With the advent of the PlayStation and the CD-ROM in 1995, Capcom moved to step away from cartridges and created the first all-new Street Fighter game produced since Street Fighter 2, Street Fighter Alpha (or Zero in some territories). Visually, the game was similar in art style to other Capcom games like Darkstalkers and X-Men: Children of the Atom and included a character roster from the original Street Fighter, Final Fight and Street Fighter 2 with some brand new additions aswell. As mentioned previously, Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie heavily influenced the game and would take place between Street Fighter and Street Fighter 2.
The Third Dimension
As you can see above, the game looked very different from the games that preceded it, but retained many of the features that were introduced in the Street Fighter 2 installments, while still running on the CPS II hardware that the later Street Fighter 2 games ran on. However, even though it was well received and would go on to create two sequels (with Alpha 3 being my personal favourite Street Fighter game ever), the 2D limitations were starting to show. "These new moves aside, there isn't much to distinguish Alpha from the older series. It's still a great game, but you can't help noticing the limitations presented by the lack of that third dimension." [1]. With the preceding quote stemming from an article which is now 13 years old, it shows how people at the time were now looking for more from the fighting genre. As other games had branched out into the 3D world, Street Fighter was starting to be left behind, regardless of the well received, precise gameplay. It seemed, just as they had got it right, people were already hoping for something else from the genre. Games like Virtua Fighter and Tekken answered the call and Street Fighter started to languish with diminishing interest in arcades and at home. "Just as "Tomb Raider" is allegedly "Prince of Persia" with the extra dimension, the only major differences with the "VF" series over Capcom's 2D competitors were flashier graphics, multiple camera angles, the novelty and approaching-realism excitement of having three dimensions. Of course, that was plenty enough to guarantee that 3D, the gimmick of the 90s, would overwhelm the genre. Nowadays, most people laugh and simply refuse to play 2D beat-em-ups." [2].
Late Starters
Seeing the way in which games were now headed, Capcom tried something new and ventured out of their 2D niche to challenge the 3D beat-em-ups that were already dominating home consoles. Street Fighter EX was their response."They turned to one of the original Street Fighter II planners, Akira "Akiman" Nishitani and his recently formed development company, Arika (his name spelled backwards) to co-produce it. Together, Capcom and Arika put Street Fighter EX on the market in 1996, and it rapidly bombed." [3]. While Street Fighter EX was not a particularly bad game (from personal experience), it had retained the gameplay elements of the original games, it was now in 3D (albeit on a 2D plane) but was incredibly slow in comparison. Moving into the third dimension was not a beautiful transition, characters looked incredibly blocky and had lost the personality that was so well conveyed in 2D. In addition to this new characters which were hardly memorable were introduced while the original character numbers were dwindled. The sudden switch to 3D made the game feel nothing like a Street Fighter game, which was to be expected, but with the dramatic slow-down of gameplay and forgettable new cast from Arika it showed there was still a chance for Capcom to have made a game that might have been popular with the gaming community if the latter problems were rectified.
The Street Fighter franchise fell into the background, even with a number of changes and a step into 3D people had moved on to better games. The glory days of Street Fighter 2 were no more.
A Fresh Start
Still, Capcom powered on and finally released the sequel that audiences had been asking for since the early 90s. Street Fighter 3 however was produced and created by none of the original team that created the blockbuster Street Fighter 2. Yoshiki Okamoto and Noritaka Funamizu were the only two people left that had worked on the latter, but "...when Capcom finally decided to move the franchise forward, a full decade after SF II, neither was involved." [3]. To hopefully reignite the franchise, Street Fighter 3 was originally planned to include noone from any of the previous Street Fighter games. This angered the remaining fans and Ryu and Ken were added to the roster [3]. Regardless of the new characters, the game returned to 2D, what Capcom did best, and the franchise stayed there through the changes and subsequent installments of the Street Fighter 3. Nonetheless the game is regarded by many as the best Street Fighter game so far, noted for its balanced gameplay but unmemorable cast, "Otherwise, the newcomers felt a little too plain, or else a little too strange. Blanka and Psycho-Powers aside, Street Fighter had always relied on relatively human combatants. The new generation was heavy on genetic mutants and oddballs, starting with red, blue and Speedo-wearing Gill himself." [4].
While not immediately picked up upon at the time, Street Fighter 3 has gained a recent following in the last two years and is growing in popularity. Yoshi Ono, who was heavily involved in the creation of Street Fighter 3, notes that "...at the time, [Street Fighter 3] was the right game to come out, from our perspective. The way that fighting games were at the time, their popularity, and the need for something more technical and complex... we felt that it suited the air at the time. The reason it seems to be ahead of its time and the reason why it's gaining more popularity now is probably because it's taken people that long to get really good at it, and they appreciate the depth that the game has to offer." [5]. As it was considered such a technical game, it took a while for players to grow to a professional level and for the popularity of the game to grow in turn.
[1] Street Fighter Alpha Review, 25/11/96, retrieved 16/12/09
[2] Simon Carless, Punch - Kick - Punch: A History of One-on-One Beat-Em-Ups, 24/04/98, retrieved 16/12/09
[3] Rus McLaughlin, IGN Presents the History of Street Fighter, 16/02/09, retrieved 16/12/09
[4] Rus McLaughlin, IGN Presents the History of Street Fighter, 16/02/09, retrieved 16/12/09
[5] Brandon Sheffield, Saving Street Fighter, 26/09/08, retrieved 19/12/09
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