Review by Dave Z.
Street Fighter Alpha as an arcade translation is nearly perfect.
It replicates the arcade in almost every way, the animation is equal, as
is the color and gameplay, the only differences that I noticed is in the
sound and the loading times. The only real problem is that the arcade game
is really not that impressive in the "technical" aspects. There
are only a half dozen different backgrounds and they offer very little
parallax or substance. With that said, I really like Alpha, even though
it contains a lot less characters and backgrounds than SSFII Turbo, SF
Alpha is my favorite in the Street Fighter series. The animation is excellent,
the music is awe inspiring, and game mechanics are top notch. With the
exception of the computer "cheating", the gameplay is well balanced
and well designed, and the amazing Saturn controller handles the game with
perfection. While in most cases the question is How does it compare to
the arcade, this time it is: How does it compare the the PS version? Overall,
I would say that it compares favorably. The graphics are nearly identical,
really too close to call, and while the PS has better sound, the Saturn
features half of the loading time (which IMHO is much more important).
But both versions are excellent and would be worthwhile purchases.
Overall: 9/10
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