The history of the Street Fighter series is a long and storied one. Many
have argued, myself included, that the original Street Fighter 2 played a
big part in revitalizing the video game industry. That was just about a
decade ago. Now Street Fighter 3 is out in arcades and the Street Fighter
Alpha series of games is up to its third installment. That third
installment is a great arcade game, but 2D arcade fighters have never
really been successfully ported to the Playstation. Has Capcom finally
pulled it off?
Even before I popped Street Fighter Alpha 3 into my Playstation and hit the
power button I knew I wouldn't be seeing the ever familiar FMV intro. I'd
be treated to a good old animated intro starring some of the Street
Fighters, which is exactly what I got. SFA3's Mode Menu select screen is
what gave me the first inkling that this game was extremely deep. Many of
the modes were grayed out because, as you might expect, you have to earn
them by defeating the game and doing several other things. The other
alternative, which is the one I went with, is to use a GameShark to get
them. The total number of modes in SFA3 is a whopping ten. They are
Arcade, Versus, Training, World Tour, Entry, Team Battle, Survival,
Dramatic Battle, Final Battle, and Option. Most of those will be familiar
to most of you, with the exception, perhaps, of the World Tour, Entry,
Dramatic Battle, and Final Battle modes. The World Tour Mode is
essentially just that, a world tour. You select a character and fight at a
multitude of countries across the globe. Each country has between one and
three stages. As you fight and progress you gain experience points which
increase your "Ism" level. At set experience point increments your
character's level increases and he or she earns an "Ism Plus", which is a
special ability. Your character can earn up to three "Ism Pluses". I'll
explain what exactly these "Isms" are a little later. The Entry Mode lets
you register characters that you've used in World Tour Mode and makes them
available to be used in other modes. You can register up to six characters
and once a character is registered he or she appears on the Character
Select Screen in Arcade Mode, Versus Mode, and Training Mode. The Dramatic
Battle Mode pits you and a computer-controlled ally against a single
computer controlled opponent. Finally, the Final Battle Mode is where you
simply fight the final boss of the game, which is once again, M. Bison.
The sheer number of modes in SFA3 is extremely cool, but it doesn't begin
to sum up the game. As far as graphics go, SFA3 is absolutely stunning.
It is, without a doubt, the best looking 2D fighting game on the
Playstation. As I said in the opening paragraph, making a 2D fighter for
the Playstation has been a real difficulty for many companies, Capcom
included. The reason this is so is because of the Playstation's limited
RAM and its graphics chip, which is better at doing 3D than 2D. Up until
this point most 2D fighters, when compared with their arcade counterparts,
had frames of animation missing. This was sometimes very noticeable and
sometimes not very noticeable, but nevertheless it was a problem. As far
as I can tell SFA3 has no missing frames of animation. How Capcom pulled
this off is beyond me, but the important thing is that they did pull it
off.
Another huge plus for SFA3 is its incredible soundtrack. It's usually the
case that RPG's have the best soundtracks, but SFA3's soundtrack rivals
just about any great RPG soundtrack I can think of. The music is just that
good. Also, the staple sounds of Street Fighter are present such as Ryu
and Ken's screams of "Hadoken!" and "Shoryuken!", as well as Blanka's
high-pitched yell among others. If this were all SFA3 had going for it
it'd be better than most fighting games out there, but there's more. The
number of selectable characters in SFA3 is amazing. There are a total of
thirty-four characters from just about every incarnation of Street Fighter
as well as some new, never before seen characters. Each character can be
played in four different modes. They are Normal, Classic, Mazi, and
Saikyo. Normal mode has you play the character as he or she is in SFA3
while Classic mode lets you play the character as they were when they
originally debuted. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to ascertain what the
Mazi and Saikyo modes entail, and there's no mention of them in the
instruction manual. Control can't be overlooked as it is a significant
element of any fighting game, and SFA3 has that covered. Although I'm not
fond of the Dual Shock controller's directional pad for use with fighting
games, the control is still extremely tight and precise.
As promised, I'll now give a brief explanation of the "Isms". There are
three methods of fighting in Street Fighter Alpha 3, those being X-Ism,
A-Ism, and V-Ism. X-Ism is the fighting style that debuted in Street
Fighter 2 Turbo, A-Ism is the fighter style from the first Street Fighter
Alpha, and V-Ism is the combo system from Street Fighter Alpha 2. The
three "Isms" vary in a number of ways including number of Super Combos
possible, Super Combo Levels, Custom Combo ability, Air Block capability,
level of Power, level of Defense, and Alpha Counter Capability. There's a
handy chart in the instruction booklet that indicates what the strengths
and weaknesses of each "Ism" are.
As far as I'm concerned Street Fighter Alpha 3 is one of the best fighters
on the Playstation and is definitely the deepest fighter on the
Playstation. With it's thirty-three total characters, three different
fighting modes, ten different gameplay modes, fantastic graphics, wonderful
music, and excellent control Street Fighter Alpha 3 is a fighting game
fan's dream. The only gripe I really have is that the game's announcer is
extremely annoying. I wish Capcom had seen fit to include an off button
for the announcer with the game's other options. However, this being said,
if you like fighting games at all then you can't do without Street Fighter
Alpha 3. Go and buy it, you'll be glad you did.
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