Street Fighter Series - History - Video Games - Street Fighter Alpha Series (1995)

Street Fighter Alpha Series (1995)

The interquel, Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, Street Fighter Zero in Japan and Asia, is the next game in the series. The game uses the same art style Capcom previously employed in Darkstalkers and X-Men: Children of the Atom with settings and character designs heavily influenced by Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Alpha expands on the Super Combo system from Super Turbo by extending Super Combo meter into three levels, allowing for super combos to be stored up, and introducing Alpha Counters and Chain Combos, also from Darkstalkers. The plot of Alpha is set between the first two Street Fighter games and fleshes out the back stories and grudges held by many of the classic SFII characters. It features a playable roster of ten immediately playable characters and three unlockable fighters, comprising not only younger versions of established Street Fighter II, but also characters from the original Street Fighter and Final Fight, such as Adon and Guy.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 features all-new stages, music, and endings for some characters, some of which overlap with those from the original Alpha. It also discards the Chain Combo system in favor of Custom Combos, which requires a portion of the Super Combo meter to be used. Alpha 2 retains all 13 characters from the original and adds five new characters to the roster along with hidden versions of returning characters. Alpha 2 is followed by a slightly enhanced arcade release titled Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha and was released in Japan and Brazil, ported to home consoles as Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Zero 2′ Dash in Japan.

The third and final Alpha game, Street Fighter Alpha 3, was released in 1998 following the release of the original Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and Street Fighter EX. Alpha 3 introduces three selectable fighting styles and further expands the playable roster to 28 characters. Console versions of the three games, including the original Alpha 2 and the aforementioned Alpha 2 Gold, were released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, although versions of specific games in the series were also released for the Game Boy Color, Super NES, Dreamcast, and even Windows. The home console versions of Alpha 3 further expands the character roster by adding the remaining "New Challengers" from Super Street Fighter II. The Dreamcast version of the game was backported to the arcades in Japan under the title of Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper. A version of Upper, simply titled Alpha 3 outside Japan, was released for the Game Boy Advance and added three characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2. A PlayStation Portable version titled Alpha 3 MAX, 'Zero 3 Double Upper in Japan, contains the added characters from the GBA version and Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Jam.