One of the games to which I go back from time to time is Street Fighter Alpha 3.

I liked this game enough to buy two copies: the PlayStation version and later the Dreamcast version, for its additional characters and features, not missing frames of animation and lack of loading times.

Years later my Dreamcast is in a drawer. If I want to play the superior version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 I must first take my Dreamcast out of that drawer; find its power cable, S-Video cable, fighting pads, Visual Memory Unit with Street Fighter Alpha 3 save file and Dreamcast copy of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and (temporarily) connect all of this to my television set and electricity. It's that or play the inferior PlayStation version on my PlayStation 2.

Last week I broke down and bought a copy of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for the PlayStation 2. This way I can play the superior version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 without going through the trouble of finding and hooking up a years-ago discontinued game console. I would have done this sooner, but I don't like the idea of paying for the same game three times. Sure, this version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 doesn't include the World Tour (character customization) mode found in all previous home releases, but if you still care about World Tour mode, it's time to move on.

Principle aside, problem solved.

As the word anthology in Street Fighter Alpha Anthology implies, there's more to this package than Street Fighter Alpha 3. This is the entire Street Fighter Alpha series and bonus game Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix--also known as Pocket Fighter: the simplified, humorous, super-deformed take on fighting games. It's nice to have an entire series of games on one disc, but these games, save (the awful) Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, do little to differentiate themselves from one another, so I play only the game I feel does the formula best: the Dreamcast-first version of Street Fighter Alpha 3.

After frustrations. The Dreamcast version of Street Fighter Alpha 3, one of the highlights of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, is initially locked and hidden. Only after you play and finish the inferior, original arcade Street Fighter Alpha 3, which has the frames of animation missing from the PlayStation version but is missing some of its characters, does the superior Dreamcast version become available.

And if you want to play Hyper Street Fighter Alpha; the new, multiplayer-only game that allows pitting characters from every Street Fighter Alpha game against one another; you must first play and finish every other game in the collection--including the initially locked Dreamcast version of Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Then come the user interface issues. The unlocked games don't appear on Street Fighter Alpha Anthology's game selection screen. You have to press the Select button while choosing another game--Street Fighter Alpha 3 for Dreamcast Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter Alpha for Hyper Street Fighter Alpha--to access the unlocked games. Messages appear on screen informing you how to access the unlocked games immediately after they are unlocked, but if you accidentally dismiss these messages before you can read them, or you forget how to access them, the hidden games are effectively forever hidden.

And unlike the real Dreamcast version of Street Fighter Alpha 3, the one in Street Fighter Alpha Anthology has the same title screen as the original--no "Saikyo Dojo" subtitle here. Only after you get to the character selection screen and see the additional characters can you be sure you haven't accidentally selected the wrong game.

It's Sonic Mega Collection all over again.

Hiding and locking games in compilations is fine. It gives the hardcore fans a reason to continue playing. But those hidden games should be the bonuses, not the highlights. It's frustrating and should not be necessary to be forced to play through inferior games to gain access to the best ones.

This needs to be pointed out more often in game compilation reviews and reflected in their scores.

For Street Fighter Alpha Anthology, the choice of game that should have been hidden rather than the Dreamcast version of Street Fighter Alpha 3 is obvious: Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. It isn't a Street Fighter Alpha game. It doesn't play like the other games in the compilation. And certainly few would consider it one of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology's highlights. In short, Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix would have been a nice bonus for hardcore Street Fighter Alpha Anthology players, and not having it available immediately wouldn't have bothered anyone.