''Street Fighter Alpha 3'', released as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1998

fighting game The fighting game video game genre, genre involves combat between multiple characters, often (but not limited to) one-on-one battles. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappling, counter- ...

developed and published by

Capcom is a Japanese video game company. It has created a number of critically acclaimed and List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises, with its most commercially successful being ''Resident Evil'', ''Monster ...

for arcades. It is the third and final installment in the ''

Street Fighter Alpha ''Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams'', known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 1995 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for Arcade video game, arcades. It was the first all new ''Street Fighter'' game produced ...

'' sub-series, which serves as a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music, or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to '' Street Fighter Alpha 2'', and ran on the same

CP System II The , also known as Capcom Play System 2 or CPS-2, is an arcade system board that was the successor to Capcom's CP System, CP System Dash and Capcom Power System Changer arcade hardware. It was first used in 1993 for ''Super Street Fighter II'' ...

hardware as previous ''Alpha'' games. The game was produced after the ''

Street Fighter III is a 1997 fighting game in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series, originally released as a coin-operated arcade game. The game, which was designed as a direct sequel to ''Street Fighter II'' (1991), initially discarded every previous character exc ...

'' sub-series has started, being released after '' 2nd Impact'', but before '' 3rd Strike''. ''Alpha 3'' further expanded the playable fighter roster from '' Street Fighter Alpha 2'' and added new features such as selectable fighting styles called "isms". ''Alpha 3'' has also been released on a variety of home platforms starting with the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

version in 1998, which added an exclusive World Tour mode and brought back even more characters, with further versions on the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...

, and

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PA ...

Gameplay

''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' discards the "Manual" and "Auto" modes from the previous ''Alpha'' games and instead offers three different playing styles known as "isms" for the player to choose from. The standard playing style, A-ism (or Z-ism in Japan), is based on the previous ''Alpha'' games, in which the player has a three-level Super Combo gauge with access to several Super Combo moves. X-ism is a simple style based on ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' (the term "X-ism" being a reference to that game's Japanese title, ''Super Street Fighter II X''), in which the player has a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single but powerful Super Combo move. The third style, V-ism (or "variable" style), is a unique style that allows the player to perform custom combos similar to the ones in ''Street Fighter Alpha 2'', but cannot use Super Combos. In X-ism, the player cannot air-block nor perform Alpha Counters, and can only use 1 Super Combo move in its powerful Level 3 version. To activate V-ism's Custom Combo, the player has to press both kick and punch of the same strength. X-ism has the highest attack power but least defence, A-ism has more attack power than V-ism and a similar level of defence. All three modes have variations of movesets for each character, adding considerable depth to the gameplay. In addition, there are hidden modes that add handicaps to the player as well as benefits (for example, Classic mode, which prevents the use of Super Combos but also makes the character unable to be knocked in the air and juggled). ''Alpha 3'' also introduces a "Guard Power Gauge" which depletes each time the player blocks – if the gauge is completely depleted, then the player will remain vulnerable to an attack. When broken the bar shrinks and is refilled to its new maximum, it can be shrunk a number of times. Worth noting, while in X-Ism the character has the least defence of all modes it also has the largest guard bar, vice versa for V-ism with A-Zism being in the middle. Also, the guard bar varies between characters, Zangief e.g. has a very large guard bar. The guard bar does not exist in Dramatic Battle matches so no guard crushing is possible there. I-ism is a customizable style exclusive to the Dreamcast version's World Tour and Saikyo Dojo modes and the PSP version's World Tour mode. The controls for several actions have been modified from the previous ''Alpha'' games. For example, the level of a Super Combo move in A-ism is now determined by the strength of the attack button pressed (i.e. Medium Punch or Kick for a Lv. 2 Super Combo), rather than the number of buttons pushed; and throwing is now done by pressing two punch or kick buttons simultaneously.

Characters

The game brings back all eighteen of the characters that appeared in ''Street Fighter Alpha 2''. As with the previous ''Alpha'' titles, several characters were added to the game:

Cammy , also known by the codename , is a player character, fictional character in the ''Street Fighter'' fighting game series created by Capcom. She debuted in ''Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers'' (1993). She has ...

, who was previously featured in the console-exclusive ''Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold'', E. Honda, Blanka,

Balrog Balrogs () are a species of powerful demonic monsters in J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth. One first appeared in print in his high-fantasy novel ''The Lord of the Rings'', where the Company of the Ring encounter a Balrog known as Durin's Bane in ...

