Alpha 2, Street fighting Men in one of their best games.
Written: Aug 19 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Graphics,sound, gameplay
Cons: I dont have a cartridge to make it better
The Bottom Line: SF fans and all fighting fans with a Saturn should own it, one of the best incarnations of SF out there and one of the Saturn's best fighters.
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| flash-hammer's Full Review: Street Fighter Alpha 2 for Saturn |
Not long after the SF2 prequel Streetfighter Alpha (Zero if you live in Japan) was released to a pretty successful reception, Capcom gave us Streetfighter Alpha 2, while more of an upgrade (like what SF2 Turbo was to SF2) than a sequel, Capcom probably sensed that their constant upgrades weren't going over too well with the fans, so a straight up sequel was created instead.
In case you have never heard of the series, Streetfighter Alpha 2 is a one-on-one fighting game, where the idea is to win two out of three rounds against an opponent by beating their energy bar down to empty.
Alpha, and therefore Alpha 2 is set before Streetfighter 2, but post Streetfighter, meaning that a lot of characters from the original game, as well as Capcom's successfull Beat 'Em Up Final Fight make appearances in the game, making it a great game for fans of Capcom's library of arcade games. My experience with Alpha 1 is minimal, so which characters are new to A2 I don't know, but a rundown of the Streetfighter's taking part looks like this:
Adon from Streetfighter - Sagat's former pupil, who turned his back on his master after Ryu bested him in the Streetfighter tournament. Adon is another Muay Thai fighter, however his moves and fighting doesn't really resemble Sagat's, making for an individual and really cool new character.
Akuma from Super Streetfighter 2 Turbo - Akuma, the dark shotokan master who killed his own master with a forbidden technique is here mainly to look for a worthy opponent. His moveset is very similar to Ryu and Ken's, however he has unique teleport and forward roll moves to distinguish him from them.
Charlie - Charlie is Guile's best friend, and after the two crashed their plane in Thailand during a secret mission, the pair were captured . After escaping, Charlie is now after the man behind the evil in the Thai Jungle, M.Bison. Charlie's moves are very reminiscent of Guile from SF2's. He has a charged projectile and upwards kick. Due to Guile's absence he is pretty unique in this game.
Birdie from Streetfighter - a hulking brawler from the streets of London, Birdie has made his money working as a bouncer for Punk clubs. He wants to be a part of Shadowloo and thinks the more people he beats up, the better his chances of getting an invite are. Birdie's moves are pretty unique in general, but a basic breakdown of him would be the strong but slow grappler.
Chun Li From Streetfighter 2 - Chun Li is an interpol agent searching for her missing father and investigating Shadowloo, suspecting their leader has something to do with it. Chun Li has her kikouken and lightning kick, as well as two new kick attacks, but is scandalously missing her trademark Spinning bird kick move.
Dan Hibiki - Dan's father was killed by Sagat 10 years ago, and ever since Dan has been on a quest for revenge. He began training in Shotokan karate at the same time as Ryu and Ken, but the master sensed the great lust for vengeance in him and sent him home half trained. Dan fights like a really rubbish version of Ryu and Ken, with his fireball barely leaving his fist. His version of the Dragon punch actually has one advantage to Ryu and Ken's, in that occasionally he flashes white while performing it, rendering him immune to attack. Dan's version of the Hurrican Kick is strangely better than the Shotokan fighters, andit more resembles Ryo from SNK's Art of Fighting's kick. Dan himself is a parody of Art of Fighting's two main characters, Ryo and Robert, down to his taunts and look.
Gen - A master assassin from Hong Kong, Gen is a legend due to the fact he kills with his bare hands. He is seeking great warriors and worthy opponents, and believes he can find them in the Streetfighters. Gen is most unique in that he has two fighting styles that can be switched at any time during play by pressing the 3 Punch buttons or the 3 Kicks. Each style has its own unique special and super moves, making Gen one of the most interesting characters in the game.
