| Street Fighter Alpha 2 | |
| Developer: | Capcom |
| Composer: | Setsuo Yamamoto Syun Nishigaki Tatsuro Suzuki |
| Series: | Street Fighter |
| Platforms: | Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, SNES, Windows |
| Genre: | Fighting |
| Modes: | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Arcade System: | CP System II |
Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1996 fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a remake of the previous year's Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams. The game features a number of improvements over the original, such as new attacks, stages, endings, and gameplay features. It was followed by Street Fighter Alpha 3.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 retains most of the new features introduced in the original Street Fighter Alpha, such as the three-level Super Combo gauge, Alpha Counters, Air-Blocking, and Fall Breaking. The main new feature in the game is the inclusion of the Custom Combo system (Original Combo in Japan), which replaces the Chain Combos from the first Alpha.[1] If the Super Combo gauge is on Lv. 1 or above, the player can initiate a Custom Combo pressing two punch buttons and a kick or one punch button and two kicks.[2] The player can then perform any series of basic and special moves to create a Custom Combo until the Timer Gauge at the bottom of the screen runs out. The characters Guy and Gen can still perform Chain Combos, but only to a limited extent. Additionally, each character now has two Alpha Counters instead of just one: one that can be performed with a kick button and another with a punch button.[3]
The single-player mode, much like the original Street Fighter Alpha 2, consists of eight matches against computer-controlled opponents, including a fixed final opponent whose identity depends on the player's selected character. Each character also has a secret "rival" whom they can face during the course of the single-player mode. After meeting certain requirements, the rival will interrupt one of the player's matches and exchange dialogue with the player's character, and the player character will then fight the rival instead. With Akuma now a regular character, a more powerful version of the character dubbed "Shin Akuma" replaces him as a secret opponent. Unlike Super Turbo and the original Alpha, Shin Akuma challenges the player before the player's final opponent, rather than as an alternate final boss.
The game brings back all thirteen characters from Street Fighter Alpha, with M. Bison, Akuma, and Dan now being immediately selectable as playable characters. In addition to the Alpha roster, Alpha 2 includes Dhalsim and Zangief, both from Street Fighter II, Gen, an assassin from the original Street Fighter, Rolento, a member of the Mad Gear gang who originally appeared in Final Fight, and newcomer Sakura, a Japanese schoolgirl who takes up street fighting after witnessing one of Ryu's battles.[4] The game also features a "classic-style" alternative version of Chun-Li where she is wearing her outfit from the Street Fighter II series.
According to Capcom senior planner Shinji Mikami, "When we were trying to get the balance of Alpha 2 right we only concentrated on Alpha 2. That's the one that's important. We don't really have to get the actual same damage as Alpha. In Alpha 2 some new characters were introduced, so in order to maintain the game balance we had to increase the damage for the normal hits. In addition, this time for Alpha 2 we wanted to focus on the importance of the normal hits and not just the specials."[5]
Street Fighter Alpha 2 was first unveiled at the February 1996 AOU show in Tokyo.[6]
Both Manga Entertainment/A.P.P.P. and Group TAC developed OVA adaptations based on the game, titled (2000) and (2005), which were both co-produced by Kaoru Mfaume. All of the characters except Gen and Dan also have roles in the Canadian-American cartoon Street Fighter: The Animated Series.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 was released under the title Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan, Asia, and South America. The North American and European versions of Alpha 2 feature three additional characters who were not in the Zero 2 version: Evil Ryu and alternative versions of Dhalsim and Zangief known as EX versions, where they use their movesets from the Street Fighter II series and do not have access to the Super Combo gauge.[4] These three characters were selected by Capcom USA.[5]
Capcom also released an updated version of Zero 2 titled Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha in Japan, Asia, and South America, which features all the additional characters from Alpha 2, as well as other changes to the game. In addition to Zangief and Dhalsim, Zero 2 Alpha also features EX versions of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li (where she is wearing her outfit from the Street Fighter II series, similarly to the "classic-style" version of her), Sagat, and M. Bison, all of whom were characters from . Custom Combos are now executed by pressing a punch and kick button of the same strength simultaneously and now require half (level) of the Super Combo gauge filled to perform them. Some of the characters have gained new moves such as Ryu's Shakunetsu Hadouken and Dhalsim's Yoga Tempest. Zero 2 Alpha also features a survival mode, as well as a 2-on-1 Dramatic Battle mode similar to the hidden "Ryu and Ken vs. Bison mode" in the original Alpha. In this version, Evil Ryu has different dialogue exchanges and a different ending from his regular counterpart. The game also features an arranged version of the Alpha 2 soundtrack.
