; and a classy storage chest emblazoned with the 25th anniversary emblem, certificate of authenticity strapped to the underside of the lid.
The Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector’s Set will be available in North America on September 18th for PS3 and Xbox 360. Start saving your quarters, because it’s gonna cost you $150. That arcade cabinet piggy bank from the Street Fighter X Tekken Special Edition should finally come in handy.
Here’s a complete list of what comes in the Collector’s Set:
– Past and Present Street Fighter Games – Playable on current gen PS3™ and Xbox 360 console systems, the four critically-acclaimed titles selected from the star-studded catalog are: Super Street Fighter® II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter® III 3rd Strike Online Edition, Super Street Fighter® IV Arcade Edition with all costume DLC, and Street Fighter® X Tekken® including all character and Swap Costume DLC.
– Exclusive Video – The two-disc Blu-Ray set includes a documentary that highlights the profound influence the franchise has had on fans – and vice versa – throughout the years. The collection of videos also includes Street Fighter®IV and Super Street Fighter®IV Anime movies as well as all episodes of the Street Fighter animated series and Street Fighter®II: The Animated Movie.
– Light-up Ryu Statue – A specially commissioned and highly-detailed collectable Ryu statue stands prominently at 8” tall and features the iconic character in mid-Shoryuken, with flames lit from below.
– 11-Disc Soundtrack – Street Fighter game music spanning the past 25 years, in addition to remixes and fan-created music inspired by past Street Fighter games.
– 64-page Hardcover Art Book – A tribute to Street Fighter game fans from all over the world, the art book includes fan pieces submitted by professional and aspiring artists alike.
– Ryu’s Belt – Created to regulation specs, the full-size martial arts black belt is a replica of the one Ryu wears and even includes his classic “Fūrinkazan” in kanji!
– Certificate of Authenticity – Each Collector’s Set comes individually numbered complete with a certificate of authenticity.
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I’m both excited and disappointed by this set. If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve already bought all the games it contains I could justify the purchase a lot easier. Pity too, because it looks exceptional.
It would have been a lot easier to give in to this impulse if Capcom hadn’t tainted the series with all that Disc-locked tomfoolery… Whatever. I’m gonna go rock myself to sleep and make a long list for myself as to why I can’t buy this.
Yeah, it would have been nice if Capcom included some games that weren’t newer releases or maybe did another HD update to an older game just for this collection to give it a little something extra that fans don’t already own.
But hey, I guess you could always sell off your current copies of SFxT and SSFIV to at least recoup some of the cost 😉