SF Alpha 3, the only SF game I don't suck at!

[KAI]

I hate SFZ3, throws and juggles are shit, the input buffer feels out of place compared to all the other sf games (even doing a simple 2mp + shinku hadouken is hard to pull off for no good reason)
Also 3P or 3K for level 3 supers is stupidest mechanic ever.

SFZ2 on the other hand is

[Shelcoof]

(^ yeah I know, record_screech.wav - couldn't resist. https://imgur.com/gallery/GPlx4)

Freaking amazing!!! Love the compilation of backgrounds.

One of the most important elements of a fighting game is the background. That's what sets the tone and feel of everything for me.

That's why Fatal Fury 3 and Fatal Fury Special are my two favorite fighters. The backgrounds are amazing in both games.

[it290]

That Freeman one from MOTW is my personal favorite with its beautiful lighting effects. I used to live right above the L in downtown Chicago it could feel just like this at night sometimes.



But yeah, some of those AOF2 ones are incredibly beautiful as well. I think background art was actually an area where SNK generally surpassed Capcom, at least until the later KOF years, although Capcom had some very strong titles in this area—bringing it back to the thread (sorta), I think SFA2 is their best work in that regard.

[BIL]

The way the in-game camera rumbles as the train hurtles past overhead is super-evocative, too, especially to Freeman's own BGM.

[Xyga]

For me the art in the 2D series style goes
II > Alpha > III
The later only has the incredible animations for it, because overall taste is awful (both visually and audibly at that)

Agree. SFIII’s character designs are ugly as hell.

Prefer the visuals of the Alpha Series out of all Street Fighters. That was really the high point of Capcom’s 2D prowess.

I guess I'm the odd one out here but 3rd Strike will always be my favourite SF game. I get that the 'urban' style and soundtrack aren't for everyone though. The reason why I really like it is the the way the fighting feels, its incredibly smooth. The fact that I love the visuals and adore the OST is a bonus really. Alpha 3 comes right after it in my list. Followed by II and IV, and all the vs. crossovers. SFV on the other hand is a disgrace

Actually...
talking about smoothness, related to the flow another problem I have is with the animation, it's incredible for sure, they've put an insane amount of time drawing all that stuff.

But they went overboard with some characters moves, like take Chun Li, even her simplest moves are so over the top, much too ample and exaggerated, she's over-animated, at time I have readability issues with the particles on top of it.

The gameplay, and the fact that the animation is a great performance from the developers, are certainly the two aspects no one can take away from 3.3, but honestly everything else about the game rubs me the wrong way.

It's a good point though, that gameplay is what makes about like 90% of what matters in a fighting game, so my complaints don't matter much I'm aware of that. ^^

[BIL]

Something I particularly enjoy about III's animation is the "limp body dropped from great height" fall. A lot of FGs have their characters invert and land headfirst, arrow-style, before instantly snapping to lying flat. It's efficient, but totally insubstantial. III emphasises the awful mundane brutality of a human body hitting the ground like a sack of spuds. Ryu needs a new hip! I actually can't recall a better example offhand, 2D or 3D.

I wish they'd done a couple brawlers or general action games with that sense of anatomy and weight. Talking Ninja Gaiden (AC) levels of awersome man+coffeetable=dead violence. Not a gorefest though! This isn't a Canadian Workplace PSA, nor should it be Polski Final Fight!

Piling on re: character designs. As long as it's sticking to the classic Hokuto no Ken vibe, I'm mostly okay with 'em. But the grungier/wackier stuff can fuck right off. IDGAF what Oro's power level is, the motherfucker looks like chicken and BO. Necro is a waste of a cool name. Twelve looks like something I'd skullfuck in mass quantities during Metal Slug 3's final mission. Not impressed! I dig Q's win poses though.

[Xyga]

SFZ2 on the other hand is

How's the SNES port btw ?
Never played it and forgot about its existence until mentioned again recently when they got it to work on the SD2SNES.

