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[entremet]

Anyone else find it difficult to choose between these two? I know I vacillate between the two in terms of my favorite Street Fighter games.

Alpha 2 had great graphics and sound, more refined and more balanced mechanics from its prequel--although I liked chains. I do think this one also has the superior soundtrack. It gave us that awesome Sakura theme.

Alpha 3 had the ISMs, added more characters, including classic favorites, and the home release had some really interesting concepts--World Tour Mode was pretty substantial. Alpha 3's OST is good too and it had much different vibe from the other Alpha games.

Interestingly, Capcom's single player stuff for their fighters has been terrible since. World Tour Mode was an aberration sadly.

SFA3 also has the best gaming announcer ever. Some of the new fighters were also welcome, especially more females, which Capcom tended to ignore--Karin and R.Mika were fun additions. I hope R. Mika returns somehow.

Alpha 2 is special for me since I played it the arcades. It was the end of era of playing SF games in my neck of the woods. Arcades started to die after Alpha 2 release where I lived.
Alpha 3 was mostly a home affair on the PS1 for me.

It's a hard choice, but Alpha 3 wins over for, by a hair.

What about you? Why?

 

[Inuhanyou]

Alpha 2 is special to a lot of people and i can definitely understand why...but for me Alpha 3 is the better game. Better character roster(especially the PS1 version), the fighting is much faster paced(with counters, cancels, air recoveries, block counters and more), the actual depth to the combat depending on which ism you use is much more defined....

Wrecking fools with Fei long or Rainbow, or Sakura or (my absolute favorite) Karin is so satisfying.

 

[MRORANGE]

How come Alpha 3 is on PSP/Vita but not on PS3??? Alpha 2 is.

 

[Smooth Operator]

I think Alpha 2 is the better game, gameplay-wise.

Alpha 3 is a mess if we talk about balance / bugs, but also had more characters, world tour mode... I can understand why some people like that game more than A2.

 

[Son of a Witch]

Alpha 3 is a mess, quite possibly the worst SF there is and it's completely broken nowadays thanks to the crouch cancels and everything.

Alpha 2 is a great old school SF whose only problem might be the strong top tier.

 

[Inuhanyou]

How come Alpha 3 is on PSP/Vita but not on PS3??? Alpha 2 is.

Alpha 3 is on PS3 PSN IIRC

 

[Gillian Seed]

I loved both so much on the Saturn, but I have more fond memories of playing Zero 2 with my friends with the glorious Saturn controller. Both are really fun games.

 

[Freshmaker]

How come Alpha 3 is on PSP/Vita but not on PS3??? Alpha 2 is.

Alpha 3 had a PSP port. Alpha 2 was too old at that point so there was no PSP and therefore no Vita compatible version.

 

[entremet]

How come Alpha 3 is on PSP/Vita but not on PS3??? Alpha 2 is.

The Alpha 3 on PSN is the PSP version. You can't play PSP games on your PS3.

Alpha 2 is the inferior PS1 version on PSN.

Alpha 3 had a Vita port. Alpha 2 was too old at that point so there was no Vita version.

You mean PSP port. The Vita just plays the PSN version of the PSP game.

 

[Nikokuno]

SFZ 3 because of Karin.

 

[nephilimdj]

Alpha 3 PSP on VitaTV with a PS3 stick would be ultimate version of Alpha

 

[CO_Andy]

If you don't know any of the technical mumbo jumbo then i would say Alpha 3 is better.

 

[entremet]

Alpha 3 PSP on VitaTV with a PS3 stick would be ultimate version of Alpha

The Alpha Anthology for the PS2 is a great collection of the series. The ports are perfect as well.

 

[Skilletor]

Alpha 3 has crouch cancelling and a great roster.

Alpha 2 has the best gameplay in the series, the best music, the best stages.

Alpha 2 all the way. The only thing I want from Alpha 3 are characters. Keep the gameplay.

 

[Syril]

The Alpha Anthology for the PS2 is a great collection of the series. The ports are perfect as well.

Which version of Alpha 3 is it?

 

[Sapiens]

ZERO3 is the better game and it is a crying shame that no definitive version exists for PS3/X360/PS4/XBone

 

[Village]

3 the roster breh

 

[Skilletor]

Which version of Alpha 3 is it?

