Street Fighter Alpha was the first entirely new Street Fighter game that Capcom made since Street Fighter II. With a completely new graphical look (very anime inspired) and game play engine, it provided fans of Street Fighter II with the closest that it would get to a sequel: a prequel. Entitled Street Fighter Zero in Japan, the Street Fighter Alpha series would relay the events that took place between Street Fighter I and Street Fighter II.
SFA drew upon many inspirations for it's content, not the least of which was the Street Fighter II anime that was released shortly before the game. SFA also contained a controversial cast. Out of the 16 original cast members from Super Street Fighter II Turbo (not including Akuma), only 4 were selectable in the first Alpha game: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Sagat. M. Bison returned as the boss, who could be selected via a code, along with Akuma, and new secret character Dan. The rest of the cast was filled out by characters who previously appeared in the Final Fight series and Street Fighter I, as well as brand new characters such as Charlie and Rose, the former being the subject of Guile's revenge in SF2.
SFA also contained many new features, some of which were brought over from Capcom's successful Darkstalkers series. These new features included air blocking, multiple super meter bars, multiple super moves per caracter, counter attacks, chain combos, and taunts. Another new feature (which had no bearing on gameplay) was the little details added to make character interaction more interesting, such as dialogs between characters and alternate prefight animations. Like Super Street Fighter II, SFA was something of a project that was prematurely rushed to market, with palette swapped backgrounds shared between characters. It's sequel, Street Fighter Alpha 2, would serve as the full realization of the series.
Please see the Street Fighter Alpha move list for a list of all the special moves.
Cast and story
Street Fighter Alpha has less of a core story line than the other Street Fighter games. Instead, it details the crossing of paths and story lines particular to each character. There is no official tournament this time, only the various purposes that each character has for wandering the world in search of goals that can only be met by challenging other street fighters. The cast is greatly expanded in the second and third Alpha games.
Selectable characters
Click on the character's names to be taken to their individual move lists.
- Adon: (Initially from Street Fighter I) Adon was once a pupil of Sagat's, second only to him in the world of muy-thai. But after watching Sagat's defeat at the hands of Ryu, Adon lost all respect for his former master and decided to show the world that it is in fact Adon who is the muy-thai champion.
- Birdie: (Initially from Street Fighter I) Birdie was a former wrestler, turned criminal. He participated in the original Street Fighter tournament. Despite losing, he rose up the criminal ladder until he became of aware of Shadoloo. Now he seeks to work his way in to their ranks and ultimately take over.
- Charlie: (Original character) A lieutenant in the United States Air Force, Charlie was the previous winner of the U.S. Martial Arts tournament until he was beaten by Ken Master. He then became an Interpol agent and assigned the responsibility of locating the whereabouts of the worldwide threat known as Shadoloo .
- Chun Li: (Initially from Street Fighter II) The Alpha depiction of Chun Li is simply a younger, less experienced version of the Street Fighter 2 Chun Li. She hasn't quite mastered some of the more difficult moves such as the Spinning Bird Kick, but her Sen'en Shuu attack shows the promise of what she will be capable of in the future.
- Guy: (Initially from Final Fight) Guy is the 39th Bushin ninja master. The way of a Bushinryu of Ninjutsu decrees that one must fight against evil. He is seeking his master (the 38th Bushin master) Zeku, whom he needs to defeat in order to become the next Bushinryu master. During SFA, Guy is only mildly aware of Shadoloo.
- Ken Masters: (Initially from Street Fighter II) Alpha Ken is clearly younger than his Street Fighter II depiction. He still wears his hair in a long pony tail bound by a single red band. After his victory in the U.S. Martial Arts tournament, he goes in search of his greatest friend, and rival, Ryu.
- Rose: (Original character) A gypsy and tarot card reader, Rose devines that there is a great evil in the world that must be dealt with, or many lives will perish. Determined to seek out and destroy this evil, Rose comes in contact with many of the wandering street fighters and challenges them to gauge their strength and ability to help her defeat this evil.
- Ryu: (Initially from Street Fighter II) After having won the first Street Fighting tournament, Ryu's soul is burdened with the matter of his sensei's (and foster father's) death, along with a growing power that he struggles to control since his bout with Sagat. Ryu wanders the world to discover what the true meaning of fighting is, and to find those who can teach him.
- Sagat: (Initially from Street Fighter II) One single event changed Sagat's life: the loss of his title as the street fighting champion of the world to Ryu. Taken by surprise by a sudden burst of rage, Sagat's chest was permanently scarred by the rising uppercut unleashed by Ryu. Since that day, Sagat looks upon the scar as a constant reminder that nothing matters besides training for the day when he will challenge Ryu to a rematch.
