Does Anyone Still Playing Alpha 3?

[ReggieHadoken]

I got the 15th Anniversary 6 botton controllers and now that I've played SFII and 3rd Stike in 6 button glorry, I can't go back to other controllers when I play SFII. I was wanting to play SFA3 with these controllers but I've no clue where my SFA3 disc went. So I'm gonna have to buy a new copy. They have GH verisons at Circuit City for $14.99 so I'll pick it up when I buy Tekken 4.

Anyway, I was just curious if anyone still played A3. IMO it is still one of the best fighting games ever made. I'm surprised it isn't at Evo anymore yet SSFII: Turbo is.

[sjelkjd]

A2 >>>>> A3

[ToXY]

agreed!

[Keep-away_Guile]

A2 >>>>> A3

Why don't you elaborate on that?

[ReggieHadoken]

Why don't you elaborate on that?

I'd like to hear more myself. I've played A2 and while I think it is a great game, I still think A3 is far better. I wasn't very fond of the custom combo system in A2 and A3 not only has a bigger roster but variable ISMs for more indepth play.

[_MJ_#R]

A2 >>>>> A3


never! :P

[TS]

A3 was a very popular game, but arcade boards are curiously hard to find.

Yeah there are people who still play it, but there are only a couple U.S. tournaments which host it, as the player base is nowhere near as large as it used to be. Sorta like XSF or ST (though the difference is that ST has been kept alive by the tourney scene and has actually become MORE popular, as it wasn't everybody's favorite game when it first came out).

A2 is okay. People remember it being better than it was, I think.

[archetype]

I still play A3 whenever I can.

peace

Sav

[ReggieHadoken]

A3 was a very popular game, but arcade boards are curiously hard to find.

Yeah there are people who still play it, but there are only a couple U.S. tournaments which host it, as the player base is nowhere near as large as it used to be. Sorta like XSF or ST (though the difference is that ST has been kept alive by the tourney scene and has actually become MORE popular, as it wasn't everybody's favorite game when it first came out).

A2 is okay. People remember it being better than it was, I think.

Ah, I see. That sucks. A3 is easily my fav Alpha game and quite possibly, my fav SF game. (The only games that could come close to matching it as my fav SF games would be 3rd Stike and SFII: Turbo). I've never really played SF games in the arcades. The arcade scene in my area is nearly non-existent. I know some elitists may bag on me but I love my home versions of SF titles. Some of the most competitive gaming sesions I've ever had have been with Alpha 3 in my living room.

[ToXY]

A3 on console is someones favourite game? dont think ill ever here that one again lol

[Mr Mort]

A3 on console is someones favourite game? dont think ill ever here that one again lol

Without a doubt, Street Fighter Zero 3 on the Saturn is my favorite game of all-time.
There, you just heard it again...

You're not the only one that still has love for A3 Reggie. I didn't care for the CC's in A2 either, and the larger roster and addition of ISM's make A3 a no-brainer for me. The only things I liked better in A2 were the Alpha Counters (in a way), and some of the backgrounds, particularly the Sagat/Ryu special background. Beyond those 2 minor quibbles, I really feel that A3 is better in every other way.

[Richard]

I still play A3 at least once a week.
I wasn't very fond of the custom combo system in A2 and A3 not only has a bigger roster but variable ISMs for more indepth play.
A bigger roster doesn't make it better. And for some, the Ism selection is why it isn't as good. You don't have all your moves all the time.

[Demon Dash]

A2 >>>> A3

[Diek Stiekem]

A3 is one of my favorite all time SF-games, I still play quite frequently next to 3rd Strike & HSF2:AE

[chunkis]

Alpha 3 for evo!

[Muskau]

I've played Alpha 3 since it first came out in 1998 for Japan PSX, I don't really play it seriously anymore, since there isnt really much serious comp anymore. My A-Bison is usually enough for most players.
I downloaded the 1998 Japan Nationals the other day, man Daigo looks so young back then lol And there was an A-Bison player in every regional qualifier! And how come you never see a Balrog in A3 apart from Apoc's??