Dhalsim - The Indian Yoga master who hates violence, but must fight to earn money to help save his village from famine. Dhalsim is essentially the same as he is in SF2, only he has gained a diagonal Yoga Flame attack and Super Moves.
Guy from Final Fight - Guy is a crimefighting Ninja who is out to stop evil, and renew conflict with old enemies Rolento and Sodom. Guy is a pretty unique fighter, and its cool to see one of the hero's from Final Fight in a SF game.
Ken - One of the only characters to appear in every SF game, the Shotokan fighter Ken is basically out for a friendly fight with his long time rival Ryu. The only difference between this Ken and his SF2 incarnation is his super moves and forward roll evade.
Rolento from Final Fight - A 'Nam vet gone mad, Rolento is a militaristic dictator in the making who still controls an army of soldiers, despite the fall of the Mad Gear gang. Rolento's moves are pretty unique to him, and it is pretty cool to see the villain from the 'lost' Final Fight level on a console game at last.
M.Bison from Streetfighter 2 - Bison is the head of the evil Shadowloo organisation, and is trying to find warriors to drain their power to enhance his 'Psycho Power'. Bison's moves are much the same as in SF2, however his patented Psycho Crusher has been made into a Super move, and in its normal special move place he has a lame 'Psycho Shot' projectile.
Rose - a mystical warrior who is out to put a stop to M.Bison, for she has a strange link to him.Rose's moves are pretty unique, she has a projectile deflector, but on the whole I feel she is probably the worst character in the game. She just doesn't have anything that instantly makes you want to play as her.
Ryu -The warrior eternal, Ryu is still trying to perfect his Hadouken Fireball. The champion of the Streetfighter tournament, he now has to stand up to returning fighters as well as new faces if he wants to keep his crown. Ryu is much the same as in all his incarnations, but not having him in a Streetfighter game would be a crime, and he is here with all his pick up and master greatness.
Sakura - A girl who is obsessed with Streetfighters. She has been this way ever since she met Ryu and witnessed him in action. Sakura is a bit like Dan in that her moves resemble the Shotokan fighter's, only not performed as well. She is actually better than Dan, and her moves are more like variations on the Shoto moves.
Sagat - The hulking Muay Thai Emperor was humbled by Ryu in the Streetfighter tournament, a huge scar on his chest there to remind him of this. He now seeks revenge on Ryu, and will crush anyone who comes in his way. Sagat is still the same Pseudo-Shoto fighter he always was.
Sodom from Final Fight Former Mad Gear member who wants revenge on Guy for destroying the gang. Sodom, despite being American, wishes to be Japanese and tries his hardest to take on the culture of Japan. Sodom is another grappler type character, however his moves vary enough from Birdie and Zangief that it isn't like they all play the same.
Zangief from Streetfighter 2 - Zangief is a huge Russian bear wrestler, out to test his new Spinning Piledriver. 'Gief has earned himself quite a few new moves since his introduction, and he now has a powerbomb and a flaming punch as well as the infamous Spinning piledriver and Larriat.
Graphically, Alpha 2 is pretty great on the Saturn. While there may be some frames of animation missing, the Saturn conversion is probably as close to arcade perfect as you can hope from a console game. The character sprites all look awesome, and the backgrounds are wonderfull. See Dhalsim's, where his wife spectates and cheers when he lands a blow, and cringes when you land one. Or Guy's, where Final Fight character's Haggar, Andore, Cody, Jessica and much more appear watching on. Possibly most spectacular is Ken's, which features cameo's from a host of Capcom characters including Morigan and Felicia from Darkstalkers, Linn Kurosawa from Aliens vs Predator, Captain Commando from his own game and a good few more.
The characters all look a bit more anime styled in this game than they did in the original.It's all over-exaggerated bodies and big eyes here, but it works and in ways makes the characters look younger than their SF2 versions, which is how it should be.
The sound in the game is pretty great as well. The voices that shout the names of the moves are all suitable and pretty clear, but the show is stolen by the music. The original music in the game is good on its own, but the characters who have appeared in SF2 and Final Fight all recieve remixes of their themes from the previous game. These all sound awesome except for Sagat and Ken's, the former sounding like Gameshow music and the latter sounding like Jazz lounge background music.
