Street Fighter Alpha Anthology
The Street Fighter Alpha Anthology brings five prized fighters united for the first time. This is an arcade-perfect compilation of Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Alpha 3. Choose from a cast of 13 characters from the collective Street Fighter Universe: Ryu, Chun-Li, Ken, Charlie plus 9 more. This title introduces the use of super combos and alpha counters to add new dimensions to fighting. As an added bonus the "pint-sized" Super Gem Fighter MiniMix (released on consoles as Pocket Fighter) is also included.
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology Accessories
Street Fighter Anniversary Collection
King of Fighters XI
NeoGeo Battle Coliseum
Capcom Fighting Evolution
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core
Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection
God of War 2
World Heroes Anthology
Capcom vs SNK 2
Tekken 5
Street Fighter Alpha Anthology Reviews
With this release, I was able to get 4 additional games along with Alpha 2. I've been a fighting game fan for years and this anthology is a dream come true. This is a great product for any fighting fan or some good offline competition. I had been trying to get my hands on Alpha 2 for a while, but could never find it for a reasonable price.
I play some old-school PSOne games on that console and sometimes it has a little trouble reading the older disks. Ironically, most of the changes have been done in the latest installment of the series, SFA3. shown when you select your favorite in the original release.very sad because I liked that feature but I'll get over it. Yes, some things have changed. SURPRISES. I am sorry to say that the World Tour Mode is gone and with it, the ability to customize your character and use it in battle. Most of the original music is featured except in SFA2, where in some levels the music is the same but with different sounds and this is not a big deal at all. Of course, nowadays getting a good copy of SFA3 is challenging in many respects so in my search I stumbled upon Street Fighter Alpha Anthology.
1) This is a much cheaper alternative than the original PSOne version of SFA3 and of course, it is new. My favorite game in the entire catalog of games available across all consoles and arcade machines is Street Fighter Alpha 3. THE OLD STUFF WE LOVE. Costume changes, secret characters and levels, cheats, character stages, super combo finish screens, game options, among other goodies we love from the old games are there. Even at the highest difficulty I was able to dominate the CPU except a few characters (Shin Akuma, Evil Ryu, and sometimes Zangief) in my PSOne version of Alpha 3 for instance.
The animation for each of the hits onscreen has changed across all games, making each of the hits more noticeable with a starburst effect when they land on the opponent whether he/she is guarding or not (this is a cool improvement I think because the hits look more dramatic). This is an excellent compilation of games which features classic fighting action, more challenging gameplay for advanced players and wonderful VS action for those occasions when your friend needs to be taught a lesson. Also gone are the vital stats of each character (weight, height, age, etc). In an effort to simplify the game a little bit, the health bar is now of only one solid color (remember how in Alpha 2 and 3 the health bar when full spans from green to yellow.now it is solid yellow), which is ok with me. Across all games, the first thing you notice is how much more difficult it is to fight the CPU than in the original games. Absolutely. Some of the entrance animations of some of the characters have changed slightly but in a good way, giving the characters a fresher look right before the fight.
The characters have not changed their appearance at all in each of the corresponding games in the disk and their moves have remained intact. My PSOne copy was one of my most prized possessions and unfortunately for me, it got stolen and I immediately sought a replacement. Am I happy. I haven't felt so challenged by a fighting game in a long time and this increased difficulty is quite delightful. 2) This is a PS2 game, which offers better compatibility with my PS2 Slim. If I am good at any game, it would be any of the games in the Alpha series so believe me when I spot little differences from the original in terms of gameplay, artificial intelligence, graphics, music, you name it. Also, the timing and rhythm of the fights is the exact same found in the original releases of the games featured. This discovery led to the following comparison points:.
3) The PS2 disk has several of my favorite fighting games piled together. The story-lines, the rivalries, and the character endings are the same as in the original games as well. In Anthology, every round is a struggle for survival and a great challenge and I love it. Also delightful is the amount of game modes you can unlock to eventually get all the game modes featured in all of the original games and more (such as the Hyper Street Fighter Zero, Dramatic Battle Survival Mode, among others).
This is a must for any PS2 fighting game fan collection. If you are a Street Fighter fan, then this the game for you. I highly recommend it.
I have not played the game, but from what I saw it looked like fun. I bought this game for my nephew and he really enjoyed playing.
The only down-side in the PS-2 version is there is NO online play. The pros are obivous. Many good games in one collection that chronicle all of Alpha's story lines from humble beginnings to epic ends. Balrog,Ziegnief, and T hawk are the same heavy damage behemoths they were before. I say this because there are characters from all those games. You can combo with them but it's hard as hell. Besides for the Hadoken clones everyone plays very differently so do not expect the same tired tactic to win you every match.
If you followed Street Fighter you are likely famaliar with Alpha. The only gripe is there are not as many characters as you may like and compared to the alpha games gem fighter is fun but a bit shallow. If you love 2D fighters you should have this in your collection. If however you prefer 3D fighters such as Soul Calibur 3 and Tekken 5 there is nothing here that will impress you or convert you to the 2D faithful crowd. Every game is fun to play by yourself or with friends that come over when you have a competitive urge to prove your gamer geek dominance.
It's also great the character designs got an overhaul. In addition to getting Alpha 1, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, and Alpha 3 you also get gem fighter which is a cute chbified mosh of SF alpha, dark stalkers, red planet, and SF 4 thrown together. You get to see how beloved characters such as Ryu,Ken,Sagat, and Chun Li grow up and confront their demons. You can unlock Street fighter Alpha 3 upper by beating the original SF Alpha 3 that has more characters but still not as many cameos as SF Alpha 3 Max. Fighters such as Ziegnief, Vega, and Bison look alot better and have alot more personality then they did in SF 2. Also you are encouraged to switch up between attacking high and attacking low. My only gripe in the roster is Guile and Charlie have not evolved much.
In addition you have interesting new comers such as the psychic telepath woman Rose and the spunky Ryu admirer Sakura. In this collection you get the whole story line in the alpha universe. Ryu,Akuma,and Ken are as ever the hard hitting perfect balance fighters whereas others such as the fast but weaker bunch like Cammy,Juli,Sakura,Karin,Chun Li, Vega,Gen, and Guy require more brains to use and more finnesse. For example some moves can be used to lure someone to get closer at which point you execute a hard hitting combo. I found overall I could beat each game with any character however admittedly it was much easier to defeat Bison with some characters than it was with others.
The first two games were supposed to be a prequel of sorts to SF 2 only with better anime inspired sprites and smoother game-play. Even if you begin losing at the beginning of a match you can still bounce back with well planned enough strategies. The third game could be debated to be a remake of SF 2 only with more characters while being re-vamped in the Alpha art style. Unlike King of fighters that is heavily combo-centric Street fighter often encourages trade offs of cat and mouse. Regardless all the games in the collection are smooth and arcade perfect.
To some that might be a big deal. When you land hits it is awesome but since they have no projectile attacks or easy combo chains you have to be cautious so you don't get whittled away but the smaller quick combatents. Then again maybe I'm just not good at using them. Their sonic booms and flash kicks are pretty pathetic as if capcom improved everyone's techniques except Guile's.
These games are on par with the quality of SF 3 third strike and they are not simply tired remakes of SF 2. By now you should know what you have here. For the most part the fighting mechanics are very balanced.
In addition every character has many moves and the ability to charge adrenaline gauges to unleash more powerful variations of those moves.
|