Anyone who's spent any amount of time in an early nineties video arcade will remember a few things. For me, apart from the general ambiance of those grimy dens of iniquity - the sound of countless 10p's hitting tin, the smell of stale smoke and honking ashtrays and the shady looking guy that irritably removes himself from his Perspex cubicle, within which he is viewing a tiny, black and white showing of Neighbours, to help some kid retrieve his 50p from the hungry stomach of Operation Wolf - the most memorable part of any arcade visit was joining the queue for Street Fighter II. The gamut of emotions; soon I'm gonna be facing one of these guys in front - do I have the skills? Which side am I gonna be on, 'cos I can't dragon punch on the left? How long can I hold it together for these guys behind? Am I destined to become one of those dejected losers that spends their 30p's worth getting trounced?

A decent stint could have you talking for the rest of the day, as you walk along to the next arcade with a face full of greasy chips "Dith you thee how I dwagon punthed him…gulp…out of that flying kick?", "Who do you reckon is better, Ryu or Ken?" My reign was short however and although SFII lasted for a long while at the top of the pile, there came a time when you no longer needed to queue on a Saturday afternoon - and a sad day that was. Indeed, if you happen to find an original SFII stand-up in your local arcade nowadays, complete with the little plastic strip at the bottom of the screen detailing the characters' special moves, you might throw in a few tens, you might perform a few practice dragon punches, you might sigh as you hear the roar of that little plane as it zooms across the screen, you might nod in remembrance as the announcer counts down to fight, you might give yourself a mental pat on the back and punch the air, as the animation slows slightly when you deal your death blow, you might watch Ryu walk that endless road into the sunset for the first time in ten years, you might even walk away from the machine with a tear in your eye, as you pay homage to the greatest arcade game ever made. But then again you might not, especially seeing as Capcom's classic, and all it's incarnations, has been compiled onto one disc in honour of a decade and a half of existence. Step forward Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition and join the ever-growing ranks of SFII spin off titles.

A potted history is probably in order here to separate your Championship Editions and Hypers from your New Challengers and Turbos, as the huge range of versions (not to mention the numerous home-made hacks) added over the years will have your head spinning sooner than you can say hadoken (meaning 'moving wave punch').

Released in '91, SFII: The World Warriors saw the original eight characters battle it out with only one colour scheme each. Ryu and Ken played identically and, despite rumours, playing as the bosses was impossible. SFII Champion Edition, a.k.a. Dash, released later that year added the bosses as playable characters and gave us the option to play as the same character, giving rise to an extra outfit for each character. It's here that Ryu and Ken diverge, becoming ever so slightly different. Hyper Fighting followed in '92, upped the speed and gave a few extra moves to the less played characters. Super SFII: The New Challengers introduced us to Cammy, Deejay, T.Hawk and Fei Long, as well as changing the characters' avatars, then the following year brought us the final in the illustrious series, Super SFII Turbo. Super special moves were added to the by now industry standard mechanics, Akuma was thrown into the line-up and you no longer had the joys of barrel bashing and automobile annihilation to break up the battles.

Anniversary Edition fuses all these incarnations into the best SFII compilation ever, allowing matches previously only to be dreamed about, such as original Ryu versus a heavily changed Super SFII Turbo Ken, complete with flaming dragon punch or non-teleporting Dhalsim against super special piledriving Zangief. A number of speeds ranging from snail to cheetah are available for those who were used to a particular quickness and, thankfully, the load time is almost non existent, making for fantastic playability and a niggle free shot of nostalgia straight to the heart. As if that wasn't enough, Capcom have thrown in the classic Anime 'Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie' in which a laughable plot is filled out with a number of superb fight scenes backed by some of the most tremendous guitar work in living memory (listen out for 'Late For The Execution' on Ken's car stereo). Notably absent however is the Chun Li shower scene - oh well, I suppose it was a touch on the raunchy side.

This marvellous compilation will bring back wondrous memories of your youth and warm your heart to the very core. It's complete, enjoyable and perfect in every way. If you have a soft spot for SFII you need this piece of history, if not, it doesn't compete in today's world of beat-em-ups and you shouldn't bother. Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition is, simply put, the best thing since Chun Li's legs - and how can you miss out on that?

Reviewed by Tom LeClerc for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).