Street Fighter Alpha 3

Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as Street Fighter Zero 3 (ストリートファイターZERO 3^?) in Japan and Asia, is a 1998 fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2. The gameplay system from the previous Alpha games was given a complete overhaul with the addition of three selectable fighting styles based on Street Fighter Alpha (A-ism), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (V-ism), and Super Street Fighter II Turbo (X-ism), new stages, a much larger roster of characters, and for the first time since the original Street Fighter II, new theme music for all the returning characters.

Gameplay

Street Fighter Alpha 3 discards the "Manual" and "Auto" modes from the previous Alpha games by offering the player three different playing styles known as "isms". The standard playing style, A-ism (or Z-ism in Japan), is based on the previous Alpha games, in which the player has a three-level Super Combo gauge with access to several Super Combo moves. X-ism is a simple style based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo, in which the player has a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single (but powerful) Super Combo move. The third style, V-ism (or "variable" style), a unique style that allows the player to perform custom combos similar to the ones in Street Fighter Alpha 2. In X-ism, players cannot air-block nor use Alpha Counters. Alpha 3 also introduces a "Guard Power Gauge" which depletes each time the player blocks – if the gauge is completely depleted, then the player will remain vulnerable for an attack.

The controls for several actions has been modified from previous Alpha games. For example, the level of a Super Combo move in A-ism is now determined by the strength of the attack button pressed (i.e. Medium Punch or Kick for a Lv. 2 Super Combo), rather than the number of buttons pushed; and throwing is now done by pressing two punch or kick buttons simultaneously.

Characters

As with the previous Alpha titles, several characters were added to the game: Cammy, who was previously featured in the console-exclusive Alpha 2 Gold, makes her official Alpha debut in the game along with several characters from Street Fighter II including E. Honda, Blanka and Vega. Characters new to the Street Fighter series includes R. Mika, a Japanese female wrestler who idolizes Zangief, Karin, Sakura's rival who was first introduced in the Masahiko Nakahira manga Sakura Ganbaru!, and Cody from Final Fight, who was transformed from a vigilante into an escaped convict, makes his Street Fighter debut.

The single player mode consist of ten or eleven matches against computer-controlled opponents. The fifth and ninth opponent is a rival of the player's character who exchanges dialogue before and after the match. Unlike previous Alpha games, the final match for all the regular characters is against a more powerful version of M. Bison (officially known as Final Bison) who uses a more powerful version of the Psycho Crusher as a Super Combo. When playing as Bison and Evil Ryu, however, Ryu and Shin Akuma become their final opponents, respectively.

Depending on the player's character, the final match with Bison will be preceded with either: a one-on-two match against Bison's female bodyguards Juni and Juli (who uses the same techniques as Cammy), or the boxer Balrog. In the arcade version, Balrog, Juni and Juli were secret characters.

Returning characters

New characters

Home version additions

In the home versions, Balrog, Juni and Juli became regular characters with their own storylines, win quotes and endings. The home versions also added the remaining three characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II, T. Hawk, Dee Jay and Fei-Long, to the selectable roster. In the PlayStation version, the player can also gain access to the arcade version of Balrog, called EX Balrog, as well as Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma, by fulfilling certain prerequisites in World Tour mode. In the Dreamcast and Saturn versions, while Guile, along with Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma, became regular characters, the player can also gain access to Final Bison.

Portable version additions

The Game Boy Advance contains all the additional characters from the console versions, as well as three additional characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2: Yun, Maki and Eagle. The PlayStation Portable version, Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, contains the same additional characters, as well as Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Versions

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 was initially ported in 1998 for the PlayStation, and sold a million copies.^[6] This version replaced "hit" sprites with "hit" polygons in order to focus more memory on character animations. T. Hawk, Fei Long, and Dee Jay (the remaining "New Challengers" from Super Street Fighter II, who were not in the original arcade version) were added to the roster. Balrog, Juni and Juli were also added to the immediate regular roster, and they were given new character portraits and their own storylines. Evil Ryu, Shin Akuma, and Guile were also added as secret characters in the World Tour mode, a mode that allows players to strengthen and customize their chosen character's fighting style while traveling around the world. An additional feature in the Japanese version also made use of the PocketStation peripheral, which allows players to build up their character's strength. In this version, Shin Akuma serves as the final boss for Evil Ryu, as well as a secret boss in Final Battle. Due to RAM limitations, the only unique pairings available for a complete campaign in the Dramatic Battle Mode are Ryu & Ken or Juni & Juli; other character combinations can only be used for one-match battles. This version will be re-released in the near future on the PlayStation Network.

