Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior’s Dreams

Variants

Also released in the Flat Cardboard Long Box style.

Flat Cardboard Long Box Release

It was also rereleased into Capcom’s Fighter’s Edge Subset with the original Japanese artwork.

Jewel Case Release – Fighters Edge (There was no ‘plain’ jewel case release)

Misprints

• There are no known misprints.

Review

Street Fighter Alpha was one of the most anticipated games of its era – magazines (remember those?) spent months of previews, arcade-to-console comparisons, move charts, and more waiting for it. When it hit, it renewed the rivalries between the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter franchises all over again.

Probably the most important aspect of the game when it first came out was, surprisingly, it’s looks. Breaking away from the somewhat realistic looking sprites used in Street Fighter 2 and all its expansions, Alpha re-introduced the world warriors in full Japanese animation (“Anime”) styles. Suddenly Sagat was a towering, muscle-ripped giant with an uppercut arc that could take down an airplane. M. Bison now had a much more sinister look with a flowing cape to boot. Thanks to the earlier point in time, Ken, Ryu, and Chun-Li all look young and fresher than ever.

Fighting speeds were actually slowed down a little from the Super Turbo era, which caught a few people off guard. All the usual moves, along with two Super Arts per character were there – along with a new Alpha counter move. However, the game was really well balanced and provided killer versus matches. For those that wanted to work together, you could play Ryu and Ken vs. M. Bison in a hidden Dramatic Battle Mode.

Aside from the minor differences between the two versions discussed in the Saturn page’s trivia, both games are superior home conversions of a once great arcade game. It’s been replaced by the experimental Alpha 2 and the absolute end all, be-all Alpha 3.

Still a good run through for old time’s sake.

Final Score: 8 / 10 – Great

A classic fighter that re-ignited its source material in amazing ways. While Alpha 3 is now the go to of the three, the original Alpha still has the nostalgia factor going for it, especially with the slower speeds.

Screenshots

Videos

Street Fighter Alpha has many tales to tell. Check out how it was the first game I ever bought for the PlayStation, as well as its release in the Fighters Edge subset.

Trivia

• It’s only worth 10 Points in the Fighters Edge promotion.
• Street Fighter Alpha is known as “Street Fighter Zero”, as it takes place earlier in the game’s canon. The only problem is that much of the original history is a bit fuzzy since Bison now has a place where he once did not. It’s why Rose mimes a “Z” in her opening cinematic.
• This launched around the same time as the original Japanese Animated Street Fighter II movie (the one with the Chun-Li shower scene…), which is why there’s a “Dramatic Battle Mode” included. It recreates the 2-on-1 battle of Ryu and Ken against M. Bison.
• 
Speaking of, a poster of the movie can be seen on the window of the 24-Hour SonSon store in Ryu & Guy’s background.
• Some interesting cameos in the game, and not just of people. Besides a young Guile, Cody, and Jessica watching Charlie fight, the SonSon store is outside of E. Honda’s bath house from the original Street Fighter II. The Roman Coliseum and the Great Wall of China also make an appearance. There’s been an argument as to whether DeeJay, in a young-looking body, can be seen on the night city stage.
• Cats do make a haven in many of Rome’s tourist attractions, including the famed Coliseum. It’s estimated that some 2000 colonies of cats live on the streets of Rome.
• Versus books created a maximum-number combo in the Practice Mode, if I remember correctly I believe it was with Rose.
• For older folks, you’ve met Sodom before – when his name was originally censored to Katana – and he was the end boss of the Subway Stage in the Super Nintendo / Sega CD / Arcade game Final Fight. Oddly enough, the Katana name was carried over into the Super NES version of Street Fighter Alpha 2.
• Guy has the same punch combo he has in Final Fight, including his kicks.
• Capcom released the Arcade version on the PlayStation 2 under the “Street Fighter Anthology” guise.
• This was the first game I ever purchased for the PlayStation. I knew the release date by heart. : )
• To try and extend the replay value in the US, Capcom changed the codes needed to activate Dan, Akuma, and M. Bison from the import version.