STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2 - HISTORY & THE WEIRD SUPER NINTENDO PORT !?
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- #StreetFighterAlpha #RetroGamingHistory #StreetFighter
Today, Top Hat Gaming Man discusses the history of the Street Fighter Alpha 2 and its bizarre Super Nintendo Port
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@TopHatGamingMan
A man in a top hat, with a dashing moustache or a highly distinguished beard, reviews rare video games in his massive collection. Appreciate the finer things in life! Top Hat Gaming Man travels around the globe, playing the best games for the handhelds around the world. The best games are like fine wines and only get better with age.
Main Gameplay Sources
Street Fighter Alpha Arcade - Michaelpf08 - • Street Fighter Alpha:W...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Cabinet - John’s Arcade Game Reviews and Tech - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Arcade - AI82 Retrogaming and Computing - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Arcade - Eggy’s FGC - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Arcade - Silver Gaming Network - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Saturn - World of Long Plays - • Saturn Longplay [051] ...
Steet Fighter Alpha 2 Playstation - Amy Rose Long Plays - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold - Krizalid99v2 - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Windows - Jornada Gamer - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Street Fighter Alpha 2 SNES - NintendoComplete - • Street Fighter Alpha 2...
Information Sources
en.wikipedia.o...
streetfighter....
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My cousin and i used to play this alot in the late 90s....we bounded so much and he recently passed away...nothing but good memories from the snes port
May he rest in peace and his soul be blessed in the afterlife
Sorry for your loss bud.
I hope these memories will never die.
You can still play this snes port. I can link you just let me know
Sorry for your loss. May he rest In Peace
Alpha 2 was so good we ignored Street Fighter Zero III and Street Fighter III in the arcades in 97 and kept playing this. I see it as a peak of the franchise.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 still stands as my favorite fighting game of all time. I'll never forget the Summer of '98 when I picked up the Street Fighter Collection at my local Wal-Mart. I remember thinking on the way there how badly I wanted that collection since it had Alpha 2 on it, but didn't think my Wal-Mart would have in a million years. Well, a million years came early that day. I felt like Ralphie finally getting his Red Ryder BB gun in A Christmas Story.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 is one of my favorite games of all time and I still remember picking it up for my Super Nintendo, back in 1996, shortly after getting the brand new Nintendo 64! Good times and great port. Nice video.
Capcom: Alright playstation and saturn ports are done, any other versions we should make?
The one reasonable employee: Wwe can port it on the n64.
Capcom:.....Your fired, any other ideas?
The one employee with a huge dent in his head and both eyes are looking at the ceiling and the floor: SsUpeR nInTeNdOooo.... *drools*
Capcom: YES YOU. YOU'RE PROMOTED. Everyone lets get it started.
I just realized that guy in the tuxedo on Kens yacht stage is Captain Commando
LOL! yes it the one and only its Captain Commando. I've been knowing for years but great to see others noticing
In many SF-games you can see characters from Final Fight or Darkstalkers....
morrigan and felicia are there to...and the ninja from captain commando is standing right next to him
The Waiter to the far right is the Capcom CEO/Founder Kenzo Tsujimoto.
Someone, sorry I can't remember who, put out a video pointing out who every character on Ken's stage was. They are all from Capcom games, a few of which never made it out of Japan, or even in Japan were not particularly successful, but yeah, they are all from Capcom games.
This is probably one of the most important games in the street fighter franchise.
and probably the best
RallyDon82 Street Fighter Alpha 3 took it to another level. Favorite of all series
I like third strike
It's the sweet spot for sure.
@@pauldesigncomics2625 - I prefer Ultra SF4, overall. The backgrounds & music in Alpha 3 were generally, generic & a step-down from Alpha 2's. There's no background in Alpha 3 that approaches Rolento's brilliant & technically impressive, Alpha 2 stage. Alpha 3's World Tour mode on consoles was really great, though.
Every time someone pronounces Ryu like "Rhy-u" a kitten dies somewhere
Maybe my favorite fighting game of all time
Genesis: Can't do this on ninte-
Snes: *Laughs in Street Fighter Alpha 2*
Simply Sherbert ??? This game was on Saturn and Playstation, and should have been on N64, not ancient by this point 16-bit systems.