It has both Zero (arcade) and Zero 3 upper. It doesn't feel like the Naomi version of the game, though.

Alpha 2 is special to a lot of people and i can definitely understand why...but for me Alpha 3 is the better game. Better character roster(especially the PS1 version), the fighting is much faster paced(with counters, cancels, air recoveries, block counters and more), the actual depth to the combat depending on which ism you use is much more defined....

Wrecking fools with Fei long or Rainbow, or Sakura or (my absolute favorite) Karin is so satisfying.

Cancels? Block Counters? Both in alpha 2. Air recovery doesn't do anything to make the game faster paced. Actually makes the game worse since that is what opens the can of worms for crouch cancelling and stupid juggles.

 

[RM8]

Alpha 2 is the superior fighter with the superior gameplay and superior music. I like Alpha 3 as well, but it's really not as good as Alpha 2 IMO.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

I personally love Alpha 3 the most but man is that game rife with some broken stuff. I don't know how Alpha 2 is but you can toss the word balance out when it comes to 3. I still love it though

 

[jwhit28]

It's an unfair fight in my mind for Alpha 2 because my time with it was mostly spent with the SNES version. Alpha 3 was the first game I got for Playstation. When I got Alpha Anthology, it was mainly to play Alpha 3.

 

[HomerSimpson-Man]

Both awesome games with my preferring the Alpha 3 especially of the home ports having so much content and characters.

That being said V-ism is pretty broken as it's too powerful.

 

[Lyriell]

Alpha 2 is a better fighter but alpha 3 is more fun.

Depends what you are after. I find myself playing 3 more but 2 when I want to play on my arcade machine.

 

[entremet]

ZERO3 is the better game and it is a crying shame that no definitive version exists for PS3/X360/PS4/XBone

Capcom went a bit overboard with releasing PSN/XBL fighters. I'm glad they did, but the sales weren't great so they stopped. Or used that data to make decisions about releasing more.

They used DarkStalker HD not performing as evidence to not make another Vampire game.

 

[tiggerkiddo]

Darkstalkers was always too niche sadly

 

[Skilletor]

Yeah, I'm so bitter we didn't get an Alpha collection with ggpo.

 

[Space Runaway]

Alpha 2 is stronger in core vs gameplay though Alpha 3 has such a greater wealth of content both for SP and MP. Like I could even forgo standard vs and do co-op Dramatic Survival with a friend which was a ton of fun. Hmmm...

If there was one aspect that bugged me about Alpha 3 it was the way it veered off from Alpha 1+2 in terms of presentation, art, music and that kinda stuff. I was never a fan of the direction they took with that.

 

[CPS2]

If you like Alpha 2 and have never seen Keiko's website, you have to http://sfz2.wordpress.com/

 

[p_xavier]

Alpha 2 just for the music and backgrounds,

 

[BiggNife]

Alpha 3 is a mess but it's a fun mess. It's got a great roster and I liked experimenting with the isms. It's not a game you play for balance, but it's still enjoyable.

To be honest, I remember liking Alpha 2 but I played a lot more of 3 so I have fonder memories of it.

 

[Laconic]

Alpha 2 is the superior Alpha.

 

[Leona Lewis]

Alpha 3 is great fun, but compared to Alpha 2's incredible artistic integrity and cohesive presentation, it's basically a MUGEN mod.

A2 is timeless and is the pinnacle of Street Fighter as far as I'm concerned.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Make mine Alpha 2. Atmosphere, OST, stories, it's all the best.

And boy is Ryu a dick in Alpha 2.

 

[Gurrry]

third strike for life

 

[Tizoc]

Alpha 3 tried to win over the crowd by having the SF2 cast.
SF Alpha 2 had a varied cast consisting of SF and Final Fight characters along with originals.

I personally prefer Alpha 2 because of not trying to appeal to the major SF2 crowd making it stand out as its own game. Also the soundtrack.

 

[entremet]

Alpha 3 is great fun, but compared to Alpha 2's incredible artistic integrity and cohesive presentation, it's basically a MUGEN mod.

A2 is timeless and is the pinnacle of Street Fighter as far as I'm concerned.

Huh?

