Street Fighter Alpha 3

Street Fighter Alpha 3

Arcade flyer
Developer(s) Capcom
Crawfish Interactive (GBA)
Publisher(s) Capcom
Composer(s) Takayuki Iwai
Yuki Iwai
Isao Abe
Hideki Okugawa
Tetsuya Shibata
Series Street Fighter
Platform(s) Arcade, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, PocketStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Sega Saturn (Japan only)
Release date(s)
Genre(s) Fighting
Mode(s) Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet Upright
Arcade system CPS-2
Sega NAOMI (Zero 3 Upper)
Display Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal),
4096 colors on screen,
16,777,216 color palette[1]

Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as Street Fighter Zero 3 (ストリートファイターZERO 3) in Japan and Asia, is a 1998 fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2, although it was released after the Street Fighter III series had already started (between 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike). The gameplay system from the previous Alpha games was given a complete overhaul with the addition of three selectable fighting styles based on Street Fighter Alpha (A-ism;called Z-ism in Japan), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (V-ism), and Super Street Fighter II Turbo (X-ism), new stages, a much larger roster of characters, and new theme music for all the returning characters.

Gameplay

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 players 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, 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. In X-ism, players cannot air-block nor perform Alpha Counters. 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.

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.

Characters

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 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 Juni and Juli, two of Shadaloo's "Dolls" who serve as Bison's assassins and guards.

The PlayStation version added the remaining characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II: Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk, along with Guile from World Warrior and Evil Ryu from Alpha 2, these last two being unlockable. The Saturn and Dreamcast versions move Guile and Evil Ryu to the default roster in addition to including Shin Akuma, EX Balrog, and Final Bison as bonus characters who are not selectable by normal means.

The Game Boy Advance port 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 character count to 40 characters.

Character Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Arcade) Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Playstation) Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper (GBA) Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX (PSP) Total
Thailand Adon Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Akuma Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Balrog Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United Kingdom Birdie Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Brazil Blanka Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United Kingdom Cammy Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Charlie Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
China Chun-Li Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Cody Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
India Dhalsim Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Hong Kong Dan Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Jamaica Dee Jay No Yes Yes Yes 3
Japan E. Honda Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United Kingdom Eagle No No Yes Yes 2
Japan Evil Ryu No Yes Yes Yes 3
United States EX Balrog No Yes Yes Yes 3
Hong Kong Fei Long No Yes Yes Yes 3
Final Bison No Yes Yes Yes 3
China Gen Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Guile No Yes Yes Yes 3
United States Guy Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Ingrid No No No Yes 1
Germany Juli Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Germany Juni Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Karin Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Ken Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
M. Bison Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Maki No No Yes Yes 2
Japan R. Mika Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
United States Rolento Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Italy Rose Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Ryu Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Thailand Sagat Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Sakura Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Japan Shin Akuma No Yes Yes Yes 3
United States Sodom Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Mexico T. Hawk No Yes Yes Yes 3
Spain Vega Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Hong Kong Yun No No Yes Yes 2
Russia Zangief Yes Yes Yes Yes 4
Total 28 36 39 40

Versions

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
DreamcastPSSaturn
AllGame[3][4]
CVG[5][6]
Famitsu33 / 40[7]32 / 40[8]32 / 40[9]
GameFan288 / 300[10]
GamePro4 / 5[11]5 / 5[12]
GameSpot9 / 10[13]8 / 10[14]
IGN9.5 / 10[15]9.3 / 10[16]
OPM (US)[17]
PSM9 / 10[18]
Dreamcast Magazine27 / 30[19]
Aggregate score
Metacritic93%[20]
Award
PublicationAward
PSMStarplayer

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 32 out of 40;[9] they later scored it 30 out of 40.[21] The PlayStation version also scored 32 out of 40 on release.[8] The Dreamcast version scored slightly better, receiving a 33 out of 40.[7]

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."

By 2003, the Game Boy Advance version had sold over 30,000 copies.[22]

References

  1. CPS-2, System 16: The Arcade Museum
  2. Roper, Chris. "Capcom Releases Lifetime Sales Numbers". IGN.
  3. House, Matthew (2014-12-10). "Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Overview - allgame". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  4. House, Matthew (2014-12-10). "Street Fighter Alpha 3 - Overview - allgame". Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on December 10, 2014. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  5. Computer and Video Games, issue 216, page 113
  6. Computer and Video Games, issue 209, pages 44-45
  7. 1 2 ドリームキャスト - ストリートファイターZERO 3 サイキョー流道場. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.36. June 30, 2006.
  8. 1 2 Weekly Famitsu, No. 400
  9. 1 2 Weekly Famitsu, No. 405
  10. GameFan, volume 7, issue 4 (April 1999), pages 15 & 38-43
  11. "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Review for Dreamcast on GamePro.com". Web.archive.org. 2004-03-16. Archived from the original on March 16, 2004. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  12. "Street Fighter Alpha Review for PlayStation on GamePro.com". Web.archive.org. 2004-03-15. Archived from the original on March 15, 2004. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  13. Gerstmann, Jeff (2013-10-10). "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  14. "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Review". GameSpot. 1999-01-13. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  15. "Street Fighter Alpha 3". IGN. 2000-05-19. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  16. "Street Fighter Alpha 3". IGN. 1999-05-07. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  17. Official U.S. Playstation Magazine, November 2001, page 52
  18. Official PlayStation Magazine, Future Publishing issue 44, page 88, (April 1999)
  19. Dreamcast Magazine, issue 1999-22, page 16
  20. "Street Fighter Alpha 3 for PlayStation Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2016-03-11.
  21. セガサターン - ストリートファイターZERO3. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.26. June 30, 2006.
  22. "All Time Top 20 Best Selling Games". 21 May 2003. Archived from the original on 21 February 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2006.

Sources

External links

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