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— CH. 1 · CUSTOM COMBOS AND ALPHA COUNTERS —

Street Fighter Alpha 2

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  • In February 1996, Capcom unveiled Street Fighter Zero 2 at the AOU show in Tokyo. The arcade cabinet introduced a new system called Custom Combo that replaced the Chain Combos from the first game. Players could initiate this feature by pressing two punch buttons and one kick button or one punch button and two kicks. This action required the Super Combo gauge to be on level one or above. Once started, players performed basic moves and special attacks until the Timer Gauge ran out. Guy and Gen remained exceptions who could still perform limited Chain Combos. Each character gained two Alpha Counters instead of just one. One counter used a kick button while another used a punch button.

  • Street Fighter Alpha 2 brought back all thirteen characters from the previous year's title. M. Bison, Akuma, and Dan became immediately selectable playable characters for the first time. The roster added Dhalsim and Zangief from Street Fighter II. Gen appeared as an assassin from the original Street Fighter series. Rolento joined as a member of the Mad Gear gang from Final Fight. Sakura Kasugano entered as a Japanese schoolgirl who took up street fighting after witnessing Ryu's battles. An alternative version of Chun-Li wore her outfit from the Street Fighter II series. These additions expanded the total number of fighters available to players globally in 1996.

  • Capcom senior planner Shinji Mikami stated that the team concentrated solely on balancing Alpha 2 during development. They did not try to match damage values exactly with the original game. Mikami explained that new characters required increased damage for normal hits to maintain balance. The design philosophy shifted focus toward the importance of normal hits rather than special moves alone. This approach aimed to refine gameplay mechanics without relying entirely on flashy super attacks. The goal was to create a more strategic experience for competitive players while keeping the core flow intact.

  • The PlayStation and Sega Saturn received home console ports in 1996. The PlayStation version used XA-Audio arranged soundtracks while the Saturn employed streaming ADPCM format. Both platforms allowed Shin Akuma as a selectable character via secret codes. The Saturn code formed an X pattern whereas the PlayStation required forming a letter Z. Only the Saturn version included Evil Ryu, EX Dhalsim, and EX Zangief. The SNES port utilized the S-DD1 chip for graphic decompression but suffered from loading times during matches. Sound quality on the SNES was exceptionally poor compared to other systems. Capcom sold large shipments of cartridges at a

  • loss outside the United States to clear warehouse inventory.

    Game Machine listed Street Fighter Zero 2 as the most successful arcade game of April 1996. It outperformed titles like Virtua Fighter 2 in Japanese arcades. The title became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1996 in Japan. Maximum magazine scored the arcade version five out of five stars calling it Capcom's best fighting game to date. Next Generation gave the arcade release three out of five stars praising its smooth animation and innovative backgrounds. Gamest voted Zero 2 Best Game of 1996 in their Tenth Annual Grand Prize. Dan Hibiki ranked number one among Top 50 Characters while Sakura Kasugano placed

  • third. The Saturn port sold over 400,000 units in Japan alone.

Up Next

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Common questions

When was Street Fighter Alpha 2 first unveiled?

Capcom unveiled Street Fighter Zero 2 at the AOU show in Tokyo during February 1996. The arcade cabinet introduced a new system called Custom Combo that replaced the Chain Combos from the first game.

Which characters became playable for the first time in Street Fighter Alpha 2?

M. Bison, Akuma, and Dan became immediately selectable playable characters for the first time in Street Fighter Alpha 2. The roster also added Dhalsim and Zangief from Street Fighter II along with Gen and Rolento.

What development changes did Shinji Mikami implement for Street Fighter Alpha 2?

Capcom senior planner Shinji Mikami stated that the team concentrated solely on balancing Alpha 2 during development without matching damage values exactly to the original game. New characters required increased damage for normal hits to maintain balance while shifting focus toward normal hits rather than special moves alone.

How did the home console versions of Street Fighter Alpha 2 differ in 1996?

The PlayStation and Sega Saturn received home console ports in 1996 using different audio formats like XA-Audio and streaming ADPCM format respectively. Only the Saturn version included Evil Ryu, EX Dhalsim, and EX Zangief as secret characters.

Why was Street Fighter Zero 2 considered successful in Japan during 1996?

Game Machine listed Street Fighter Zero 2 as the most successful arcade game of April 1996 and it became the highest-grossing arcade game of 1996 in Japan. Maximum magazine scored the arcade version five out of five stars calling it Capcom's best fighting game to date.

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All sources

52 references cited across the entry

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