@@youtubeadmin1588 Missed the point entirely.
Simply Sherbert I guess I did. The SNES port is a joke. Should have been on N64. The SNES port is embarassing a genesis port would be even more embarassing.
@@SomeOrangeCat What was the point?
In 1996 16 bit consoles were not ancient ! I would say people in general stopped late 1997
As watered down as the game is, it's a miracle that the game was able to fit in a SNES cart!
lvl5Vaporeon - 32 MegaBits with additional companion chips helped achieve this miraculous port on the Super Nintendo much like the Nintendo 64 enhanced port of Resident Evil 2. Another stupendously port.
Compared to other ports this isn’t anywhere near as watered down as it could have been. All the main characters are intact and gameplay methods. Graphics are a bit low res, that’s probably its worst crime. But compared to the GBA port of Street Fighter Alpha 3, this seems more impressive. Characters more detailed and all backgrounds seem intact. SFA 3 seems a lot more compromised compared to the original, and the GBA can accept higher capacity cartridges and has a more powerful processor than the SNES
*48-Bit cartridge the Biggest SNES ever!!* ⭐️
lvl5Vaporeon or run on an SNES, but saying it runs is giving the port too much credit lol.
Animation is EXTREMELY choppy and the characters are small, low resolution redraws that just ruined the pixel art, but it fits because of that, no animation and tiny characters.
It’s a TERRIBLE looking and playing port tho, stick with Playstation or Saturn. Makes you wish it was ported to N64.
UA-cam Admin *But it’s better than nothing for the poor people who own a SNES who have no alternative Yes some kids have SATURN or PSX but where does that money come from? Parents with 2 jobs?*
The SNES version may not do it as well as well as the Saturn or PSX versions but it still does it, and that’s pretty impressive.
That fucking load lag after "Fight" used to drive me fucking CRAZY.
The SNES port was a very pleasant surprise at Blockbuster when I was a kid.
I was a little surprised that you didn't mention the lower difficulty level in the SNES version. I'm not surprised that it had that just because of the limited space on the cartridge. But I was shocked the first time I played SFA 2 on the Saturn and was blown away by the harder characters.
I remember renting this at my local Hollywood video back in the day. I was a huge SF2 fan and enjoyed the games from that series, but had never even heard of Alpha so I was surprised to see Alpha2 on the SNES, but I enjoyed the hell out of it for sure.
I love that you used my eBay photo for the super nes version at 10:53, TOP HAT! Yes!!!
hahaha amazing.
So how much did you end up selling it for?
@@williambatson2514 it sold for $195 👍🏼
I had this game for snes and I remember it being slow for a fighting game but I loved it. Still my favorite fighting game.
I hold the snes version of Sfa2 in a special place in my heart. The soundtrack is underated (Dan snes theme is underrated) Sakura has a unique intro probably due to hardware limitations.
I love Street Fighter Alpha 2 so perfection combo system fighting my favorites sakura.
I loved to crush sakura with my Ryu
Thanks so sweet sakura and ryu always greatness fight be honor master ryu.
Keep in mind gamers in Europe like Mr Top Hat Gaming Man didn't even have Nintendo 64 yet until March 1997, so late Super Nintendo releases were a heaven send if you hadn't upgraded to a PlayStation or Saturn.
Another weird change is in Guy's stage. There is a sign in the background that says JEFFRY'S, but for some reason on the SNES there there are three "F"s instead of two! This can be seen at 12:56 in this video. And going back to look for this timecode, I just noted that the word "Grocery" on that same sign has an extra " y" at the end.
I have a Super Famicon copy, the only quirk I've noticed is that there's a delay after the fight begins before either fighter can move but then it moves at normal speed. It may just be an old cartridge issue though.
Wayfarer Daves *Your cartridge is running normally sir just tiny load times is what you were experiencing today no biggie! It’s not broke dude* ⭐️
Thanks. I've never had a game with a delay after the fight is supposed to begin before so wasn't sure.
