Street Fighter Alpha 3 | |
---|---|
Developer(s) |
Capcom Crawfish Interactive (GBA) |
Publisher(s) | Capcom
|
Director(s) | Naoto Ota Mamoru Ohashi Koji Okohara |
Producer(s) | Noritaka Funamizu |
Artist(s) | Akira Yasuda |
Composer(s) | Takayuki Iwai Yuki Iwai Isao Abe Hideki Okugawa Tetsuya Shibata |
Series | Street Fighter |
Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable |
Release | July 1998
|
Genre(s) | Fighting |
Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
Arcade system |
CP System II Sega NAOMI (Zero 3 Upper) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3, released as Street Fighter Zero 3 [a] in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998. It is the third and final installment in the Street Fighter Alpha sub-series, which serves as a sequel to Street Fighter Alpha 2, and ran on the same CP System II hardware as previous Alpha games. The game was produced after the Street Fighter III sub-series has started, being released after 2nd Impact, but before 3rd Strike. Alpha 3 further expanded the playable fighter roster from Street Fighter Alpha 2 and added new features such as selectable fighting styles called "isms".
Alpha 3 has also been released on a variety of home platforms starting with the PlayStation version in 1998, which added an exclusive World Tour mode and brought back even more characters, with further versions on the Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 discards the "Manual" and "Auto" modes from the previous Alpha games and instead offers three different playing styles known as "isms" for the player to choose from. The standard playing style, A-ism (or Z-ism in Japan), is based on the previous Alpha games, in which the player has a three-level Super Combo gauge with access to several Super Combo moves. X-ism is a simple style based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo (the term "X-ism" being a reference to that game's Japanese title, Super Street Fighter II X), in which the player has a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single but powerful Super Combo move. The third style, V-ism (or "variable" style), is a unique style that allows the player to perform custom combos similar to the ones in Street Fighter Alpha 2, but cannot use Super Combos. In X-ism, the player cannot air-block nor perform Alpha Counters, and can only use 1 Super Combo move in its powerful Level 3 version. To activate V-ism's Super Combo, the player has to press both kick and punch of the same strength. X-ism has the highest attack power but least defence, A-ism has more attack power than V-ism and a similar level of defence. All three modes have variations of movesets for each character, adding considerable depth to the gameplay. In addition, there are hidden modes that add handicaps to the player as well as benefits (for example, Classic mode, which prevents the use of Super Combos but also makes the character unable to be knocked in the air and juggled).
Alpha 3 also introduces a "Guard Power Gauge" which depletes each time the player blocks – if the gauge is completely depleted, then the player will remain vulnerable to an attack. When broken the bar shrinks and is refilled to its new maximum, it can be shrunk a number of times. Worth noting, while in X-Ism the character has the least defence of all modes it also has the largest guard bar, vice versa for V-ism with A-Zism being in the middle. Also the guard bar varies between characters, Zangief e.g. has a very large guard bar. The guard bar does not exist in Dramatic Battle matches so no guard crushing is possible there.
I-ism is a customizable style exclusive to the Dreamcast version's World Tour and Saikyo Dojo modes and the PSP version's World Tour mode.
The controls for several actions have been modified from the previous Alpha games. For example, the level of a Super Combo move in A-ism is now determined by the strength of the attack button pressed (i.e. Medium Punch or Kick for a Lv. 2 Super Combo), rather than the number of buttons pushed; and throwing is now done by pressing two punch or kick buttons simultaneously.
The game brings back all eighteen of the characters that appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2. As with the previous Alpha titles, several characters were added to the game: Cammy, who was previously featured in the console-exclusive Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, E. Honda, Blanka, Balrog, and Vega. New characters introduced in Alpha 3 include R. Mika, a Japanese female wrestler who idolizes Zangief; Karin, Sakura's rival who was first introduced in the Street Fighter manga Sakura Ganbaru! by Masahiko Nakahira; Cody from Final Fight, who has since become an escaped convict; and Juli and Juni, two of Shadaloo's "Dolls" who serve as Bison's assassins and guards.
