Street Fighter Alpha 2
a game by | Capcom |
Genre: | Fighting Games |
Platforms: | SNES, Playstation |
Editor Rating: | 7/10, based on 10 reviews |
User Rating: | 8.7/10 - 9 votes |
Rate this game: | |
See also: | Fighting Games, Arcade Games, Street Fighter Games |
Capcom has timed the surprise test launch of Street Fighter Alpha 2 to perfectly coincide with the release of the home versions of Alpha. What a great time to update the series and breathe new life into the game.
Capcom has once again overhauled the Street Fighter series. While taking the Japanimation look of Alpha, the backgrounds have been redone. A lot of players complained that Alpha's levels were boring. The new areas feature more details and plenty of animated characters. One particularly cool effect deals with a small pool of water that splashes and ripples as player’s stomp through it.
One of the major changes found in Alpha 2 is the addition of more fighters. With the game totaling 18 characters in all (so far), Akuma, Bison and Dan are now selectable. Fortunately, you no longer have to do a trick to play as them. Three new fighters have appeared, as well as two old favorites.
Rolento is a member of the Mad Gear Gang from the Final Fight series. He looks like a soldier, and his moves involve his baton and grenades. He moves just like he did in Final Fight. His attacking style is close to Vega with lots of nimble flying attacks.
Sakaru is a young school girl wearing a sailor suit. Her moves mimic Ryu's, with a spattering of Chun-Li-type attacks. Her equivalent to the Dragon Punch does a lot more damage than Ryu's, though. Her background history is currently unknown. However, she is thought to possibly be a student under Fei Long.
Gen is another of the fighters resembling Tung Fu Ru of the Fatal Fury series. His attacks are, for the most part, close-range, particularly his Hand Slap. One unique aspect to this original Street Fighter is that he can change his fighting style to a complete set of new moves.
Due to popular demand, Zangief is back. This Russian wrestler is somewhat the same. His Fierce Leg Sweep has been slowed down tremendously. However, his super special attack is particularly deadly.
Dhalsim returns intact. There is virtually no change in this character from Street Fighter 2 Turbo. All of his attacks--like the Yoga Torpedo, Yoga Flame and Yoga Teleport--are the same long-ranged strikes.
There's a new combo system that involves setting up custom programmed moves. To start the special combos, press three buttons simultaneously to start your character glowing (similar to a super combo). The three buttons have to be either two Punches and one Kick, or two Kicks and one Punch. Once the combo is started, the player can chain moves by tapping a certain combination of Kick and Punch buttons. How this will affect the gameplay once it's finished is unknown.
Capcom is known for hiding characters in its games, and rumors are abuzz of Blanks hidden inside as well as a guest appearance from Guile. Retsu, Goken and Gosetsu are also potential secret characters. Will these possibilities come true? Diligent gamers are hunting for them.
At the time of our preview, the game was only 70 percent complete. Most of the gameplay hasn't been tweaked yet. The computer Al was simplistic. Even the ending wasn't programmed. Still from this early look, Street Fighter Alpha 2 does the series proud.
Download Street Fighter Alpha 2
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
- Pentium II (or equivalent) 266MHz (500MHz recommended), RAM: 64MB (128MB recommended), DirectX v8.0a or later must be installed
System requirements:
- PC compatible
- Operating systems: Windows 10/Windows 8/Windows 7/2000/Vista/WinXP
Game Reviews
Continuing to build on the best, Capcom pushes the envelope again in the Street Fighter series. With a custom combo system and new fighters, moves, and backgrounds, Street Fighter Alpha 2 delivers a new but familiar level of fun.
Revision of a Revision
Street Fighter Alpha 2's characters blend more of the old with the new. Returning from the original SF is Gen (Chun Li's master), who has two sets of fighting styles you can switch between any time during a fight. Back from SF 2 are Dhalsim and Zangief. Both are completely re-animated with some new moves and awesome super moves. Rolento (a boss character from Final Fight) has military moves but plays much like Vega.
Completely new to the SF series, Sakura is said to be Ryu's biggest fan, but looks more like his twin sister. Sakura has all of Ryu's moves, as well as matching head and wrist bands.