EDIT: okay yeah I see there was that 'freeze' moment, I remember now, but its not dramatic compared to the PS1 loading times, those were urgh.
More important question is "does it at the very least play right-enough?"

[it290]

I used to own it (might still have it in a box somewhere). It's a neat technical accomplishment and a fun curio, and I think it plays decentlyenough for what it is (probably about as close as Genesis SSF2 to its original version).

[Xyga]

Okay. Some pretty bad glitches here http://youtu.be/zk729DWAINo
Looks good for the machine indeed but maybe they've rushed it a bit.

[BurlyHeart]

Piling on re: character designs. As long as it's sticking to the classic Hokuto no Ken vibe, I'm mostly okay with 'em. But the grungier/wackier stuff can fuck right off. IDGAF what Oro's power level is, the motherfucker looks like chicken and BO. Necro is a waste of a cool name. Twelve looks like something I'd skullfuck in mass quantities during Metal Slug 3's final mission. Not impressed! I dig Q's win poses though.

You didn't even mention Remy! Possibly the worst character design in SF history. Trashy emo Iori wannabe. Sean was pretty bad too, wiht his ear ring and basketballs.....I actually like Oro though.

[KAI]

How's the SNES port btw ?

You don't play arcade fighters ported to 16bit consoles, even 32bit systems weren't powerful enough to get good ports of MVS and CP2 games, unless you want to play stuff with broken hit/hurt/pushboxes, incorrect speed and less animation, avoid them at all cost.

[Xyga]

How's the SNES port btw ?

You don't play arcade fighters ported to 16bit consoles, even 32bit systems weren't powerful enough to get good ports of MVS and CP2 games, unless you want to play stuff with broken hit/hurt/pushboxes, incorrect speed and less animation, avoid them at all cost.

That's the kind of extreme opinion I avoid, there aren't tons but some 32bit ports were still well-regarded.

The 16bit ports aren't much but still fun to witness, all things considered some like HF did better than they should have on those systems, you could have decent SF fun even if the ports could be considered standalone versions (thats why I was curious for the sfa2 snes one)

Not everyone is a maniac for perfection, it is crucial only in competition (even so iirc some ports were used in competitions) I'm one who enjoys decent-to-good ports, like I enjoy emulation which is rarely perfect either.

[KAI]

Don't get me wrong, i loved all the snk and capcom catalogue on psx, but all the re-ports/compilations on ps2 are fantastic, i could never go back to play those same games on psx or saturn after getting those nearly-perfect ports on 128bit systems.

and don't forget loading time are a huge turnoff on this genre

[CIT]

Don't get me wrong, i loved all the snk and capcom catalogue on psx, but all the re-ports/compilations on ps2 are fantastic, i could never go back to play those same games on psx or saturn after getting those nearly-perfect ports on 128bit systems.

The correct answer is always "it depends." A lot of PS2 ports are plagued with the 480i + smoothing filter scurge.

[FinalBaton]

Since we're talking Ps2 comps and this is a SFA thread : it is worth mentionning that the SFA Anthology on PS2 is a fantastic compilation... apart from being 480i(which is a big bummer. god damn how I wish this comp was capable of outputting 240p) and having bilinear filtering (that happens to not be too offensive here, especially when played on a crt). If you can get the Extron Rgb Interface trick going on your standard def crt, for example, the games look quite good and quite 240p authentic, with well defined scanlines/blanked lines(I rocked that for a while and enjoyed it). You can also play them at 480 progressive scan if your screen is better suited to that. The ruleset here is, for all intenses and purposes, arcade perfect. let's say 99.98% there(even features a ruleset dipswitch menu) and the responsiveness is great and it has all the animation frames. This comp is sometimes used in tournaments if I'm not mistaken.

But for ease of use on a standard def crt, I usually play Playstation or Saturn ports for 240p goodness. just a simpler setup and looks crisp as hell. not perfect but still a greatly fun experience

[WelshMegalodon]

480i + smoothing filter

Why do you suppose they forced bilinear in the first place? Are there any consoles that actually have built-in bilinear filtering? The N64 does have that awful VI blur.

