Street Fighter Alpha 2
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Composer(s)	Setsuo Yamamoto Syun Nishigaki Tatsuro Suzuki Naoshi Mizuta
Platform(s)	Arcade PlayStation PlayStation 2 Sega Saturn SNES Windows
Release date(s)	Arcade JP February 27, 1996 NA March 6, 1996 PlayStation JP August 9, 1996 NA September 30, 1996 Saturn JP September 14, 1996 NA September 30, 1996 SNES NA November, 1996 [1]JP December 20, 1996 Windows PC JP March 12, 1998 NA 1998
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Input methods	8-way Joystick, 6 Buttons
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	CPS-2
Display	Raster, 384 x 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors

Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as Street Fighter Zero 2 (ストリートファイターZERO 2^?) in Japan, Asia, South America and Spain, is a 1996 fighting game originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware by Capcom. The game is a sequel to the previous year's Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, which is itself a prequel to the Street Fighter II sub-series in terms of plot and setting.^[2] The game featured a number of improvements over the original, such as new endings, stages, moves and gameplay systems.

Contents 1 Gameplay 2 Characters 3 Versions 3.1 Arcade 3.2 Ports 4 Reception 5 References 6 Sources 7 External links

[edit] Gameplay

Street Fighter Alpha 2 retains most of the new features introduced in the original Street Fighter Alpha, such as the three-level Super Combo gauge, Alpha Counters, Air-Blocking and Fall Breaking. The main new feature in the game is the inclusion of the Custom Combo system (Original Combo in Japan), which replaces the Chain Combos from the first Alpha. If the Super Combo gauge is on Lv. 1 or above, the player can initiate a Custom Combo pressing two punch buttons and a kick simultaneously (or vice versa). The player can then perform any series of basic and special moves to create a Custom Combo until the Timer Gauge at the bottom of the screen runs out. The only characters that can still perform Chain Combos in the game are Guy and Gen, but only to a limited extent. Additionally, each character now has two Alpha Counters instead of just one: one that can be performed with a kick button and another with a punch button.

The single-player mode, much like the original Street Fighter Alpha, consist of eight matches with computer-controlled opponents, including a fixed final opponent whose identity depends on the player's selected character. Each character also has a secret "rival" whom they can face during the course of the single-player mode after meeting certain requirements, in which then the rival will interrupt one of the player's regularly scheduled matches and exchange dialogue with the player's character. With Akuma now a regular character, a more powerful version of the character dubbed "Shin Akuma" replaces him as a secret opponent. Unlike Super Turbo and the original Alpha, Shin Akuma challenges the player before the player's final opponent, rather than as an alternate final boss.

[edit] Characters

All ten selectable characters from the original Alpha return, along with Bison, Akuma and Dan, who are now part of the immediate roster. The graphics for all of the returning characters' home stages, cut-scenes and endings have been completely redone.

Five additional characters are featured as well, extending the selectable roster to 18. The new characters includes Zangief and Dhalsim from Street Fighter II; Gen from the original Street Fighter; Rolento from Final Fight; and Sakura, an all-new character, a schoolgirl who idolizes Ryu and emulates his techniques.

Street Fighter Alpha 2 also features an alternate version of Chun-Li in her Street Fighter II outfit as a hidden character, as well as Shin Akuma, a more powerful version of Akuma who appears as a secret computer-controlled opponent in the single player mode. The US version of the arcade game also features three additional hidden characters who were not in the Japanese version: Evil Ryu, an alternate version of Ryu who uses the same power as Akuma; as well as extra versions of Zangief and Dhalsim who play like their counterparts from Street Fighter II': Champion Edition (including the omission of gameplay features such as super moves and air blocking).

Character	Origin	Stage[3][4]	Voice actor
Ryu	Street Fighter	Suzaku Castle, Japan	Katashi Ishizuka
Chun-Li	Street Fighter II	Beijing, China	Yuko Miyamura
Charlie (Nash in Japan)	Street Fighter Alpha	Detroit Highway, USA	Toshiyuki Morikawa
Ken	Street Fighter	San Francisco Bay, USA	Tetsuya Iwanaga
Guy	Final Fight	Metro City, USA	Tetsuya Iwanaga
Birdie	Street Fighter	W.C. in the London Underground, England	Wataru Takagi
Sodom	Final Fight	Arizona Desert, USA	Wataru Takagi
Adon	Street Fighter	Bank of the Chaophraya River, Thailand	Wataru Takagi
Rose	Street Fighter Alpha	Genoa City Port, Italy	Yuko Miyamura
Sagat	Street Fighter	Ruins of the Ayutthaya Temple, Thailand	Miki Shinichiro
Bison (Vega in Japan)	Street Fighter II	Atop the VTOL, Brazil	Tomomichi Nishimura
Akuma (Gouki in Japan)	Super Street Fighter II Turbo	Gokuento Island, Japan	Tomomichi Nishimura
Dan	Street Fighter Alpha	Temple Street, Hong Kong	Osamu Hosoi
Zangief	Street Fighter II	Bilsk Steelworks, USSR	Wataru Takagi
Dhalsim	Street Fighter II	Bank of the Ganges River, India	Yoshiharu Yamada
Rolento	Final Fight	New York City, USA	Jin Yamanoi
Gen	Street Fighter	Shanghai, China	Wataru Takagi
Sakura	First Appearance	Setagaya-ku Ni-chome, Tokyo, Japan [5]	Yuko Sasamoto

[edit] Versions

[edit] Arcade

Street Fighter Alpha 2 was released under the title of Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan, Asia, South America and Spain. The American and European versions of Alpha 2 features three additional characters who were not in the Zero 2 versions: Evil Ryu and the EX versions of Zangief and Dhalsim.

