"Solid conversion of a top-notch fighting game"

The original Street Fighter Alpha arcade game was released in 1995 and served as the sequel to the original Street Fighter (released in 1987) as well as a prequel to Street Fighter II (released in 1991 and followed by a whole bunch of upgrades and knock-off games). With this in mind, the game featured a variety of fighters from SF1, SF2, and even Final Fight and introduced a couple nifty features such as air blocking, alpha counters, and a refined Super Combo system. Now as we all know, the game got popular, saw release on a few CD-based consoles and PCs, and then got a couple sequels along the way... oh yeah, they also released a couple 3D Street Fighters along with the long-awaited Street Fighter III. But in March 2000, Capcom and Crawfish Entertainment decided to bring the original Alpha over to Nintendo's portable Game Boy Color.

STORY: Much like previous (and future) Street Fighter titles, you have your choice of ten characters (and three hidden fighters) to choose from, each with their own goals and story in the game. In a move that was considered unique at the time, SF Alpha didn't have a designated final boss, but rather each character had a final battle against a specific opponent, whether they'd be a hidden fighter or one of the main cast. The GBC port does retain this feature for the most part, but lacks the pre-fight dialogue when it comes to the final boss. Oh well. 7/10

GRAPHICS: Given the limited capabilities of the Game Boy Color, a lot of stuff have been dropped from the arcade game; most notably the opening cutscene, the variation of stages (not a huge loss actually), and ending screens. What has been retained, however, is fairly good... almost. The stage designs are actually pretty good and seem like lower resolution versions of the actual arcade stages. The sprites, while lacking in finer details, look like the fighters they're supposed to represent and also move swiftly and smoothly, as well as the various projectile attacks in the game. So for the most part, the game looks good. The character portraits, on the other hand, are hit or miss. Some look good, some look bad. 8/10

SOUND: So as I said, there's some stuff missing from the original; mostly notably the majority of music and voice-overs for various attacks and taunts. In fact, there's no music during the Player Select screen. However, what has been retained is fairly good and rather catchy remixes to the tunes from the arcade original. Although not the best sounding conversion of the bunch, it's still holds up well and sound better than most other Game Boy titles. So that's alright. 8/10

GAMEPLAY: For the most part, you only have two modes in this game, Arcade and Training. No hidden Survival modes or Dramatic modes to be found here. There isn't even any 2-player capability of any kind, so no multiplayer fun to be had even if you can find a friend who also has a copy of the game.

As far as the game itself goes, the GBC version retains all thirteen characters from the arcade game and all seem to play as well as they did in the original version despite the simplified two-button system. Much like the GB port of Street Fighter II, you have one punch button and one kick button; the strength of the attack is determined by how hard (or soft) you press the button. So it's sort of like the original Street Fighter's hydraulic pumps on certain arcade machines or the set-up used on the TurboGrafx-CD version of Fighting Street, except this one is much more responsive.

For the most part, you can pull off all your special moves, Super Combos, and Alpha Counters rather well and without a hitch, as the controls are pretty smooth and responsive. And while taunting doesn't really serve much of a purpose in any Street Fighter game, the fact that it's included here shows how much detail they packed into a little game cartridge. And even with all the good stuff packed in, the game itself runs fairly quick and doesn't plod for a moment, not even on the slowest speed setting. Very good showing here. 9/10

CHALLENGE: Much like the console conversion ports of any fighting game ever, you can adjust the difficulty of the game in the option menu (5 stars max here as opposed to 8 stars on consoles) as well adjust the damage ratio of attacks. On the default setting, the game is fairly simple (slightly easier than the arcade version, I'd think) and can be beat in roughly a half hour's time. But it's not a cakewalk. 8/10

REPLAY VALUE: Because of a lack of multiplayer capabilities or alternate modes, there's not much reason to play this game after a couple playthroughs. Regardless of difficulty setting, you'll get the same generic ending of your character's portrait floating over lines of dialogue. Not exactly a worthy prize for multiple playthroughs. 2/10

OVERALL: Despite lacking half a soundtrack, full endings, and a variety of game modes, Street Fighter Alpha is done justice on the Game Boy Color. The graphics are top-notch for an 8-bit handheld, the controls are responsive and accurate, and the gameplay as a whole is quick and precise. It is perhaps one of the better fighting games on Nintendo's handheld system and one of the better Street Fighter ports on an 8-bit console in general. Although it's nowhere near as good as a full conversion such as the Playstation version or the arcade original, it's still a top notch game that any fan of Street Fighter or fighting games in general should play. 8/10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/16/10, Updated 02/16/10

Game Release: Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams (US, March 2000)