Street Fighter Alpha

"Well, it is Street Fighter after all"

Street Fighter Alpha is now on the PC. Is it worth the wait? Well, it depends on how you see it.

The Story:
Capcom proves it can't count to three as the company takes a leap back into time with Street Fighter Alpha. This fighting game takes place in between Street Fighter 1 (aka Fighting Street) and Street Fighter 2. There are 10 fighters including Ryu, Ken, Sagat and Chun Li from Street Fighter 2, Guy and Sodom from the Final Fight Series, Guile's old friend Charlie, Adon and Birdie from Street Fighter 1 and Rose, who is a mysterious friend of M. Bison. Also, you can play as Dan, Akuma and M. Bison if you know the secrets. Basically you play as any character and face eight others in a best of three series to become the Street Fighter champion.

Gameplay:
The game is simply awesome. The rounds are perfectly balanced (99 seconds) to include enough action to get you hooked. Each character has two or three special moves plus the more attacks you do builds up your super meter which allows you to do super moves. There are several different modes including Arcade Mode (standard one on one with the computer), Training Mode (you versus a stand-alone character with no time limit), Versus Mode (you versus your friends) and Option Mode (lets you adjust the difficulty, sound, key commands etc.) You can easily get addicted. The gameplay easily gets a 10/10.

Graphics:
Depends on your computer but on mine they look really dated even for an old game. The intro looks a little blurry and some people many not like the cartoony nature of the characters. Plus some people may experience some slowdown.
7/10

Controls:
Street Fighter Alpha is a 2D fighter than keeps the playing in a simple since you do not have to worry about side-stepping. A controller is really necessary to get the feel of this game. However, I use the Microsoft Sidewinder Pro and it is absolutely terrible since the D-pad is set at an angle. This makes pushing up, really pushing up+right, extremely hard. It also makes performing the super moves hard too. Using the keyboard is even worse.
6/10

Fun Factor:
Like I said before, this game is addicting if you love the Street Fighter series. You can adjust the difficulty so that you can start as a novice and by a week turn into a warrior. The different modes will keep you playing for months. Just don't forget to feed the cat.
9/10

Overall:
If you want a basic fighting game than this is it. Anyone can get into Street Fighter Alpha and simply have fun. However, I did experience trouble with slowdown and the D-pad was atrocious to use. Others will not face the same problems as I did though. Since I got it for $5 I can't really complain about how old it is but some people would probably rather get Street Fighter Alpha 3 since it has everything in this game plus more. However, it is still an awesome game that I truly enjoyed.

Final Score: 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/13/03