Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams

"Street Fighter Alpha goodness!"

I can still remember the day this Capcom classic was released to the stores like it was yesterday. I was in college and my friend and I went to pick our copies up between classes. I had a copy reserved for the Playstation and he for the Saturn. After school, we rushed back to the dorms, each of us anxious to play. After he played my copy and I played his, we both came to the conclusion that the Playstation version of Street Fighter Alpha was better, but only by a small margin.

If you've never played Street Fighter in one of its many incarnates, the story is pretty simple. There's a group of exceptional martial artists around the planet called World Warriors. Some of them seek only the thrill of competition, others seek to instill peace, while still others look for world domination. Its warrior has his or here own reason to participate, which you find out about as you complete the game with that individual. Some of the stories are cheesy, but in a whole, it's a lot better than what you'd expect from a fighting game.

I can't help but admit that I am an old school player. I love 2D graphics, especially 2D graphics as well done as the are in most Capcom fighting games. The animation is simple incredible with its rich and vibrant colors and detail. Beautiful backgrounds (though admittedly not as good looking as Street Fighter Alpha 2 or 3) and eye-catching effects round off the anime looking eye-candy Capcom has graced us with.

The usual collection of taunts, grunts, and hits are found in Street Fighter Alpha as they are found in just about every other fighting game. However, the music is something else entirely. So rare is it that you hear a song in a fighting game and can instantly associate it with a particular fighter, yet Capcom has managed to accomplish just that. More so, each song is available for a listening if you pop it into a regular ol' CD player.

The make or break of any fighting game is the controls. I can't even begin to count the number of fighting games that seemed to have it all in place, only to be ruined by poor control execution. I happily say in this case that Capcom did an excellent job despite the limitations of a standard Playstation controller. While I prefer a Japanese Saturn controller for any 2D game, especially fighting game, you have to take what you can get, and what you get isn't all that bad. Tight and well managed, the handling of the controls is about as good as you can get for the PSX (though you may find yourself with a sore thumb).

I'm probably just being biased, but I have always found very little fault in any Capcom fighting game. While no game is perfect (except for maybe the Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time :-), these game come damn close. Street Fighter Alpha is no exception. With its unique features and equally impressive stylized look, this is one fighting game to be reckoned with. There has always completeness to the design of a Street Fighter game, and Alpha provides no exception to the rule.

Either by code or by completing certain requirements, you can unlock three more characters to use as you play the game. On top of that, if you've ever seen Street Fighter : The Movie (the anime, not the piece-o-crap Jean Claude Van Damme film) then you'll recall the most memorial scene from the film (aside for the Chun Li shower scene) is the final battle between M. Bison and Ryu & Ken. Well now you can reinact that epic battle with a friend as you both take on M. Bison in a battle to the death.

If you've never played a Street Fighter game in your life, you might want to skip this title and go straight for Street Fighter Alpha 3. However, if you're a fan of any of the rest of the series, you should really try to pick up this title while it can still be found (and for so cheap). It may not be the best of the series, but it sure is a worthy addition.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 07/05/02