The PlayStation version adds the remaining characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II: Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk, along with Guile from Street Fighter II, and Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma from Street Fighter Alpha 2, the latter three being unlockable. The Dreamcast and Saturn versions move Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma to the default roster (although the latter shares a slot with his regular counterpart and is playable via a special button combination). The more powerful version of M. Bison who is the true final boss of Alpha 3 with the special Shadaloo-ism meter, Final M. Bison, is also made playable in these Sega versions via a code.
The Game Boy Advance version contains all of the characters from previous versions, as well as three additional characters: Yun from Street Fighter III, Maki from Final Fight 2, and Eagle from the original Street Fighter, all three based on their incarnations from Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. The PlayStation Portable version, Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, also adds Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution, to bring the total playable character count to 39 characters.
Character | Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (
PS1,
PS2,
DC,
Sega Saturn)
Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper (Arcade) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper ( GBA) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX ( PSP) |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adon | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Akuma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Balrog | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Birdie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Blanka | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Cammy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Charlie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Chun-Li | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Cody | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Dan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Dee Jay | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Dhalsim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
E. Honda | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Eagle | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
Evil Ryu | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Fei Long | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Final M. Bison | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Gen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Guile | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Guy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ingrid | No | No | No | Yes | 1 |
Juli | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Juni | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Karin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ken | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
M. Bison | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Maki | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
R. Mika | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Rolento | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Rose | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ryu | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Sagat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Sakura | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Shin Akuma | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Sodom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
T. Hawk | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Vega | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Yun | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
Zangief | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Total | 29 | 35 | 38 | 39 |
Aggregator | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
Dreamcast | PS | Saturn | |
GameRankings | 86% [33] | ||
Metacritic | 93% [12] |
Publication | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
Dreamcast | PS | Saturn | |
AllGame | [11] | [10] | |
Computer and Video Games | [14] | [13] | |
Eurogamer | 9 / 10 [15] | ||
Famitsu | 33 / 40 [17] | 32 / 40 [16] | 32 / 40 [18] |
GameFan | 288 / 300 [19] | ||
GamePro | 18.5 / 20
[22] 4 / 5 [23] | 5 / 5 [20] [21] | |
GameSpot | 9 / 10 [25] | 8 / 10 [24] | |
Hyper | 90% [26] | ||
IGN | 9.5 / 10 [28] | 9.3 / 10 [27] | |
Next Generation | [29] | ||
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [30] | ||
PlayStation: The Official Magazine | 9 / 10 [31] | ||
Dreamcast Magazine | 27 / 30 [32] |
Publication | Award |
---|---|
PSM | Starplayer |
In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter Alpha 3 on their September 1, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month. [34] Its April 15, 2001 issue reported that Zero 3 Upper was the best-selling arcade game of the month. [8]
On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 32 out of 40; [18] they later scored it 30 out of 40. [35] The PlayStation version also scored 32 out of 40 on release. [16] The Dreamcast version scored slightly better, receiving a 33 out of 40. [17]
The Official UK PlayStation Magazine said that the game would outlast Tekken 3, and stated "the only thing to tarnish this is the graphics. So if you think gameplay is more important than texture-mapped polygons, consider the score to be a ten." [30]
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Capcom may have outdone itself with the most playable and innovative fighting game since the original Street Fighter II." [29]
Game Informer gave the PlayStation portable version of the game an overall score of 7.75 out of 10 praising how the game being a great version of the classic fighting game and the gameplay and loading times as being seamless and stating “a perfect arcade conversion that will please Street Fighter fans.” [36]
By 2003, the Game Boy Advance version had sold over 30,000 copies. [37] Meanwhile, the original PlayStation version sold a million units as of June 2016. [38]
In 2019, Game Informer ranked it as the 18th best fighting game of all time. [39]
Tomorrow may be the best day of the year for new games, with about 30 titles expected, if they all make it to the shops. The pick of the crop should include Driver, V-Rally 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Player Manager 99 for the Sony PlayStation, and Outcast, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, Unreal: Return to Napoli, and Aliens Vs Predator for the PC.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 | |
---|---|
Developer(s) |
Capcom Crawfish Interactive (GBA) |
Publisher(s) | Capcom
|
Director(s) | Naoto Ota Mamoru Ohashi Koji Okohara |
Producer(s) | Noritaka Funamizu |
Artist(s) | Akira Yasuda |
Composer(s) | Takayuki Iwai Yuki Iwai Isao Abe Hideki Okugawa Tetsuya Shibata |
Series | Street Fighter |
Platform(s) | Arcade, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Saturn, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation Portable |
Release | July 1998
|
Genre(s) | Fighting |
Mode(s) | Up to 2 players simultaneously |
Arcade system |
CP System II Sega NAOMI (Zero 3 Upper) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3, released as Street Fighter Zero 3 [a] in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D fighting game originally released by Capcom for the arcade in 1998. It is the third and final installment in the Street Fighter Alpha sub-series, which serves as a sequel to Street Fighter Alpha 2, and ran on the same CP System II hardware as previous Alpha games. The game was produced after the Street Fighter III sub-series has started, being released after 2nd Impact, but before 3rd Strike. Alpha 3 further expanded the playable fighter roster from Street Fighter Alpha 2 and added new features such as selectable fighting styles called "isms".