• The 1999 Dreamcast version, titled Street Fighter Alpha 3: Saikyo Dojo (or Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyō-ryū Dōjō in Japan), uses all the added features from the PlayStation version of the game, but features a different World Tour mode. An online mode was added that allowed players to display their high scores. In addition, a Saikyo Dojo mode was added which pits a very weak character of the player's choice against two very strong opponents. The Dreamcast version was re-released in Japan in 2000 as Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyō-ryū Dōjō for Matching Service, which was released as a mail order title via Dreamcast Direct. The Matching Service version differs from the original due to the addition of an Online Versus Mode.

• The Sega Saturn version of Street Fighter Zero 3 was also released in 1999 shortly after the initial Dreamcast version in Japan only. The Saturn port makes use of Sega's 4-MB RAM cartridge and uses all the features from the PlayStation version except the polygon usage and the PocketStation mode. The Saturn version uses the extra RAM to include more frames, sprites, and minimal loading times than the PlayStation version making it near arcade perfect. Evil Ryu, Shin Akuma and Guile are immediately selectable. While the World Tour and Survival modes are virtually unchanged from the PlayStation version, Dramatic Battle received major improvements with the addition of Reverse Dramatic Battle and allowing three different characters to be used. Also, this is the only port to feature dramatic battle against the entire roster of characters. All other versions limit dramatic battle to boss characters.

• Street Fighter Zero 3 was re-released for the arcades in Japan in 2001 under the title of Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper (officially promoted as Street Fighter Zero 3↑). The game was released for the Dreamcast-based NAOMI hardware (rather than the original game's CP System II hardware) and features all the added characters from the console versions of the game. Upper also allows players to upload any customized characters from the Dreamcast version of the game by inserting a VMU into a memory card slot on the cabinet.

• A Game Boy Advance version developed by Crawfish Interactive was released in 2002. The GBA version is titled Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper on the title screen. The port is compressed and lacks several stages and music from the previous arcade and console versions, although all characters were present. In addition, Eagle, Maki and Yun, all whom were characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2 (released during the previous year), were also added to the game. Only a small amount of character voices were ported over to this version and the developers raised Ken's voice to a higher pitch and used it as Sakura's voice.

• The PlayStation Portable version, titled Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper in Japan, officially promoted as Street Fighter Zero 3↑↑), was released in 2006 and features the additional characters from the GBA version as well as Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution. This version is a near faithful port of the arcade version with minimal (almost non-existent) loading times and all frames and sprites intact. All the added characters now feature their own in-game storylines and endings. The downloadable version on the PlayStation Store has faster loading times than the UMD.

• Street Fighter Alpha Anthology for the PlayStation 2 (Street Fighter Zero: Fighters' Generation in Japan) was also released in 2006. It contains the arcade version of Alpha 3 as one of the immediately available games, along with a revised version of Alpha 3 Upper as a secret game. Being a compilation of arcade games, the World Tour Mode that was featured in the previous home ports is not included in this version, nor are the extra characters introduced in the portable versions of the game, although it uses the soundtracks from the home versions. In Upper, said characters are readily available, and since Balrog's theme is used in one of M. Bison's stages, Balrog's stage features his theme from Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition.

References

Sources

• Studio Bent Stuff (September 2000) (in Japanese). All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Games 1987–2000. A.A. Game History Series (Vol. 1). Dempa Publications, Inc.. ISBN 4885546761. 

External links

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 at the Killer List of Videogames
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 guide at StrategyWiki
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 on Street Fighter Wiki, an external wiki