Street Fighter Alpha 2, known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1996 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. The game is the sequel to the previous year's Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams<!-- --> and features a number of improvements, such as new attacks, stages, endings, and gameplay features. It was ported to the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and Super Nintendo home consoles globally in 1996, and later a Windows port. It was followed by Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1998.
Gameplay
Street Fighter Alpha 2 retains most of the new features introduced in the original Street Fighter Alpha, such as the three-level Super Combo gauge, Alpha Counters, Air-Blocking, and Fall Breaking. The main new feature in the game is the inclusion of the Custom Combo system (Original Combo in Japan), which replaces the Chain Combos from the first Alpha. If the Super Combo gauge is on Lv. 1 or above, the player can initiate a Custom Combo pressing two punch buttons and a kick or one punch button and two kicks. The player can then perform any series of basic and special moves to create a Custom Combo until the Timer Gauge at the bottom of the screen runs out. The characters Guy and Gen can still perform Chain Combos, but only to a limited extent. Additionally, each character now has two Alpha Counters instead of just one: one that can be performed with a kick button and another with a punch button.
The single-player mode, much like the original Street Fighter Alpha, consists of eight matches against computer-controlled opponents, including a fixed final opponent whose identity depends on the player's selected character. Each character also has a secret "rival" whom they can face during the course of the single-player mode. After meeting certain requirements, the rival will interrupt one of the player's matches and exchange dialogue with the player's character, and the player character will then fight the rival instead. The game also features a "classic-style" alternative version of Chun-Li where she is wearing her outfit from the Street Fighter II series.
Development
According to Capcom senior planner Shinji Mikami, "When we were trying to get the balance of Alpha 2 right we only concentrated on Alpha 2. That's the one that's important. We don't really have to get the actual same damage as Alpha. In Alpha 2 some new characters were introduced, so in order to maintain the game balance we had to increase the damage for the normal hits. In addition, this time for Alpha 2 we wanted to focus on the importance of the normal hits and not just the specials."
Street Fighter Alpha 2 was first unveiled at the February 1996 AOU show in Tokyo.
Both Manga Entertainment/A.P.P.P. and Group TAC developed OVA adaptations based on the game, titled Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation (2000) and Street Fighter Alpha: Generations (2005), which were both co-produced by Kaoru Mfaume. All of the characters except Gen and Dan also have roles in the Canadian-American cartoon Street Fighter: The Animated Series.
Versions
Arcade
Street Fighter Alpha 2 was released under the title Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan, Asia, and South America. The North American and European versions of Alpha 2 feature three additional characters who were not in the Zero 2 version: Evil Ryu and alternative versions of Dhalsim and Zangief known as EX versions, where they use their movesets from the Street Fighter II series and do not have access to the Super Combo gauge. It makes use of the S-DD1 chip for on-the-fly graphic decompression. Despite the graphics decompression chip, this version has loading times when entering matches while sounds are loaded onto the sound chip. Unlike the PlayStation and Saturn versions, the only secret characters available to the player are the "classic-style" Chun-Li and Shin Akuma. The SNES port of the game sold poorly, and Capcom resorted to selling large shipments of cartridges at a loss outside the United States to remove unsold inventory from warehouses. This version was re-released for the Virtual Console in North America on December 7, 2009 and in the PAL region on January 29, 2010 for the Wii, and in North America on May 22, 2014, and in the PAL region on October 2, 2014 for the Wii U.
- A Windows PC version was also released; based on the PlayStation version (but using the arcade soundtrack in 22 kHz WAV format) in 1997. This version was sold as a bundle with the original Alpha in Japan. The Windows PC version was re-released on GOG.com in 2012.
- A home console version of Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha was released under the title Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold in North America, Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Prime) in Europe, and Street Fighter Zero 2 (Dash) in Japan, as part of the Street Fighter Collection, a compilation released on the PlayStation and Sega Saturn that also includes Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo. Alpha 2 Gold features most of the same changes, features, and game modes as the arcade version of Zero 2 Alpha, only omitting the 2-on-1 Dramatic Battle mode from that version. In addition to all of the characters featured in previous versions of Alpha 2 (including the console-exclusive Shin Akuma), Gold features a version of Cammy based on her rendition from X-Men vs. Street Fighter, who appears as a hidden character selectable only in the games Versus and Training modes (the latter only in the Saturn Version, as it is absent from the PlayStation version). The game also features an "Akuma Mode", where the player can fight against Shin Akuma immediately. This version was re-released in Japan as a standalone game in the PlayStation the Best and Satakore budget games lines.
- The 2006 PlayStation 2 compilation Street Fighter Alpha Anthology features a version of the original Alpha 2 based on the arcade game, as well as a revised version of Alpha 2 Gold which features Cammy as a selectable character in the games arcade mode (with her own storyline and ending). Both games feature Dramatic Battle and Survival modes in addition to the Arcade, Versus, and Training modes. The Japanese version of the compilation (Street Fighter Zero: Fighters' Generation) features the arcade versions of Zero 2 and Zero 2 Alpha, as well as the US version of Alpha 2 and the revised version of Zero 2 (Dash) with the playable Cammy as hidden games.
- Street Fighter Alpha 2 was ported to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Steam, and Nintendo Switch as part of the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection released in May 2018. This version is arcade-perfect and does not carry over the coding used in earlier home console versions. Save states are available to allow the player to resume from where they left. The Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection does not include the Alpha 2 Gold update.
Reception
Arcade
In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter Zero 2 as the most successful arcade game of April 1996, outperforming titles such as Virtua Fighter 2. Street Fighter Zero 2 went on to be the highest-grossing arcade game of 1996 in Japan. Game Machine also listed Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha as the second most successful arcade game of September 1996.
Maximum magazine reviewed the arcade game, calling it "Capcom's best fighting game to date" and scoring it 5 out of 5 stars.
In the Japanese arcade magazine Gamest, Street Fighter Zero 2 was voted Best Game of 1996 in the Tenth Annual Grand Prize. Zero 2 was also number one in the category of "Best Fighting Game", number nine in "Best Graphics", number six in "Best Direction", and number four in "Best VGM (Video Game Music)". Dan Hibiki and Sakura Kasugano were depicted on the cover of this issue, who were placed number one and three respectively on the Top 50 Characters of 1996, with Ryu at number 13, Zangief at number 18 (sharing the spot with Mature from The King of Fighters '96), Guy at number 26, Chun-Li at number 32, Akuma at number 37 (sharing the spot with two other characters), Rolento at number 45 (sharing the spot with the Elf from Dungeons & Dragons: Shadow over Mystara) and Ken at number 49 (sharing the spot with two other characters).
Ports
The Saturn and PlayStation ports both received praise for their faithfulness to their arcade counterpart, large selection of characters, The following year, EGM named the Saturn version the 36th best console video game of all time, saying they chose the Saturn version specifically due to its superior graphics.
The Saturn port was also a commercial success, selling over 400,000 units in Japan.
The Super NES version was much less well-received, with reviews commenting that the sound quality is exceptionally poor, the animation is choppy, In 2018, Complex listed the game 71st in their list of "The Best Super Nintendo Games of All Time", saying that it had loading times before the fights and graphics that were not as good as on the other ports, but stating that "Nonetheless, the gameplay was still on point, and the bells and whistles were pretty amazing for an SNES game. We loved it."