(who is an unlockable character), and

Vega Vega is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Lyra. It has the Bayer designation α Lyrae, which is Latinised to Alpha Lyrae and abbreviated Alpha Lyr or α Lyr. This star is relatively close at only from the Sun, and ...

. New characters introduced in ''Alpha 3'' include R. Mika, a Japanese female wrestler who idolizes

Zangief Zangief (; Japanese: ), often called the , is a character in Capcom's ''Street Fighter'' series. Considered to be the first grappling-based fighting game character, he made his debut in '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' (1991). In the ...

; Karin,

Sakura The cherry blossom, or sakura, is the flower of trees in ''Prunus'' subgenus '' Cerasus''. ''Sakura'' usually refers to flowers of ornamental cherry trees, such as cultivars of ''Prunus serrulata'', not trees grown for their fruit (although ...

's rival who was first introduced in the ''Street Fighter''

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

''Sakura Ganbaru!'' by Masahiko Nakahira; Cody from ''

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Japanese publisher Capcom, which began with the arcade release of '' Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, within the '' Street Fighter'' universe, the games focus on ...

'', who has since become an escaped convict; and Juli and Juni, two of Shadaloo's "Dolls" who serve as Bison's assassins and guards and who are unlockable characters. The PlayStation version makes Balrog, Juli and Juni immediately playable and adds the remaining characters introduced in ''

Super Street Fighter II is a 1993 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for Arcade video game, arcades. It is the fourth game in the ''Street Fighter II'' sub-series of ''Street Fighter'' games, following ''Street Fighter II Turbo'' (1992). It refines and ba ...

'': Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk, along with Guile from ''Street Fighter II'', and Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma from ''Street Fighter Alpha 2'', the latter three being unlockable. The Dreamcast and Saturn versions move Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma to the default roster (although the latter shares a slot with his regular counterpart and is playable via a special button combination). The more powerful version of M. Bison who is the true final boss of Alpha 3 with the special Shadaloo-ism meter, Final M. Bison, is also made playable in these Sega versions via a code. The

version contains all of the characters from previous versions, as well as three additional characters: Yun from ''

'', Maki from '' Final Fight 2'', and

Eagle Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

from the original ''

Street Fighter is a Media mix, Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. Street Fighter 1, The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by List of Street Fighter video games, six other ma ...

'', all three based on their incarnations from '' Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001''. The

version, ''Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX'', also adds

Ingrid Ingrid may refer to: * Ingrid (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Ingrid Burley (born 1986), rapper known mononymously as Ingrid * Ingrid (record label), also an artist collective * Tropical Storm Ingrid, various cy ...

from ''

Capcom Fighting Evolution , released in the US as ''Capcom Fighting Evolution'', is a 2004 head-to-head crossover fighting video game from Capcom. It was originally released as a coin-operated arcade game for the Namco System 246 hardware and ported to the PlayStatio ...

'', to bring the total playable character count to 39.

Home versions

*''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' was initially ported in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

to the PlayStation, selling a million copies. This version replaced the "hit" sprites with "hit" polygons in order to focus more memory on character animations. Juli, Juni and Balrog were added to the immediate regular roster, and they were given new character portraits and their own storylines. Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk (the remaining "New Challengers" from ''Super Street Fighter II'') were also included in the roster. Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma (the latter sharing a slot with his regular counterpart) were also added as secret characters that can be unlocked through the World Tour mode, a mode that allows the player to strengthen and customize their chosen characters fighting style while traveling around the world. An additional feature in the Japanese version also made use of the

PocketStation The PocketStation is a memory card peripheral by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation home video game console. It was released in Japan in 1999. The device acted not only as a memory card but was interactive itself via a small monochrom ...

peripheral, which allows the player to build up their character's strength. In this version, Shin Akuma serves as the final boss for Evil Ryu, as well as a secret boss in Final Battle. Due to RAM limitations, the only unique pairings available for a complete campaign in the Dramatic Battle mode are Ryu & Ken and Juli & Juni; other character combinations can only be used for one-match battles. The AI for the Dramatic Battle and Survival modes is exceptionally poor with the CPU neglecting to defend against sweep attacks, perhaps due to RAM again. As is frequently the case with home versions of arcade games, the lesser amount of frames allows for certain combos, often infinite, that are not possible in the arcade version (particularly when using V-Ism mode and in Dramatic Battle and Survival stages). This version was re-released for download on the North American

