Not Street Fighter's alpha or omega
with Lyndsey Beatty
There's always one in a popular franchise. It's the one version that should never have been made because it brings nothing to the franchise in any form. The one that you ask the hot question: Why exactly was this made? And then you realize at that moment that your favorite fighting game series has been turned into a cash grab.
I love Street Fighter Alpha 3. I promise you that I do, and I put that on Chawls. I've been playing it since I received a copy for my birthday in the summer of 2000, and I've loved it ever since. I've played every version of the game, and by far, the worst version is the Game Boy Advance concoction that Capcom dreamed up.
I want someone with some know-how to explain why this version exists. The graphics are terrible, even for a GBA game. It slightly resembles Alpha 3 but it's tangential in that you may recognize it if you squint hard enough. The sprites are kind of cute also, but it's clear some graphical magic was worked because it's the tiniest graphics I have ever seen. The music and sound are worse than the graphics. There is no way that the great Alpha 3 soundtrack was reduced to this mess. It's missing notes and much of the character voices and, most egregiously, the iconic announcer is missing entirely. I'm aware that they weren't getting all the sound in the cartridge, but maybe don't make this version at all, yeah?
And then we get to the worst idea of the whole sordid affair: The controls. I don't know whose idea it was to try to mash a six-button fighting game into a four-button scheme, but they need to have been summarily sacked at Capcom and whatever developer bothered with this travesty. The control scheme is decidedly trash. It's hard enough trying to play on the GBA with most games that aren't Pokmon or Super Mario Advance, but trying to mix those control schemes together was a dumb idea. None of it works and there are no workarounds. You will inevitably miss out on needed controls and come up short in everything you attempt to do. It's an exercise in frustration and futility. Not even the unlocked ISM-Pluses from other versions' World Tour Mode can save this from less than mediocrity.
At the end of the day, this boils down to an obvious example of just because you can doesn't mean you should. Joining its brethren Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride in the pit of death is the one thing the GBA version of Alpha 3 can do well. It goes for broke and stays broken.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com
I love Street Fighter Alpha 3. I promise you that I do, and I put that on Chawls. I've been playing it since I received a copy for my birthday in the summer of 2000, and I've loved it ever since. I've played every version of the game, and by far, the worst version is the Game Boy Advance concoction that Capcom dreamed up.
I want someone with some know-how to explain why this version exists. The graphics are terrible, even for a GBA game. It slightly resembles Alpha 3 but it's tangential in that you may recognize it if you squint hard enough. The sprites are kind of cute also, but it's clear some graphical magic was worked because it's the tiniest graphics I have ever seen. The music and sound are worse than the graphics. There is no way that the great Alpha 3 soundtrack was reduced to this mess. It's missing notes and much of the character voices and, most egregiously, the iconic announcer is missing entirely. I'm aware that they weren't getting all the sound in the cartridge, but maybe don't make this version at all, yeah?
And then we get to the worst idea of the whole sordid affair: The controls. I don't know whose idea it was to try to mash a six-button fighting game into a four-button scheme, but they need to have been summarily sacked at Capcom and whatever developer bothered with this travesty. The control scheme is decidedly trash. It's hard enough trying to play on the GBA with most games that aren't Pokmon or Super Mario Advance, but trying to mix those control schemes together was a dumb idea. None of it works and there are no workarounds. You will inevitably miss out on needed controls and come up short in everything you attempt to do. It's an exercise in frustration and futility. Not even the unlocked ISM-Pluses from other versions' World Tour Mode can save this from less than mediocrity.
At the end of the day, this boils down to an obvious example of just because you can doesn't mean you should. Joining its brethren Crazy Taxi: Catch a Ride in the pit of death is the one thing the GBA version of Alpha 3 can do well. It goes for broke and stays broken.
Lyndsey Beatty is editor-in-chief of Gaming Insurrection. She can be reached by email at lyndseyb@gaminginsurrection.com