Shaun Watson reviews…

Street Fighter Alpha 2


Sony Playstation Entertainment System video game review
Street Fighter Alpha 2
(Fighting, 1-2 Players)


"Hadoken". A word that has echoes along the halls of many an arcade in the 1980's and 1990's. This word was usually followed by the word "Shoryuken". Both of these words are in Japanese and mean "burning wave fist" and "rising dragon fist", respectively. You didn't need to know Japanese to know that in that arcade was a Street Fighter II fighting game. Hell, you could just tell by the crowd around it. It was a game that revolutionized the arcade industry: soon everyone who ran a gaming company was putting out a Street Fighter clone, most notably Acclaim's Mortal Kombat. It was the developer of Street Fighter, CAPCOM, that is the most guilty of such a crime.
With the realization that the success of Street Fighter II could not be matched, CAPCOM went and re-released it as Street Fighter II: Championship Edition. People ate it up and took advantage of the feature that allowed 2 opponents to use the same fighter model against each other(i.e., using Ken versus Ken) and the use of boss fighters. Then CAPCOM came back and released a rehash of SFII:CE called Street Fighter II: Turbo and contined on with the creation of Super Street Fighter II: The New Warriors, which introduced 4 new characters. The series was beginning to become stale in the minds of the die-hard Street Fighter II fan, so the staff at CAPCOM did the only thing they could: make a fresh start…but not really.

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, a prequel to Street Fighter II, was created and people couldn't understand why it was made. They soon understood when they began to notice certain features. Many of the features came at just the right time, like the AlphaMeter(an import of the SuperMeter from Super Street Fighter II: Turbo), a 3 level meter that allowed you to perform an Alpha Combo, much stronger than your standard special moves. The meter builds up as you give and take damage. The AlphaMeter also allows you to do Alpha Counters, a maneuver that will stop and counter an enemy's move with one of your own. It was complicated to do in battle and rarely worked. The most invaluable move in the Alpha arsenal available to all fighters was the ability to block an attack while in mid-air. What would've left many people open for an attack was now a thing of the past. Despite all of that, Street Fighter Alpha was a mediocre hit, yet CAPCOM wished to continue with the Alpha Series and created the subject of this review, Street Fighter Alpha 2.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 is more than just a fighting game for me. It's an entire way of viewing something. Visually it's the same as Street Fighter Alpha, but it carries so much more for me because of the introduction of 7 characters, 5 of which I had never heard of before: Sakura, Adon, Dan, Charlie and Akuma.

Adon is wild. That's about all I can say about the man who rivals Sagat in Muay Thai kickboxing. I'm familiar with SNK's Joe Higashi and his kickboxing, but WOW is Adon kinetic. His moves need work, though. One projectile special move and he'll be set.
Dan's a screw-up from jump. Who wears a pink gi? There's a problem with Dan, though: if you sleep on him, he'll surprise you with his moves. He's not dangerous by and means, but you'll be very embarrased if he beats you.
Charlie. Ok, I heard this guy was actually supposed to have been captured by the evil organization Shadowloo and transformed into Blanka. Then I heard his name was Nash. Then I heard he was supposed to be dead. Who or whatever he may be, he needs to stop stealing Guile's moves. Sakura, a spritely young miss, wants to be just like Ryu. It's kinda funny looking at a girl dressed in a sailor suit and headband who tries so hard and is so focused on achieving her goal. All that aside, she's an excellent fighter and is lots of fun to play with.
Akuma, like Charlie, has his rumors. Most of thses rumors center around his relationship with Ken and Ryu's master, Sheng Long. I think he's supposed to be Sheng Long's brother, who turned to the dark side of Shotokan karate by simply mastering it. Then there's some thing about Akuma having another master entirely called Gotetsu, whom he killed to learn his art. Now Akuma is a possesed soul, always searching for another battle and more blood to spill. He can teleport and throw hadokens from the air. Akuma can also do one thing that separates him from all others: the Raging Demon(aka "Instant Hell Murder"). It's a 17-hit combo that can win any match if applied properly. With that, let's go over the familiar characters that got a revamp: Sagat and Chun-Li.

Guess what, fellow Street Fighter lovers?
Hollywood hates us.
Sagat, I recall, was a wiry and very tall man. A master of Muay Thai, he fought Ryu on a constant basis. Doing so earned him a nasty chest scar and the loss of an eye in one battle. The Street Fighter Alpha 2 version of Sagat is super buff and deadly. His old Tiger Uppercut was only a 1-hit deal; now that it's called the Tiger Blow, it deals between 7 and 9 hits of damage! A definite improvement over his earlier incarnation.
Chun-Li is an amazing character. I make a point to call her the Mistress, due to her skill and grace in the face of defeat and victory…except for the win pose where she acts like an excited teenager. She has a new tracksuit/traditional costume combo that shows off her muscular legs and buttocks(not to mention the massive camel-toe) and new moves. She's got this move called the Tenshoken(or Spinning Aerial Kick) that works as good as a Shoryuken in stopping aerial attacks. She also has the Kikoken, a ladylike Hadoken, and the super-powered version called the Kikosho. Overall, I still say the most impressive thing about her is that huge camel-toe. Huge.

The game itself is pretty straightforward, with the exception of interlopers just as you're about to reach the final boss. The options on the Playstation version of the game are great to have, but ultimately there's a problem with loading that the arcade never had, slowing down gameplay. The music's good, the interface scheme is great, the special things in it are good(particularly the code to get "Shin" Akuma) and its visuals are excellent.

This game is a part of my high-school experience, but not such a part that it'll automatically get a 10; it gets a 9 instead.

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