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

on October 18, 2011. *The

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

version, titled ''Street Fighter Alpha 3: Saikyo Dojo'' (or ''Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyō-ryū Dōjō'' in Japan), uses all the added features from the PlayStation version of the game, but features a different World Tour mode. Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma are immediately selectable, although the latter still shares a slot with his regular counterpart and is playable via a special button combination. An online mode was added, allowing the player to display their high score. In addition, a Saikyo Dojo mode was added, which pits a character that the player has built up in World Tour mode against a very strong opponent who had to be downloaded from the Internet and changed every week. The Dreamcast version was re-released in Japan in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

as ''Street Fighter Zero 3: Saikyō-ryū Dōjō for Matching Service'' as a mail order title via Dreamcast Direct. The ''Matching Service'' version differs from the original with the addition of an Online Versus mode. *The

version of ''Street Fighter Zero 3'' was released in 1999 in Japan only, shortly after the initial Dreamcast version. This version makes use of Sega's 4-MB RAM cartridge and uses all the features from the PlayStation version except for the polygon usage and PocketStation mode. The Saturn version uses the extra RAM to include more frames and sprites, making it near arcade-perfect. Similarly to the Dreamcast version, Guile, Evil Ryu and Shin Akuma are immediately selectable, with the latter sharing a slot with his regular counterpart and playable via a special button combination. While the World Tour and

Survival mode Survival mode, or horde mode, is a game mode in a video game in which the player must continue playing for as long as possible without dying in an uninterrupted session while the game presents them with increasingly difficult waves of challenges. ...

s are virtually unchanged from the PlayStation version, the Dramatic Battle mode received some improvements with the inclusion of a 2-player mode and the addition of the Reverse Dramatic Battle mode, in which the player faces two computer-controlled characters simultaneously. This and the

versions are also the only ones to feature the Dramatic Battle mode against the entire roster of characters, as all other versions limit this mode to boss characters only. The CPU for the Dramatic Battle mode is far superior to the PlayStation version. Another minor change is the revised scoring system for some moves in the game: for example, many characters that earn 3000pts per hit from a grab move (a very important fact to exploit for the World Tour mode, where the score is the player's experience points) do not receive as much in the Saturn version. The features, characters etc. of the first home version on the PlayStation are available straight away in the Saturn version. *''Street Fighter Zero 3'' was re-released for the arcade in Japan in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

under the title ''Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper'' (officially promoted as ''Street Fighter Zero 3↑''). The game was released by

Sega is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...

for their Dreamcast-based

NAOMI Naomi or Naomie may refer to: People and biblical figures * Naomi (given name), a given name and a list of people with the name * Naomi (biblical figure), Ruth's mother-in-law in the Old Testament Book of Ruth * Naomi (Romanian singer) (born 1977 ...

hardware and features all six characters from the home console versions as well as some balance changes, most notably the removal of the "crouch canceling" glitch which allowed for V-ISM infinite combos. ''Upper'' also allows the player to upload any customized characters from the Dreamcast version of the game by inserting a

VMU The Visual Memory Unit (VMU), also referred to as the (VMS) in Japan, is the primary memory card produced by Sega for the Dreamcast home video game console. The device features a monochrome liquid crystal display (LCD), multiplayer gaming cap ...

into a memory card slot on the cabinet. *A Game Boy Advance version developed by Crawfish Interactive was released in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

under the title ''Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper'' (''Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper'' in Japan, officially promoted as ''Street Fighter Alpha 3↑'' and ''Street Fighter Zero 3↑'' respectively). The version is compressed and lacks several stages and music tracks from the previous arcade and console versions, although all of the characters are present. In addition,

, Maki, and Yun, all of whom were characters from ''

Capcom vs. SNK 2 ''Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001'' is a 2001 fighting game developed and published by Capcom. The sequel to ''Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000'' (2000) and an entry in the ''SNK vs. Capcom'' crossover series, it was originally ...

