Game Review: Street Fighter Alpha Anthology (PS2)
In the mid to late 90's the Street Fighter Alpha (Street Fighter Zero in Japan) series took over from the previous Street Fighter II series that were around from 1991 to 1994. Instead of continuing with Street Fighter III (which would come after the Alpha series), Capcom decided to go back and have the games take place after the first Street Fighter (also called Fighting Street) but before Street Fighter II (SF from now on). By doing this, we get to see the return of characters from SF, the real first appearance of SFII characters, the addition of characters from the Final Fight series of games (which technically SF is based upon but is a brawler fighting game instead), and some new characters. Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is a collection of all the 3 main games in the series plus one "Gold" version and an interesting "Gem" game: Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix (also known as Pocket Fighter) . These five games are perfect ports of the arcade versions and includes most, if not all, codes and secrets with them. While it's a great collection, there isn't any extra content to unlock or whatever. Even for the PS2, there is no online mode either. This is strictly about the games. Like my review last year with Super Mario All-Stars, this review will give a quick look at each game and some info on it. Oh yeah, and super-woofy Zangief is in 4 of these games! Gotta mention him for sure (my avatar pic here) as he's the one character I beat each game with sans the first Alpha as he wasn't included for some reason.
Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams
Graphics/Art-9
Sound/Music-9
Control-9
Gameplay-8
Fun/Story/Misc-7
Music Samples:
Ken's Theme
Sodom's Theme
Sagat's Theme
Chun-Li's Theme
Charlie's Theme
Adon's Theme
Total: 42/50 (Grade Level: B)
I remember back in 1995, I was with my mom at a now-long-closed-down Safeway in North Delta near where my Elementary school was. I picked up an issue of GamePro magazine and saw an article about Street Fighter Alpha. I was both excited and curious. Excited because it was a new Street Fighter game and I loved each game since I first played Street Fighter II on SNES but curious as to why it wasn't Street Fighter III. The immediate thing I noticed was the difference in art style. This game looks more anime compared to the colourful shades of the previous series. Sometime later, I found the arcade and played it. I liked it and had fun but couldn't believe how many characters it had - less than Super Street Fighter II. I also didn't know who some of these characters were but found out much later that they originated from the first Street Fighter and that one of them, Guy, came from Final Fight (I only knew of Cody and Haggar). I never really played the console ports on Sega Saturn and Sony Playstation as far as I remember. The gameplay was a continuation from Super Street Fighter II Turbo with a few refinements. The music can be outputted through CPS1 or CPS2 (CPS1 was used in earlier Capcom games while CPS2 was used more in the mid to late 90's) and can be selected in the "Options" menu. Since Zangief wasn't in this game, I played as Sodom. Characters in this game (a few are hidden and can be accessed by codes): Adon, Akuma, Birdie, Charlie, Chun-Li, Dan, Guy, Ken, M. Bison, Rose, Ryu, Sagat, and Sodom. Wikipedia article is here.
To see a full arcade playthrough with Ryu go here or below:
Click to viewStreet Fighter Alpha 2 + Gold
Graphics/Art-10
Sound/Music-10
Control-9
Gameplay-9
Fun/Story/Misc-9
Music Samples:
Rose's Theme
Sodom's Theme
Adon's Theme
Ryu's Theme
Gen's Theme
Dan's Theme
Guy's Theme
Akuma's Theme
Charlie's Theme
M. Bison's Theme
Zangief's Theme
Rolento's Theme
Ken's Theme
Sakura's Theme
Birdie's Theme
Staff Roll 2
Staff Roll 3
Total: 47/50 (Grade Level: A)
Street Fighter Alpha 2 is my favourite in the Alpha series and one I played the most on PSone. I rented the original version for Sega Saturn from Willow Video Games in Newton in 1997 and consider it to be superior simply because it includes the game's artwork for you to view (for whatever reason, was not included in the PSone version) and the loading times were a little faster. I eventually owned the Gold version when I bought a used copy of Street Fighter II Collection for PSone in 1999 at MicroPlay in Richmond (it was sadly closing down). Gold only has a few changes from the original and has Cammy as a playable character. This game was a real improvement over the original featuring more characters, stages, music... just more of everything. For both versions, I played Zangief. Characters in this game (there are variations of the same characters too): Adon, Akuma, Birdie, Cammy, Charlie, Chun-Li, Dan, Dhalsim, Gen, Guy, Ken, M. Bison, Rolento, Rose, Ryu, Sagat, Sakura, Sodom, and Zangief. Wikipedia article is here.
To see a full PS2 playthrough with Zangief go here or below:
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Graphics/Art-10
Sound/Music-8
Control-9
Gameplay-9
Fun/Story/Misc-9
Total: 45/50 (Grade Level: A)
I never played Alpha 3 when it came out originally in 1998. It was a bestseller on PSone but for whatever reason, didn't play it until much later. It is certainly different than the other games. It adds 3 different play styles that are based upon the previous games in the series and have pros and cons depending on what you favour (X-ism, A-ism, and V-ism) in a character. In the two previous games, you fought opponents that (storyline-wise) have some connection to the character you were playing and the final opponent was your rival. This one has about two of these battles but it all ends up to M.Bison, the series' (mostly) main antagonist. You have only one chance to beat him and if you lose, the game ends and you cannot continue but if you win, you get your character's ending. The graphics certainly have improved though the music is different and doesn't reflect the characters' themes. The artwork of the character's portraits are... bizarre. Perhaps sometime, I'll give this game more time to grow on me. I played Zangief again and got his ending (WOOF! which has him and sumo wrestler E.Honda together!). Characters in this game (might be inaccurate depending on the version): Adon, Akuma, Balrog, Birdie, Blanka, Cammy, Charlie, Chun-Li, Cody, Dan, Dee Jay, Dhalsim, E. Honda, Evil Ryu, Fei Long, Gen, Guile, Guy, Juni and Juli, Karin, Ken, M. Bison, R. Mika, Rolento, Rose, Ryu, Sagat, Sakura, Shin Akuma, Sodom, T. Hawk, Vega, and Zangief. Wikipedia article is here.
To see a full arcade playthrough with Zangief go here or below:
Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix
Graphics/Art-9
Sound/Music-8
Control-8
Gameplay-8
Fun/Story/Misc-7
Total: 40/50 (Grade Level: B)
Also known as Pocket Fighter for the PSone release, I've never played this game before as I tend to ignore these types of games. I honestly have no idea how this game plays as it's very different from other Street Fighter games. I even question as to why it was included given it's deviation from the Street Fighter formula. I had real problems understanding how moves work and how to use gems and so forth. A tutorial would really have helped. I kind of like the deformed look of the characters and how things are colourful and kiddy-like. Besides some characters from Street Fighter, there are also other characters from two other Capcom fighting games: Darkstalkers, and Red Earth. I cannot comment further on the game so my review is as fair as I can make it. Characters in this game: Akuma, Chun-Li, Dan, Felicia, Hsien-Ko, Ibuki, Ken, Morrigan, Ryu, Sakura, Tessa, and Zangief. Wikipedia article is here.
To see a full quick arcade playthrough with Zangief go here or below:
No Street Fighter Alpha Anthology website exists and the Gametrailers.com video review goes to a different video and hasn't been fixed to this day. The Wikipedia article is here though.
Next Game: SoulCalibur III (PS2)
Currently playing: Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops (PSP)