[white shadow]

A3 is still my traditional favorite fighter next to CVS2. I think what destroyed the game's popularity was the fighting game purists.

"OMFG Zangief's Energy Ass Grab on PSX has 4 more startup frames than in the arcade. This ruined the game for me I'm not playing this shit!!!1!!11!!!" :mad:

If people actually started playing a version and just learning the "new" intricaties it'd probably revive.

A2 had good presentation and some of the best endings in the series but it had horrid game play. Seriously activate CC: Kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick, kick KO!!! I mean that was just ridiculous.

I was glad I saw some A3 being played at my local tourney!:bgrin:

[CarpeNoctumXIII]

I was playing A3 the other day, and it's just as fun as it was back when it was still in the arcades. I miss playing that game in ther near by arcades, but now all that is being played there is Tekken 5(which is awesome so that's ok). A3 for life...(wonder if they will ever make A4...)

[ToXY]

Without a doubt, Street Fighter Zero 3 on the Saturn is my favorite game of all-time.
There, you just heard it again...

You're not the only one that still has love for A3 Reggie. I didn't care for the CC's in A2 either, and the larger roster and addition of ISM's make A3 a no-brainer for me. The only things I liked better in A2 were the Alpha Counters (in a way), and some of the backgrounds, particularly the Sagat/Ryu special background. Beyond those 2 minor quibbles, I really feel that A3 is better in every other way.

heh i wasnt trying to be a smartass and say that A3 on console sucks, i dont even play the game, but i remeber another thread i read and everyone was saying how bad the console version is and its not worth playing etc etc..

[EX-Sucker Punch]

Hell yeah, I still play Alpha 3.

With Kaillera around you can get your SFA3 fix ANY fuckin' time.

Muskau: I still have videos of Daigo's first visit to the USA for a A3 tournament. my favorite had to be Daigo (A-Guy) vs. Alex Valle (V-Rolento).

[SilverGear]

There's a small A3 following in Miami still.

[ReggieHadoken]

Wow. I had no idea A2 was praised so much among the SF community. I mean, I think it is a great game but I still think A3 owns it for free. The ISMs may not allow you to have all your moves but I still prefer it over A2's messed up CC system. Can anyone recommend the best ISM for Guy? I'd low to dish out some serious ownage with him but my abilities with him are just lacking.

And I agree, White Shadow, some purists/elitists can really be annoying.

[WasFemto]

I was thinking about picking this up again. Had it for PS and DC( 2-on-1 bitches :karate: )Played this a couple of weeks ago at Duel's and thought "Wow, I need to buy this shit again!"


Question tho'. Did anyone have problems pulling simple friabl motions and what not. I did when I fisrt got the game on PS but when I played it again recently I didn't have any problem other than getting my ass kicked.

[Domikaze]

A3 is quite awsome. I liked A2, but I think that A3 had a bit more to it.

I dont play A3 much anymore because 3s and CvS2 has my attention most of the time with fighting games, and I can never stop playing ST. And at the break there is never anyone on the A3 machine. Everyone is usually on the 3s machines or the CvS2's. Its kind of a shame.

But on a personal note, A3 on the console > A3 on the arcade for one reason. Fei Long. Why couldnt they think of that before and put him on the arcade? :xeye:

[Muskau]

Wow. I had no idea A2 was praised so much among the SF community. I mean, I think it is a great game but I still think A3 owns it for free. The ISMs may not allow you to have all your moves but I still prefer it over A2's messed up CC system. Can anyone recommend the best ISM for Guy? I'd low to dish out some serious ownage with him but my abilities with him are just lacking.

And I agree, White Shadow, some purists/elitists can really be annoying.


There was an A3 Guy video put out a while ago exploring many of his X, A and V combos, should be on combovideos.com

Some of those combos make me think that Guy was in the versus series lol

[KEN2004]

I agree as well. capcom should have included A3 in the collection to make it more complete. I still play A3 on Dreamcast with my best friend. hopefully Capcom will re-release it for XBOX LIVE.

