Oldie but a goodie
These have to be tool assisted. They remind me of 3rd Strike 100% combos.
Alpha feels incomplete and Alpha 2 feels like a completed version with better gameplay, a properly expanded roster and enough aesthetic flair to feel like a natural progression and a satisfying sequel. Alpha 3 feels like an abandonment of the previous games for no understandable reasons.
It doesn't feel tight or focused and the mechanics are frustrating at times. The game doesn't 'flow' for me when I play it and I think it's overstuffed with options to the point where it just feels like a bloated mess.
Too many characters, -Isms that add the illusion of choice and technique when they were never needed to advance the series (this is probably the biggest reason the game's mechanics feel 'off' as an Alpha entry) and bad/lazy/unpolished aesthetics. By the time of Alpha 3's release, the older sprites haven't aged well, the music is good but doesn't feel like it belongs in an Alpha game and is therefore distracting and distances me from what I feel is a patented Street Fighter experience. Even things like the Attract mode feel like a sloppy pastiche of game engine resources that don't respect the series' aesthetic roots.
I don't think the game was rushed, but it certainly feels that way. Overall, I just feel like Alpha 3's focus on mechanics come at the expense of the franchise's appeal.
Them's my thoughts.
I agree with this but Alpha has a certain charm I find Alpha 2 done away with. The fact it was bare bones to me was a double edged sword. On the plus side, what was there was brilliant, simple and to the point.
Of course. I didn't mean to imply that Alpha was somehow 'worse' than Alpha 2 simply because it feels like, well, an 'alpha' of a forthcoming video game. I still think Alpha is a good fighter. But to me, it's clear that it was a test bed for Alpha 2, which was always the intended product (or seemed to be).
The backgrounds were bland as fuck but I feel the OST for Alpha is actually superior to the Alpha 2 OST. The tracks are more 'crunchy' and hard edged. The Alpha OST almost has a SNK Sound Factory sharpness to it. The tracks in Alpha 2 seem softer and more subdued by comparison. I also thought the voice samples in Alpha were superior to what we heard in Alpha 2 for the most part.
Also:
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I have great love for this background (Final Fight's greatest stage to boot)
Obvio New Orleans...
Ah come on, this one is really nice too (I think if I remember correctly it is based on a stage in the very first SF?):
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My earliest memories of Alpha 1 were screenshots of the game's cutscenes and I was thinking, WHOA, they can put cartoons in video games now. That was pretty wild for me at the time.
My earliest memories of Alpha 1 were screenshots of the game's cutscenes and I was thinking, WHOA, they can put cartoons in video games now. That was pretty wild for me at the time.
1+
my first encounter with alpha 1 was a historical moment for me. i walked into my local arcade and i saw it. the thoughts that run through my mind was indescribable. street fighter 2 the anime movie at the time was one of my favourite movies ever. so seeing a game that was based off the flash backs to ryu and ken's youth was like a dream. i couldn't believe how close the animation was to the movie.
it was an instant favourite. i fell in love with it. and this is also how i discovered snk. kids in the play ground were arguing over which is the better game, my beloved street fighter alpha or this game they were calling king of fighters 95. we all went to the arcades after school to see this new game, and when i saw it i didn't think it was better than alpha but i was really impressed by the realistic but still very manga looking artwork and the fact that sam seed from drunken maser (chin) was a playable character was something i found to be amazing. i loved the way kyo looked and played and the rivalry he had with iori . they were like the ryu and ken of the series.
and both those games were released to the home consoles of the time in almost arcade perfect form. it was a glorious time.
Man I wish I had been as young as you back then. I grew up with Atari 800xl and Master System, a load of imperfect ports. I was a teenager by the time 16 bit era came around and a young adult with the arrival of the 32bit generation. It was an amazing time for sure and I loved everything about it, but had I been younger I think the impact would have been even greater
Alpha 1 really suffers because for me personally I can't think of a reason to return to it.