My time with it in arcades was short because most of the arcade operators in the areas I lived in were too cowardly and/or greedy to get it, but the effect Street Fighter Alpha had on my life would be everlasting. It is really what got me into Japanese animation, design, and culture. GameFan cited in their Volume 3 Issue 4 reveal that "early reports had said that "the characters are animated in the DarkStalkers style", which was always what I loved most about the game (and still do today). But, how do you properly represent your favorite Street Fighter game of all-time and do it the justice it deserves? Seriously...

I only ever saw and played it at one single place, which was the arcade at Brunswick Bowl in Aurora, Colorado. It is no longer in business, and the building it was in is a mere shell of its former self. The powers that be can do all they want to that building to make the area unrecognizable, but the memories of playing my favorite Street Fighter game there still remain. It's so profound how a place now reduced to a cold shadow of its former self could have been the birth of such great memories that would stick with me forever. Those memories remain because the feeling of finally seeing this legendary game there were so powerful. It was difficult to see what games they had from the door, but once we were past the bowling lanes and could see what looked like new games, we picked-up speed. When we saw it was indeed Street Fighter Alpha (as we had hoped), we ran the rest of the way to the machine to witness its glory at long last. And glorious it was. We watched the demo run before we went to get quarters, and it was all just surreal to me. It was so vibrant and animated. The sound was so fresh and clear. I almost couldn't accept the reality that it was finally here (there). This is what it was like to be alive. Those of us who were actually around back then understood immediately how special SFA was.

Replacing the utterly-disappointing and SSFIIT was a dream come true. I had seen SFA in magazines, but most arcades weren't brave-enough to get it. It was partially not their fault after getting burned by SSFIIT, but it was also their fault for not seeing how SFA had had completely invigorated the series. SSFIIT was one of those games you really wanted to love, and tried to love, but it was so difficult (literally). SFA was a natural love. The kind that happens without so much effort. I loved everything about the game, and still do. To me, this is what a perfect game looks like. I still consider its redrawn graphics and re-imagined audio to be Capcom's best, even to this day. Yes, I even like them better than Street Fighter III - New Generation's. The artwork in SFA is still my favorite to this day (rivaled only by SFIII). Everything was so fresh and vibrant. Capcom had finally made that new Street Fighter, and although it didn't have a "Three" at the end of the title, I didn't care. I would have preferred they stayed with the early "Legends" titling, but I liked that it had an "Alpha" ("Zero" for Japan) at the end of the title because it made clear that the game took place before the events of Street Fighter II.

GameFan best described it when they said that "this refers to its "prequel" status. Volume 3 Issue 4 is when GameFan revealed SFA (as SFL), and how its "storyline takes place between SFII and SFI, so naturally all the characters have a slightly younger look", citing Ryu's "old red hair" and how Ken's was "super-long, tied with a red ribbon". I like the depth they went into on the nuance behind "Ryu's future headband", and how "later in the Street Fighter storyline, Ryu cuts his head while fighting with Ken, and Ken gives the ribbon to Ryu as a bandage". Other publications care little of the nuanced story behind these Japanese titles, and I believe it was this effort that earned GameFan its loyal fan base. They really were "The Last True Enthusiast Magazine".

More importantly, the title was also an indicator that Final Fight had been officially connected to the series (and not just by lore descriptions in text). It was a Holy matrimony between two of my favorite Capcom series; Final Fight and Street Fighter. I love Street Fighter, but my favorite series of all-time is actually Final Fight, so to see them in the same game was groundbreaking to me. For years, Capcom had acknowledged that Final Fight and Street Fighter were in the same universe and timeline (they even named the first Final Fight as Street Fighter '89). With Street Fighter Alpha, they finally acted on that. Seeing Guy and Sodom as an actual, official part of Street Fighter for the first time was unbelievable. Slasher Quan praised Guy in a Street Fighter Alpha feature in Volume 3 Issue 7 of GameFan for being "pure joy" as "an exact replica of his Final Fight persona...with so much more!" To the Final Fight fan, the official marriage of it with Street Fighter was like a dream come true. GameFan was the only publication to share that excitement with me, which is just another reason I have always connected with them on a deeper level than other video game media and/or publications.

Originally interesting and appealing, the Street Fighter cast had really lost its appeal with by Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Stalwarts Zangief and Dhalsim always seemed like they were taking up space for better characters. I have agreed with Nick Rox on a lot of things throughout his career, and highly admire his works, but disagree with his stance on SSFIIT being better than SFA based on roster alone. I do not believe that SSFIIT had the stronger roster by size or design. The design of the series had grown outdated by the time SSFIIT had been released, and it showed. One of the things that made Street Fighter Alpha so refreshing was that Capcom was finally brave-enough to get rid of those characters (along with others) and replace them with familiar, yet new faces. Zangief was replaced by either Birdie or Sodom (depending on how you look at it), and either one of them are better in every way. This isn't in regards to balance. We're talking about character design, here. Birdie and Sodom are just better-designed, and it's not even close.

Sodom was always just a character that we played against as the Stage 2 boss of the first Final Fight game. He was always such a cool and mysterious character, and I had never imagined actually playing as him. Just based on his unplayable history alone, Sodom/Katana was one of the first characters we played as. We wondered why he didn't have the Japanese swords he had before, but it was still unbelievable to be able to play as a boss from Final Fight in any capacity! To me, he is still a defining character for this particular game, and I cannot imagine it without him. This is one of the characters where we realized that the end bosses were now determined by story relevance, with some fighting their rivals, while others retained M. Bison end boss. Indeed, "the one-player mode is very exciting, because the order of the opponents and the identity of the final boss changes depending on which character you use", as GameFan described it. They give "Ryu and Sagat" as an example because they "have a major grudge, so Sagat is the final boss for Ryu (including some ultra-cool dialogue)".

