This was the first Street Fighter game to feature Final Fight characters. Released in 1995, Street Fighter Alpha (or Street Fighter Zero for the Japanese name) was a anime style on the Street Fighter series, and Capcom gave the game a whole new look since Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. However, the bad news is that Capcom were rushed to do this game, and when released, had a small number of fighters to select from, and stages were shared. This game is officially NOT part of the Street Fighter story line, as It got replaced by Street Fighter Alpha 2. But it can't stop us from looking at some of the characters from Final Fight in their brand new style.
The story is set before Street Fighter 2, but after Street Fighter and Final Fight. Basically the story is about some of the Street Fighters and Final Fight Stars doing different things. This game isn't a Street Fighter tournament, so there really isn't a good solid single story.
The game plays like any other Street Fighter game, with a direction pad to move your fighter about, and six buttons, three for kick and three for punch. The buttons strengths are all different. You can also jump and crouch, and blocking is simply a case of holding back the opposite direction. You can now even block in the air.
So lets have a look at the Final Fight people then. I've decided to put a few pictures of each fighter doing a move or something, a look at their stages and their endings.
THE CHARACTERS
GUY
Guy and his master Zeku have sensed a great evil. Master Zeku has sent Guy to destroy this evil. Guy has the power of Bushin Ninjitsu to help him. Guy looks brilliant is his new style, and has the moves to match, like his hurricane special from Final Fight, his combo from Final Fight and lots of new moves. He even kicks a barrel over in his pre-fight stance.
SPECIAL MOVES:
Bushin Sen Pu Kyaku (Hurricane Kick): D, DL, L then K
Bushin Izuna Drop: D, DR, R, P then P
Haygake (Dash) D, DR, R then K
Kage Sukui (Dash then slide) D, DR, R then MK then K
Kubikari (Dash then flying kick) D, DR, R then HK then K
SUPER COMBOS (At least level 1 super combo gauge required)
Bushin Hassoken: D, DR, R, D, DR then P
Bushin Goraikyaku: D, DR, R, D, DR then K
CAMEO MOVES FROM FINAL FIGHT:
Combo from Final Fight: Press LP, MP, HP, HP then HK
Off the wall jump: Go to wall of screen, jump to wall, then when hitting the wall, press opposite direction.
Knee Bashes: When close to opponent, press K, then L rapidly to do more hits.
Throw: When close to opponent, press L or R and P.
SODOM
Sodom is back from Final Fight, and is trying to resurrect the Mad Gear Gang after it got destroyed. Instead of his Katana Masamune swords, he now has Sais. He looks pretty cool, and has a great voice and victory animations. He also has an ending that has quite a few Final Fight characters in it, so look out for those cameos.
SPECIAL MOVES
Jigku Scrape: R, D, DR then P
Butsumetsu Buster: 360 Degree turn then P
Daikyo Burning: 360 Degree turn the K
SUPER COMBOS (At least level 1 super combo gauge required)
Meido no Miyage: D, DR, R, D, DR, R then P
Techchusatsu: 360 Degree turn (twice) then P
THE STAGES
Since Street Fighter Alpha was rushed, the stages were not very detailed and most characters simply shared stages.
Guy shared his stage with Ryu, but Guy's was set in the early morning. Guy's music is from the first round of Final Fight, but re-mixed. In the back ground there is a worrying woman and some school girls in front of a shop door. If you look on this shop you can see a Street Fighter 2 poster, plus the shop is called "Son Son", which is the name of a earlier Capcom game.
Sodom's stage is at a train station, which is also the same stage as M.Bison. There are a few trains out but none of them move in anyway, making this stage very un-Final Fight related, just like Guy's stage. However, Sodom's music is from Final Fight. It's a re-done version of the second part of round one from Final Fight.
THE ENDINGS
Guy's last opponent in M.Bison, who has to be defeated to see Guy's ending. Guy's ending is above. After finding his inner power, Guy goes on to tell Bison that he could of been a great warrior. Bison then secretly plans to make Guy pay for beating him.
When you get to the last level with Sodom, you speak to Guy. Sodom says to Guy that Guy ruined his life and now Guy must suffer, Guy just replies with "You again". Sodom then says that he will make Guy suffer and that Guy will never interfere with Sodom again. Guy then taunts Sodom by saying "Didn't I beat you enough the first time?" If you manage to beat Guy, you'll get the ending above, which has him trying to rebuild Mad Gear, but the members say it is stupid.
This game got converted to the Saturn, Playstation and PC first, a year after the game originally came out in the arcades. The Saturn version was arcade perfect and the PC one probably was as well. The Playstation version is apparently very close to arcade perfection, but is missing a few
frames of animation. All conversions had an extra training mode, which was fairly new at the time. The dramatic battle mode was also present.
A few years later a great surprise happened when Street Fighter Alpha came out on the GameBoy Colour, it had all the characters, but obviously it had to be severely cut down in most areas because of the hardware. A lot of music was cut, including all Final Fight tunes. The stages were also reduced, and there were no proper endings. To add insult to injury, there wasn't even a 2 player link up mode. At the time, however, it was practically one of the best beat 'em ups you could buy for playing on the go on Nintendo's hand held.
I still prefer this over Alpha 3, even though the game is incomplete and the damage is completely out of control. Street Fighter Alpha is still perfectly playable, but the better game is certainly the sequel, Street Fighter Alpha 2.