A3 was beautiful

 

[Rogue Agent]

Would Capcom release a Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX or a Street Fighter Alpha collection for PC, if there was a focused petition or something?

 

[kirblar]

I only played Alpha 3, and it was fun casually at low levels, but it looks spectacularly obnoxious at high levels.

 

[entremet]

Would Capcom release a Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX or a Street Fighter Alpha collection for PC, if there was a focused petition or something?

Current Capcom? Probably not.

 

[ElTopo]

third strike for life

Well duh.

But to answer the OP's question:

As an actual legit fighting game Alpha 2 is the best. The balance is almost good (Ken and Gief have 50/50 shit with their Custom Combos) but in general it's a decent game. Alpha 2 Gold on the other hand nerfed everyone, added Cammy (who is god tier) and gave Guy a raging demon. Gold is rejected by 99.9% of the players by the way.

Alpha 3 is just a bad fighting game. Period. Just stupidly broken. But if you're looking for scrubby casual fighter where you and your friends have no idea what the fuck anyone is doing it's a fun game. Great announcer too.

 

[PhatSaqs]

Alpha 2 before CCs was awesome.

 

[jwhit28]

Well duh.

But to answer the OP's question:

As an actual legit fighting game Alpha 2 is the best. The balance is almost good (Ken and Gief have 50/50 shit with their Custom Combos) but in general it's a decent game. Alpha 2 Gold on the other hand nerfed everyone, added Cammy (who is god tier) and gave Guy a raging demon. Gold is rejected by 99.9% of the players by the way.

Alpha 3 is just a bad fighting game. Period. Just stupidly broken. But if you're looking for scrubby casual fighter where you and your friends have no idea what the fuck anyone is doing it's a fun game. Great announcer too.

I think that's why I like A3. It feels like a versus game with only Street Fighters.

 

[Tizoc]

Current Capcom? Probably not.

Eh they prob. will in like 10 years time.

 

[Rogue Agent]

Current Capcom? Probably not.

That's a shame

 

[entremet]

Well duh.

But to answer the OP's question:

As an actual legit fighting game Alpha 2 is the best. The balance is almost good (Ken and Gief have 50/50 shit with their Custom Combos) but in general it's a decent game. Alpha 2 Gold on the other hand nerfed everyone, added Cammy (who is god tier) and gave Guy a raging demon. Gold is rejected by 99.9% of the players by the way.

Alpha 3 is just a bad fighting game. Period. Just stupidly broken. But if you're looking for scrubby casual fighter where you and your friends have no idea what the fuck anyone is doing it's a fun game. Great announcer too.

I loved the guard break meter in Alpha 3. It promoted aggressive play.

I never played it EVO style. Or high level. As a game to play with buds, we have more fun with Alpha 3. The expanded roster helped.

Beside R. Mika was so fun to play.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

SFA3 is superior. Then you throw in the far superior console ports of Alpha 3.

 

[Karsha]

Alpha 3 without the blue super would be better(V-ism? Its been a while...) . At top levels it becomes a matter which character can make the best out of that supper and finish the game most likely with one touch. In that regard alpha 2 is better balanced by far.

Also the damage output in alpha3 is very weird too, sometimes 2 single lv1 supers take more energy than the full lv3 one

 

[katsubento]

Alpha 2 all the way.

 

[tav7623]

For me it's hands down Alpha 3 on the PS1, I loved the crap out of that game (use to play it while listening to Kid Rock's album Devil Without a Cause and got really good with Fei Long) and it was the game that got me interested in the Street Fighter series (prior to this I was a big MK fan who had only really dabble in the series by once renting SF 2 on the Sega Genesis) so it holds a special spot in the series for me.


P.S. Saw earlier there was an argument over what version of SFA3 was on PSN and thought I'd point out that there are actually 2 versions of Street Fighter Alpha 3 on PSN, there is the PSP game SFA 3 Max (only playable on a PSP & Vita and the PS1 classic version of SFA 3 (playable on PS3, PSP, & PS Vita) with the PS1 version being $4 cheaper than the PSP version which is $9.99

 

[GodParticle]

A3 is my favorite fighter of all time. There was so much diversity in its mechanics.The only thing that brings it down was the balance issue with v-ism being so broken