The graphical improvements mainly involve the backgrounds. Each one has been completely redone; they've never looked better. The detail of sharp, vibrant colors reaches a new level of beauty.
New Tactics
The big change to the game-play is the combo system. Linking moves disappeared just as suddenly as they were implemented in Alpha. The main combo system now plays like SSF 2 Turbo, where players can jump in with a move and then go into a two-in-one combo.
Now players are treated to custom combos that perform similarly to the super moves. By simultaneously pressing three buttons when your super bar is full, you get a limited shadow combo. In the shadow's small timeframe, players can hit any button or special-move combinations to score high-hitting combos. The faster you hit the buttons, the more hits you can score.
More of the Best
Alpha 2 offers the best of both worlds with two combo systems and a fresh mix of old and new characters. Now if Capcom would please put a "3" at the end of the title, we'd be ready to go.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 continues Cap-corn's outstanding record of successful arcade to 32-bit conversions. SFA2 offers 18 selectable fighters, including old veterans Dhalsim and Zangief. The graphical improvements are mainly seen in each of the completely redone backgrounds. With sharper detail and vibrant colors, they reach a new level of beauty. Also added are Custom Combos--by simultaneously pressing three buttons when your Super bar is full, you begin a limited shadow combo where players can execute a series of attacks and special moves to score massive numbers of hits. Even at the 50 percent mark. SFA2 plays great and controls perfectly.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 continues Capcom's record of lr successful arcade-to-Play-Station conversions, offering the biggest lineup in the series yet, with 18 selectable fighters. Joining the 13 SFA combatants are old veterans Dhalsim and Zangief and newcomers Sakura, Rolento, and Gen.
Capcom didn't just throw gamers a quick bone with new fighters; two new combo systems have also been added. Linking moves have been replaced by original SF chain combos, and also new are Custom Combos that work off the Super bar. Custom Combos provide fighters with a speed burst, enabling them to chain attacks and special moves together for several hits, but only for a limited time.
This version includes a training mode, a shortcut loadtime feature, and extra turbo settings that dust the speed of the arcade version.
Alpha 2 is nothing less than a perfect arcade-to-home translation. The additional fighters are great and the new combo systems enhance the gameplay.
ProTips:
- Use Zangief's Spinning Lariat to counter projectiles and hit your opponent. (For a list of moves and combos, see "The Fighter's Edge" in this issue.)
- The proper way to perform Chain Combos is to time each move one after another.
Graphics
The new backgrounds clearly stand out with sharp details and colors that are more vibrant than the first version's. All the characters retain their smooth animations from the original SFA.
Sound
All the fighting voices and sound effects are excellent. It's disappointing, however, that you're stuck with the remixed music, with no option for the original tunes.
Control
CaPcom's filing equation: Alpha 2 Solid controls = Perfection. If you can't pull off the moves, you're either doing them wrong or you're using a substandard controller.
Fun Factor
Alpha 2 is designed for fighting enthusiasts. Beginners can prevail using the helpful Training mode, while experts sweat it out with eight difficulty settings.
2D fighting games will never die! Or so it seems, and with the likes of Street Fighter Alpha 2, it could be a long time indeed. Back again are all the regulars from the first Alpha, with some new tricks up their sleeves, plus a cast of newcomers, old favorites, previously hidden characters and bosses.
You probably heard all this before in our arcade preview, but guess what? Just like the first installment, SF Alpha 2 will be heading to the Saturn and PlayStation this Christmas season! There should be the usual array of custom options, like round time and difficulty select, and I hope we'll see the practice mode return, as well as some nifty extras. Capcom is making sure that the games will look as good on the home systems as they did in the arcade, and you can't doubt the results so far, with outstanding conversions of Night Warriors and the first Alpha already under its belt.
The famed Street Fighter has a brand-new addition to the family. Street Fighter Alpha 2. This game has cool features including new characters, new backgrounds and a new auto-combo system. This revealed auto-combo system gives players a chance to build their own killer combos with a sequence of multiple button taps to pound the opposition into the ground.