[KAI]

You can disable/enable filtering in some fgs iirc, at least the sfz and vampire collections have that option.
The Neogeo online collection has native 240p res by default afaik. Those games are a dream come true (even if they never included the option to play kof98 with the arranged soundtrack )

[Xyga]

That would bring us way off-topic but it there a comprehensive list of the 128bit ports and compilations, with their pros & cons ?

I'm unfortunate enough to not have studied those much, and instead just experienced stuff like the SF Anniversary 'thing' on PS2, or the blurry Samsho V, and I was like bleh ima head out.

Also met some games that were on CD and spinning like crazy in my poor PS2, unable to load safely and read the audio tracks.
Don't remember which tho.

[BrianC]

A few of the SNK ports on PS2 are 240p, but aren't native resolution and still have filters.

[FinalBaton]

You can disable/enable filtering in some fgs iirc, at least the sfz

You sure about that? I thought that SFAA/SFZ:FG on PS2 had no way to remove the filtering. it was discussed in the hardware section at some point and I'm pretty sure Fudoh would've mentionned it if the option was there

[Axelay]

Does anyone own or play the sega saturn version ?
It was always the playstation that I played.

I always liked alpha 2 more .

However I did like the different moves that each character got with the isms

[KAI]

You sure about that?

I mean, it has this option



but I'm not sure if that gets rid of all the screen smooth or not.

[Shelcoof]

Wasn't there 480p support for street fighter alpha anthology?

[FinalBaton]

I mean, it has this option



but I'm not sure if that gets rid of all the screen smooth or not.

I'll try that. but I have the feeling that it's something that adds additional smoothing on top of what's already there, if you select "ON".

Wasn't there 480p support for street fighter alpha anthology?

Yep I mentionned that in my post higher on the page

[Shelcoof]

I thought you meant 480p scaled through an external device

Also let us know your findings on the filter thing

I'm curious if it adds more smoothing or not

[it290]

This thread is making me want to bust out my Emotia. IIRC if you ran Alpha Anthology at 480p into the Emotia and then set the Emotia to 240P and turned the filter off, you'd get a nice crispy image that almost matched the arcade, but not quite 100% since the scanline alignment wasn't perfect. I think there's still some HW interpolation going on in this mode (e.g. not just strict integer scaling) but prob worth testing. I'll give it a go this weekend if no one else has reported back by then.

[evil_ash_xero]

Really love this game. The Saturn port is great too. They used the RAM cart to finally get rid of those shit load times. Not as fast as arcade or emulations, but still pretty darn good.

[Shelcoof]

This thread is making me want to bust out my Emotia. IIRC if you ran Alpha Anthology at 480p into the Emotia and then set the Emotia to 240P and turned the filter off, you'd get a nice crispy image that almost matched the arcade, but not quite 100% since the scanline alignment wasn't perfect. I think there's still some HW interpolation going on in this mode (e.g. not just strict integer scaling) but prob worth testing. I'll give it a go this weekend if no one else has reported back by then.

I just use a scanline generator on a CRT monitor.
Does the trick for me at least.

[cj iwakura]

Really love this game. The Saturn port is great too. They used the RAM cart to finally get rid of those shit load times. Not as fast as arcade or emulations, but still pretty darn good.

With all the re-releases, the Saturn still has that exclusive gorgeous art gallery, too. I still have mine.

[awbacon]

That Freeman one from MOTW is my personal favorite with its beautiful lighting effects. I used to live right above the L in downtown Chicago it could feel just like this at night sometimes.



But yeah, some of those AOF2 ones are incredibly beautiful as well. I think background art was actually an area where SNK generally surpassed Capcom, at least until the later KOF years, although Capcom had some very strong titles in this area—bringing it back to the thread (sorta), I think SFA2 is their best work in that regard.

I walked under the El every day for four years for college and it always made me think of this stage lol