Street Fighter - EX plus A

Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Arika
Size: 1 CD
Memory Usage: 1 Block
No. of players: 2(simultaneously)
Official Ad: Yes

The following conversation was secretly taped at Capcom Headquarters*.
(* the one in my head)

Old SF Team: We want beautifully, hand drawn sprites, and classic SF2 gameplay.
Arika Team: No, we must go 3D...and it must be blocky as all fuck!
SF3 Team: Let's go with over-the-top animation, but sub-par SF gameplay!
Capcom President: Wha.....you guys do what you want, I've been given the go ahead for yet another fucking Resident Evil remake...I think this one is supposed to go on the Nintendo 64...or the Dreamcast...or the GameCube....or the GameBoy....or....

Old SF Team: Hahahha, we win! Let us begin on out greatest game ever: Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold!
Arika Team: HhahahaHA, no, we win! Let us start on the blockiest SF game ever!
SF3 Team: You're both wrong...hahaha, we win! We will start on the biggest disappointment the series has ever seen: Street Fighter 3!
Old SF Team, Arika Team: {snicker}

What's it all about?
Well...it's SF....in 3D! Yeehaw! Actually, it's more than that...it's a sort of meshing of quite a few different things from the SF series, and some new stuff too.

Graphics - A very sorted bag. The characters aren't exactly of top quality...even when the game first came out, they weren't that impressive...and haven't aged that well since. They don't even remotely push the PSX...hell, I don't think it'd even be pushing the Saturn or N64's 3D. The backgrounds are pretty disappointing as well, consisting of just a various assortment of 2D bitmaps with minimal special effects. I know not everything can be Soul Blade, but jeez you'd think they could have put forth more effort than this. Now, there is an upside to it: The lack of polygon-prowess has allowed for a super-smooth framerate, as well as some nice lighting effects and a very cool set of special effects when winning with super or special moves.

Sound - Music is a weird sort of “what the hell!?” compilation: Like Marvel vs Capcom 2 and such, it’s just not what you’d expect…though it’s not even as bad as MvsC2’s soundtrack(thank God). Sound effects are the general grunts and screams you'd expect, all very typical. On the other hand, most, if not all, voices have been redone and sound really good.

Control - The Control is amazing, it’s so fluid, it’s unreal. Very friendly, seems like 2 in 1’s just fly off the controller, you can do stuff you’d never thought you’d pull off. A lot more forgiving than the previous SF2 games, as well as the Alpha series. Gameplay is pretty standard SF-style stuff…from a distance. Once you get into it though, you'll begin to notice the finer things...

AI - Well....it's Street Fighter....so it's pretty cheap. Akuma, Bison and a few others are just unbelievably bad about it...but beyond that, the regular characters aren't that terrible...

Replay value - High. It's a fighter, and not only that....it's Street Fighter...you'll play until your hands fall off...and even then may find a way to keep playing.

I broke my comb on my hair!

Tips for better gaming experiences:
Learn to combo your supers, it REALLY helps out. You'll notice that on the higher difficulty levels AI opponents will ALWAYS do it, and almost ALWAYS win because of it.

The "Expert" mode is your key to unlocking various hidden characters, the bonus game and the "Options Plus" menu. Be sure to put some time in with it...

Finally, for those not up to the challenge of completing all *220* Expert missions, you can enter a code to play the Barrel bonus game: With the highlight on "Practice", in the Main Menu, press Start. After that, hit Up, Up, Right, Up, Right, Up and hit Start again. You should receive a message on the screen, confirming you did this correctly. Now enter the Practice mode and you'll find a new option called "Bonus".

To help you out with the Expert mode, I'd posted Henry LaPierre's amazing Expert Practice Mode Requirements Listing FAQ. It's really good, and *really* helps. Be sure to check that out!

My rating: 95(out of 100) - As mediocre as it may look, it’s just so beyond-words cool to see the SF gang in 3D, not to mention their assortment of moves and such. The game plays just so amazingly smooth, and the new EX additions make it something that even those tired of SF could get into. All in all, an excellent addition to the SF series.

EGM gave it: 8, 9, 8.5, 8.5(out of 10)
Next Generation gave it: 4 stars(out of 5)

Bad cat on the iBook review: Though it's definitely not a bad attempt and 3D-ing SF, I'll still stick with the basics...and characters I know(and love) in the 2D versions.

Screenshots were taken via Connectix Virtual Game Station for the Mac, they are then resized and sharpened to more accurately reflect the graphics. Note: VGS throws a filter over PSX graphics, much like the PS2's "PS1 mode". As this will make them look better than they normally would on a conventional setup, sharpening the pictures brings them back to a more realistic view of what they really look like. For an example and comparison, click here.

Guile: Now every bit as blocked off as his haircut.

The odd, super-kill effect.

Spinning Bird Kick: Looks every bit as goofy in 3D as it did in 2D...

Yes folks, purple Dhalsim made it in!

	Gameplay Videos: Endings: Pullum Purna, Blair Dame, Guile, Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Zangief, M. Bison, Dhalsim, Sakura - 3:19, 31.8 megs Immediate Streaming - YouTube
Description: A flurry of the weirdest and most idiotic endings that seem to have virtually nothing to do with the actual game itself.
Note: You'll need the most recent Divx codec to watch these videos. Also, slowdown and jumps in the playback may not necessarily be the fault of the game so much as the method I am using to record them. If you are having problems watching the videos in your browser, just right-click and download them to your hard drive...

I'm number one, yeehaw!!!

Street Fighter EX plus A....plus Bleemcast!?
That's right. Believe it or not, this game can actually be played via the Bleemcast beta that's floating about on the net. Though it doesn't run quite as well as one would hope, it's kinda cool to see how it goes. For more on that, check out the Bleemcast quick review over in the Old School Sega Section...

It's all in the cards...
EGM, or some magazine put out a series of cards for the game...basically just some character artwork and then their bio/moves on the back. Check it out.