STREET FIGHTER ZERO REVIEW

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Series: Street Fighter
Release date: June 5, 1995
Platforms: Arcade, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Color, Windows, PSN
Genres and Modes: Single player or Multiplayer Fighting

 

Back again with my video game reviews. This time around, I'm STILL continuing my reviews on the Street Fighter series; because... I am a fan of the games and there's a bunch of them that differ from one another that makes them unique to play and experience. On top of that, the series as a whole has a huge amount of following that is still present even today, though most of the following centers around SF2 rather than the other games. That alone makes me kind of dislike SF2, due to getting milked to death.

But Capcom, instead of continuing the trend of milking out the game, they decided that it was a time for a sequel.

In 1995, using the same motherboard (the CPS2), they sought out to use its full potential and make a SF game like never before. The first signs of this change was the game's look. It was looking very cartoonish, or to be more accurate, it looked like an anime. Then there was the cast. The cast saw the return of some beloved characters, and also saw a welcome of new ones. 

With an all new start for this new game, they really took the meaning of Zero quite literally...

Ken and Ryu look a bit different. A bit, younger, to be exact.

OKAY! This shit IS MEGA HYPE!!!

Plot

It has a plot, okay? It's a fighting video game with all sorts of characters fighting and shit!

The game's plot is a bridge between the stories of SF1 and SF2. More precisely, it takes place after the events of SF1 and establishes some serious plots regarding SF2. This plot stays pretty much the same for the future updates of the game, so I won't be mention it in the next chapters. Characters however, will be mentioned. Oh, and before I forget it, THIS IS NOT A WORLD WARRIOR TOURNAMNET!!! It's just characters fighting others. Each for their own reason to fight.

Shadaloo plays a big role in the Alpha games. M.Bison is not yet at his full power, and his main goal is to actually find out the person who defeated his henchman, Sagat, in the First Tournament, and use their power to make Bison powerful as fuck. His target: Ryu.

Other than Ryu, Bison, Ken, Sagat, and Chun - Li, game introduces 6 newcomers (and a secret 7th character):

- Adon: A Muay Thai fighter and former disciple of Sagat. His reasons for existing in the story is to fight his former mentor for the crown of "King of Muay Thai". He's also 1 of 2 characters that appear from the original Street Fighter.

- Birdie: An English small time criminal who tries to find M.Bison and ask him to join Shadaloo. He's the second character to return from the first game.

- Guy: A master of the Bushinryu ninjutsu martial arts. He is after M.Bison. A fighter of justice who stands up against evil, no matter how dangerous it may be. He's a character that comes from another Capcom game, Final Fight.

- Sodom: A dude who looks like a weird samurai and is obsessed with anything Japan related. Originally as a baddie boss from Capcom's Final Fight, his story in SFA is just him wanting to recreate the spirit of the old gang (Mad Gear) with new members.

 - Rose: Una donna bellissima from Genoa, who's occupation is a fortune teller. She is sensing great evil in Bison, and thus, forces her to go out, find him, and defeat him.

- Charlie Nash: Guile's superior officer who taught the former everything he knew. He's in cooperation with Interpol (mainly with agent Chun-Li) to track down and kill Bison.

- Dan Hibiki (read about him in Street Fighter Alpha 2)

13 characters for people to choose and play. Amazing stuff!

Rose does not bow to The King!

Gameplay

Ah yes, the second important aspect of a game. Or the first if you're a competitive player.

The gameplay of Alpha is similar to that of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, with lots of special moves, combo mixing, super combos and such.

However, that has been expanded here. All characters can initiate a continuous combo by chaining certain normal attacks to deal moderate damage, or continue said chain into special moves, and continue the damage from that point.

Super combos have been reworked, and now everyone has not just 1, BUT 3 SUPERS to do in a fight. Each super has a unique input and advantage. The super meter also has been reworked. It has a 3 stage meter fill. The bigger the level, the bigger and meaner the super it becomes. 

Another addition to the gameplay is Aerial Blocking. Just press back when you're attacked mid air.

And before I forget, an actual new gameplay mechanic is introduced here: Alpha Counter. If you are blocking, and have at least one filled bar of the super combo meter, you can escape your opponent's attacks with a counter.

This Sodom dude may look scary, but appearances can be deceiving...

A Guy playthrough of the game (michaelpf08's footage)

STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Series: Street Fighter
Release date: February 27, 1996
Platforms: Arcade, Super Nintendo, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Windows
Genres and Modes: Single player or Multiplayer Fighting

Jesus Christ, this cover art for the game. It just screams "Street Fighter"...

I won't beat it around the bush with this review and onwards when it comes with Street Fighter. Expect the main points to be presented during the vanilla/original version of the game, with tweaks mentioned in the following updates.

As for Street Fighter Alpha 2, it's sort of the same thing. An update to the original game with some tweaks and adding a few new characters. Two return from Street Fighter 2, those being Dhalsim and Zangief. But also adds 5 new fighters:
- Sakura Kasugano: A Japanese high school girl who became a fan of Ryu after watching him during the First Tournament. She imitates his style, but her moves don't come out as powerful or accurate as her idol. She nevertheless is a cheerful outgoing and polite girl who can also kick your ass with ease.

- Gen: Chinese Kung-Fu master and retired assassin who was known back in the day in the criminal underworld. He seeks to find a worthy opponent for a fight to the death. A returning character from the first game (and the last one canonically).

