Street Fighter Alpha 3 Review

Release dates:
North America: May 31, 2000
Japan: July 8, 1999 (Street Fighter Zero 3 Saikyo Dojo, later re-released in a For Matching Service Version)
Europe: September 29, 2000

Game details:
1-3 Players
Standard controller
Arcade stick
VMU compatible
VGA Box
Jump Pack compatible


I would describe Street Fighter Alpha 3 as the black sheep in the Street Fighter series. But in a good way. It features a completely new combo system and different character designs. I think Capcom were doing their best to keep the Street Fighter games interesting for the fans, by releasing Alpha 3. Did it work? You'll find out soon.

Gameplay
After playing the game for a while, whenever I think about it, I think about the huge amount of game modes there are for this game. To keep it as simple as possible, I'll try to cover all of them separated. First out is the arcade mode.

Arcade mode is what it sounds like, the arcade style of the game. The way it's meant to be played.
Nothing complicated here, just choose your character and fight! A second player can drop in at any time and join the fight. You can kill a lot of time by only playing this game mode, but wait until you try the other modes.

Next is the World Tour mode. It's sort of a career mode. I was surprised to see a game mode like this in a Street Fighter. But it wasn't what I expected it to be. I thought it was going to be like Yakuza or something. You walk around and fight people. But the World Tour is practically the arcade mode but with some added features. You see a map where you choose who to fight. You can also choose different fighting styles. I didn't play around with it much though as I didn't understand a thing. I did change the “X-ism” and “A-ism” styles but I didn't experience any difference. I guess that's because I'm not a hardcore Street Fighter fan. I'm sure the more serious players do.

Survival mode is also what it sounds like. You fight as many characters as you can.

My favorite game mode has to be Dramatic Battle. It's like Co-op where you and a friend can fight against the computer. Of course the computer is a bit harder than usual and you and your friend share the health bar. That's a mode I've always wanted in a Street Fighter game. There's also VS Dramatic Battle which is a three player-only mode.

In the Team Battle mode, you and a friend (or an enemy) choose teams and fight each other!

There's a Final Battle mode where you can fight the final boss. That is if you're too lazy to play through the World Tour mode.

The last two modes are Training mode (which pretty much explains itself) and the classic VS. mode.

I didn't include the online mode as it doesn't work today, obviously.

The character roster is pretty big and won't make you bored in a while.
So, if you're going to play this game from inside to outside, you have a long road ahead of you!

Storyline
There is a storyline in this Street Fighter game actually. In between fights, there are “cutscenes”, you could call them, that tells the story. The story depends on which character you choose. So for instance, Ryu is on a journey to become the best fighter of them all!

Graphics
The graphics are what you would expect from a Street Fighter game at the time. The character animations are fluid and look great. The stage backgrounds are well detailed too.
The characters look different from the other Street Fighter games. Apparently, they were designed with “Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie” in mind.

Sound
All of the Street Fighter games I've played have had great music, and this isn't an exception. The music is great and really catchy. I was actually trying to find a jukebox in the game because of the music. If you're a fan of good music and Street Fighter games, it won't disappoint you.

Conclusion
With awesome music and renewed gameplay I can still say with a good conscience that it's too similar to the other Street Fighter games. Sure, it has a lot of game modes which makes it playable for a long time but it doesn't feel any different. It's not a game I would pick up and play by myself but it's a great party game! But, I'm just a novice Street Fighter player so the real Street Fighter fans will enjoy this game for sure.

7.7/10