As per usual, GamePro was as backward as ever in their April 1996 Issue 91 review of the Saturn version, assessing that Sodom (and Birdie) "are weak and not as much fun to play". In direct contradiction to their own statement, they put both characters in the biggest screenshots on the page. I've always thought these characters were two of the most unique, standout additions to the roster. I couldn't understand Japanese back then, but seeing Sodom's unveil Japanese calligraphy for the Mad Gear gang in his ending was so cool! His ending was always one of my favorites. Seeing familiar enemies from the Mad Gear gang in Final Fight was like coming back into contact with an old friend. It was such a special feeling because those memorable characters from Final Fight that you loved and hated were all beautifully redrawn in Capcom's new CPS-II style. The towering Andore, overflowing Wong Who, stoic Rolento, humorous Thrasher Damnd, and my beloved Poison were all now brought back into Capcom's modern universe in a distinct Japanese aesthetic that would come to define the CPS-II hardware's pedigree visuals. There was nothing quite like it back then, and the only ones who even really came close were then-rivals SNK with Real Bout Fatal Fury. It should be noted that Real Bout Fatal Fury was SNK's answer to Street Fighter Alpha, and it is every bit as impressive and fun with equally-appealing system improvements, satisfying combo freedom, and gorgeous, hand-drawn art.

SFA was the gift that kept on giving, and it delivered on series lore that fans had pored over in magazines and guidebooks since the advent of SFII. The death of best friend Charlie at the hands of M. Bison as being Guile's reason for fighting was often referred to in character bios those publications featured. Charlie was always a sort-of myth - a phantom that everyone theorized about. Due to his unfortunate passing, youngsters thought he was the seemingly-happy, yet-melancholy Air Force airman sitting on the crate next to fellow airman with hot chicks. Capcom would probably run with one fan theory from back-then when they allowed the live-action movie to assume that Blanka as Charlie. Of course, the real Charlie turned-out to be a lot cooler than any of the images fans had in their minds. Seeing him for the first time was a profound experience. A character long-described as dead, yet, there he was in the thick of a crowded evening avenue being showered with dollars and cents from bookees. Capcom took us on a trip to the past to see how cool and stylish Charlie was before his untimely end at the hands of the evil M. Bison. His moves were like Guile's but cooler and more stylish. His Flash Kick was inverted as the Somersault Kick, and he was such a badass that he could do a Sonic Boom with one arm. His normal moves were all more practical and easier to time. He was genuinely fun and cool, yet familiar at the same time. It was then that I realized that the stoic Guile had been replaced by Charlie in my mind. This would cause a conundrum later when Capcom would add Guile into Street Fighter Alpha 3, but that's a conversation for another day!

Chun-Li was the most noticeable redesign, and it perfectly captured everything about her persona. In Volume 3 Issue 7 of GameFan, Slasher Quan accurately described to us that "she now wears tights" and "appears much younger". That was all I needed to know. I always loved tights, and there could have been no better fit for the supple rendition of her they had settled on for Street Fighter Alpha. She was covered more, but somehow even sexier than before. Chun-Li's body suit in Street Fighter Alpha was yet another testament to Capcom's craft in appealing female character design. Like Psylocke in X-Men: Children Of The Atom, Chun-Li in Street Fighter Alpha was to be absolutely gorgeous and stunning. Chun-Li's ass(ets) from SSFIIT was faithfully carried over to her SFA design, but reflected accurately for the younger version of her (since SFA actually took place before SSFIIT in the series timeline). Chun-Li's SFA Fireball animation wasn't quite the spectacle it was in SSFIIT, but still somehow sexy and strong at the same time. Her Vertical Spinning Bird Kick would also be redesigned with the utmost care, and stands as one of SFA's most synonymous Special Moves. She would lose the iconic Spinning Bird Kick, but would gain a unique Handstand Kick that would convey even more of her athleticism her character design was built from. This has always been my favorite rendition of Chun-Li (with only her Street Fighter V variations coming close).

I've always loved SFA's roster, and have always held it in higher regard than the roster in SSFIIT. Unplayable characters from the very first Street Fighter weren't just made playable; dream matches between them were now possible! The hulking Birdie and his unorthodox bouncer style could now challenge Adon and his unorthodox kickboxing. Sagat and Adon could settle a long-standing rivalry we never knew existed. The player could now use Adon or Birdie to go against Ryu or Ken; a scenario that existed only in the minds of players who dreamt of it in the very first Street Fighter. GameFan stated in their Volume 3 Issue 8 Quick Review that they wished Birdie "looked/played more like he did in SF1", but I think every choice Capcom made with him for SFA was spot-on. His chains are a cool addition to compliment the unique expression of his design. In that same feature, Sagat was described as "the most muscular and incredible-looking character in the game", and that's why he was one of the first characters I chose. I wanted to see what it was like to play this hulking redesign of an already-intimidating character from SSFIIT. Covering a substantial amount of the screen (but still less than Juggernaut in XMCOTA), it was a massacre. Sagat was so much easier to use in SFA, and his moves were so much crazier. Like Ken's Flaming Dragon Punch, Sagat now had a flaming Tiger Knee Super Move! Of course, Sagat had his purple and white trunks from his rendition in the very first SF. Add to that his cool white and red trunks from SFIIT, and the game just couldn't get better!

Yet, somehow it just kept doing it! Adon's return was big for me, since I saw him as a welcome rival to Sagat in the manner which Ken is to Ryu. His moves were totally different from Sagat's, though, even though Adon was also a kickboxer. They were both essentially a counter to the other, with all their moves acting as almost exact opposites. Sagat may have been made bigger and hulking with brute strength, but the stylish Adon's ferocity and unorthodox approach did not make him any less intimidating. Never before was the difference between the tiger and jaguar more clear. Adon wasn't Sagat's only enemy, though, and neither was Ryu. Capcom expanded on Sagat's story by including the son of the man who "cost him an eye" as a hidden character. That character would be Dan, who was the most mysterious of all the hidden characters in Street Fighter Alpha. He was tricky to find, play against, and to use.