Have this port. I love fighting games and my mom would not buy me the PS1 (had saved up for it) so this was a god send. Christmas 96 me and my friends had a ball with this.
I'm one of your usually silent subscribers, but man, you're on fire with these videos lately. I just wanted to say I love your content. Keep it up!
I have the Saturn version. Got it at a pawn shop for 7$. Still play from time to time.
As a Saturn owner, I regularly played what I maintain was the best home port of Alpha 2 and loved every minute of it. I played the SNES version at my cousin's (he didn't have a 32-bit system at the time) and it drove me bonkers how slow and clunky it was, especially compared to the Saturn version. On a technical level, yes, porting it to the SNES was quite a feat, but man, it just couldn't hold a candle to the Saturn port. (I never played the PS version so I can't comment on it.) Another great video.
The Saturn was a superb console for 2D Capcom ports. Our version of Night Warriors even included the original Darkstalkers as a hidden mode!
So disappointed we never got a version of Alpha 3.
PS1 port wasn't much better. It's amazing that Capcom got such a demanding game running on 16-bit hardware.
11:18
Batman Forever: "Hold on" a minute...
Also Mickey Mania. Damm arrg yarrrg.
This game. I gotta say I owned almost all the Street Fighter games on Saturn, Alpha 1, 2, and 2 Gold; X-Men vs Street Fighter, Street Fighter Collection. But Street Fighter Alpha 2 was the one that took the most of my time. Masterpiece. Now, get on Street Fighter Alpha 3 for the Dreamcast. One of the greatest home console editions of any fighting game of all time. SFA3 Dreamcast should be ported to Xbox Live Arcade yesterday. *Saikyo Remix Forever!*
I couldn't afford the newer systems when they came out. Playing alpha 2 on the snes, I learned enough to be good enough to hang in the arcades and local tournaments. Money well spent!
There are multiple games on the SNES with loading times (Mickey Mania, Fatal Fury,, Another World, Batman Forever...), all because of the SNes infamously slow CPU.
I know people have their gripes with this games as do I, but I consider this my favorite in the Alpha series especially since it's the game that introduced me to Sakura who is my favorite SF character
I still own the Alpha 2 cartridge for the SNES. Loved that game and what it was able to do on that console.
Likewise! I bought a used copy in pristine condition from a local video rental store for $30! I still need to try the recently discovered method to play as Shin Akuma! 🤩😈
I'm really glad for the SNES port because when it came out, I had a SNES and I didn't get a 32 bit system for at least a couple more years. Maybe more. I was a grad student with a young family, and buying a Playstation was out of the question at the time.
God the graphics for the alpha series were soooooooooooooooo good
It’s still lit on FightCade 🔥
still have the cart! Plays really well
Alpha 1 - 2 had the best music. Absolutely brilliant.
"Mickey Mania" on SNES also features loading times.
"Rye. Yoo". C'mon, Top Hat! ;)
I know, right?! He can pronounce "RYO sakazaki" properly but not "RYU"??? I don't get why it's so hard!
"Rye Yoo's" theme was on the Windows version in "Wahv" format
I don't know as I've always called it Ree Yoo. To me, a Y makes an ē sound. I'm Asian and I've never heard any Asian calling him Rye Yoo. Guess it's kind of like Sriracha as I've never heard any Asian pronounce it with an R sound either as all Asians I know call it Siliacha.
Zang-geef too. Always makes me cringe.
Im one of the weirdos who likes alpha 2 more than 3.im just glad you did this for alpha2.
yes the SNES port of SFA2 was miraculous. Besides the obvious coverage of SFA3, I'd like to see you cover the Guilty Gear series.
I heard that SFA 2 is the largest SNES game ever on a 32MB cart. (The only game to use that expensive cart)
I'm sure there are more SNES titles, but Mickey Mania is another game with load times. Even had Mickey looking at a watch when loading.
Alpha 2 was awesome. I only played the arcade and PlayStation version. Didn't know there was a snes version for years.