[Muskau]

Yeah SFA Collection including:

SFA1
SFA2
SFA2 Dash/Zero
SFA3
SFA3 Saikyo Dojo
SFA3 Upper

All the arcade ports should be perfect of course.

[kenji X]

A2 >>>> A3

Care to explain?

[ReggieHadoken]

Care to explain?

Heh we're still waiting on that one as well. I may get A3 on the DC if I can find it. It would be nice to have it on both systems.

Fei Long wasn't in the arcade verison of A3? Wow. :wow:

[ThePurpleBunny]

Fei Long, Guile, Dee Jay, and T. Hawk weren't in the arcade version, they were console exclusive.

SFA3 is one I play constantly on MAME, I have the Dreamcast version but only played it for World Tour. I didn't care for SFA2 by the way, didn't look or sound as good as 3 did, didn't notice any real gameplay differences. I thought rehasing old SF2 music for Alpha 2 was a joke. The ISMs provided more options and well balanced (X-ISM having faster-filling super bar, longer guard meter, more power, A-ISM having more super move options, air recovery, but slower super meter). I find it more fun given it felt more complete.

And you can understand the scene not being that big with so little boards still around, but if you could find a board to use at Evo, you could at least use it for exhibition and get a decent crowd.

[Duel=Master]

I wish A3 would come back

[Xexor Zero]

they should make an A3 for Xbox... to play it online...

[bellreisa]

A3 would be alive today if the community can get over the stick up their asses about "arcade perfect" and just fucking pick a console version. I thought the DC version was pretty good myself, but I haven't played the Saturn one -- and frankly, with all the bitching people do about how VCs are broken, crouch cancels are broken, this and that, I'm surprised at the rather nonsensical insistence against adopting a console standard.

[Drunken Master]

^^ lol!

I think you're right.

[Keep-away_Guile]

A3 would be alive today if the community can get over the stick up their asses about "arcade perfect" and just fucking pick a console version. I thought the DC version was pretty good myself, but I haven't played the Saturn one -- and frankly, with all the bitching people do about how VCs are broken, crouch cancels are broken, this and that, I'm surprised at the frankly nonsensical insistence against adopting a console standard.

Great point, Bellreisa. I actually would prefer the PSX or the Dreamcast version over the arcade perfect version because of all those stupid vism glitches found in it. The only thing I don't like about the home versions of A3 is that they slowed down the Sim. However, I can get over it because he doesn't suck too bad. I can still beast with him. =D

Btw, do you play A3 online?

[bellreisa]

I tried, ran into lag and desync everytime. I'd be more than happy to play IRL, though, and I own A3 for both PSX and DC. I'm also relatively close to you. :P

[Keep-away_Guile]

I live one block North of Downtown Culver City to be exact. That's quite some distance between our locations haha. Do you ever go to FFA?

Btw, what is IRL?

[Muskau]

If any of you had played the arcade version and then the DC version of SFA3 you would realise the amount of changes that were made to all the characters, normals, priorities, special move animations and movements were changed, for many characters. And it didn't seem like it helped balance much, I mean Bison was *weakened* and Bison was already low on the tiers.

Picking a console version to play tournies on will only serve to split the a3 fandom in half, kinda like how FFA only plays on head to head.

[FLipFloP]

WFF is w/ activating CC w/ a lvl 1 bar in A2.. Whack A2 100% combos.. I don't need to explain anymore..

A3 > A2 any day, any time. I still cherish my PSX A3.. best port ever :)

[PepsimanVsJoe]

At first like some I actually preferred A2 to A3. But that's cause I was judging it by the soundtrack. I still hate A3's soundtrack(Except Karin's theme :tup: ). But as a game it's far superior. And honestly no you can't really appreciate the game if you stick to the console versions(unless it's the Saturn rev).

I didn't really begin to fall in love with the game until I played it at my University arcade(Only good thing about that shithole is a SFA3 machine). I played the PSX and DC versions but neither of them IMO stand up well.