- MANUFACTURER - Capcom
- THEME - Fighting
- NUMBER OF PLAYERS - 1 or 2
People say:
Let's face it, there are just certain games that shouldn't be made on the 16-Bitters. Sure, they tried pretty hard and came relatively dose, but overall SFA2 on the Super NES is more of a chore than anything else. There's a slight load time right before the battle and the sound sounds like it's being played through a coffee can-a poor-quality coffee can at that. Sodom's name was changed to Katana-I wonder why? The graphics were good but the poor control pretty much negated that Speaking of poor control, I think back to Super SF2 and remember how well that played compared to this one. Oh well, maybe next time.
Remember when Super SF2 came out (or the SNES, and we all moaned, "Not another one?" Well, SFA2 is new, and different, enough to warrant it a look. It has all of the fighters and moves packed into the 32-Meg cartridge. But, perhaps 32-Megs wasn't enough. The game has so much in it, that the gameplay suffers greatly. This newest installment is the worst one of all the SNES SF games. It's very choppy and poorly animated. If it weren't for all the characters, I would tell you to get any of the other Super NES SFs instead. They all play much better than this one. Unfortunately, the great features do not outweigh the bad gameplay.
SFA2 may represent the height of SF2's evolution, but the SNES version doesn't quite pull it off. Sure, the game's backgrounds look fantastic, as do the fighters. They're well animated, and the large characters--like Sagat-stand tall on the screen. But it's when the actual fights get under way that the problems begin (although even the fighting takes a while to start up-thanks to the ultra-annoying load time that precedes each bout). 71115 sucker is slow, proving that there's only so much animation and sprite manipulation that the SNES processor can handle. Still, all the moves are there and it'll do for those without 32-Bit systems.
Talk about a disappointment! The graphic are amazing on the Super NES, especially considering the amount of colors needed to pull off SFA2's detail. The only problems are the music and animation speed. The music has a tinny sound typical of 16-Bit games, so I can't complain about that too much. What kills SFA2 is the speed. Playing on Normal speed is like playing in slow motion. You MUST use the fastest Turbo speed, and even then you will be treated to slowdown reminiscent of the earliest SNES games! Overall, it's a great attempt, and anyone not willing to upgrade systems will have to settle for this version.
- Manufacturer: Capcom
- Machine: Super NES
- Difficulty: Average
- Available: 1992
- Number of levels: 11
- Theme: Fighting
Bonus rounds!!
After defeating four world warriors in the one player mode, you will come to a brick bonus round. What you have to do is punch, kick and destroy everything on the screen in 40 seconds. This version replaces the arcade's barrel bonus round. The second one is the car bonus round and it comes after defeating the first boss, Balrog.
To see if you are a winner, locate the special HERO Match-and-Win Contest Card located in this issue and take it to your local comic store and ask to see the special HERO Match-and-Win poster. This could be your chance to win a Super Street Fighter II Arcade Machine, a copy of SFII Turbo for the SNES or one of dozens of other great prizes!
Redoubtable translation of the arcade fighting game, Street Fighter Alpha 2 shows the Super NES still has some life left.
All the arcade's custom combos, special moves, and super moves are intact, which makes for intense gameplay—though slowdown distracts you when you're doing a custom combo or super move.
The characters are detailed, but the backgrounds lack animation (the bikes are choppy in Chun-Li's stage), and some are missing elements completely (like the spectators in Birdie's stage). The sound is awful: Effects are tinny, vocals drop off the audio track completely, and it takes the announcer forever to say the round number and "Fight!" The muted music sounds 8-bit all the way.
The SF games are renowned for gameplay, and this version of SFA2 holds up beautifully. The moves are a snap to execute, thanks to responsive controls. The only drawback is that the fights are slow, even on the game's fastest turbo setting.
Flaws aside, SFA2 is a good fighting game that remains (for the most part) faithful to its arcade counterpart.
ProTips:
- To play as Chun-Li as she appeared in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, put the cursor on Chun-Li, press and hold Start for five seconds, then press any button.
- For extra hits, use Akuma's Air Fireball whenever he jumps.
- As Ken, corner an opponent and unleash a custom combo. Press and hold Down and rapidly press Fierce Punch for a high-hitting juggle.
- To execute Dan's super taunt, motion down, se, right, down, se, right and press Select. Beware: This taunt leaves Dan open while he performs it.