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The Alpha Anthology, is so far the best port of any Street Fighter collection. It includes five games (SF Alpha, Alpha 2, Alpha 2 Gold, Alpha 3, and Gem Fighter), as well as two unlockable games (Hyper SF Alpha and a "bonus" version of SF Alpha 3).
The graphics and music of the five titles are perfect, just like the original arcade games themselves. If you have a wide-aspect ratio TV, you'll be treated to full arcade goodness if not, you can modify the aspect ratio so that it fits a standard TV. Controls are also flawless, much like those of the Anniversary Collection.
The unlockable games are as follows:
"bonus" SF Alpha 3: It's SF Alpha 3 with more fighting styles, and all (most?) the Street Fighter characters, drawn Alpha-style. This includes characters that have never before made it into Alpha games like Balrog and Fei Long, and some that are brand new. When played alone, this game is very difficult.
Hyper SF Alpha: Very similar to SF Alpha 3 (in fact, I'm not sure what the exact differences are, in terms of gameplay), but can only be played against another opponent. Includes the same characters as "bonus" SFA3.
In addition, all Alpha games include a Versus mode with full win/loss tallying, a Dramatic Battle mode in which two players (Human/Human or Human/CPU) simultaneously take on a single CPU player and a Survival mode, which places you against opponent after opponent, refilling only a portion of your life bar after each match.
To sum it up, the Alpha Anthology is the best SF collection Capcom has released. Here's to hoping that the Darkstalkers and Marvel series will follow a similar suit.
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The Street Fighter Alpha series has always been a fun variation on the tried and true Street Fighter series. The game play here is on level with with pretty much all of the other SF games (Capcom has rarely failed to live up to the expectations they have been shouldered with after creating such an amazing franchise) so there's nothing to worry about here.The reason this game gets a 3 star rating instead of a 4 or 5 is because of the content they have included and excluded. Capcom has already shown that they know how to do a proper anthology set with both the Mega Man anthology and the Street Fighter anthology. However, with SSAA, there is no promo material to view, no real extras at all. All you get are more characters, more game modes that vary only the slightest bit from all of the other games.
The largest disappointment is the lack of a World Tour mode in Street Fighter Alpha 3. The original console releases for PSX and Saturn included a gameplay addition called World Tour mode, which allowed you to travel the globe fighting different opponents but under specific challenging circumstances. You might face two Guiles, and only be able to hurt them with special attacks, or need to get a perfect when facing a rush of Rolentos in order to advance. This was not only a great way to practice and hone your skill outside of arcade mode and training, but also allowed you to power up and further customize your character, save it and use it in regular matches.
Instead of including this or any promo material, or worthwhile bonuses we are given hidden versions of the game that are absolutely meaningless. Instead of simply including the extra characters in the original game, or giving us fighting style options, they provide two games that are incredibly superfluous. One is Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, which is SFA3, with a few more characters (who could have easily been included in the original SFA3) as well as Hyper Street Fighter Alpha. HSFA does exactly what I suggested earlier, in that it allows you to switch playing style between the 3 games. The fact that an entire extra game was included because of this is a waste.
Ultimately, this is a great collection. The games are fun. The characters are a blast and interesting. The art direction is superb and the graphics hold up surprisingly well for a 2d fighter. The mechanics of the game are wonderful to learn and utilize and it would take you months to "master" the entire roster of characters. While I realize this seems like a very negative review, the game is absolutely wonderful. However, I can not hide my dissapointment with their failure to do the Alpha series justice, like were able to successfully do with Mega Man and SSFII.
Best Deals for Street Fighter Alpha Anthology - PlayStation 2
My favorite game in the entire catalog of games available across all consoles and arcade machines is Street Fighter Alpha 3. My PSOne copy was one of my most prized possessions and unfortunately for me, it got stolen and I immediately sought a replacement. 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. This discovery led to the following comparison points:1) This is a much cheaper alternative than the original PSOne version of SFA3 and of course, it is new.
2) This is a PS2 game, which offers better compatibility with my PS2 Slim. I play some old-school PSOne games on that console and sometimes it has a little trouble reading the older disks.
3) The PS2 disk has several of my favorite fighting games piled together.
THE OLD STUFF WE LOVE.
The characters have not changed their appearance at all in each of the corresponding games in the disk and their moves have remained intact. Also, the timing and rhythm of the fights is the exact same found in the original releases of the games featured. 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. 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. The story-lines, the rivalries, and the character endings are the same as in the original games as well.
SURPRISES?!
Yes, some things have changed. 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. Across all games, the first thing you notice is how much more difficult it is to fight the CPU than in the original games. 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. In Anthology, every round is a struggle for survival and a great challenge and I love it. I haven't felt so challenged by a fighting game in a long time and this increased difficulty is quite delightful. 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). Ironically, most of the changes have been done in the latest installment of the series, SFA3. 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. Also gone are the vital stats of each character (weight, height, age, etc.) shown when you select your favorite in the original release...very sad because I liked that feature but I'll get over it. 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. 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). 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.
Am I happy? Absolutely. 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.
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