Street Fighter Alpha Anthology Feature Preview

It's hard to believe it's been a little over a decade since Capcom released the original Street Fighter Alpha. The 2D fighting series was positioned as a prequel to the Japanese developer's classic Street Fighter II franchise and featured younger versions of the well-known roster of fighters, as well as some new faces. The series had the added benefit of buying Capcom some time while the world anxiously awaited Street Fighter III. Thankfully, the development team put a considerable amount of time and effort into each successive entry in the series, experimenting with fighting mechanics and art styles. The end result was a franchise that started out in the shadow of its better-known predecessor but managed to find its stride and stand on its own. The PlayStation 2 collection lets you follow the game's evolution with all four installments of the series--the main three and a Japanese-only release--as well as check out one of the interesting offshoots of the series, Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. We got our hands on a near-final version of the game to see how the compilation turned out.

Unlike the last batch of retro collections from Capcom, which have included a number of extras, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology takes a pretty bare-bones approach. You'll find a simple rotating menu that you'll use to cycle between each of the games. The compilation features the original Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, Street Fighter Alpha 3, and Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix. Fighting aficionados will be familiar with most of the Alpha games, as the series appeared on the Saturn, PlayStation, and Dreamcast. The compilation marks the first time that Street Fighter Alpha 3 has appeared on the PlayStation 2, though, which is a nice bonus for PS2 completionist collectors. Another collector bonus is the first appearance of Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold on the PlayStation 2. The game was a Japan only arcade release that featured several tweaks, which included gameplay balancing and new character colors, that popped up in the US on the Street Fighter Collection for the PlayStation and Saturn. Lastly, Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix is a fighter that took the superdeformed incarnations of the Street Fighter gang seen in Super Puzzle Fighter and dropped them into a proper fighting game. The pint-sized brawler's twist was the inclusion of wacky animations, a host of zany combos, crazy supers, and the use of the gems from Super Puzzler Fighter II Turbo.

Each game in the compilation will have the same basic set of game modes, and they'll also all feature their own unique set of game modes. The Alpha games will offer the usual arcade, versus, and training modes seen in the home versions, as well as survival and dramatic battle modes that offer different battle conditions to test your mettle. Gem Fighter's modes simply offer arcade, versus and training.

Control in the game is solid across all the titles and is a good showcase for the evolution of the Alpha series. The first game is about as bare bones as it gets, making use of the standard six-button control scheme seen in the Street Fighter series, as well as supers. However, the mechanics changed dramatically over the course of the series and grew to include counters, different fighting styles, new supers, and different timing. As a result, you'll find that the original Alpha feels a bit skimpy in comparison to Alpha 3, which some felt was a touch overwhelming with its many subtle tweaks. We tend to lean toward Alpha 2 when it comes to the series, as the game was just about perfect. The tweaks in Gold are interesting and don't break anything, so we can't say much bad about this game, either. Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix, on the other hand, may be underwhelming to many, with its simple three-button control scheme and chain-combo-heavy fighting mechanics. Still, the game has a simple charm and handles fine for what it is. Fighting purists may want to bust out the fighting stick when playing the compilation, as the PS2 controller doesn't feel as comfy as a nice, clicky arcade stick.

The visuals and audio in each version of the game are near arcade-perfect. The character animation is on point and features the cool little touches that made the Alpha games one of the best moving fighters in their day. The audio is nearly as good, with the sound effects maintaining their snap. The only weak bit being the soundtrack: The tunes in the Alpha games never had the catchy appeal of those heard in Street Fighter II. Gem Fighter features comparably faithful visuals and audio.

Based on what we played, Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is shaping up to be a solid, albeit bare bones, compilation that chronicles the evolution of the Alpha series to good effect. The three core games and Alpha 2 Gold still hold up famously and are a good time capsule of the days when sprites ruled the earth. And Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix serves as a reminder that Capcom could be as goofy and Japanese as all get out when they wanted to. Street Fighter Alpha Anthology is currently slated to ship next month. Look for our full review soon.

Editor's note 05/23/06: Our preview originally stated that Street Fighter Alpha 3 contained a World Tour mode and character customization, which is incorrect. GameSpot regrets the error.