GameFan was confident in regards to hidden characters before they were unveiled by Capcom, specifically citing "immortal words of Thomas Osaki", who extended the excitement of "M. BISON BABY!!!" to them. GameFan was "fairly certain" that M. Bison was a hidden boss, but also assumed that he was a playable character based on his appearance in several cinematics and endings. This was also based on a point they made about how M. Bison would "play an integral part in the story, because he kills off Charlie before SF II". Of course, they were right. M. Bison was another noticeable redesign He was bigger and more filled-out, with a deeper, more sinister voice. It really fit his persona, and is still my favorite version of him to this day. He certainly looks the part for those characters that have him as an end boss! The ending cameos really gave us that drive to finish the game with every character. Guy and Sodom made us want to see what Final Fight characters would show up in their endings, and I'll never forget how cool it was to see Metro City's minions redrawn in the CPS-II style. Akuma was another one that we really wanted to finish the game with because we saw in a magazine at the grocery store that Ken and Ryu's fabled master was in that ending. We were finally able to put a face to the name we had heard so much about. Street Fighter Alpha filled in so many blanks with its characters roster and endings. Faces and names previously shrouded in secrecy were unveiled and shown to the world, enriching Street Fighter and the Capcom universe. Street Fighter Alpha is one of the earliest examples of Capcom's drive to expand its own universe through cameos and appearances in its own games. Capcom always had its games crossing over into each other through written lore, but it wasn't as common to see it actually in-game.

Street Fighter Alpha was memorable for so many reasons, but some were entirely detached from my direct experience with the game, and more from my indirect experience with the game. Leading up to its release, it was featured in its early form as Street Fighter Legends; a title I thought was awesome, and was disappointed to see suddenly changed. GameFan actually revealed that "although it may he dubbed Street Fighter Legends when it hits Saturn and PlayStation early next year, the coin-op's name is now Street Fighter Alpha", which is an interesting part of the game's history they appear to have been coached on by Capcom themselves. Early footage was shown to media outlets such as GameFan, Electronic Gaming Monthly, and GamePro (and possibly more, but I can only attest to what I've seen in person). I remember how disappointed the 1/3 of a page GamePro reluctantly gave Street Fighter Alpha, with screenshots so small that you could barely see the new visuals (let alone any of the fine details that made them so beautiful). I remember sitting on the floor of my room, the clean shag carpet below, and the GamePro magazine in front of me. I had hoped every time that I was just tired and couldn't see the details, or that I was just "not looking hard-enough", but alas, I immediately realized that was not the case upon opening the magazine and finally getting to the page it was on. Their coverage just sucked. You could tell GamePro begrudgingly did the least they could, with the smallest screenshots, and the least amount of information. It really was the least they could do. Literally. This utter disappointment was probably when my resentment toward GamePro started.

It was a disappointment every time I returned to that issue of GamePro. I couldn't understand what they had against this absolutely beautiful-looking and sounding game. It never made sense to me, but I knew other publications weren't like GamePro, and appreciated Street Fighter Alpha more than they did. I knew because I saw other magazines like GameFan, Tips & Tricks, and Electronic Gaming Monthly in other stores and areas. GameFan wasn't available in my area, so my memories of the game's early days come from the feature EGM did on it. EGM did so much better in their feature for SFA, that there really even isn't a comparison. And, while it is such that no publication at the time could even get close to GF's coverage, EGM still did a lot better than GP. You could really tell when a publication and its staff didn't value something, and it was quite obvious with SFA that GP didn't care at all about it until it was on PlayStation (their biggest coverage moneymaker). They didn't just present the arcade version in underwhelming fashion with microscopic screenshots on less than a page, but added insult to injury being late by months to deliver that subpar coverage, then acting like they loved it so much when the PlayStation version came out.

Street Fighter Alpha deserved better. The game has a distinct allure of mystery and lore. I believe that EGM actually did a good job conveying that in their breaking coverage of the game as Street Fighter Legends. There were numerous throwbacks to characters from the very first Street Fighter and how much bigger and more-animated they looked. I always remembered the shot they took of Sagat towering over his opponent, holding them by the face, high above the ground (in the first frame of his grab animations). EGM did capture that element of mystique that even GF didn't have in their feature. By far and large, though, GameFan still did Street Fighter Alpha the most justice. They had the biggest, most beautiful screenshots across pages of quality enthusiast reading. If I had access to GameFan magazine back then, I would have been a lot happier. I was bitter at what I saw to be a complete and utter lack of representation for a new Street Fighter game the industry had complained so much about not getting. As per usual with the video game industry, it was hypocrisy.

Back then when they existed, GameFan could always be counted on to deliver on pretty-much every game and/or system available. This was no different with Street Fighter Alpha, with Volume 3 Issue 4, 6, 7, and 8 all serving as a chronicle of the arcade game through its development and into release. In Volume 3 Issue 4, they were "honored to announce" it as "the TRUE sequel to Capcom's billion-dollar grosser Street Fighter II...Street Fighter Legends!" Although they said in that issue that they'd be back in the next issue (Volume 3, Issue 5), it would appear they weren't able to make the deadline. They would more than make up for that later with some tidbits in Volume 3 Issue 6 to hold everyone over until their awesome 4-page article in Volume 3, Issue 7. It was followed by a massive 7-page blowout in Volume 3, Issue 8. GameFan welcomed-back fans to their final article on Street Fighter Alpha in Volume 3 Issue 8, and the information they provided about how "Street Fighter Alpha got moved up and (surprise!) should be in nationwide release by mid-July" checks-out. The memories detailed in this article support that, and were a driving force in the creation of this article. GameFan's final full-featured article on Street Fighter Alpha wasn't as sunny, though.