- Sodom: (Initially from Final Fight) Born in America and obsessed with Japanese culture, Sodom would give anything to truly be considered Japanese. But the only life he knows is a life of crime as a gang leader. After the Mad Gears were defeated in the events of Final Fight, Sodom wanders the world in search of strong fighters worthy of joining his new gang.
Secret characters
- M. Bison: (Initially from Street Fighter II) Although already very accomplished in his task of establishing Shadoloo as the world premier crime organization, M. Bison is still very much in the process of executing his plans for total world domination. He is preoccupied with gathering data on many of the world's geatest fighters that might be used as pawns in his schemes.
- Akuma: (Initially from SSF2T) Unconcerned with the politics of the world he lives in, Akuma seeks only the greatest fighters in the world to satiate his battle lust. Having recently killed his own brother in a murderous battle, Akuma roams the Earth in search of his next greatest opponent.
- Dan: (Original character) In essense, Dan's story is that he is seeking revenge for his father's death at the hands of Sagat. But Dan's pressense is actually a joke being played by Capcom on their biggest rival (at the time), SNK Playmore. Capcom set about designing a humorous version of a character that resembles one SNK's main fighting characters. Dan is basically the body of Ryo Sakazaki with the head of Robert Garcia from the Art of Fighting game. Dan, although playable, has absurdly ineffective moves in comparison to the rest of the cast of fighters.
Controls
One player may compete against the computer, or two players may simultaneousy compete against each other. Each player has an 8-way joystick and 6 buttons.
Buttons
The buttons on the arcade are typically laid out in the following fashion:
File:Arcade-Button-Lkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Mkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Hkick.png
The L, M, and H stands for light, medium, and hard respectively. In general, light attacks are less powerful and faster, and hard attacks are more powerful but slower, with medium attacks in between.
Joystick
The joystick works intuitively in that pressing left will generally move your character left, and pressing right will generally move your character right. But it is more important to think in terms of relative direction.
- If your character is facing to the right, then pressing left on the joystick means backward, and pressing right on the joystick means forward.
- If your character is facing to the left, then pressing left on the joystick means forward, and pressing right on the joystick means backward.
For this reason, all instructions are given with respect to forward and backward since the left and right directions change purpose when your character switches directions.
The following directions assume that you are facing right, the starting direction of every fight for player one, who begins on the left side:
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| Jump straight up. | |||
| File:Arcade-Stick-Upleft.png | File:Arcade-Stick-Upright.png | ||
| Jump diagonally backwards. | Jump diagonally forwards, possibly over your opponent's head, switching directions. | ||
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| Block an imminent attack, or move away from your opponent. | Move toward your opponent. | ||
| File:Arcade-Stick-Downleft.png | File:Arcade-Stick-Downright.png | ||
| Blocking crouch. | Crouch, avoiding high attacks. | ||
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| Crouch, avoiding high attacks. | |||
How to Play
Rules
Each battle consists of best-of-three round match between you and your opponent. At the start of each round, both player's life or health bars are full. The first player to drive the other player's health bar to zero wins the round. The first player to win two total rounds wins the match and moves on to the next opponent. If a single player loses to the computer, the game is over and the player must continue to rematch the recent opponent.
Attacking
To win a round, the player must use his or her character's attack moves to damage the opponent, and block or dodge the opponent's attacks. Each player may attack from a standing or crouching position, or they may jump in to the air and attack. To attack from a standing position, press any single attack button. To attack from a crouching position, pull the joystick in a downward direction (including both diagonals) and press any single attack button. To attack from the air, direct your character to jump straight up, or jump in a diagonal position, and press any single attack button in mid-air.
Blocking
To block an attack, a player must push backwards on the joystick when the opponent attacks (otherwise, pressing back on the joystick moves the player away from the opponent.) Blocking can be done standing which blocks middle and high attacks, as well as attacks in the air, but does not block attacks which are low to the ground. Blocking can also be down crouching by pressing the joystick diagonally down and back. A Crouching block will successfully block low and middle attacks. High attacks will usually go over your character's head if they are crouching, but a crouching block does not defend against air attacks. Street Fighter Alpha incorporates the concept of air-blocking which is the blocking of attacks while in mid-air. As long as you have not initiated an attack, you may hold back on the joystick while jumping through the air to avoid damage.
Special Attacks
In addition to normal attacks there are attacks known as command moves and special moves. Command moves are special combinations of a joystick direction and a particular attack button that produces a different attack than when the button is pressed alone. A special move is a move that requires a more complicated joystick motion and an attack button to perform. For example, Ken and Ryu's fireball attack, called Hadouken, is performed by sliding the joystick in a circular sweeping motion from down to forward, and finished off with any punch button. In this example, the strength of the punch button used happens to dictate the speed at which Ken and Ryu's fireball attack travels across the screen. Special attacks can be blocked like any other attack, but they do what's known as "tick damage." That is, even when blocked, they removed a single hit point from your health bar. Most special moves have a pause associated with them that leave you vulnerable to attack if you miss the opponent, or "whiff".