I remember brining my snes to my high school during the last week of the year and playing this game with my buddies. Super fun.
Where did you guys play? I don't think there is anywhere we could have hooked up a system at school.
@@robsosa5197Bet it was the A/V club.
I still got my SNES SFA2 cartridge with the manual 😎
Aside from the five second load times almost everywhere (and losing many of the hidden characters; ex.: Shin Akuma can be *fought* but _NOT_ played as), there's absolutely nothing weird about it.
Chain combos, the anime visual style, and a multilevel super meter may have been new to Street Fighter in the first Street Fighter ZERO/Alpha, but those things were around in the original Vampire/Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors & Vampire Hunter/Night Warriors: Darkstalkers Revenge.
Ohhhh, it's not the only game with load times on the Super Nintendo. Megaman X2 & X3 both have the five second load times before boss battles (it occurs after the boss lifebar fills, before the battle actually starts).
How about the Gameboy Advance port of Street Fighter ZERO3^/Alpha 3^ (Upper) next? Or maybe the rumored GBA port of Marvel vs. Capcom that was ultimately canceled?
😶i thought that MvC port was just a made up tale. To think, that the GBA could handle that. I would have loved to see it.
@@kadosho02 Same here. But I suspect that like SFZ3^, mad sacrifices would've been made to keep the 2 on 2 format and not the EX Edition format of the PSone port...
John Evans i wrote nintendo power asking them if theres a way to play as akuma. They wrote me back, but said no
Mmx 2/3 didn't have load times after boss bar filled lol. Also even if it did it wasn't even as close to the time sfa2 load times were
I remember thinking the load times must be a bug when I played it back in 1996.
Amazing that they got it up and running on the SNES but the load times at the start of each round were very frustrating.
Enjoying playing the Arcade version all these years later on my Switch, thanks to the Streetfighter 30th Anniversary Collection. Amazing value having 12 games on one tiny cartridge.
Yep, Street Fighter Zero 3 for the Sega Saturn is probably my favorite in the franchise.
Wait, zero 3 was released on the Saturn? I thought it only came out on PS1 and Dreamcast.
@@Speculativedude It was on Saturn but only in Japan, however, it's better than every other port out there. Even better than the PS2 and Dreamcast versions.
@@GTXDash Ah gotcha. Didn't know it got release on it. I enjoy imports on the Saturn so I will have to see if I can find it.
I would agree, the Saturn version is amazing. I'm amazed at what it sells for these days.
@@Speculativedude yes The cody vs ryu cover from Saturn version was epic. 4 Meg Ram card made the difference.
The SNES version came out at a time where people lost interest in the SNES so the game flopped on the SNES. The N64 came out around the same time and way more powerful then the SNES, so Capcom should have released it for the N64 instead.
I know this is an old comment but as far as I know the n64 had a difficult time running 2d games, not that it couldn’t, but the processor was optimized for 3D. Most 2d games that you see are actually flat textures placed on a 3D model using a fixed camera angle, not true 3D. Even the PlayStation did this with some street fighters, using polygons for the hurtboxes and hitboxes, but it required they almost rebuild the game from the ground up I think
Awesome video mate, please definitely do a retrospective on Alpha 3, for as amazingly awesome as that game is imo it doesn't hold a candle to Alpha 2 (hey that's just my subjective opinion)!
I didn't do my father any favors putting the SNES port on my Christmas List in '96 but he still found it. One of my fondest memories. R.I.P. Pops.
I wonder if Mike the boxer from Street fighter 1 and Balrog (M Bison is Japan) is the same character
You did a nice job of breaking down all the different versions ,ports. Keep up the great work and thanks. Street fighter alpha 3 must be done.
There were more Super NES titles with loading times: "Mickey Mania", "Batman Forever" and "Fatal Fury" not only had loading times, they even had messages asking the player to wait. Some others like "Mega Man X" had small loading times but short without messages.
In 1996 this was the best port you could get
The SNES port of the game was interesting, but damn was the music crap compared to the PSOne/Saturn arrangements. There were details in the backgrounds that were missing, a ton of slowdown and missing voice clips for Dan Hibiki. All things considered, the effort was solid though. I get it, the SNES was no powerhouse but the fact that it handled the game at all was cool.
