Street Fighter Alpha 3 is the cream of the crop
Street Fighter Alpha 3 has a special place in my heart.
The summer of 2000 was a special time for many reasons. I was in college and learning who I was and what I really enjoyed doing as an adult. I'd rented the game earlier in the year once I bought a PlayStation, and I found I really enjoyed it. I requested a copy for my birthday that year from GI co-founder Marcus Barnes, and I spent the rest of the summer learning the ins and outs. I fell in love with the game, and it's stayed in my collection ever since.
It was the first Street Fighter game that I really took the time to learn in-depth, going beyond the simple three-piece combo that everyone learns when they're picking up Street Fighter seriously for the first time. I came to love World Tour Mode and plowing through Survival for the 10-man, 20-man and Boss Battle ladders. I even developed a policy that if I could beat Final M. Bison in the Final Battle Mode with a character, that character would be put through the paces of World Tour Mode. To date, I have Ryu, Evil Ryu, Sagat, and Sakura at Level 31, and Rose, Ken and Shin Akuma at Level 32 hanging around on my original memory card just waiting to maim someone.
What made the game interesting then and now is multilevel. Sure, it's gorgeous and has a phenomenal soundtrack. The next level is its ability to teach basic Street Fighter that you can apply to other Capcom fighting games. If a 26-year-old fighting game can maintain relevancy through sheer will power, well, let's just give it its flowers at this point. This is Street Fighter perfection after all.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com
The summer of 2000 was a special time for many reasons. I was in college and learning who I was and what I really enjoyed doing as an adult. I'd rented the game earlier in the year once I bought a PlayStation, and I found I really enjoyed it. I requested a copy for my birthday that year from GI co-founder Marcus Barnes, and I spent the rest of the summer learning the ins and outs. I fell in love with the game, and it's stayed in my collection ever since.
It was the first Street Fighter game that I really took the time to learn in-depth, going beyond the simple three-piece combo that everyone learns when they're picking up Street Fighter seriously for the first time. I came to love World Tour Mode and plowing through Survival for the 10-man, 20-man and Boss Battle ladders. I even developed a policy that if I could beat Final M. Bison in the Final Battle Mode with a character, that character would be put through the paces of World Tour Mode. To date, I have Ryu, Evil Ryu, Sagat, and Sakura at Level 31, and Rose, Ken and Shin Akuma at Level 32 hanging around on my original memory card just waiting to maim someone.
What made the game interesting then and now is multilevel. Sure, it's gorgeous and has a phenomenal soundtrack. The next level is its ability to teach basic Street Fighter that you can apply to other Capcom fighting games. If a 26-year-old fighting game can maintain relevancy through sheer will power, well, let's just give it its flowers at this point. This is Street Fighter perfection after all.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com
Lyndsey Beatty
Cry of War
Cry of War