Street Fighter Alpha 2, the Video Game by Capcom Co., Ltd. [Japan]

DESCRIPTION

KEYWORDS :

Type of the machine : Video Game
Street Fighter Alpha 2 © 1996 Capcom.

Eighteen Alpha fighters go head-to-head this time around, featuring a few Final Fight alumni.

TECHNICAL

CABINET :

Capcom Play System II hardware (CPS II)
Game ID : CP-S II No. 15

Main CPU : 68000 (@ 11.8 Mhz), Z80 (@ 8 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Q-Sound (@ 4 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 384 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 59.629403 Hz
Palette colors : 4096

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 6
= > [1] LP, [2] MP, [3] HP
= > [4] LK, [5] MK, [6] HK

TRIVIA

Released in March 1996.

This game is known as "Street Fighter Alpha 2" in the United States of America, Canada, and Europe, and as "Street Fighter Zero 2" in all other locations.

Guy, Rolento and Sodom are from Capcom's "Final Fight". Guy as selectable character, Sodom as the second boss and Rolento as the fourth boss in "Final Fight". Guy's and Rolento's music are taken from "Final Fight".

In Guy's stage you will see many familiar faces from "Final Fight". There's Mike and Jessica Haggar, Cody, Poison, Andorre and a few other bosses in the background - most of the Final Fight characters that have gone on to other games are there.

In Rose's battle location there are represented the 'gondole', the ones and typicals elements of the another and more famous italian sea-town Venice. This is clearly a wrong cultural knowledge of Capcom's programmers.

Here is a list of cameo in Ken's Yacht stage :
* Eliza (It's her birthday afterall!)
* Captain Commando & Sho
* Strider Hiryu (wielding a teddy bear!)
* Lynn Kurosawa (from Alien Vs Predator)
* Morrigan, Felicia, Lord Raptor & Hsien-Ko (these last two are pretty much alive in this cameo, unlike in the Darkstalkers & Vampire Savior games!) :)
* Michelle Heart (from Legendary Wings as another waitress!)
* A few thugs from Final Fight (working as waiters?!)

Dan Hibiki, the pink-clad Shotokan fighter, was an attempt by Capcom to make fun of SNK fighting games. Ryo Sakazaki was thought to be so much like Ryu that Capcom had to make a statement. Dan is mainly a hybrid of Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia from the Art of Fighting series. This is most evident in his appearance in which he has Robert Garcia's trademark pony tail and Ryo Sakazaki's black undershirt. His animations were heavily tailored to look like a take on the aforemetioned characters. Dan's father was killed by Sagat (This is the man who Sagat hits with a Tiger Uppercut during the Ryu vs. Sagat intro in Alpha 3), so Dan developed his own style of fighting called 'Saikyo-ryuu', which is Japanese for 'strongest style', a poke at the "Art of Fighting" 'Kyokugen' karate style ('Kyokugen" is Japanese for 'extreme'). Fei Long makes a guest appearance in Dan's stage.

The sumo wrestler 'Fujinoyama' that Sodom challenges in his ending had so much of a resemblance to E. Honda that Capcom, for Alpha 3, changed it to E. Honda.

The Australian prairie stage where Sagat fights Ryu is based on the opening scene of the animated 'Street Fighter II Movie', in which Ryu and Sagat fight in a prairie during a thunderstorm.

Victor Entertainment released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Street Fighter Zero 2 : Capcom Game Soundtrack - VIZL-24) on 21/06/1996.

UPDATES

In the Japanese version, specific locations are displayed on the 'next stage' screen. The American version just tells you which country the stage is in. Perhaps someone at Capcom USA was too lazy to translate the location-specific text (which is in Japanese) and just used the country name (which is in English). Below are the place names that were left out of the American version, translated into English...
(Character : Stage location)
Ryu : Suzaku Castle, Japan
(Sagat vs.) Ryu : a big prairie, Australia
Ken : San Francisco Bay, USA
Chun-Li : Beijing, China
Sagat : Ayuthaya Temple Ruins, Thailand
Adon : Bank of the Chao Phraya River, Thailand
Birdie : London Station Underground, England
Charlie : Detroit Highway, USA
Guy : Metro City, USA
Rose : Genova City Port, Italy
Sodom : Arizona Desert, USA
M. Bison : Atop the VTOL, Brazil
(Charlie vs.) M. Bison : Guiana Highlands - Great Waterfalls, Venezuela
Akuma : Gokuentou, Japan
Dan : Temple Street, Hong Kong
Dhalsim : Bank of the Ganges River, India
Zangief : Bilsk Steelworks, USSR
Gen : Shanghai, China
Rolento : New York, USA
Sakura : Setagaya-ku, 2-Choume, Tokyo, Japan

After the first release of "Street Fighter Alpha 2", an upgraded version of the game called "Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold" was released in arcades exclusively in Japan (where it was known as "Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha") in 1996 and to home consoles in North America in 1997. It included some enhancements like new moves, a unique variation of Sakura, the survival mode, the dramatic battle and the player was able to fight with Zangief, Dhalsim and Evil Ryu.

TIPS AND TRICKS

* Alternate Costume Colors : Highlight a fighter at the character selection screen and press punch or kick for the 2 standard outfits (punch is the original color). For 2 alternative outfits press 2 punch or 2 kick buttons together.

* Alternate Chun-Li Costumes : Hold Start and highlight Chun-Li at the character selection screen. After five seconds, press LP, MP, or HP for a blue costume (without trousers); press LP+MP+HP for a pink costume.

* Play as Evil Ryu : Highlight Ryu at the character selection screen, then press Start for 1 second. Then highlight Adon, Akuma, Adon, then return to Ryu. Then hold Start for 1 second, while holding start press any attack button.

* Grass Stage : Select two player mode. Hold Start at the character selection screen, then highlight Sagat for five seconds. Then highlight any character, release Start and press any attack button.

* Waterfall Stage : Select two player mode. Hold Start at the character selection screen, then highlight M. Bison for five seconds. Then highlight any character, release Start and press any attack button.

* Sari in Every Stage : In Dhalsim's stage you may have noticed a girl who cheers for him. That is Sari, his wife. When you play as Dhalsim, its possible to make her appear on every fight by holding down LP+HK before the fight starts (You must do this at the begining of every round).

* Alternate Sodom Stage : An alternate version of Sodom's stage appears every 4096 matches. The artwork on his truck is different. The Japanese text is replaced with English and the man on the side of the trailer is now wearing sunglasses. This alternate version of the stage is the one used in Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.

* Fight against Shin Akuma : It only works with the characters first color (means the original color). Fight through the Game without losing a single round. Get at least 3 perfect wins and 3 super special finishes. Shin Akuma appears as your last boss now.