Excellent coverage on SFA2/SFZ2. Wild how many versions it received. There was something special within the art style, music, stages, and character designs. They were evolving, but also had a fluidity.
*Something a present day entry is missing by a mile
Funny as it may sound this is the only version of SFA2 I ever played and I loved it to pieces. It definitely was my favorite fighting game at that time that set bars for me in plenty of ways.
This was a fantastic breakdown and history lesson. Thank you.
The Snes port of Alpha 2 is amazing, Yeah its lacking and has load times but it plays pretty good and looks amazing for a Snes port of a CPS-2 Arcade game
Akuma is pronounced with the accent on the first A. Not Akùma , but àkuma.
Akuma means Demon , while his Japanese name was Gouki ( Pronunced Go-o-ki , with the o letter pronounced as the o in Go ) meaning Strong Spirit.
Also... Sakura is pronounced Sàkura.
@zach w well yes, the u is almost silent because it's kept very very short, making it seem it totally absent. But sure, this is also true.
I love that you checked this out. I had this port back in the day, and I really enjoyed it, but it confused me since I also had the PS1 version as well. They're both great, but SNES version proves just how boss the SNES was. Bonus for opening the video with Charlie's theme which was my favorite although the Arranged version is always my favorite for most video game soundtracks, and the Street Fighter Alpha series is no exception.
Looking forward for the street alpha 3 analysis! Love ur vids Top Hat! Keep it up! 👍🏼👌🏼👏🏻
People like TopHat Gaming are my kind of inspiration!
Still have this cart and play on it from time to time, I used to play it with my sister and my cousins back in the day.
this game is probably my all time favorite fighter
I had street fighter alpha 2 on the snes it was such an amazing game i was young but i thought thus was the only version growing up.
The rose no longer taking a bath on ending, was a dirty censorship
.
I picked up this snes cart for 50 bucks + my copy of zelda link to the past. I still have it :)
My favorite street fighter waifu sakura. 🐺✌💚💚👌
FBI, OPEN UP!!!
@@KenMasters. think you to replying my funny comment ken master. Boy!!! 🐺👌🎉🎉🎉🎉
Hey Top hat man please review street fighter alpha 3 on the gameboy advanced port. 🐺✌🎮🎮💚
I had this. It had loading on a cartridge, frequent slowdown and severely gimped animations. But, yeah, it was a remarkably playable game all things considered.
The SNES was just a special console the best of all time and this just cements it! The impossible was possible in the SNES don't forgot the doom port , like seriously WTF!!
I remember playing this snes version of the game. Was very surprised when I first saw this while visiting a local video game store back in the late 90’s.
Excellent job for making this video. brought back some fond memories of my youth.
After hearing the guy saying "RYE-YOO" seven times or so, I thought the video was from 2005 or less. Oh, the surprise xD
I think he does it because people make such a big deal of it.
Reee Youuuu
As much as I love your videos and the information you provide, I can't stop cringing at your videos with the consoles.
Wow, the golden age of fighting Games!
Alpha2 alone had so many Ports and retentions! Omg!
Imagine it. Capcom also had Games like. Darkstalkers and sf3 series to rival each other!
Would not be possible with Capcom and fighting Games today.
I remember as if was yesterday that this game had 40megs instead of the 32megs of high end games like Killer Instinct, Donkey Kong Country, etc, so it was weird but it was fun. I cant be sure of another snes game that used 40megs like this. Sega Genesis version of SSF was 40megs cuz Sega native engine allow it to, but was a disaster.
Alpha Series games are my favourite Street Fighter games.
Batman Forever on the SNES also has loading times. Quite infamously also with the "PLEASE WAIT" notice screens that showed up each time you went from one area to another in the game.
13:06 "some stages including..." wrong with the plural. Correct me if i'm wrong. Waterfall stage is the only stage missing. Also snes is strong enough to run this game. All the lag caused because of decompression of decompressed and sound uploading to spc700. It sacrifies time to gain storage. If snes had the storage comfort, game would run better.
