GO FOR BROKE
This one, oh boy this one. Countless hours spent. I’ve rarely gone a week without playing this damned game at least a little bit. Street Fighter Alpha 3 to this day is still one of the most unique but also divisive entries in the entire series, and my opinion has changed on it like 800 times. It’s good? It’s GOAT? Favorite fighter of all time? Second favorite? IDK. But what I DO know is that this game is awesome, and that I haven’t shut up about this thing for over a year now. I feel it is finally time to just barf out why I love this game so much, I am so motivated to get this message out to the world.
Alpha 3 to me perfectly encapsulates what the Alpha series is all about. It’s absolutely SEEPING with energy and aesthetic. Greatest character select screen in existence maybe. Fonts of like 5 different sizes scrolling all over the top and bottom of this thing, you’d think it would be clunky and incomprehensible but nah, it works. I always loved the character portraits and how they line up with both the character select and versus screen, courtesy of my man BENGUS. And man the VERSUS SCREEN??? The way the text for your name and ism pops in is literally genius, who animated this? This is combined alongside one of the coolest transitions I’ve ever seen in a video game, with the shape of the “door” closing being based on whatever ism you picked (A/Z-ism, X-ism, V-ism), and it’s also just so satisfying to watch.
The UI and just general aesthetics of Alpha 2 have been completely overhauled here. All of these thick fonts and colors are simplistic but somehow also very detailed and intricate. For me, anyway, they scream 90’s COOL aesthetic. Your health and super meter bars change color (and shape) based on your ism, and just generally the amount of effort put into the differences of isms here are very commendable. Honestly on the topic of that, I should discuss the gameplay.
The gameplay in this one is sick. There are three different fighting styles you get to pick, first there’s X-ism, which is a giant Super Turbo homage which limits your moveset but gives you insane damage output. A-ism is essentially the mechanics introduced from the first Alpha game (and also the best for beginners), and V-ism is the custom combo shit from Alpha 2 now made into it’s own fighting style. This is great, and for casual play makes the game more fun and diverse. Competitively… Everyone just picks V-ism because of the juggle combos here. On the topic of combos, Alpha 3 is THE most juggle heavy entry in the entire series, disregarding the EX lineup. Even without V-ism, so many moves will just LAUNCH your opponents which gives you time to followup and increase that combo count, it’s so fun to mess with. Alpha 3 generally just encourages aggressive gameplay, and it’s accentuated by the guard crush feature. Essentially, now the game will punish you if you try to just block constantly, as the guard meter being emptied leaves you vulnerable for attack. Did I mention I love this game because it’s fast? Once you get those turbo settings on, the matches in this game are t-i-g-h-t and lightning fast, which makes good play super rewarding. It’s my absolute favorite aspect of the Alpha series.
Alpha 3’s roster only introduces like- four new characters, with the rest of the roster additions being veterans from previous games. That being said, 25 (28 if you include secret characters, 29 counting Shin Bison) in the vanilla roster is nothing to scoff at. What’s even better is that every character has a bio whenever you pick them (only game in the series to do this from what I remember), along with three scripted fights in the arcade ladder, each with dialogue to boot. But to get even CRAZIER, the revisions of this game had even more. PS1/Dreamcast/Saturn added SIX extra characters, as well as making the secret characters properly integrated into the game with their own campaigns and portrait art, the GBA version added THREE characters from Capcom Vs SNK 2, and the PSP version added ONE character from Capcom Trashy Evolution! Meaning that Alpha 3 went from 29 fighters to THIRTY NINE CHARACTERS. Insanity. Now, for the newcomers, were they good? Karin was a great addition to the roster, her fighting styles and combos are fun, AND she’s a fun rival for Sakura. R. Mika is great and fits the energy of Alpha 3, sadly she’s low tier in terms of playability. Juli and Juni are mainly Cammy clones, but they’re great for expanding the lore, and really help establish the pure EVIL M. Bison is in this series. This roster is just fantastical every time I think about it, and I've even started trying out more of the characters I'm not used to for fun! Maybe someday I'll even become a world warrior.
I have countless memories of fighting the boss, Shin Bison. I remember thinking this guy was like, the hardest thing ever, but once you understand the rules of this fight, it’s not nearly as difficult. That being said, he’s still super annoying. Try to jump in? Stand HK or air grab. Whiff? Punish by sweep. Aaaaand he’s teleported behind me hasn't he [gets thrown which does a ton of damage in this game for some reason]. Everyone brings up that STUPID super move, but honestly the AI is so predictable with this. If his meter is full and he does that air dive move, 90% guarantee he will do it. Just block. Everything else about this fight is more difficult anyway. In the arcade version specifically, getting a game over to this dude was painful, you’re locked into a bad ending and that’s it, no second chances, back to the beginning of the arcade ladder for you. It’s surprisingly punishing, but in the age of save states and the console versions removing this “feature”, it’s not too big of a deal.
The music is great, unsurprisingly. This game’s soundtrack goes for an entirely different vibe from the previous entries, and it fits the tone of Alpha 3 for me. The amount of electronic instruments and guitars are blood pumping and just get you ready to go crazy on your opponent. Brave Or Grave is honestly one of THE best final boss themes in fighting games period, and it gets you SO hyped to wipe the floor with Shin Bison fr fr. Honestly just listen to the music yourself, it’s worth the time.
I’ve played this game’s arcade mode like over 30 times at this point, it’s so addicting. I love this game, so many memories to share honestly. I’ve even considered buying a physical copy of EVERY version of this game (yes, including the Saturn one, I’m THAT insane). I love this game so much I literally have like probably 5 more paragraphs of things I could write about this game because it has SO MUCH POLISH and SO. MUCH. CONTENT. There are like- 10 or 15 extra modes in the console versions I could write about, almost all of which I have played just for the heck of it. I sat down and did the 100 kumite mode which is 100 FIGHTS BACK TO BACK and I did the entire thing which took me almost an hour. I actually can never tire of this game, it’s so special and unique to me. I couldn’t even think of a proper closer for this review because I want to just keep typing about it!!! Who knows, maybe I could write a third review that covers what stuff I missed!!! But in the end, can I recommend this game to anyone? Well…
“IT ALL DEPENDS ON YOUR SKILL… GO FOR IT, MAN!!!”