There was surprising polarization in Volume 3 Issue 8 when compared to the more positive coverage in Volume 3 Issue 7, but it was still concluded that "SFA is definitely one of the best fighting games of all time". That coverage was a collaborative effort by Slasher Quan, Nick Rox, and Inkblot, so it is unclear to exactly what degree each are invested into the statements of the overall Quick Review. Based on his SSFIIT articles in previous issues of GF, Nick Rox was likely the one who "can't place it ahead of SSF2T because Turbo had six more playable characters (not counting possible hidden characters)". It was also stated that "on the other hand, SFA’s negative points include a disappointing lack of enough backgrounds, less-than-spectacular parallax, not enough characters, and my personal distaste for air blocking", which seems like a statement Nick Rox would make. I was surprised that Nick Rox wasn't more optimistic about SFA here, considering the lengths he (and other staff) appear to have admitted going through to play the arcade version. If a feature on ClassicGaming101 (http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/gamefan/GameFAN.htm) is to be trusted, it would appear that Nick Rox admits how it was "fun breaking into Dave's office via the ducts in the ceiling in the middle of the night to retrieve the 'Street Fighter Alpha' PCB" arcade version "that was confiscated" from staff because it hindered their productivity at work, prompting them to sneak "into the unoccupied offices next door to steal a piece of ceiling tile" in an effort to replace one he "broke dropping 12 feet to the floor of his office, ninja-style". Of course, he was referring to the legendary Dave Halverson (who would also lead Play Magazine in the future). I could be wrong, but even if I'm right, I still respect his opinion. I may not agree with that viewpoint, but if it indeed his, I still highly admire his work. His article layouts, design, and screenshot choreography were always bar-none.

The feature elaborates that "SFA is a very worthy addition to the series", and that "on the plus side, the graphics for almost everyone (especially Sagat and Guy) are astonishing, auto-blocking is now gone (thank god), and the game is hyper fast". As per usual with GameFan SFA's graphics couldn't have been described better than "astonishing". They always did an excellent job accurately conveying the visuals of any game they covered. They conclude that "SFA’s game play is still Street Fighter, and that’s what counts the most!" Perhaps GameFan knew that there were a lot of secrets nestled into SFA, as they advised readers to "stay tuned to GameFan for updates as new secrets are discovered!" And, update they did. Volume 3 Issue 9 dropped the hidden character unlocks for M. Bison, Akuma, and Dan, along with some information on "Dan's Origins". GameFan wasn't really sure about M. Bison and/or Akuma, but speculated the they were "likely" playable characters (with "no guarantees"). Dan was completely out of left field, though, and I don't think even GameFan knew about his existence before Capcom allowed it. It was cool to see them go into Dan's history; to even care about it. Despite their tepid response to the game in their later full-length features, this showed that they were actually quite fond of the game.

Volume 3 Issue 7's feature was just more positive, overall. In that issue of GameFan, Slasher Quan would appear to be most fond of SFA, stating that "FINALLY!" after four years that "the first all-new Street Fighter game from Capcom of Japan since 1991" was almost out, that the wait was over, and that "even at 80%" the "amazing game has the potential to become a legend" with "the best-illustrated character sprites ever". He was absolutely right in his assessment of the animation as "cartoon-style", and that "Alpha's graphics appear very cel-animated, much like DarkStalkers or X-Men". He emphasized how much of a change it was "from the other five SF II games". I like how he made it a point to mention how "the backgrounds include an all-new perspective on Sagat's Thailand statue stage, and the Great Wall of China for Chun Li", and that "several characters share the same background, only palette-swapped". He even reveals how "Ryu and Guy have the same Japanese 24-hour-convenience store background, which is located right next to Capcom's Osaka headquarters in real life"; an interesting fact I was completely unaware of prior to researching GameFan's coverage for this article. This is just another example of the interesting, unique content found in GameFan and nowhere else.

Many arcade operators were too cowardly to invest in SFA because their last girlfriend (SSFIIT) hurt them. The game might as well been nonexistent in Colorado (and probably anywhere near it). But, if those cowardly arcade operators (and that's exactly what they were) had made any effort to see how different SF was from SSFIIT, they would have realized it was a better investment than its inflated predecessor. Everything wrong with SSFIIT was rectified with SFA, from the crooked CPU, to the unbalanced speed, it was addressed. And it's so crazy because it's not that we couldn't get through the game due to cheap AI like SSFIIT; we could usually beat the game when we got to the end with any character. The CPU wasn't too bad, and was a lot more fair than SSFIIT's nonsensical AI. It was just that we only had time to beat the game with maybe a single character each time we went, and that was after we played each other for several rounds. Our lives went on and with school and life, we never ended-up beating that bowling alley SFA machine with every character. Even if we had beaten it with the base roster, there were still the hidden characters of whom we had only been lucky-enough to get randomly once. We couldn't remember the codes on the fly, and didn't have the awesome magazines like GameFan readily available to reference. Years later on the Saturn, I would come to finally explore these characters closest to their native arcade form.

SFA wasn't just fresh because of all the new faces. What made it so much fun wasn't just the cool, new characters with cool, new fighting styles to master, but also the game system. The first Street Fighter Alpha is the most fun out of all the Street Fighter Alpha titles, and the reason for that is combos. It was the first, most noticeable thing about the game when we finally got to play it. SFA didn't just feel different, it played totally different than its overrated predecessor. I love GameFan (and always will), but I look back at their coverage of SSFIIT and believe that even they had over-anticipated the game. In Volume 3 Issue 7 of GameFan, Slasher Quan explained how Capcom loosened the juggle system from Super Street Fighter II Turbo going into Street Fighter Alpha, citing how "Sagat can do a standing Forward to hit the enemy when they jump in, then two-in-one into a Tiger Knee to air juggle them" as an example. SFA added link combos, and to this day is the reason it's my favorite game in the series. As long as they were linked from weakest to strongest, almost any of the normal attacks could be linked into each other for maximum fun and enjoyment. Combos like Low Short Kick, Low Forward Kick, then Low Roundhouse Kick were made possible, and highly-useful for doing damage with knockdown. In that same issue, GameFan excitedly described the "Chain Combos" like Night Warriors where "Ken can do a low Short, immediately hit low Forward, and then immediately hit low Roundhouse for a three-hit combo or simply a push-out tactic".