Controls in the game are as you would expect from a Capcom fighter on the Saturn. X,Y and Z control light, medium and strong punch respectively, while A,B and C do the same for the kicks. The 6-face button layout of the Saturn pad means that these are perfectly laid out, and the fact that they all respond perfectly makes the controls a dream to use.
The Saturn Virtua Stick arcade controller is also a good tool for playing the game, but it isn't really necessary.
The game wins in the most important place as well, the gameplay. While the basic gameplay, the Streetfighter way of fighting is good enough to earn the game at least an average rating, where this really earns its stars is the fact that it doesn't just rest on a good engine, it adds to it, and adds to it with useful things.
You can now block in the air. When knocked into the air, pressing the D-pad in a smooth motion with a punch button will make you land on your feet.
Alpha counters are now there, Alpha counters are activated by rolling the D-pad in a smooth motion (eg a Quarter-circle forward) and pressing punch just as you block, this allows you to perform a special move on a vulnerable opponent.
Your 'super meter' which builds up the more you hit, allowing you to perform super moves, now has three sections. Some character's have super moves that require all three to be full.When full, it also allows you to perform a devastating attack by pressing all three attack buttons with the D-pad movement.
The biggest addition, is the Custom Combo. By pressing either two kick one punch or two punch and one kick, you are given a limited time to hit your opponent as many times as possible with any moves. This takes up one bar of your super meter, and can only be performed if you connect with the first hit.
There isn't really any faults that I can give a major rundown on. The loading times aren't perfect, but I believe if you own a Capcom cartridge for the Saturn, it not only improves these but makes the graphics better. But I don't own one of these, and the game is still pretty damn great. The load times seem like a blip compared to the PlayStation version, and the graphics are pretty perfect as it is.
On the whole, the game is a must own for fans of 2D fighters and the Streetfighter series. It has a fairly vast selection of characters, most of which has their own unique movesets, with some good graphics and sound, as well as gameplay to die for, and is the best version of this game that isn't an arcade machine.
In terms of replay value, each character has their own ending, and their own unique boss, whom they have pre-fight words with. Personally I like this, and while I know a lot of people don't play fighters for story, it does give some nice backstory to the legendary Streetfighter characters.
But where the game really makes a mark is in multiplayer, as you would expect. It isn't hard to pick up the game and learn a few moves, meaning you don't have to train on it to become competent, but the more you practice the better you will get. This makes for good multiplayer play, with everyone having a respectable chance, but if someone has practiced he should come out on top. The fact that the special moves are all performed in the same three ways as SF2, by charging a button back and quickly pressing the opposite and an attack button, by rolling the D-pad in a smooth motion and pressing an attack button or by mashing a button means that it isn't hard to figure out at least a few special moves by trial and error.
At the end of the day, I think the Saturn port of Alpha 2 is a must own for fans of the Streetfighter series. It features a lot of characters, before all the characters became Shotokan clones, and has a quality soundtrack, good graphics and some of the best gameplay the series has offered.
The game shouldn't be hard to pick up for a low price, and even paying more than you would for your average retro game would be recommended, as Alpha 2 is more than just your average retro game, its possibly the best 2D fighter of the 32-Bit era, with its competition coming mainly from Capcom's own Marvel Superheroes and X-Men games, as well as SNK's King of Fighters series, which never really ported that well to the Saturn or PlayStation.
It is definitely up their with Virtua Fighter 2 for the title of the Saturn's best fighting game, and is without a doubt one of the best games in the Streetfighter series.
Other Related Revies
Streetfighter 2 for Super Nintendo
Streetfighter 2: Turbo for Super Nintendo
Streetfighter 2:Special Champion Edition for Sega Genesis
Super Streetfighter 2 for Sega Genesis
Super Streetfighter 2 for Super Nintendo
Super Streetfighter 2 Turbo: Revival for Gameboy Advance
Recommended:
Yes
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flash-hammer
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