'' (released in 2001), were added to the game. Only a small number of character voices were included in this version due to storage limitations, which the developers worked around by having characters share voice samples, modified with real-time pitch shifting, such as using a higher pitched version of

Ken Ken or KEN may refer to: Entertainment * ''Ken'' (album), a 2017 album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer * ''Ken'' (film), a 1965 Japanese film * ''Ken'' (magazine), a large-format political magazine * Ken Masters, a main character in th ...

s voice for Sakura's attack calls. *The

version, titled ''Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX'' (''Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper'' in Japan, officially promoted as ''Street Fighter Zero 3↑↑''), was released in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and features the additional characters from the GBA version as well as Ingrid from ''

''. This version is a near-faithful conversion of the arcade version with reduced loading times and all frames and sprites intact. All of the added characters now feature their own in-game storylines and endings. The Dramatic Battle mode in this version (as well as the Saturn version) is the only one where both the player and partner characters can be selected individually (allowing for any character pairing). It also includes the Reverse Dramatic Battle mode from the Saturn version, an exclusive tag mode called "Variable Battle", which is similar to the Dramatic Battle mode but in which the player can tag in and out their partner, and a mode called "100 Kumite" (a 100-fight series). Due to hardware limitations, there is no support for vibration, local two player mode, or additional buttons (the handheld has only six buttons in total instead of eight). *''

Street Fighter Alpha Anthology ''Street Fighter Alpha Anthology'', released in Japan as ''Street Fighter Zero: Fighters Generation'', is a 2006 fighting game compilation that collects the ''Street Fighter Alpha'' series. The game also includes both ''Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix ...

'' (''Street Fighter Zero: Fighters' Generation'' in Japan) was released in 2006 for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...

. It contains the arcade version of ''Alpha 3'' as one of the immediately available games, along with a revised version of ''Zero 3 Upper'' called ''Alpha 3 Upper'' as a secret game. Both games feature Dramatic Battle and Survival modes in addition to the Arcade, Versus, and Training modes, but not the World Tour mode that was featured in the previous home versions nor the extra characters introduced in the portable versions of the game. In ''Upper'', all six characters that were added in the home console versions are readily available. *''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' has an arcade-perfect inclusion via ''

Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection ''Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection'' is a compilation of fighting games from the ''Street Fighter'' series developed by Digital Eclipse and published by Capcom in celebration of the series' 30th anniversary. The collection was released f ...

'' for the

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

and

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

via

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

, released in 2018. The original 28 characters appear in the title, but those extra characters who were playable in the console ports as well as both ''Upper'' and ''Double Upper'' are not included due to the game being an emulation of the original arcade. Save states are available to allow the player to resume from where they left. The game, along with ''Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting'', ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo'' and ''Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Fight for the Future'', has online functionality. *The arcade version of ''Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper'' was re-released in 2025 as part of ''

Capcom Fighting Collection 2 ''Capcom Fighting Collection 2'' is a fighting game compilation developed and published by Capcom. It is the third entry in Capcom's ''Fighting Collection'' lineup and a direct sequel to the original ''Capcom Fighting Collection'' (2022), compri ...

''.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Street Fighter Alpha 3'' on their September 1, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month. Its April 15, 2001 issue reported that ''Zero 3 Upper'' was the best-selling arcade game of the month. On release, ''

Famitsu , formerly , is a line of Japanese Video game journalism, video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly f ...

'' magazine scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 32 out of 40;''Weekly Famitsu''
No. 405
/ref> they later scored it 30 out of 40. The PlayStation version also scored 32 out of 40 on release.''Weekly Famitsu''
No. 400
/ref> The Dreamcast version scored slightly better, receiving a 33 out of 40.''ドリームキャスト – ストリートファイターZERO 3 サイキョー流道場''. Weekly Famitsu. No.915 Pt.2. Pg.36. June 30, 2006. The ''

Official UK PlayStation Magazine An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of thei ...

'' said that the game would outlast ''

Tekken 3 is a 1997 fighting game developed and published by Namco. It is the third installment in the ''Tekken'' series and the first game built on the Namco System 12 arcade game, arcade hardware. The game takes place twenty years after ''Tekken 2'' (1 ...

'', and stated "the only thing to tarnish this is the graphics. So if you think gameplay is more important than texture-mapped polygons, consider the score to be a ten." ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it four stars out of five, and stated that "Capcom may have outdone itself with the most playable and innovative fighting game since the original ''Street Fighter II''." ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' gave the PlayStation portable version of the game an overall score of 7.75 out of 10 praising how the game being a great version of the classic fighting game and the gameplay and loading times as being seamless and stating “a perfect arcade conversion that will please Street Fighter fans.” By 2003, the Game Boy Advance version had sold over 30,000 copies. Meanwhile, the original PlayStation version sold a million units as of June 2016. In 2019, ''Game Informer'' ranked it as the 18th best fighting game of all time.

References

Sources

External links