Street Fighter Alpha 3

It?s a sequel?it?s a prequel?hell, who cares. In truth, it?s a surprisingly strong port that 2D fight fans will want to own.

One word: Wow. Street Fighter Alpha 3 looks and plays great on the Game Boy Advance with very few compromises made for the handheld.

Forget Danger?This Can?t Be Safe Anyway
The third prequel in the Street Fighter series, SFA3 really shows off what the GBA can do in 2D. The animation looks great, and the speed of the game is blinding?what?s slowdown? Some of the backgrounds didn?t make the jump to the small screen, but that?s better than cutting characters or frames of animation. A stunning 33 fighters appear here, complete with Alpha 3?s ?-ism? system of super moves (users select which SF method they personally prefer). All four buttons are used in combinations to pull off the six main attacks. When the left hand has to carry both directionals and punch duties, it?s often uncomfortable, if not painful. However, the control mechanics themselves respond easily with practice.

While the music arrangements are impressive, the fidelity is limited, so it comes out kinda bloop-heavy?it?s acceptable, considering the hardware. You?ll hear lo-fi voice samples from the fighters during a brawl, but the announcer is gone (you won?t miss his goofy ?Beam ?em up, guy!? intros).

Are You Ready for This Deadly Fight?
There was really no reason to expect that Street Fighter Alpha 3 would turn out this good?maybe as good as the Super SFII port, but players probably expected less here. Instead, with quality gameplay, impressive graphics, five play modes, and a two-player link, SFA3 exceeds expectations, making it an absolute must-own for 2D fighting fans.

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