You could tell they knew what they were talking about, and it was cool that they put combos in the actual article. Those normal attacks could be linked into Special Moves if you buffered them correctly, and you could even do the same with Super Moves if you were fast-enough! That was where the most powerful, damaging combos came into play. That new combo system allowed for some truly spectacular combos. It also allowed for some deadly combos if the player put the time and effort into learning what flow of attacks maximized damage before the end Special Move or Super Move. Street Fighter Alpha wasn't just beautiful; it was also fun! To me, this combo system made Street Fighter Alpha better than Street Fighter Alpha 2. I always thought that Capcom should have just carried over the combo system from SFA to SFA2. Even though many of those fun combos from SFA were possible in SFA2 there was a difference in speed and number of hits (with some requiring the Custom Combo activation). Though it could also be considered a masterpiece by its own merits, combos in SFA2 seemed more difficult to perform than they needed to be (in comparison to how smooth they came out in SFA), making the game less fun to me as a result. Upon learning that I put SFA above SFA2, some are surprised and question how it's possible for anyone to love SFA; more than the critically-acclaimed SFA2, at that. Well, the gameplay and combos system were a big reason why for me.

As if Street Fighter Alpha couldn't get any better, there "are also a wide array of new defensive options" intricately outlined in a feature by editor Slasher Quan in Volume 3 Issue 7 of GameFan. As he put it, "the first is rolling backward or forward while on the ground, which can help you escape from corner traps, cheaps" and/or combos after knockdown. I remember using this one a lot (and often accidental) against friends, leaving them bewildered and disoriented. He reveals another technique "where you block an attack and immediately cut into a reversal move", but it is important to note that it was not the annoyingly unpredictable and inconsistent Reversal from Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. The only thing more aggravating than Super Street Fighter II Turbo itself was probably the continued existence of the Reversal technique which weighs more on the side of luck than skill. To the dismay of any player who appreciates consistency, the finicky Reversal still exists as the enigma it was in those titles, but the new technique GameFan was referring to was the reliable Alpha/Zero Counter. Literally, Capcom added a surprisingly-effective, yet balanced counter system. They made it so that you perform it during a successful block, making it possible to interrupt combos or multi-hit Special Moves and Super Moves. It helped prevent victories from tick damage if you had at least a Level 1 Super Bar to spend it on. GameFan praised how the Super Bar was used to balance the technique, stating how "the Alpha Counter is extremely cool, but it uses one Super meter so there's no way to “turtle up" (play the waiting game and just Alpha Counter all day)." GameFan appreciated it, remarking that "Alpha Counters add a lot to the strategy", with additional praise that the "three-Level Super system is a welcome upgrade". It was enthusiastically detailed how in SFA the player could "now store up to THREE Super moves, and if you wish you can use one, two, or three Super bars for one Super move by pressing the appropriate number of buttons". Slasher Quan understood the significance of how SFA introduced "two to three different Supers" for every character, and was quite enthusiastic in his explanation. I believe that GameFan, as a whole, understood the significance of the changes in Street Fighter Alpha and that it was the only place Slasher Quan could really express his appreciation for it, as well. They were right about all of it, though, and some of the true few who actually appreciated how much the game was changed. Alpha/Zero Counters are, by far, the most overlooked aspect of not just Street Fighter Alpha, but Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and all Alpha variants.

As mentioned earlier, Street Fighter Alpha also introduced Air-Blocking to the series. It's so natural and smooth that you don't even really notice it the first few times you use it. Unless you heard about it ahead of time, the seemingly-game-changing addition was actually less-noticeable than most would have thought. Its existence certainly became a realization when utilized, but how was Capcom able to make such an inclusion so subtle? They were able to do that by making projectiles and other air-based attacks applicable to the Air-Block, but not ground-based attacks. This made it so that there was a certain amount of strategy involved with using the defensive addition. Me and my friends had a hard time understanding this, and couldn't figure out why we could block Ken and Ryu's Fireballs and Air Hurricane Kicks, but couldn't block their grounded anti-air normal Punch and Kick attacks. GameFan's explanation was that it "works against all regular attacks, fireballs, and occasionally against uppercuts depending on position". The learning experience added a lot to the game. It all was the perfect blend of new gameplay features built on a foundation of successful familiar features. The last defensive option GameFan addressed was "the choice of Manual or Autoblocking a la X-Men", but warned that "Autoblocking can only be used a few times during each round" and that "players who use Autoblocking can only store one Super move instead of three". These rare facts show pros and cons of the feature, which are almost always overlooked to support the assumption that the feature allows a player to just block everything and fire-off infinite Super Moves. No publication (to my knowledge) at the time (not even GameFan) saw between the lines and how this feature was actually a step by Capcom toward broadening the appeal of the series to a wider audience; a step which has gradually evolved into features such as the streamlined Modern mode and AI-driven Dynamic mode duo in Street Fighter VI (6). The inclusion of what appeared to be a mere Auto-Blocking and Level 1 Super Bar feature to attract beginners would become bigger than any of them could have imagined. As of this writing, there is speculation that these Modern and/or Dynamic modes are the future of the series. Will anyone remember that it started with X-Men Children Of The Atom and Street Fighter Alpha?