Super Moves
In addition to the health bar shown at the top of the screen, each player has a super meter at the bottom. As the player attacks and damages the opponent, and as the player takes damage from the opponent, the super meter fills up incrementally. The super meter fills up to three distinct levels of power. A player may execute a Super Move as long as the super meter is filled to at least one level of power. Super Moves are activated by inputting slightly more complex motions than special moves. When they are successfully executed, the game will freeze for a brief moment, and then the animation and attack associated with the super move begins. If the super move connects and is not blocked, it will do substantial damage to the opponent. Super moves can be used to turn the tide of a battle. Every player has more than one unique super move.
The number of buttons used during the Super Move indicates the number of levels of super meter to consume (e.g. if the player has two levels of super meter stored, and the move requires the punch button to be pressed, the player may press two punch buttons to perform a level 2 Super Move.) The level of Super Move performed dictates the amount of super meter consumed. A player can not perform a level of Super Move higher than the level of super meter currently stored. Certain super moves require a full 3 levels of super meter to perform, such as Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu, and consequently consume all 3 levels when activated.
Rolling and Countering
Street Fighter Alpha incorporates new ways to evade or counter an attack. One method is the escape roll. To perform an escape roll, you must roll the joystick from backwards to down and press a punch button when you are knocked to the ground by an opponent's attack. This will cause your character to roll forward, changing your position with respect to your opponent so that it's harder for your opponent to combo you. Some attacks will cause you to roll automatically.
Alternatively, if you have at least one level of super meter stored, you can perform a counter attack known as an Alpha Counter. Each character can perform a unique Alpha Counter while blocking an attack. The motion is always back to down, but the button pressed is determined by the character. See that character's move list to determine the proper button. An Alpha Counter consumes one level of super meter, and instantly interrupts the attack that you are blocking. The opponent is sent spinning away from you.
Throwing
The last form of attack available in this game is a throw. Throws are executed by standing immediately next to your opponent, pressing the joystick either towards or away, and pressing a punch or kick button. If performed correctly, your character will grab the opponent and toss them to the ground in a manner specific to your character's fighting style. Different characters have a different array of throws, so while some characters can throw with the medium punch button, not all characters can. In general, every character can throw with the hard punch button, and no character can throw with the light punch or light kick button. Throws are unblockable.
Taunting
Lastly, your character can taunt the opponent. In the arcade, this is performed by pressing your start button. On consoles, this is typically performed by pressing the select button, or a particular shoulder button. Taunts are generally just for fun, and initiate a short animation for your character. You are entirely vulnerable when this occurs, so it is best to taunt when you feel entirely safe from attack for the next second or two. Some taunts, such as Chun Li's "Gomen nai!" (I'm sorry!) can actually connect and cause the opponent one hit point of damage.
Secrets
Play as Akuma
Put the cursor on the random select box on your side, hold start, and press:
Player 1: then press File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png or File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png
Player 2: then press File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png or File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png
Play as M. Bison
Put the cursor on the random select box on your side, hold start, and press:
Player 1: then press File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png or File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png
Player 2: then press File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png or File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png
Play as Dan
Put the cursor on the random select box on your side, hold start, and quickly press:
File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png File:Arcade-Button-Lkick.png
File:Arcade-Button-Mkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Hkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png File:Arcade-Button-Mpunch.png or
File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png File:Arcade-Button-Hkick.png
File:Arcade-Button-Mkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Lkick.png File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png File:Arcade-Button-Mpunch.png
Fight Akuma on stage 1
Highlight any regularly selectable character that you want to play as. Press and hold down start, File:Arcade-Button-Mpunch.png+File:Arcade-Button-Mkick.png and wait until Akuma appears. The game will end whether you lose the battle or not, but if you win, you get to watch the credits.
Dramatic Battle
The Dramatic Battle is a featured inspired by the Street Fighter II anime, which concludes with a two-on-one battle of Ryu and Ken versus M. Bison. That scene is reconstructed in the game for two human players to experience. Ryu and Ken share one life bar, as well as one super meter. Ryu and Ken can not hurt each other, but M. Bison can damage both players simultaneously. Note that if you lose the battle, you can repeat it by having the first player select Ryu with File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png, and the second player select Ken with File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png, instead of re-entering the entire code.
Have two people join a game. Player 1 should be on Ryu and Player 2 on Ken. Both should hold start, and press then release start. Player 1 must then press File:Arcade-Button-Lpunch.png and Player 2 must press File:Arcade-Button-Hpunch.png