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Fun to play, amazing technical feat

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I wouldn't call this the best fighting game on the SNES, but it's definitely the one that'll make your jaw drop the most. The Street Fighter Alpha series was the next iteration in the saga after Street Fighter II, and brought along with it much more visual flair in the form of animation and flashing effects. Thanks to a special chip that allowed for massive data compression, Capcom and Nintendo were able to port Alpha 2 over to the SNES as the console entered its final Christmas in 96.

Anyone who's played the arcade/Playstation/Saturn versions of Alpha 2 will immediately notice the cuts that have been made here. Many frames of animation have been removed, and there is constant slowdown throughout the fights. Music and effects, though accurate, are not as full-bodied and rich as they've otherwise sounded. Secret characters are missing. And perhaps most surprising of all, the game actually freezes for a few seconds before the start of each round, allowing the SNES to decompress and process all the data.

If all this sounds like a bust, it's actually not. The production team made wise decisions about where to cut, and the result is a game that feels very complete compared to other companies' attempts (Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, I'm looking at you). All 18 original fighters are intact with their moves, custom combos, and levels. The intro and ending sequences are here, and yes the shadow effects and screen flashes from the combos are well-represented. Slowdown takes a bit of getting used to (the original arcade was a very fast game), but overall the speed is comparable to the original Street Fighter II installments. Really, the only nitpick is the loss of extra tournament and training modes, but the cartridge was probably at the limit of what could be squeezed in.

If you're looking for an arcade-perfect port, this isn't the version to get. But if you're looking for a rare/novelty game that also happens to succeed on its own terms gameplay-wise, Street Fighter Alpha 2 is a must-have. I'd give Super Street Fighter II the slight edge over it as the latter is a stronger direct port, but overall Alpha 2 is still one of the top fighting games on the SNES.

Controls, Difficulty, and Sound

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I just wish to extend on Simon's review here. There are three topics of what I wish to cover.

The first of which are the controls. Like its SNES cousins, the controls for the SNES version are spot on on the basic level. However, this was the first and only game in the SNES line to introduce Super Special Moves. And performing these can be a bit tricky at times. Not so much so that you won't quickly get used to them, but enough to annoy you. Try Akuma's HCBx2 +P and see what I mean. Not to mention that if you want to pull off a Level 3 Super (although, for practical purposes, I don't see why you'd want to) you'd have to hit all 3 punch or kick buttons to pull it off. Meaning that you'll have to get used to using one of the shoulder buttons and pressing it at the exact time as you're pressing the other two buttons, which can be quite frusterating at times as well. But, like I said, nothing that you can't get used to over a short period of time.

My second gripe is the difficulty. As standard with both Capcom and SNK fighters, the default setting for difficulty is 3 out of 8. And after playing through both the CPS2 and SNES versions, the SNES is definately the easier of the two. It's no contest. After playing through both at the default 3/8 level, I simply blazed through the SNES version without losing a single round (and scoring perfects on about 2/3 of them overall) whereas I had to continue a few times on the CPS2 version. And I'm not really considered to be a competitive level player at this game, either.

This being said, it's obvious that the game's difficulty was toned down for the younger set of players. This is easily remedied. Just turn the difficulty up. However, it only does so much.

The third and final topic I wish to discuss is the sound. Now, of course, you can't possibly expect a brilliant sound conversion from a CPS2 to SNES port. However, I do feel that they could have done a better job with some of the tracks. Dhalsim's stage is a primary example of this. I'd be half tempted to mute the TV whenever I come up against him if I wasn't able to beat him so quickly. Basically, while some tracks sound just fine, others were just horribly distorted. At least they kept the "StrEEET Fighter Alpha.......2!" yell intact at the intro.

Oh, yeah....one more thing. The sprites are awful. You can't really expect much, though. So I can't really complain about that. But I was still floored at how bad they looked when I first loaded the cartridge in. It's no bother, though.

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