In the aforementioned GameFan Volume 3 Issue 7, their assessment was at least that "SF Alpha should hopefully feature a much richer audio track than the SF II games", and it absolutely does. The audio is yet another perfect aspect of Street Fighter Alpha. The re-imagined, iconic music of Final Fight is the first thing that I remember about Street Fighter Alpha's soundtrack. It was all so clear and familiar, even in its re-imagined form. The clarity of Street Fighter Alpha's audio is one of the biggest factors in what made it so memorable for me. Its Final Fight-inspired tunes steal the show, but that doesn't detract from the rest of the game's jazz theme. Street Fighter Alpha's soundtrack is a roller-coaster of those whistling Japanese flutes, electric guitars, and scattershot percussion from those Final Fight tunes, combined with intricately-sustained jazzy brass, slapping bass, and keyboards. All drive perfectly-timed melodies that compose what I consider to be the best soundtrack in the series. I wasn't actually one of the ones opposed to the announcer and/or soundtrack of SSFII and/or SSFIIT (I like it it because it sounded fresh), but GameFan seemed pleased that the "announcer voice from Super has been replaced by a deep and exciting announcer's voice", and rather excited about "extra voices for many characters' Super moves", citing Sagat's "Tiger Genocide" and Ryu's "Shinkuu Hadoken". These observations are all validated by across the board, from attack cries to explosions. Street Fighter Alpha's sound effects are equally as dramatic as the background music that drives the action. Nick Rox assessed that Street Fighter Alpha on the Saturn had "hurtin' samples" that sounded "mashed", or were "very tinny and far-away sounding", but this was not my experience. The Sega Saturn version's Original soundtrack and sound effects are just like I remembered Street Fighter Alpha in the arcade, of which I believe any flaws to be inherent of that original source.

I can still remember the absolute disappointment when I bought the February 1996 issue of GamePro because it had Street Fighter Alpha on the cover, only to find out that there was no special feature or even review(s); just a strategy guide in their Fighter's Edge section (specifically for PlayStation). Surely, they couldn't have put out a strategy guide before actually featuring the game in any capacity at all, could they? Of course they could, because they were backwards when it came to games that actually mattered. They even referred to Street Fighter Alpha as "the best 2D fighting game in the arcades", but wouldn't they have covered it more than they did through its arcade development and release? If I remember correctly, they had almost zero interest in the original arcade version, but then couldn't contain themselves when it was "making its way to PlayStation". Suddenly, GamePro changed its tune from not caring about Street Fighter Alpha in the least, to caring about it so much that it took them over two months to do the reviews. Was it that they liked the game more than they could publicly admit, or that they still actually thought it was so insignificant that they didn't care to get the reviews out in a timely manner? It's hard to say, but for as long as those reviews took to come out, you'd figure they would have at least been of higher quality and longer length. Unsurprisingly, GamePro couldn't muster-up anything more than a single page review with tiny screenshots for either version (printed on the cheapest paper possible). They didn't even have the decency to use the official logo for what they had deemed "the best Street Fighter ever". Now, if they really thought so highly of the game, wouldn't they have at least made it look so? And, we haven't even gotten to the actual content of the reviews, yet...

Plain and simple, they couldn't have cared less about Street Fighter Alpha; a fact clearly proven by the many times they ignored opportunities to cover it. They only cared about it as a PlayStation game. I agree, the allure of Sony's new tech was strong, but media assessment of the game obviously had nothing to do with arcade source accuracy. They even had me agreeing with their sentiment until I discovered the technical reasons behind commonly-held views from back then that Street Fighter Alpha and Capcom's other CPS-II titles are actually more accurate to the arcade on Saturn than PlayStation. I was quite familiar of this sentiment from frustrated friends, the media, and online discourse, but was never presented any solid technical proof. Even since those days back then, it seems universally agreed-upon that Capcom fighting games are direct conversions of their original arcade games in their native 2-D forms to the Saturn simply due to the system's high amount of RAM. True, the Saturn was designed with 2 MB RAM and 1.5 MB VRAM, which could be expanded with a 1 MB or 4 MB RAM Cartridge. The PlayStation would match this with 2 MB RAM, but not with 1 MB VRAM, which would come to be problematic with no expansion option. But, it's more than just RAM that made the Saturn excel specifically at 2-D games. What was it that changed my mind, then? What could have possibly changed the way I had viewed 2-D games on the Saturn and PlayStation for years?

Decades-old debates over the 2-D capabilities of the Saturn and PlayStation still rage on even today. Due to the vastly different architectures of the two 32-Bit platforms, many perspectives on their 2-D graphics processing remain. It was through this continued discourse that my perception was shattered by a technical concept I was previously unaware of. Admittedly abstract in nature, there has always been something so obvious about the difference in fidelity between 2-D games on the Saturn and PlayStation, yet with such nuance that it has always been difficult to put into words. For lack of a better explanation (if there even is one), the perception is that 2-D games (Street Fighter Alpha in this case) are more natural on Saturn. Next Generation magazine called the Saturn "an exceptional 2D powerhouse" in their February 1995 issue, elaborating that in regards to "arcade-perfect conversions of traditionally bitmapped 2D games, it’s in a class of its own". They also quote an unnamed software developer as saying that the Saturn is "a very nice machine", and that "it's awesome" for "conventional 2D arcade games". Next Generation details the history behind the Saturn's strength in this area, stating that early on Sega "was to delay its Saturn development program by a few months to incorporate a new video processor into the system" that would "boost its 2D abilities considerably (something that Sony's machine was less proficient at)". This would be "Sega’s emphasis on 2D performance" they mention later in that same article. That's not to say there isn't "a powerful 2D sprite engine inside the PlayStation" as Next Generation said in their June 1995 issue. There is, and it could be what Nick Rox had placed so much confidence in, but it's just not as powerful as the Saturn's. The same issue Next Generation reveals developer "complaints" stemming from "visible sprite slowdown", and "that Sony attributes such mishaps" in 2-D games which suffer badly "to programming teething troubles". Contrary to claims that it cannot, the PlayStation can obviously do 2-D (Street Fighter Alpha wouldn't exist at all on the platform if it couldn't); it just reaches its 2-D threshold sooner than the Saturn. But, how? And, why?