Alpha 3 has also been released on a variety of home platforms starting with the PlayStation version in 1998, which added an exclusive World Tour mode and brought back even more characters, with further versions on the Dreamcast, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, and PlayStation Portable.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 discards the "Manual" and "Auto" modes from the previous Alpha games and instead offers three different playing styles known as "isms" for the player to choose from. The standard playing style, A-ism (or Z-ism in Japan), is based on the previous Alpha games, in which the player has a three-level Super Combo gauge with access to several Super Combo moves. X-ism is a simple style based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo (the term "X-ism" being a reference to that game's Japanese title, Super Street Fighter II X), in which the player has a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single but powerful Super Combo move. The third style, V-ism (or "variable" style), is a unique style that allows the player to perform custom combos similar to the ones in Street Fighter Alpha 2, but cannot use Super Combos. In X-ism, the player cannot air-block nor perform Alpha Counters, and can only use 1 Super Combo move in its powerful Level 3 version. To activate V-ism's Super Combo, the player has to press both kick and punch of the same strength. X-ism has the highest attack power but least defence, A-ism has more attack power than V-ism and a similar level of defence. All three modes have variations of movesets for each character, adding considerable depth to the gameplay. In addition, there are hidden modes that add handicaps to the player as well as benefits (for example, Classic mode, which prevents the use of Super Combos but also makes the character unable to be knocked in the air and juggled).
Alpha 3 also introduces a "Guard Power Gauge" which depletes each time the player blocks – if the gauge is completely depleted, then the player will remain vulnerable to an attack. When broken the bar shrinks and is refilled to its new maximum, it can be shrunk a number of times. Worth noting, while in X-Ism the character has the least defence of all modes it also has the largest guard bar, vice versa for V-ism with A-Zism being in the middle. Also the guard bar varies between characters, Zangief e.g. has a very large guard bar. The guard bar does not exist in Dramatic Battle matches so no guard crushing is possible there.
I-ism is a customizable style exclusive to the Dreamcast version's World Tour and Saikyo Dojo modes and the PSP version's World Tour mode.
The controls for several actions have been modified from the previous Alpha games. For example, the level of a Super Combo move in A-ism is now determined by the strength of the attack button pressed (i.e. Medium Punch or Kick for a Lv. 2 Super Combo), rather than the number of buttons pushed; and throwing is now done by pressing two punch or kick buttons simultaneously.
The game brings back all eighteen of the characters that appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2. As with the previous Alpha titles, several characters were added to the game: Cammy, who was previously featured in the console-exclusive Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, E. Honda, Blanka, Balrog, and Vega. New characters introduced in Alpha 3 include R. Mika, a Japanese female wrestler who idolizes Zangief; Karin, Sakura's rival who was first introduced in the Street Fighter manga Sakura Ganbaru! by Masahiko Nakahira; Cody from Final Fight, who has since become an escaped convict; and Juli and Juni, two of Shadaloo's "Dolls" who serve as Bison's assassins and guards.