Capcom released a updated version of Zero 2 titled Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha, which features all the additional characters from Alpha 2, as well as other changes to the game. In addition to Zangief and Dhalsim, Zero 2 Alpha also features EX versions of Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Sagat and Bison, all whom were characters from the original Street Fighter II': Champion Edition. Custom Combos are now executed by pressing a punch and kick button of the same strength simultaneously and now require half (1½ level) of the Super Combo gauge filled to perform them. Some of the characters have gained new moves such as Ryu's Shakunetsu Hadoken and Dhalsim's Yoga Tempest. Zero 2 Alpha also features a Survival Mode, as well as a 2-on-1 Dramatic Battle Mode similar to the hidden "Ryu and Ken vs. Bison mode" in the original Alpha. In the Japanese version of Zero 2 Alpha, Evil Ryu has different dialogue exchanges and a different ending from his regular counterpart.

[edit] Ports

• The original Alpha 2 was ported to the PlayStation and the Sega Saturn in late 1996. The PlayStation port features an arranged soundtrack (in the form of XA-Audio), while the Saturn version uses an arranged soundtrack in a streaming ADPCM format (which looped properly like in the arcade version). Both versions features Shin Akuma as a selectable character via a secret code (which differs between the two versions), in addition to the Classic-style Chun-Li. The Saturn port is the only one of the two versions to feature the character Evil Ryu, EX Zangief and EX Dhalsim from the American arcade version. The Saturn port also features an exclusive Survival Mode, as well as an Art Gallery.

• A Super NES port was also released in 1996. This version makes use of the S-DD1 chip for graphic decompression. Due to the graphics decompression that needs to be performed, this version has several loading delays when entering matches. Unlike the PlayStation and Saturn versions, the only hidden character available to the player is the classic-style Chun-Li (Shin Akuma still appears in the game as a computer-controlled opponent).

• A Windows PC port was also released; based on the PlayStation version (but using the arcade soundtrack in 22KHz WAV format) in 1997. This version was sold as a bundle with the original Alpha in Japan.

• A home version of Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha was released under the title of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold in North America, Street Fighter Alpha 2 ′ (Prime) in Europe, and Street Fighter Zero 2′ (Dash) ^[6] in Japan. The game was released as a component of Street Fighter Collection, a compilation that also includes Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Alpha 2 Gold features most of the same changes, features and game modes as the arcade version of Zero 2 Alpha, omitting only the 2-on-1 Dramatic Battle mode from the arcade game. In addition to all the characters featured in previous versions of Alpha 2, Gold features a version of Cammy based on her rendition from X-Men vs. Street Fighter, who appears as a hidden character selectable only in the game's Versus and Training Modes.

• The 2006 PlayStation 2 compilation Street Fighter Alpha Anthology features a version of the original Alpha 2 based on the arcade game, as well as a revised version of Alpha 2 Gold which features Cammy as a selectable character in the game's Arcade Mode (with her own storyline and ending). Both games feature the Survival and Dramatic Battle Modes in addition to the Arcade, Versus and Training Modes. The Japanese version of the compilation (Street Fighter Zero: Fighters' Generation) features the arcade versions of Zero 2 and Zero 2 Alpha as well as the US version of Alpha 2 and a revised version of Zero 2′ as hidden games.

[edit] Reception

In the January 30, 1997 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, Street Fighter Zero 2 was voted Best Game of 1996 in the Tenth Annual Grand Prize. Zero 2 was also No. 1 in the category of "Best Fighting Game", No. 9 in "Best Graphics", No. 6 in "Best Direction", and No. 4 in "Best VGM (Video Game Music)". Dan Hibiki and Sakura Kasugano were depicted on the cover of this issue, who were placed No. 1 and No. 3 respective on the Top 50 Characters of 1996, with Ryu at No. 13, Zangief at No. 18 (sharing the spot with Mature from The King of Fighters '96), Guy at No. 26, Chun-Li at No. 32, Gouki at No. 37 (sharing the spot with two other characters), Rolento at No. 45 (sharing the spot with the Elf from Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara) and Ken at No. 49 (sharing the spot with two other characters).^[7]

[edit] References

[edit] Sources

• Jason Cole, Jeff Schaefer, Matt Taylor, Mike Watson and Graham Wolfe (1996). Street Fighter Alpha 2 Strategy Guide. Empire 21 Publishing, Inc.. 
• Studio Bent Stuff (Sept. 2000) (in Japanese). All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Games 1987-2000. A.A. Game History Series (Vol. 1). Dempa Publications, Inc.. ISBN 4885546761. 

[edit] External links

• Street Fighter Alpha 2 at the Killer List of Videogames
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 guide at StrategyWiki
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 on Street Fighter Wiki, an external wiki

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