If Street Fighter were to simply count like a normal series, there would have to be at
least 2,718 of them by now.
They just keep making them and giving them strange prefixes, suffixes, and adjectives
to the titles.
Instead of Street Fighter 3, we were graced with Street Fighter Alpha, which little did
people realize would go on to be its own sub series, all cultivating with Street Fighter
Alpha 3, a game that is arguably one of the best releases in the entire Street Fighter
series.
The game takes many of the ideas that were developing within the Alpha series and gives
them all a complete overhaul.
This is of course Street Fighter, which means that it is a six button fighter that is focused
on using the right combos, specials, and grabs.
It is accessible to beginners but has so much depth that you can play the game for years
and still be learning new techniques.
The fighting offers multiple styles of specials that you pick before the match, which are
called “isms.”
There is ‘A ism,” which feels familiar as it is a three level super meter, “X ism”
is like older games and that is one level super you can build up for a power attack,
and last is ‘V ism” where you can perform custom combos.
Each is deep and knowing how to master each is essential to success.
There is a healthy bunch of characters to master these fighting styles with too.
From the necessary ones like Ryu, Ken, and Chun-Li, to old favorites making their first
appearance in the Alpha series like E. Honda, Blanka and I love seeing the return of my
favorite Cammy.
And there are even brand new characters like, R. Mika, Juni, and Juli.
Each bring their own bag of tricks and don’t really feel like filler.
But the biggest new addition comes in the game modes.
There is the standard arcade mode and training mode, but now there is the World Tour mode.
This is one of the most interesting additions to any fighting game.
You select a character, whose stats are lower and lack all the abilities.
You then take them through a tour of fights all around the world, in whatever order you
like.
By winning, you gain experience and level up your characters and your “isms” until
you have tons of combos and breakers.
The fights are not always straightforward, with some opponents only taking damage from
combos, or shortened time limits and other variables.
The World Tour mode really gives you more reason to play, and I would like to see something
like it in every fighting game.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 is the end result of a lot of games building up and some radical
new experiments, and has earned its place in the legendary series.