- Rolento Schugerg:  A mercenary who was also part of the hoodlum gang Mad Gear, alongside Sodom. He just wants to create a private worldwide army. That's all. Mercenaries are fucking weird sometimes...

One hell of an intro for one hell of a game...

During my Alpha 1 part, I mentioned that the game had 13 characters, and yet, I only described 6 of them with the last one saying to check out this portion of my review?

Well that's because AKUMA & DAN HIBIKI were secret selectable characters in Alpha 1. But here, they can be selected normally. Akuma is his usual overpowered self, being able to rip you a new one without breaking a sweat. Dan Hibiki on the other hand, is a joke character. A practitioner of the Saikyo Arts, he's goofy, silly and loves to taunt more than anything else. And he also has a beef with Sagat. Because The Muay Thai King killed his father in a fight a long time ago. So yeah. There's that too...

Sometimes, jokes cannot make your day. Even Guy knows this...

For the gameplay of Alpha 2, it's a tweak of the former. However, one new key innovation was introduced that many SF players, old and new alike agree is phenomenal. That new thing was CUSTOM COMBO SYSTEM.

What is a Custom Combo System? It's a special super combo where you do your own chain of combos. Your character automatically walks towards the opponent. All you have to do is mash buttons and do special move inputs to create your very own Custom Super Combo.

Stunning 90s action at its finest...

In terms of story, it's like SF2. It completely discards the story of the previous one and remakes them to make more sense. So basically, Alpha 2 is actually the gap that was missing between SF1 and SF2 and ties the story together.

Akuma Gaming. Brought to you by: michaelpf08

AND YET, AFTER ALL OF THIS, THERE WAS ANOTHER UPDATE!!!

STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3

Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Series: Street Fighter
Release date: June 29, 1998
Platforms: Arcade, Dreamcast, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Game Boy Advance, PSP
Genres and Modes: Single player or Multiplayer Fighting

Hype levels: OFF THE CHARTS!!!

I don't think anyone asked for this. But hey, who cares! MORE STREEET FIGHTER? YES PLEASE!!!

The final update of the Alpha line of games. In 1998, after 2 years of no updates for Alpha 2, Alpha 3 came out and introduced a shit ton of new characters, a fuck ton of new mechanics, and... new endings that still don't change the story of Alpha's plot. 

I am not going to name all the new characters this time around. It's just too much. All I'll say is, fan favourites of SF2 return. Those being: Blanka, E.Honda, Vega and Cammy.

Only new face I might briefly mention is Cody Travers. Another character from Final Fight and a friend of Guy. He became a prisoner due to his non stop fighting after the events of said game.

New vs Old. Both rich and narcissistic. But damn they're cool...

Gameplay-wise, it's a drastic overhaul of the previous one. The game introduces a new way of dealing with the opposition. The -ISMs.
Now I have no idea how to describe the ISM system of Alpha 3, but the best way I can is as follows:
I. X-ISM - An ISM that focuses on play style akin of Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. Players receive the abilities of those games. No air blocking, no counters, no super meter with different levels. You deal a lot of damage however.

II. A/Z-ISM - The standard ISM. You gain access to Alpha's features.

II. V-ISM - The advanced ISM. Takes away the ability to input super combos, but adds the ability to do custom combos. Does the least amount of damage, but grants new tools for the players to discover and keep on juggling the opposition without showing mercy.

Yo! The fuck are these two doing?

A new addition to this is the Guard Meter. Located bellow the health bar of the player, it shows how much the player has left before their block is penetrated. In other words: blocking too much = you block will get crushed and you end up exposed.

DrewTony'Z's footage of him kicking butt with Chun-Li...

STREET FIGHTER ALPHA! This is where it's at. Right?

Screenshots

Closing remarks

The Street Fighter Alpha were a HUGE step forward for the franchise. While not as big as its predecessor, the games were a hit. With gameplay that has had minor changes from II with effects that make it different from the rest, they are an all time classic. Console ports are actually more responsible for the game's fame than the arcade versions. However, I focus on the original versions (arcades), so I'm not touching the ports.

The games were released during a time when arcades were in a decline and home console gaming was in a rise. So the home console ports were the major source for your average mid 90s fighting game action.

Street Fighter Alpha is a trilogy beloved by many and a true classic.

Speaking of the characters, it's rather interesting. A  slight risk was used by introducing new faces to the games. These new faces, however, stroke a homerun and were popular since launch.

Imagine a Street Fighter game with a New Generation of characters...

TRIVIA

- The game's actual name is Zero, rather than Alpha. The Capcom US division changed the name to Alpha. This was because when they received the news of the game's original title, they were worried that it might repel players to play the game. So Alpha was chosen, as to represent a new beginning/a prequel.

- In Japan and South America, it's Zero. Rest of the world is Alpha.

- Alpha 3 held the record for most characters in a Street Fighter game for a long time. With more than 30 characters in total (combined with console ports).

- Street Fighter Alpha 2 is the only game in the series that was ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It's regarded as a marvel, since the console was known for not being able to run arcade games at all. It's a mess in terms of gameplay though.

- Guy, Cody, Sodom and Rolento all come from Final Fight, a beat 'em up video game series by Capcom. Both Street Fighter and Final Fight are set in the same universe. Some characters and stages from the latter are featured in Alpha as part of the background...

- This is my 69th post on the blog. Nice.

Street Fighter Alpha OST
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL977690085CE8FDF1

Street Fighter Alpha 2 OST
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFD87D20045A2D2F9

Street Fighter Alpha 3 OST

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2D32610939FB0B0F

Lord Slayer