Big thanks to my bro Josh_The_Fourth for mailing this to me!
I actually don't have too much to say on this collection, but regardless it kinda rocks! The best version of SFII and a very competent port of Third Strike, alongside a (heavily edited) cut of one of the coolest video game movies are included. You could say that overall, this was a lazy release, which is fair. It's two pre-existing PS2 ports of these games bundled together with a movie slapped into it to add more value. However, just playing this gave me a smile on my face. Both games have the arrange soundtrack option which are awesome, and are faithfully ported.
Playing Third Strike with a DualShock 2 while seeing that blurry image on my TV gave me such a feeling, a feeling of something I never experienced: a pizza night hangout with friends, playing the game against each other in turns, just pure casualty and fun. That's not really something you can replicate anymore, and despite the fact that I felt I was missing out on such a thing, the thought of it made me feel happy. It made me think of the awesomeness that communities for fighting games can have, both past and present, and it makes me look forward to trying to join one someday.
This is less of a review and more of me having some weird existential feeling about a video game collection from 19 years ago, but it made playing this feel worth it for the joy it gives me alone. Third Strike is a game I want to write up on eventually, and this definitely helped, that's for sure.