Next Generation Magazine pointed out that in a way similar to the PlayStation, "the Saturn 'cheats' by using a sprite engine to generate its polygons". This is an important point because it confirms a sprite and polygon relationship both machines share, but that's where the similarities end. From here, both machines go their separate ways with how they bring 2-D to the screen. The Saturn processes 2-D in a more natural way (through what some have described as a 2-D pipeline) than the PlayStation (through what some have described as a 3-D pipeline). The December 1995 issue of Next Generation magazine quotes the chief programmer of a Saturn developer by the humorous name of Scavengers as saying that "the Saturn is very fast at drawing single pixels using its processor", and that "the PlayStation has to go through its polygon engine". While lacking in details, it's not the first time it's been implied that PlayStation's 2-D graphics are 3-D in nature. Media bias of the time implies that the simulated 2-D through the 3-D processing of the PlayStation version of Street Fighter Alpha was somehow closer to the arcade version. This would be a denial of the media's own view of the PlayStation as a dedicated 3-D machine. GamePro even acknowledges this in their March 1996 review, stating that "SFA is easily the best argument that the PlayStation is not just a polygon-based system". But, isn't that what the system is when it has to run the 2-D sprites through its Geometry Transformation Engine 3-D processor? Wouldn't that statement support the argument that the PlayStation didn't do 2-D in a traditional sense? Does it constitute a "direct port of the hand-drawn character animations" that they claim are "truly amazing"? Again, if the animation was "truly amazing", wouldn't more attention have been given to the game before the PlayStation version was even announced? Furthermore, if the fidelity of the animation was so important, wouldn't its larger characters, backgrounds, and memory have gotten the Saturn version rated higher? Look no further than the noticeable visual differences between the Saturn and PlayStation versions of (what appear to be) the same game(s) for proof. PlayStation versions of characters and their backgrounds tend to appear smaller, with less contrast, brighter color, and less-detailed with softer look. By comparison, Saturn counterparts of characters and backgrounds appear bigger, with more contrast, darker color, and more detailed with a more defined look. The difference lies in what is referred to by some to be the Saturn's dedicated 2-D hardware from its inception that, although made capable of 3-D, remained optimized for 2-D. Although capable of 2-D, the PlayStation was optimized for 3-D since its inception with dedicated 3-D hardware. So, then, what exactly is it that makes the Saturn so much more fitting for Street Fighter Alpha (and Capcom's other CPS-II arcade games)?

I can't remember Next Generation magazine ever having a feature on Street Fighter Alpha (or any other Capcom CPS-II title) anywhere near the scale that GameFan did, but one thing they did have was an abundance of reliable information on the Saturn hardware specifications which made such an accurate arcade-to-home conversion of it (and other Capcom CPS-II titles) possible. Next Generation details how the Saturn owes its "real processing power" to its twin 32-bit (SH-2) CPUs. The dual processors "don’t run in true parallel" (leading to assumptions that they are weaker than the PlayStation CPU), but they are fast, streamlined, and were "designed primarily to process graphics" in tandem. This could be why considerably less slowdown is observed in Capcom's Saturn CPS-II titles. The Saturn was designed with twin (VDP1 and VDP2) GPUs to work with those twin (SH-2) CPUs. Like those (SH-2) CPUs, the Saturn's (VDP1 and VDP2) GPUs work in tandem for unrivaled efficiency in 2-D games. Known as perhaps the most technical video game magazine of its time (outside of Japan), Next Generation magazine details the VDP1 processor chip as being designated for sprites, and the VDP2 processor chip as being designated for backgrounds. There really couldn't have been a better architecture for bringing Capcom's 2-D masterpieces home to the consumer from the CPS-II arcade hardware. It appeared as if the VDP1 was made to process Capcom's beautifully-animated characters while the VDP2 was made to process the dynamic scenes of their battles. The December 1995 issue of Next Generation stresses that the importance of the VDP2 has "to do with its function" of generating "up to five backgrounds at once", honoring it as being "the key to the system, according to many programmers familiar with the Saturn", while citing Kazuhiro Hamada's quote about the chip and the "many different ways in which it can be employed". With developers able to dedicate 2-D characters and 2-D backgrounds each to their own processor, it's not hard to see why the Saturn's architecture was organic for traditional 2-D games. Nick Rox confirms this during his PlayStation DarkStalkers review in GameFan Volume 4 Issue 6, revealing the developer Capcom enlisted for it as "rumored to be Psygnosis" (well-known for PlayStaton 3-D), and was impressed that they "managed to replicate the arcade’s five layers of parallax, deep line-scrolling and hundreds of frames of animation on a system with no hardware parallax". Both platforms have a degree of sprite and polygon processing similarities, but 2-D feels more "pure" when processed by the Saturn's VDP1 and VDP2 GPUs (because they were optimized for 2-D), whereas 2-D feels more "synthetic" when processed by the PlayStation's GTE and its coprocessor (because they were optimized for 3-D). Some may argue that they look and feel the same, but I'd say that there are technical differences under the surface between SFA on these two platforms which indicate otherwise.

