Street Fighter Alpha Anthology review

I can’t think of any other game that has had more releases, re-releases, compilations, special packages and anthologies than the Street Fighter series of games. That’s not a criticism though as there are few games that can elicit such loyal devotion by its fans. Seriously, have a look around your house and count how many Street Fighter games you have.

I have many spread across various machines and I’m sure most of you do too. For some reason I keep finding room for just one more. Only recently I managed to pick up a copy of Street Fighter Zero 2 for my Japanese Saturn and now here I am playing the same version on my PS2. Isn’t life great?

Everybody Was Ha-Do-Ken fighting

My first experience of the Alpha series of games was on the original PlayStation and I loved them. Despite rarely having human opposition I was still able to hone my dragon punches to a supremely dangerous level. I even bought an arcade stick so I didn’t have to fight with the pad to pull off all the tricky moves. I’m glad I did get that old stick because it works just as well on my PS2. Now at last we have all the Alpha games in one tidy arcade perfect package and Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix as a bit of an added extra.

Alpha 3 was always my favourite; I did of course love the original Alpha title but found it was held back a little by the small character roster. Alpha 2 helped to address this and 3 was the culmination of all Capcom’s hard work over the years resulting in a blazing game still held in very high regard today. Technically the games are nigh on as perfect as you can wish for, if there are missing frames I sure can’t spot them. The backdrops are colourful and the characters are animated superbly and the games are every bit as much fun to play as ever.

Those Fireballs Were Fast as Lightning

The Alpha series always held its own against the main Street Fighter games as they introduced things like air blocking and super combos. I always favoured the slightly more anime art style employed by the games’ making the characters look absolutely fantastic. A flaming Akuma is a sight to behold. There are plenty of options to fiddle around with so you can set up the games exactly how you like. The fact that these are arcade ports as opposed to conversions means you really are getting the definitive versions.

Load times are present on the PS2 though they aren’t as troublesome as they might have been. To get the most out of the games you are going to want to have a regular human sparring partner and that old arcade stick you have lying around will also add to your enjoyment. In a way it’s a sort of consolidating effort from Capcom and it means my Saturn versions of the first two Alpha games are unlikely to see further action. I guess it means I can free up some space, but it still makes me feel a little sad.

Chun Li’s Legs Were Really Quite Frightening

Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix will be better known to you as Pocket Fighter in the UK. Featuring super deformed versions of the characters it’s best describer as a Street Fighter Lite edition with toned down moves and difficulty. The fun quotient has been pushed right up though and the animations are both funny and pleasing. It won’t hold your attention forever but I was always very fond of Pocket Fighter and remain so after spending some more time in its cheeky clutches. As an extra, it can’t be faulted. Just when you think that’s all your going to get,

Capcom has sneakily hidden away a tremendous multiplayer bonus in the form of Hyper Street Fighter Alpha which you can unlock by finishing the other games. This allows you to mix and match characters and even throw in some options from other Street Fighter games such as the parrying from Third Strike. It won’t take you long to unlock and it’s a great feature. Unfortunately there is no historical information included in the compilation so the games are all you get, but then again the games are all that matter so it’s hard to feel short changed. Online play is also missing which is a shame but if it can’t be implemented well it’s something I’d rather do without.

So there you have it, the definitive Alpha anthology. The games’ remain as much fun as they have ever been and everything looks as it should. You may spend most of your time in either Alpha 3 or Hyper mode but that won’t mean you can’t go play the earlier games at any given time and they are always nice to have.

I know folk who still prefer Alpha 2 over Alpha 3 anyway. Capcom rarely disappoints in compilations such as these and it has certainly delivered a package worth picking up. You can pick up the game for as little as £15.99 from some online stores so I guess that’s the last excuse for not getting it blown completely out of the water. Buy it, play it and love it as that’s what the Street Fighter games are all about.