Monopoly: Street Fighter Collector’s Edition Review

There’s only so much you can say about a special edition of Monopoly. Unlike some modern versions of the classic property trading game, the Street Fighter Collector’s Edition doesn’t come with an electric chip and pin system or a speed die. What it does bring is a complete change visually, which is refreshing when many special editions content themselves with replacing only the properties.

Here each property becomes a Street Fighter character’s home. Mayfair is now Shadaloo Headquarters, Coventry Street is Rooftops of Japan, while the stations are compass point routes of Shadaloo Airlines. Each is decorated with a portrait of their respective characters in that location, mirrored on the back of the respective property’s card. The artwork is vibrant and gives the board a bit of life compared to the vanilla game.

Also changed are the Community Chest and Chance spaces, replaced with Bonus Stage and Random Select respectively, phrases that you will find yourself reading out in your best announcer voice. The text on the cards has been changed to match – land a cross-up move collect $10 for example. It’s thorough and quite inventive, but most of all consistent; you never get the feeling the developers grew bored during the conversion.

The traditional character tokens have also been changed. You can pick from Ryu, M. Bison, Blanka, a Hadoken, Chun-Li’s Wrist Cuff or Vega’s Mask, all of which are well cast (except for faces, which look a little melted), adding to the polish of the edition.

Completing the cross-over are Bison Dollars instead of regular Monopoly bills, which have a picture and signature of M. Bison on – the latter is a particularly nice touch – and the houses and hotels are now training rooms and dojos to fit the theme. The board also boasts a scene of most Street Fighter characters in the centre.

Other than that it’s standard Monopoly. You start with $1,500 and buy/trade your way to the top, trying to avoid jail and collecting $200 for passing Go. For a shorter 60 minute game some Speed rules are included, the gist of which is when a player goes bankrupt the game ends and the rest count up their assets.

My only real grievance – and it’s petty, I know – is that the box doesn’t have enough space to set out all of the money and properties in separate sections. Instead, half of it is an artwork card shelf. A small point I know, but it’s something my other editions of Monopoly have.

VERDICT: The bottom line is that if you’re looking for a new Monopoly set, and happen to be a fan of Street Fighter, you really should consider this. The board looks great, with a bit of a personality – something lacking in many special editions of the game – and as a whole it throws itself into Street Fighter universe completely.