Street Fighter Alpha

Longtime Alpha and Street fighter fans will find Alpha 3 a welcome addition to their gaming libraries. Unlike the dismal Street Fighter III, this Alpha makes counting to "three" a pleasure.

Capcom's been churning out PlayStation translations of its 2D arcade FIghting games for a few years now. While their quality varies, Street Fighter Alpha 3 has quickly scrambled to the top of the Play-Station 2D FIghting-game heap with its solid FIghting-game engine and extra stuff.

Alpha ModiFIcations
As a straight arcade port, Alpha 3 does the job with strong visuals, excellent sound, near-perfect controls, and a tried-and-true FIghting formula. One key difference between Alpha 3 and its predecessors is that in Alpha 3, each character can choose from one of three fighting styles before each fight begins. Within each fighting style, you can execute certain moves, and you also gain other strategic advantages. Other notable modiFIcations to Alpha 3 include air recoveries and a Guard Meter, which limits how much you can block.

Excellent Extras
Alpha 3 truly excels with its plethora of extra play-modes. The most noteworthy are the World Tour mode, in which you travel the globe and gain new abilities with each defeated foe, and the Dramatic Battle mode, in which you share the screen with a buddy for a two-on-one gang-up-against-your-computer-opponent fest. In addition, 31 FIghters FIll the regular lineup--the most FIghters of any game in the SF series, Alpha or otherwise--including three PlayStation-exclusive battlers: Fei Long, T. Hawk, and Dee Jay.

The home version of Alpha 3 faithfully translates the majority of the arcade version's key elements. The graphics retain most of the sprite frames from its arcade big brother with only a few minuscule visual trims. And even when the screen becomes crammed with splashy super and special moves, the graphics never crap out into a choppy mess.

Sonically, all the smacks and yelps are clearly audible. The only ear-sore is the game-show announcer, who spouts such teeth-grinding phrases as "Beat 'em up, guy!" and "Triumph or die!" Fortunately, the powerful music perfectly suits every fight and keeps the action going.

Third Time's a Charm
Longtime Alpha and Street Fighter fans will FInd Alpha 3 a welcome addition to their gaming libraries. Unlike the dismal Street Fighter III, this Alpha makes counting to "three" a pleasure.

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