Granted the game starts to fall apart when you have nothing but V-Ism combos going on, but mid-level play on AX-ism puts it right up there with Third Strike and Super Turbo. Then again I also can't talk because I use a VR. Mika. :confused:

[Drunken Master]

If any of you had played the arcade version and then the DC version of SFA3 you would realise the amount of changes that were made to all the characters, normals, priorities, special move animations and movements were changed, for many characters. And it didn't seem like it helped balance much, I mean Bison was *weakened* and Bison was already low on the tiers.

Picking a console version to play tournies on will only serve to split the a3 fandom in half, kinda like how FFA only plays on head to head.

As opposed to not playing it AT ALL?? :/

I dunno.. people wanna play, to not see the game die. But the ones who love it the most, are encouraging it??

Seems kinda ironic.

[Demon Dash]

Care to explain?

Alpha 2 was the first SF game I started playing seriously. I learned my first combo's on it. Even though it's not the best SF game, it's still my favourite from the A series.

[TS]

I think if everyone decided on a home version to play on (it'd probably have be the PSX version) that eventually even the more hardcore A3 players would follow along, since PSX A3 tournament > no A3 tournament, if done the right way. The problem is they're (we're) not leading the charge.

[EX-Sucker Punch]

Btw, what is IRL?

Stands for "In Real Life".

[Duel=Master]

there was a reason why A3 was at the tournaments and not A2.

[ReggieHadoken]

Sometimes I forget that many SRKers and other fans of the SF community still play heavily at the arcades. That's all well and good but I finally see where being a purists/elitist can be a problem. It can make some people refuse to have something any other way no matter what. In all honesty, I've never played a single sF game in the arcades. Not one. All SF games I've played on the home console. TMNT II for the NES wasn't arcade perfect and I played the arcade version and loved it. I also played the NES version. Flawless? Of course not. Still a blast to play? You bet!!

I guess some will never be able to execpt a console verison of a fighting game. "He doesn't have all his animation frames!!!1111 Da game is teh suxxooorsss!!!!!!!!111" Boo freaking hoo. A game can still be less than perfect and still be enjoyable.

[bowiegranap]

If any of you had played the arcade version and then the DC version of SFA3 you would realise the amount of changes that were made to all the characters, normals, priorities, special move animations and movements were changed, for many characters. And it didn't seem like it helped balance much, I mean Bison was *weakened* and Bison was already low on the tiers.

Picking a console version to play tournies on will only serve to split the a3 fandom in half, kinda like how FFA only plays on head to head.

The truth. Although I think the fan base would be split into 3, not 2 (DC, arcade, PS)

It won't be a simple case of PS Z3>no tourney. To some people, the console versions are tantamount to a completely different game (kinda like how some people view SFZ3 Upper).

And yes, the game is still enjoyable. That isn't the question. The question is : "is it tourney-worthy?" In the case of Z3, without an arcade perfect port, people had accepted the arcade version as the playable standard. Forcing them to play something else not only makes it less enjoyable for them, it also defeats the purpose of the tourney: a person who was more used to the individual quirks of the console version would enjoy an advantage, no matter how small it would be.

[Kayin]

What we could do is switch to A3 Upper and for console use the DC version. (Since both are supposedly the same.)

...

Just a suggestion!

[bellreisa]

How about people learn to freaking adapt instead of bitching about how Cody's lv3 qcfx2+K super has an extra kick at the end?

See, this is exactly what I'm talking about. In the case of Marvel, yeah, I can see it. Removing broken stuff from the game would make it worse. But A3? A lot of A3 fanatics want their game to be taken seriously and run up against the inevitable "VCs are too good, infinites are BS, Akuma/Sim/Sak/Gief rule the top tier" arguments against it... and still staunchly defend said characters' "quirks" (i.e. overpowered BS) when any suggestion for change is made.

[Muskau]

OK let's say Console A3 gets made into a tourney, first of all, several hardcore groups might not want to play because of its 'non-arcade perfection' I remember when they called SF2 on SNES arcade perfect.

Secondly, tierings will be affected due to the new characters being introduced, deejay, fei long etc.... possibly many people might be upset being beaten by a deejay player, since they've had no chance to play against one before in a competitive environment.

