Triumph! Or Die!
User Rating: 9.4 | Street Fighter Alpha 3 GBA
Ok, it's a well known fact that most fighting games on portable consoles don't tend to go nearly as well as their arcade or console brethern. Because of limitations of cartridge size, most Gameboy Fighters haven't been exactly the most feature filled, but with the release of one of Capcoms greatest fighting games, you can tell that Capcom are going to do something very special... I hear you all complaining that it's just another port of the arcade game, but with added features! Well, for the most part, thats actually true, but instead of being a direct port of the Arcade version, Capcom have actually ported a more recent version of the game (called Alpha 3 Upper, or if you prefer, Zero 3 Upper). This may seem insignificant, but for the most part, it's actually better, as this version of the game contains 3 extra characters exclusively. The better part of it is that it also contains the characters exclusive to the home versions of the game, meaning that this version is so far, the most complete, carrying nearly 30+ characeters on to the cartridge) So really, the game contains the original fighters from the arcade version (meaning Ryu, Ken, Akuma and so on) plus all the home version characters (Guile, T-Hawk, Deejay and so on) and the three new characters (Yun, Maki and Eagle), which is still impressive, meaning that every character who was in SF2 IS IN THIS GAME!!! But, there are still limitations to the GBA console, and for the next few parts, I'll try to explain as much as I can. GRAPHICS: They actually look pretty good, each character looks like there more powerful console lookalikes, and, if you have happened to see what the new characters look like, you'll be impressed on how Capcom have kept to the original design. The only complaint though is that the game looks a little dark, but keeps most of the character designs intact) SOUND: Probably the biggest change in the game, the announcer (who would say things before and after a fight, trying to suck up to you) is completely removed from the game, so if you hate him, you'll gonna love it, but if you like him, you'll miss it. Another change to the game is the music sounds poorly, but you could still recognize the tunes from in the game. GAMEPLAY: As I said, this game is a port containing the Alpha 3 Upper game, but manages to include some of the special modes from the home versions. These include the Dramatic battle (where you and a partner team up to wail on opponets, 2 on 1) and Final Battle (where you pick a character and go directly to the last boss). The game also includes a Survival mode, with variables such as fighting 10,20,50,Infinite and Boss characters. While thats all good, the game also suffers a little here. The text that appeared during the 5th,9th and 10th fights have all been removed, and so have nearly all of the endings, which is a real big disappointment. The other big disappointment here is the lack of buttons on the GBA. You see, most SF games have 6 buttons, 3 for each variety of attack, low, medium and high. Now, in order to pull off say, a medium punch, you need to press two buttons together, and if you try to pull off a super move, you need to be skilled in order to do it! Still, if you love 2D fighters, and haven't played this game, this is the version to get if you can't get a PS or DC version, just don't expect it to be the greatest thing...