You're correct. All the normal character stages and the hidden Australia stage are in the game in spite of some background details either lacking animation or being removed. Just the waterfall stage is missing. Plus, the loading from the cartridge is just the compression chip in it unloading the data it needs for character sprites, stages, sound, and music. On top of this, SNES SFA2 does still include Chun-Li in her classic costume and Shin Akuma as a hidden boss. However, there's no playable version of Shin Akuma unless you resort to game cheat devices.
@@ggn3 SDD1 decompress just the sprites on the fly. Sound samples are not compressed (check with snessor95). Most of the lag caused because of the non efficient sound engine. I debug it and found that each time resets the spc700 and uploads from start sound code, music data and samples. For some reason is not efficient and takes huge time to do little work. I didn't take a deeper research, but one day i might edit the sound engine.
gizaha SNES is not strong enough to run the game. The gameplay is so poor, it’s a janky slowdown fest, it’s absolutely trash and this is with tiny redrawn low res characters. Should have been ported to N64, on a 64Mb cart, that would have been fantastic.
@@youtubeadmin1588 Nice to hear it. "They said it wasn't humanly possible"
gizaha anything is possible. You could have ported the arcade version of Final Fight to NES in 1990, that doesn’t make it a wise idea.
Searched for this game for a long time back when it came out. But could never find it locally in Australia, only import options that cost double the price. Spent many hours playing this on an arcade cabinet. Now i'm lucky to be able to play this with the 30th anniversary collection.
I had Alpha 2 on SNES when it was new. I was amazed it was even Alpha 2, as I'd heard it would have been the first one instead, which, having missed out on Super Turbo, would still have been welcome.
I still don't know why they couldn't give us Super Turbo. Super SF2 was ported quickly enough, and there's not much in the way of new assets needed...
Budget Coin Hunter think super turbo was a 3DO console exclusive at the time iirc, I remember the reviews for Alpha 2 on snes, I traded a few games for it... then I think that made me swap the lot for a PlayStation!
When I realized this version of the game existed, I thought it was some kind of cheap hack or something, until I played it. Just incredible.
The best version of Street Fighter Alpha 2 is Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold for the Sega Saturn.
I had sf alpha 2 on snes. I loved it.
I always thought mike hagger will fight zangief in street fighter 2 series but never happened
If we're talking about impressive ports we can't forget Resident Evil 2 on the N64. Sure the dialog sounded like they were gargaling water but everything else was great.
Alpha Chun-li is more revealing than SF 2 Chun-li though...
The one other game with loading times I can think of is Batman Forever.
Shorter video and to the point. Liked it.
Even the GBA port was better than the SNES port. I can't believe it even made it to Nintendo's Virtual Console.
Edit: I've just remembered the GBA had Alpha 3.
I got that version for Christmas as a child, from my best friends’ mom....but that same year, I also got a Saturn....
I had already moved on the Saturn when this game came out and loved the Sega port to death! I picked up the SNES port much later almost as a goof but was really impressed with how good it was!! Thank you Mr. TOP HAT GAMING MAN for another great video!!!!
This port for the SNES was PERFECT! Last game I bought for the SNES before I sold it to Funcoland and bought a N64. =(
US pros preferred Alpha 2 to Alpha 3, and I have never understood why.
I had this port I remember thinking it took forever to load a match .
I have Alpha 2 on the SNES and I like it the 3-4 seconds of load time after the announcer says fight is no big deal and I think Disney's MickeyMania on the SNES has load time also. I wish the N64 had received some form of Street Fighter.
I clicked on this ready to be disappointed if SFZ2A (one of my absolute faves!) wasn't covered...my fears were unfounded because this was spot on as usual!! I had heard somewhere to that this was Capcom's fulfilled vision of what Street Fighter Alpha was originally supposed to be. Cheers, mate...keep up the amazing work!
Shin Akuma was playable on all consoles via secret code if I remember correctly. Him and Evil Ryu were secret characters.
I didn't know this came out long time ago when I was a rental store. Played this game all day.