While an admirable version for its own reasons, the PlayStation version is not the "perfect" arcade translation of Street Fighter Alpha to home; that's the Saturn version they called "near-perfect arcade conversion". The Saturn version of Street Fighter Alpha is the arcade version of Street Fighter Alpha. It just is. Saturn version really brings back those memories of that same arcade where we played the criminally-underrated XMCOTA and the massively-overrated SSFIIT. To this day, SSFIIT enjoys praise it doesn't deserve, while XMCOTA does not enjoy the praise it deserves. SSFIIT still enjoys blind devotion by video game scene ideologues, but I've always loved SFA with no regard to those who didn't. My first experience playing SFA at home may have been on PlayStation, but the Saturn version is the one that really brings back all of those arcade memories. Don't get me wrong, the PlayStation version is awesome in its own right, but it was somehow different. Not in a bad way, but in a way that took some getting used-to. It was similar, but still a different experience. It felt stiffer than the arcade game, with more precise timing needed for the link combos. GameFan brought up a good question about if the PlayStaton version was actually better than the arcade, and even if that is so, it is also such that the Saturn version feels, looks, and sounds just like the arcade. Of course, both views really depend on the preference of the player. According to Nick Rox, SFA on PS has re-recorded audio that actually surpasses the arcade version, too. Again, preferences. Purely from a non-biased point-of-view, the Saturn version is like a mirror image of the arcade version. Playing it really brings back all those memories from the arcade version we used-to play at the bowling alley, and it feels like I have that original arcade machine actually in my home.

But, you wouldn't know it by reading either of GamePro's reviews. GamePro's Saturn review stated that "graphically, this Street Fighter re-creates all the coin-OP's flashy visuals", that the "hand-drawn characters look sharp and move with the same smooth animation", and that the "detailed backgrounds mirror the arcade version's". Their review concludes that "fans of the arcade game will be pleased with this high-quality conversion", for a score of 4.5 in Graphics, 4.5 in Sound, 4.5 in Control, and a 4.5 in FunFactor. These would appear to be positive statements a scores that indicate a 1:1 conversion from the arcade to Saturn, but a look at their review of the PlayStation version calls that into question. GamePro's March 1996 issue scored the PlayStation version 5.0 in Graphics, 4.5 in Sound, 5.0 in Control, and a 5.0 in FunFactor, which I thought was odd. How was the Saturn version scored lower? This was especially questionable with the 5.0 in Graphics for the PlayStation version, even though GameFan's Volume 4 Issue 3 showed that the Saturn version had bigger characters (and stages) in comparison screenshots. It's not bad; it's just a fact that is.

Strangely, GameFan and GamePro had almost nothing other than Slasher Quan in common, yet that sentiment was one thing they had in common. Out of all games for them to meet on, and it was my favorite. It was common at the time, though, and even I echoed similar sentiment before gradually arriving where I stand on SFA (and those that came after it). Street Fighter Alpha on Saturn might not be quite as rare as its arcade source, but it's certainly not as common as the the PlayStation version. Like a lot of other titles after it, though, this is expected because the PlayStation version of SFA is like a "lite", mass-produced version of the game meant to reach the biggest audience. This was the case with future Capcom titles on the PlayStation, and probably the reason even GameFan had delayed access to the Saturn version of (what appeared to be) the same game. GameFan did mention in Volume 3 Issue 12 that "apparently the Sega version wasn't far enough along in development" for them to do a preview alongside the PlayStation version, but I don't believe it was because of any sort of difficulties. On the contrary, I believe that they focused on the PlayStation version first (simply because they knew it would take more time to work with), then focus on the Saturn version after it (because they knew they could transfer its 2-D assets 1:1 in a shorter amount of time) right before their projected February 1996 release. The Saturn version, by comparison, really was an effort to bring the arcade game to your living room, sprite by sprite; both of which were under-appreciated and written-off as "just 2-D" games. Under the surface, it may be shocking to some that Street Fighter Alpha actually appeals to two different game players. Under the hood, the game actually appeals separately to cutting-edge tech-heads on the PlayStation, and longtime enthusiasts on the Saturn. PlayStation fans were typically concerned with advancements in video and sound first and foremost, while Saturn fans were enamored by the mastery of 2-D design first, and proficiency of 3-D design second. Sega's Saturn runs Capcom's Street Fighter Alpha like a breeze, and you can really tell that this is just the type of game the machine was made for. Sure, the PlayStation runs the game, but not with the same ease and seamlessness. I believe that SS version of SFA can stand tall on its own as being the most faithful to its arcade source, while the PS version can also stand tall on its own for those features and modes which were new to the series.

When GameFan was positive about it, they admitted that "all Street Fighter die-hards should start stockpiling their tokens for Street Fighter Alpha" with certainty. Despite their polarizing viewpoint(s) on the game, GameFan made an excellent point about why I've always liked them, reminding readers that "certain aspects of the game discussed in this article could always change, and we'll have to hold judgment until the game is done". I like how they praised how gorgeous the game was, and how "SF Alpha's graphics are reported to be finalized", but cautioned that "there will be additional programming and game balance before the final release". This is what was missing from other magazines. GamePro was too lazy to even care about posting the correct images for any version of any game at any time, and Electronic Gaming Monthly was quick to judge a game from the minute of its media or tradeshow reveal. I searched and searched for an actual review of Street Fighter Alpha for Saturn and thought I was just looking in the wrong places, but later found that they never even did one?! Unbelievable. The most under-appreciated fighting game in arcades deserved better in its perfect transition home to the Saturn. I still drive by that old Brunswick Bowl location in Aurora, Colorado. The parking lot is absolute chaos, now, and the area is run-down by decades of bad city leadership. Neighborhood morale is lower than it ever has been, with the consequential violence and traffic. When we were young, the neighborhood teens had a place to bowl and play arcade games. It was a positive outlet for that energy, and we loved it. The community probably loved it (even though it was quiet almost every time we went in). Those days are no longer, though, and the area is almost unrecognizable after years of bad leadership that pushed to divide communities. Thankfully, I have the Street Fighter Alpha on the Sega Saturn, which does well in providing that opportunity for me to relive those summer days I loved so much. Street Fighter Alpha, is quite literally, everything I could have ever wanted in a Street Fighter game. It has perfect design. It has perfect sound. It is a perfect fighting game. It is a perfect game.

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