Street Fighter V Collector's Edition Guide Hardcover – February 16, 2016

Wow,I haven't done a review for Amazon in a long time but I have to say this book,this strategy guide has compelled me to do so.The strategy guide is jampacked with information and is more then I could have asked for out of a strategy guide for pretty much any fighting game,wow I am honestly blown away by the amount of content here. Mr. Joe Epstein clearly went above and beyond with this guide and must be a serious fighting game enthusiast himself. I am not a hardcore fan but I'm not exactly casual either and I know more then probably your "Oh I just play every now and again" gamer,what we call the "casual" gamer. However I look like a bumbling fool when you compare my knowledge to the knowledge of this book when it comes to our beloved Street Fighter V!A quick little history of strategy guides for fighting games: Uhm,they sucked,I'm sorry but it's true! Point blank,they had very elementary combos in them,some times the art work was good but that's as far as it got,I had a few of them growing up an I used to browse through a few of them on newstands and such. Those guides were aimed at the super casual player and the amount of content and useful information in them was barely enough to get them by,if they'd get by at all. However in 2011 with the debut of Marvel vs Capcom 3 all of that changed and fighting game strategy guides (at least the ones for Capcom as far as i know) would get about 100x better then they used to be.Now that brings us to 2016 and this wonderful strategy guide sitting to the left of me on my computer desk as I type this. I have the collector's edition and I love it and I haven't even had it so much as a 24 hour period but I browsed through it and read a few things,enough to know that this is a very very good strategy guide,as I said earlier it's simple jam packed with information. The book is hardcover and the artwork on the cover is beautiful,however inside is where it's true beauty lies,you will find a wealth of information that will apply to not only Street Fighter V but for other fighting games as well,a glossary if you will of terms that pro players use on a regular basis.Do you know what a tick is,how about a "read"," pre jump frames", "frame data", "mix up" , "meta game" "meaty" and I could go on and on but I'm sure by now you get the point. Most casual players would simply draw blank stares if you asked them them to define most of those terms. I just want to say this strategy guide is really not needed if you're just casual and just want to pick up and play every now and then,but if you're a serious tournament player or if you're like me,some where in the middle of hardcore and casual and you want to learn more and improve your game then you simply can't go wrong with this guide! Oh and all those terms I just named are fully defined/explained in this book along with a whole bunch more. If you were to apply all the information you read in this book you would be a very very very good player and certainly a player to be reckoned with,probably "Platinum" strength and beyond.Most folks in the fighting game community know about frame data,well this guide has the frame data for every single character in the game before the DLC updates and you can get the information on the new characters (Alex,Guile etc) with the eguide as it's going to be updated for at least a year,which should get you through the first wave of characters. Also there are strategies for how to use each fighter effectively and of course combos for each fighter,along with how much damage and stun and things of that nature each combo builds.I just browsed through the book again :) ...the characters are in alphabetically order so if you're looking for Ryu he's probably in the back of the book some where ;-). There is also some beautiful sketches and artwork in the back of the book as well for you to enjoy. Also the book is very well constructed and should last for years to come if you take care of it.Overall just a wonderful book definitely worth the price tag and of course I purchased mines right here on amazon and as we all know amazon has the best prices so yeah you simply can't go wrong if you decide to purchase this guide. I'd give the book about 6/5 stars if I could,which means 6 out of 5 stars,yeah I know I know,it's not possible :(, so 5 stars will have to do. I might even consider buying another copy if they update this in a few years or so with all the DLC characters and their data,combos etc. In conclusion this strategy guide is worth every penny,go grab one while supplies still last,I promise you you won't be disappointed,thanks for taking the time to read all of this and have a great day, Peace!

I had received my copy of this book on the Feb 19th and I drooled as I turned the pages. It is very descriptive on "how to's" in regards to playing SFV. The page layout and pictures are colorful and easy to read. I probably spent a good 30 mins just thumbing through the book itself. I enjoyed my purchase and I say it was worth every penny because although there's a web version of the SFV manual for moves and how to use the V-Trigger, etc. nothing beats an actual physical book or guide to have by your side while you practice. The guide also comes with a lithograph of Ryu and Ken "best fighters ever" that is suitable for framing. Since I'm a Street Fighter fan of old, I'm definitely getting mine framed for my man cave!!

Let me say first that i am a casual player when it comes to fighting games. I liked some of the old street fighter games but only played for fun and with friends. With that in mind, when i first started with this guide i really struggled to understand it. I've read some of the other prima guides and most of them are for beginners and don't offer a lot of advanced tips (which is not good), but this guide is an absolute beast when it comes to packing as much information as possible into it. If you are not familiar with fighting game terminology be prepared to spend a lot of time in the glossary learning the terms before going into the character guides. There is so much fight lingo spread all over the character sections that you will be absolutely lost like me unless you learn these terms. luckily the glossary is deep and does a great job of explaining all the terms you will need to understand the rest of the guide. It goes into detail about frame data for every move available for every character and offers guidance about when to best use those moves. this is one of the best guides ive ever seen and if you are committed to getting better at the game it will absolutely help you. but if you are looking for something to read casually to learn about the characters and game features, start somewhere else first.

Has a lot of information for original character roster. However, since it came out right at the game's release, it's missing very important competitive strategies like how to do Chun Li's instant air lightning legs (even though this was used by top players early in the game's life).

This is one of the most if not most comprehensive fighting game guides you could own. For reference, I have the Ultra Sf4 guide made by the same authors, ultimate marvel vs. Capcom 3, street fighter x tekken, smash for wii u and marvel vs. Capcom 2 guide. Like other people have said, this guide not only applies to street fighter 5 as a new game but fighting games in general. Explains in depth move breakdown of each of the launch characters, strategy on how they should be played, and even matchups when going against them! This guide would be a perfect 100 if it only had the rest of the cast that will eventually be available but considering the price that amazon has it at to what it sells at full retail in gamestop, you get an excellent price. It also comes with a free digital guide for your smart phone or tablet that will be updated as time goes on with balance changes and with additional characters. Well worth rhe money.