Thirdly, if SFA3 console ended up at EVO or something big, will international players take a Console SFA3 tourney seriously? Or just join for fun?

Personally, I'd join in on a console SFA3 tourney, just to play some SFA3. Who cares if there are new characters and things are different? Maybe things will be more interesting that way. Its better than sitting around hoping that capcom might make an arcade perfect Alpha collection for X-Box or PS2.

[ReggieHadoken]

I'd love to take part in an arcade or console A3 tourney just so I can socialize with some of my fellow gamers and SF fans. I'd probably get schooled but I believe that defeat is also a learning experience.

I honestly had no clue there were so many subtle differences with the arcade and console versions of A3.

[Temujin]

we still play alpha 3 in the arcade here in montreal

[Terry_nb]

Alpha 3 is still consitently played in some parts of europe and yeah I like that fact.

[ReggieHadoken]

I'll be buying Alpha 3 again for the PS1 this Friday. It has been a good while since I've played the game and I have no idea how good my Brandon's buddy Justin is at the game. And does anyone use Ryu anymore? It seems like it is all about Ken these days. :sad:

[Jeeebus!]

I do on Kaillera.

[Dark Geese]

I love Alpha 3..one of my best games for sure!! I play it, lose some V-Karin, V-Ryu, A-Sim, V-Sodom, V-Sakura!!!!! Gotta love them...CC infinites are sooo fun!!!!! Great way to piss people off!!! LOL :clap:

[azmun]

OK let's say Console A3 gets made into a tourney, first of all, several hardcore groups might not want to play because of its 'non-arcade perfection' I remember when they called SF2 on SNES arcade perfect.

Secondly, tierings will be affected due to the new characters being introduced, deejay, fei long etc.... possibly many people might be upset being beaten by a deejay player, since they've had no chance to play against one before in a competitive environment.

Thirdly, if SFA3 console ended up at EVO or something big, will international players take a Console SFA3 tourney seriously? Or just join for fun?

Personally, I'd join in on a console SFA3 tourney, just to play some SFA3. Who cares if there are new characters and things are different? Maybe things will be more interesting that way. Its better than sitting around hoping that capcom might make an arcade perfect Alpha collection for X-Box or PS2.
Just curious. Assuming MAME is legit, could it be a viable platform for tournaments? And if consoles had to be used, why not the Sega Saturn version? Isn´t that considered the closest to the arcade? Lastly, I wouldn´t rule out the possiblity of Capcom making a faithful translation of a Street Fighter Alpha compilation for PS2 considering next month they´re going to release a Vampire Darkstalkers Collection:
http://www.capcom.co.jp/vampire_dc/index.html

[bowiegranap]

Yes... but roms have some legal problems, enough to discourage using them for tournaments. And "closest" to arcade doesn't quite cut it.

[Dr. Fishopolis]

To answer the question stated in this topic's title: Yes. I am.



...and I STILL suck at it.

[Lv.32 Z-Ism Rose]

The PSX version probably would be the best version to use in a tournament. Yeah, it is not identical to the arcade, but so what? It is far more available to the general public than the arcade version--it should be the new standard. I havent seen an A3 arcade machine in YEARS. That is something that big city players have had an advantage over compared to everybody else. They have access to the "standard" that will be used in tourneys, while the rest have to be stuck with the "inferior" home versions. The Saturn version is the closest, yes, but it's availability is nowhere near as common as the PSX. The DC A3 seems to have had a whole lot of stuff nerfed, and emu's raise too many legal questions. Besides, all the extra characters will add a great deal more variety to the game, since now the "top tiers" have someone new to contend with.

Long live A3!

[FMJaguar]

If A3 is in evo it will be CPS2 as stated. This is essentially put up or shut up time for A3, the most accepted version, the biggest tourney, all you guys have to do is get the players in time to win the vote.

[Muskau]

So, how do people vote then?

[_MJ_#R]

So, how do people vote then?


Voting begins Tuesday.

VOTE A3!