In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter Zero 2 on their May 1, 1996 issue as being the most-successful arcade game of the month, outperforming titles such as Virtua Fighter 2.[12] Street Fighter Zero 2 went on to be the highest-grossing arcade game of 1996 in Japan.[13] Game Machine also listed Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha on their October 1, 1996 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month.[14]
A reviewer for Next Generation gave the arcade version 3 out of 5 stars, praising the large number of characters, smooth animation, innovative backgrounds, and "wonderful" character design. He deemed the custom combos "an unprecedented, new, and complex innovation in Street Fighter gameplay", though he found some points of their implementation to be odd. He concluded, "Although it's just another 2D fighter for those who aren't paying attention, this is a fine new addition for true hard-core gameplayers."[15]
In the Japanese arcade magazine Gamest, Street Fighter Zero 2 was voted Best Game of 1996 in the Tenth Annual Grand Prize. Zero 2 was also No. 1 in the category of "Best Fighting Game", No. 9 in "Best Graphics", No. 6 in "Best Direction", and No. 4 in "Best VGM (Video Game Music)". Dan Hibiki and Sakura Kasugano were depicted on the cover of this issue, who were placed No. 1 and No. 3 respectively on the Top 50 Characters of 1996, with Ryu at No. 13, Zangief at No. 18 (sharing the spot with Mature from The King of Fighters '96), Guy at No. 26, Chun-Li at No. 32, Akuma at No. 37 (sharing the spot with two other characters), Rolento at No. 45 (sharing the spot with the Elf from ) and Ken at No. 49 (sharing the spot with two other characters).[16]
The Saturn and PlayStation ports both received praise for their faithfulness to their arcade counterpart,[17] [18] large selection of characters,[17] [18] and replacement of the easily exploited chain combo system from the original Street Fighter Alpha.[17] [18] Some critics, while acknowledging that the 2D fighting game genre was outdated, held Street Fighter Alpha 2 to be equal or even superior to any of the 3D fighting games then on the market. The Saturn version tied with the PlayStation version of Tomb Raider for Electronic Gaming Monthlys "Game of the Month". Though EGM never reviewed the PlayStation version of Alpha 2, in an overview of fighting games released in 1996 Sushi-X commented, "Both the Saturn and PlayStation versions are great, but the Saturn version has a few advantages", citing frames of animation that were missing from the PlayStation version and the Saturn-exclusive illustrations mode.[19] The following year EGM named the Saturn version the 36th best console video game of all time, saying they chose the Saturn version specifically due to its superior graphics.[20]
The Saturn port was also a commercial success, selling over 400,000 units in Japan.[21]
The Super NES version was much less well-received, with reviews commenting that the sound quality is exceptionally poor,[22] the animation is choppy,[22] and the overambitious graphics cause the game to play at an agonizingly slow speed, compounded by bouts of slowdown when performing special moves.[22] Shawn Smith and Dan Hsu of Electronic Gaming Monthly deemed it the worst Street Fighter game for the Super NES. Most critics were more forgiving, concluding that despite the port's flaws it was a decent buy for gamers who did not own a Saturn or PlayStation.[22] IGN ranked the game 96th on their "Top 100 SNES Games of All Time" saying the game pushed the limits of the SNES and so had to make some compromises, and concluded: "But it's hard to fault the effort, and that's why it deserves this rank and recognition."[23] In 2018, Complex listed the game 71st in their "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time" saying the game had loading times before the fights and graphics that were not as good as on the other ports, concluding, "Nonetheless, the gameplay was still on point, and the bells and whistles were pretty amazing for an SNES game. We loved it."[24]