The PlayStation version adds the remaining characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II: Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk, along with Guile from Street Fighter II, and Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma from Street Fighter Alpha 2, the latter three being unlockable. The Dreamcast and Saturn versions move Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma to the default roster (although the latter shares a slot with his regular counterpart and is playable via a special button combination). The more powerful version of M. Bison who is the true final boss of Alpha 3 with the special Shadaloo-ism meter, Final M. Bison, is also made playable in these Sega versions via a code.
The Game Boy Advance version contains all of the characters from previous versions, as well as three additional characters: Yun from Street Fighter III, Maki from Final Fight 2, and Eagle from the original Street Fighter, all three based on their incarnations from Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. The PlayStation Portable version, Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, also adds Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution, to bring the total playable character count to 39 characters.
Character | Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (
PS1,
PS2,
DC,
Sega Saturn)
Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper (Arcade) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper ( GBA) |
Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX ( PSP) |
Total |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Adon | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Akuma | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Balrog | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Birdie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Blanka | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Cammy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Charlie | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Chun-Li | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Cody | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Dan | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Dee Jay | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Dhalsim | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
E. Honda | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Eagle | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
Evil Ryu | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Fei Long | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Final M. Bison | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Gen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Guile | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Guy | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ingrid | No | No | No | Yes | 1 |
Juli | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Juni | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Karin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ken | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
M. Bison | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Maki | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
R. Mika | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Rolento | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Rose | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Ryu | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Sagat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Sakura | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Shin Akuma | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Sodom | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
T. Hawk | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | 3 |
Vega | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Yun | No | No | Yes | Yes | 2 |
Zangief | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | 4 |
Total | 29 | 35 | 38 | 39 |
Aggregator | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
Dreamcast | PS | Saturn | |
GameRankings | 86% [33] | ||
Metacritic | 93% [12] |
Publication | Score | ||
---|---|---|---|
Dreamcast | PS | Saturn | |
AllGame | [11] | [10] | |
Computer and Video Games | [14] | [13] | |
Eurogamer | 9 / 10 [15] | ||
Famitsu | 33 / 40 [17] | 32 / 40 [16] | 32 / 40 [18] |
GameFan | 288 / 300 [19] | ||
GamePro | 18.5 / 20
[22] 4 / 5 [23] | 5 / 5 [20] [21] | |
GameSpot | 9 / 10 [25] | 8 / 10 [24] | |
Hyper | 90% [26] | ||
IGN | 9.5 / 10 [28] | 9.3 / 10 [27] | |
Next Generation | [29] | ||
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine | [30] | ||
PlayStation: The Official Magazine | 9 / 10 [31] | ||
Dreamcast Magazine | 27 / 30 [32] |
Publication | Award |
---|---|
PSM | Starplayer |
In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter Alpha 3 on their September 1, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month. [34] Its April 15, 2001 issue reported that Zero 3 Upper was the best-selling arcade game of the month. [8]
On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 32 out of 40; [18] they later scored it 30 out of 40. [35] The PlayStation version also scored 32 out of 40 on release. [16] The Dreamcast version scored slightly better, receiving a 33 out of 40. [17]
The Official UK PlayStation Magazine said that the game would outlast Tekken 3, and stated "the only thing to tarnish this is the graphics. So if you think gameplay is more important than texture-mapped polygons, consider the score to be a ten." [30]
Next Generation reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Capcom may have outdone itself with the most playable and innovative fighting game since the original Street Fighter II." [29]
Game Informer gave the PlayStation portable version of the game an overall score of 7.75 out of 10 praising how the game being a great version of the classic fighting game and the gameplay and loading times as being seamless and stating “a perfect arcade conversion that will please Street Fighter fans.” [36]
By 2003, the Game Boy Advance version had sold over 30,000 copies. [37] Meanwhile, the original PlayStation version sold a million units as of June 2016. [38]
In 2019, Game Informer ranked it as the 18th best fighting game of all time. [39]
Tomorrow may be the best day of the year for new games, with about 30 titles expected, if they all make it to the shops. The pick of the crop should include Driver, V-Rally 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Player Manager 99 for the Sony PlayStation, and Outcast, Total Annihilation: Kingdoms, Unreal: Return to Napoli, and Aliens Vs Predator for the PC.