Street Fighter: Alpha Anthology
Jun 16, 2006
Street Fighter Alpha came out at a time when the world was waiting for Street Fighter 3. No matter, as gamers ate up all the spot-on gameplay and retro-fabulous vibe. Capcom has been gracing us with a lot of compilations lately, and Street Fighter Alpha Anthology follows in their fantastic footsteps. It will leave you wanting in a few categories, but it's still a no-brainer for brawler fans.
This collection packs in Street Fighter Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, and Alpha 3. It even throws in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix as a bonus, which some of you may remember on PSone as Pocket Fighter. Amazingly, the Alpha trilogy varies enough from iteration to iteration to warrant playing all three. That's ignoring Alpha 2 Gold, however, which is a superfluous addition that only the most dedicated player will find different from the standard Street Fighter Alpha 2.
You can't fault the gameplay of this series. It took all that was good about Street Fighter II, and inserted a lot of much-needed strategy into things. Alpha counters, rolls, and fall breaks all added depth to the combat, though players can be perfectly fulfilled never learning these techniques. The combo gauge brought super moves to a whole new level, allowing you to control a variety of visually stunning and life-meter sucking attacks. It was one of the most important additions to the fighting game genre.
Street Fighter Alpha also brought forth Dramatic Battle mode. Here, you and an AI partner take on a lone opponent. Depending on which version you play, you either pick your teammate and share a life bar, or you forfeit your pick for separate health meters. It's a great time, and a really different dynamic to Street Fighter.
These ports are essentially arcade perfect, which is visually a good thing. The pixels are pixilated as they should be, keeping the image pure and beautiful. It's funny how 2D games hold up much better to early 3D from the same time, isn't it? A downfall of using the arcade versions, however, is that Alpha 3 suffers immensely. It's criminal for Capcom not to include World Tour mode -- one of the best modes in all of fighting games -- or the multiple-enemy survival mode. It's also kind of silly to omit a moves list either in the pause menu or the instruction book. If there was a wish-list, the ability to save fight replays would be on it; it can't take too much space to record bouts, can it?
The cast in Alpha is a great group -- especially in Alpha 3, where the character list is over 25 deep. Of course, most returning Street Fighter players will pick Ryu or Ken; but pre-SF II folks like Rolento and Guy are worth mastering, as are new personalities like Rose and Sakura.
Super Gem Fighter, the oddball of the collection, is definitely a strange game. Picture a fighting game designed for little girls -- like Final Fantasy X-2 but sillier. It's only got three buttons to worry about, and is extremely easy to control. You'll see characters morph into others while executing special moves; you never know which Capcom employee will show up. Also, cameos are everywhere; it's hilarious to see M. Bison sledding down a slope behind the fighters. The Gem Fighter cast list features a lot of Darkstalkers stars, which should appease fans of Capcom's gothic fight series. It's a great addition to the package.
It doesn't need to be said that Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is great for multiplayer. Almost every gamer has a history with the series, and will love getting reunited with their favorite characters -- but again, don't be surprised when they just pick the fireball hurlers. However, it's disappointing that Capcom fails to include online multiplayer yet again. Yes, Xbox makes it much easier to do than PS2, but come on, Capcom. You'd easily make up for the resources by the increase in sales!
Anthology does include a different strange feature, though. For those of you who own a PS2 hard disc drive (all four of you), this game can be stored onto it. This eliminates a lot of the load time that occurs between bouts -- especially when you lose and have to re-select your character. These times aren't grueling by any stretch, but it's nice, and obscure, that Street Fighter Alpha Anthology allows you to bypass them.
This isn't a perfect collection by any stretch: Alpha 2 Gold's enhancements are negligible, and online and Alpha 3's great console modes are nowhere to be found. Still, Alpha Anthology is a lot of Street Fighter fun for around $30. Fighting-game veterans will definitely get their money's worth. It is recommended, though, to drop a few more bucks on top of that $30 to pick up a used copy of SFA 3 for PSone, so you don't miss out on killer World Tour and Survival modes.