Crawfish developing Street Fighter Alpha 3 GBA

UK-based development studio Crawfish Interactive has announced that it will be handling the development duties for the upcoming Street Fighter Alpha 3 for the Game Boy Advance. The game will be based on the Dreamcast version, and it's scheduled for release in October 2001. According to Crawfish, although the game will be designed specifically for the new Nintendo handheld, it will retain many of the Dreamcast version's features. SF players will recognize gaming modes such as world tour and survival, while the versus mode will let two players compete head-to-head with the use of a GBA link cable. Street Fighter Alpha 3 will feature all 34 characters from the Dreamcast game, and it will also add three new combatants who are exclusive to Game Boy Advance version. Additionally, the game will include the original's fighting options--normal, mazi, saikyo, and classic--as well as three so-called "isms," which allow players to further customize the gameplay.

"Street Fighter Alpha 3 is being developed by the highly skillful UK company Crawfish Interactive," said Yoshihiro Sudou, a producer at Capcom Japan Production Studio 1. "Based on Capcom's game design, I'm confident that this title will provide players with a new level of gameplay and enjoyment that can only be achieved on the Game Boy Advance platform. I hope that Game Boy Advance owners and anyone who loves video games will enjoy this latest evolution."

"We're delighted to be working with Capcom again," said Mike Merren, development director at Crawfish Interactive. "The Street Fighter Alpha 3 project follows on from our work on Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams for the Game Boy Color. If Nintendo has moved handheld gaming technology 10 steps forward with the Game Boy Advance, we have to make sure that we move the quality of the game 15 steps forward in response. The Game Boy Advance is an incredible console. We expect Street Fighter Alpha 3 to be a incredible game."

In Japan, the game will be released under the name Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper.