Why is Alpha so different than the other Street Fighters?

[noiseredux]

fighters and shmups are two genres where I totally ignore story altogether.

[jfrost]

Yup, SF4 takes place like 10 years or so after Alpha...

Really? Where did you read that? I'm confused now because Alpha is supposed to happen in the year between SF and SFII, and I thought SFIII was only supposed to be 5 years after SFII.

Not that it really matters but it's cute when Japanese companies try to create continuity or extended timelines. I mean, they're just so BAD at it.

Not to mention that the Final Fight series takes place in the same universe.

[the7k]

Honestly, I was perfectly happy with the SF continuity until SF4 came along.

I mean, in one fell swoop, they screwed up the entire story. Gen is alive. Rose is alive. Bison is alive. Gouken is alive. Sakura has found the secret to eternal youth and has apparently failed to graduate many many times. Ibuki has now met Makoto before Elena. Cody is still wearing that prison outfit however many years later.

I mean, shit, they could have put all these dead characters in and made use aware that they weren't canonically alive. Instead, SF4 has basically made Akuma seem totally worthless (couldn't kill Gen, Bison or Gouken, as we were all let to believe) - and even worse, it's made Ryu and Akuma's rivalry completely empty. (Without Gouken's death, there is no burning vengeance there anymore. Add to that the fact that, apparently, Akuma has never killed an opponent - It's now no more tense than his rivalry with Ken.)

And seriously, at least get some new clothing for Sakura and Cody. Have their old costumes as unlockables, sure, but Sakura should have been pimping that gym teacher costume from day one. I also believe that Cammy's alternate outfit from SF4 (the one you had to pay for) should have been her new costume while her classic was unlockable.

[flamepanther]

Not that it really matters but it's cute when Japanese companies try to create continuity or extended timelines. I mean, they're just so BAD at it.

Not to mention when their U.S. and/or European counterparts decide to monkey around with the stories and make it even harder to keep the continuity intact? Capcom and Konami, I'm looking especially at you.

[EvilRyu2099]

Honestly, I was perfectly happy with the SF continuity until SF4 came along.

I mean, in one fell swoop, they screwed up the entire story. Gen is alive. Rose is alive. Bison is alive. Gouken is alive. Sakura has found the secret to eternal youth and has apparently failed to graduate many many times. Ibuki has now met Makoto before Elena. Cody is still wearing that prison outfit however many years later.

LOL it basically turned into a compilation rather than an actual game..

I mean, shit, they could have put all these dead characters in and made use aware that they weren't canonically alive. Instead, SF4 has basically made Akuma seem totally worthless (couldn't kill Gen, Bison or Gouken, as we were all let to believe) - and even worse, it's made Ryu and Akuma's rivalry completely empty. (Without Gouken's death, there is no burning vengeance there anymore. Add to that the fact that, apparently, Akuma has never killed an opponent - It's now no more tense than his rivalry with Ken.)

And seriously, at least get some new clothing for Sakura and Cody. Have their old costumes as unlockables, sure, but Sakura should have been pimping that gym teacher costume from day one. I also believe that Cammy's alternate outfit from SF4 (the one you had to pay for) should have been her new costume while her classic was unlockable.

It's sad that III never was that popular.. I wish they would have gone that direction of introducing a completely new cast with brand new gameplay elements and not one that caters to classic SF II players..

[gennss]

Honestly, I was perfectly happy with the SF continuity until SF4 came along.

I mean, in one fell swoop, they screwed up the entire story. Gen is alive. Rose is alive. Bison is alive. Gouken is alive. Sakura has found the secret to eternal youth and has apparently failed to graduate many many times. Ibuki has now met Makoto before Elena. Cody is still wearing that prison outfit however many years later.

LOL it basically turned into a compilation rather than an actual game..

I mean, shit, they could have put all these dead characters in and made use aware that they weren't canonically alive. Instead, SF4 has basically made Akuma seem totally worthless (couldn't kill Gen, Bison or Gouken, as we were all let to believe) - and even worse, it's made Ryu and Akuma's rivalry completely empty. (Without Gouken's death, there is no burning vengeance there anymore. Add to that the fact that, apparently, Akuma has never killed an opponent - It's now no more tense than his rivalry with Ken.)

And seriously, at least get some new clothing for Sakura and Cody. Have their old costumes as unlockables, sure, but Sakura should have been pimping that gym teacher costume from day one. I also believe that Cammy's alternate outfit from SF4 (the one you had to pay for) should have been her new costume while her classic was unlockable.

It's sad that III never was that popular.. I wish they would have gone that direction of introducing a completely new cast with brand new gameplay elements and not one that caters to classic SF II players..

I didn't even know it was out until after the dreamcast was well dead.

[msimplay]

I just don't get it. Which is to say I'm very bad at it. When it comes to Street Fighter II(s), I feel so natural using Chun-Li. It's second nature to kick-kick-kick-kick-kick... y'know? Why do the Alpha games use the same characters but new moves?

Well if I recall correctly there were two different teams working on the Capcom Fighters.
One team went with the CPS2 hardware which had Alpha on it and the other went with the CPS3 hardware which had the Street Fighter 3 games on it.
I feel the Alpha games to be more of a natural evolution of Street Fighter 2 then Street Fighter 3 even though SF3 is the official sequel.

I'll go on record to say that my favourite Street Fighter of all time is SFA2.
Before that it was Street Fighter 2 but I just was blown away with Alpha 1 with its graphics and new gameplay elements it really did feel like a brand new Street Fighter game and it could have been except they decided to fill in back story instead however the fact they had a lack of characters and reused backgrounds meant that it could have been better.
Then Street Fighter Alpha 2 came out I was literally blown away they improved Street Fighter Alpha in every single way imaginable plus the Alpha sprites were used in all subsequent fighters like the Marvel vs Capcom , Street Fighter vs Capcom and spin offs like Puzzle fighter all had that style.
I didn't get to play Street Fighter 3 until I had a Dreamcast but in many ways I felt it was a step back.
I was used to having Alpha counters and 3 different super moves per character and Air blocking.

Now if they would just release Alpha Anthology on the Wii I can pack my PS2 away it's taking up too much space.

[the7k]

@gennss
I didn't get SF3:Double Impact until the Dreamcast was dead, but I still knew all about SF3 - and played the various entries religiously. Arcades, my friend.

@msimplay
Step back? SF3?

Eh, to each their own. Personally, I felt that things like Parrying rewarded dedication and practice like nothing else, while having to select a super meant that you had to think tactically about what is going to work best for you. (For instance, as an Elena player, choosing between 'Brave Dance' and 'Healing' dramatically changes how I will approach the match.) EX moves were a great addition to the formula as well.

Really, Alpha and III are just so different from each other - it's like comparing Garou with Real Bout Fatal Fury and saying one is superior to the other.

[msimplay]

@gennss
I didn't get SF3:Double Impact until the Dreamcast was dead, but I still knew all about SF3 - and played the various entries religiously. Arcades, my friend.

@msimplay
Step back? SF3?

Eh, to each their own. Personally, I felt that things like Parrying rewarded dedication and practice like nothing else, while having to select a super meant that you had to think tactically about what is going to work best for you. (For instance, as an Elena player, choosing between 'Brave Dance' and 'Healing' dramatically changes how I will approach the match.) EX moves were a great addition to the formula as well.

Really, Alpha and III are just so different from each other - it's like comparing Garou with Real Bout Fatal Fury and saying one is superior to the other.

Of course it is my personal opinion for everything you liked about Street Fighter 3 I didn't really care too much for.
For me it took it out of the realm of balance between a game that everyone can play and some master but Street Fighter 3 is more for the experts.

From my point of view Alpha series built upon the classic SF2 formula where SF3 changed it and while it's not a bad game by any stretch of the imagination I always felt Alpha series to be the better game.

Btw I forgot to say that I don't agree with your analogy because even though games are different.
You would choose to play and like the game you like more according to the attributes that matter to you.

For example I can say I don't like the plane switching in Real Bout so to me Garou Mark of the Wolves is the better game

EDIT I just remembered about EX moves Nightwarriors and Vampire Savior already had that in the Sega Saturn days and I didn't get to play SF3 extensively until the Dreamcast era.