When I was younger, only one person in my town owned a Neo Geo. He was one of those rich kids who always had the latest consoles before everyone else - you know, like the kids who had the actual Genesis and not the Sega Megadrive, or those who paid £500 for the original PlayStation but were ultimately laughed at when we all bought ours for less than £200 a mere year later. What this machine offered more than anything else was power - pure, unadulterated power. Playing on this machine was almost like having an arcade inside your home and despite the insane 'get a second mortgage' price it cost, it was worth it on looks alone. For those who love beat 'em ups, this was the machine for you, with almost arcade perfect versions of Fatal Fury, Double Dragon and, of course, Art of Fighting.

Now released on the PS2, Art of Fighting Anthology brings together the trilogy of Art of Fighting 1, 2 and 3, which were released between 1992 and 1996. Because of this, I need you all to do me a favour - don't think about the dating of the graphics and don't think about how Tekken and Soul Calibur look infinitely better - okay?

Now, these three games were released at the height of the Street Fighter phenomenon - and boy does it show, with more parallels to Capcom's series than you can shake a Hadoken at. All three games feature the main characters Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, students in the same Kyokugen Karate Dojo who form a friendly rivalry. Remind you of anyone? It doesn't help that Ryo looks like Ken from Street Fighter, even so far as to wear a red outfit!

Those of you who have played a beat 'em up before will probably pick up the controls instantly. Only four buttons are used, so there isn't the complexity that has marred recent games and it is so refreshing to have only one punch, kick and throw button, as opposed to several buttons just to perform a single move. The final button is reserved for taunts, which decrease your opponent's Rage Gauge. This is connected to your special attacks and so, unlike Street Fighter, where you could play as Ryu and just throw fireball after fireball until the cows came home, after two or three moves you will be unable to perform any more until you have increased this bar through successful attacks and taunts. This turns your use of specials into strategic attacks that you must time perfectly so as to not waste them or miss.

As with all beat 'em ups, specials become more complex depending on the move, with Ryo's Breath of the Tiger (think Hadoken) achieved with the typical down, right and X combination, whereas to perform Jin Fuha's Wild Bull Gore you have the arm aching task of performing left, right, down, right and circle! When it comes to Super Special Attacks, I now know where Mortal Kombat got the idea for complex button Fatalities, as these are spectacular to pull off and usually result in the end of a fight. You will have to work hard or practice in co-op mode for a while to get Robert's Ryuko Ranbu move to work, but it is well worth it when you do.

Each Art of Fighting game follows the typical three round fights, but instead of featuring random opponents that change each time (apart from the last two or three boss enemies), the story drives the game along and each fight is there for a specific reason. This almost makes up for the fact that in the first game only Ryo or Robert are available for the main game and thankfully this is rectified in the sequels. Within these first two games, the fights are split at intervals with bonus rounds that range from Bottle Slicing, which consists of (as I'm sure you can guess) trying to smash a bottle within the time limit, to a Rite of Physical Fortification, which puts you against a number of opponents who you must defeat within the time limit. These are all a welcome break from the game, but I do wish that I could play them outside the main game, as some of them, like the Ice Block Challenge for example, are wonderfully entertaining in their own right.

The first game, Art of Fighting, sees you taking either Ryo and Robert through the bouts while searching for Ryo's sister, who has been kidnapped. This isn't the greatest or most original premise for a game, but it is executed incredibly well. If you're worrying that this will make for a short game if there are only two playable characters, then don't panic because all ten are available in two player mode and once you finish the main game this will be where you'll be spending a lot of your time. Despite its age (again don't even think about that) this game is hugely entertaining and despite the limitations of the main game, it is still worth playing for the ending alone.

Very little has actually changed within Art of Fighting 2, with only three new characters added and a few cosmetic tweaks separating it from the original. In this day and age, Art of Fighting 2 would have been dumped on from a giant height as just 'a mediocre update' - and for the most part it would be true, if it wasn't for the fact that it has possibly the hardest computer AI that I've ever fought against. Those who can complete this game deserve respect! Unlike other games that would be severely handicapped because of this, AoF 2 thrives because of the intense desire to see the story through. The game takes addictiveness to a sadomasochistic level and is the gaming equivalent of being told you can only watch the next episode of 24 if you agree to have a finger broken, which, when it comes to the frantic button mashing, may be what happens anyway! However, with more emphasis on special attacks, unlocked in bonus stages, the game definitely benefits from this in terms of longevity.

Art of Fighting 3 is the best game in the set, not because of the superior graphics and sound, but simply because SNK completely overhauled the controls, making them more streamlined, giving you more options in your attacks such as ground attacks, dash attacks that can unbalance an opponent and most importantly an Ultimate Knockout, which is the fighting equivalent of giving Popeye a tin of spinach just as he's about to go down for the count. Though completely unfair, if you manage to pull it off it makes your victory all the sweeter and your opponents' defeat even more rewarding.

The three games compliment each other well and though you will probably spend most of your time playing one and three, you will find yourself playing all three not just out of principle, but also so that you can make sense out of the story that I think even M. Night Shyamalan would have been proud of. It's very rare to see a game with so many twists and turns within its story and to find such a plot in a beat 'em up is a true shock.

Within each instalment, the gameplay is frantic and utterly addictive as you try and work out every move (thankfully these are all mapped out in the manual) and the two player mode is the best thing I've seen for a while - it's astounding that a game that looks so much like Street Fighter manages to maintain its own identity and not just fall into the rip-off category like other games such as Eternal Champions. I found playing these games the most fun I've had with my PS2 for a while; although it's true that it's not exactly stretching the power of the machine, it is still a great example of how excellent a retro collection can be.

The games look and sound beautiful, and after the horrific tinkering Sega made with their classics to make them 'up to date', I'm glad to say that SNK have left everything intact; the reproduction of the arcade graphics is wonderful. This is most evident in Art of Fighting 3, which benefits from the remarkable Manga-style cut scenes that give it the edge over the other two, which are confined to almost cute Pokémon style scenes that (along with the horribly translated story) just make me smile. The sound is a mixture of typical Japanese fighting music that we have all become accustomed to over the years and though it drives the energy of the game, it ultimately doesn't blow me away or stick in my brain like the soundtracks of other games have.

When compared to other retro compilations, you could be forgiven for thinking that three games just isn't enough. But the fact is, even the best game company would have to work hard to beat Art of Fighting Anthology and retro collections are usually let down by including inferior games with a few notable gems anyway (yes, Namco, I'm looking at you!) Some history of the games, their creation and their promotion would have been the cherry on top of an already delicious cake, but for less than a tenner you will be hard pushed to find more entertainment for your money than the sublime combat, appealing graphics and great storylines of the Art of Fighting saga.

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).