Gaming Age reports that Capcom has announced that the Street Fighter Alpha series -- "direct arcade conversions of Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Street Fighter Alpha 3" -- is heading to the PS2 in a one-package compilation this summer.  As an added bonus, Pocket Fighters will be thrown into the mix.

Ordinarily, I'd be amped about something like this, but Capcom's collections have been rather hit and miss as of late, and they've managed to shake my faith as to just how well they can pull this off.

Of course, you know summer will likely mean late winter.

Four words:

On-f---ing-line play. I know that's not happening on PS2 and hopefully, Xbox 1 will have enough life in it for Capcom to consider it. I never got to play Alpha 2 against anyone, outside of a handful of side games at a tournament, and it's by far my favorite "normal" Street Fighter.

Odd that they wouldn't bring Alpha 3 Upper to console as well. Kind of hard to judge how well the CvS 2 characters work on the GBA. That would actually be a more significant addition than Alpha 2 and Alpha 2 Gold, where I never found enough noteworthy differences.

Well, Alpha 3 Double Upper (or Alpha 3 MAX in the US) is coming to the PSP soon, and it is basically Alpha 3 Upper (GBA) but looks and presumably runs like the CPS2 arcade, with more, so including that in the collection would probably draw away profits from the PSP title.

Direct arcadeports will be appreciated. I would like to see the home version extra modes/features/etc, but given Capcom's track record lately I'm not going to hold my breath. I really hope they include the home version soundtrack remixes at the very least, they were usually good.

Uhh... this reminds me-- whatever happened to the Darkstalkers Collection?  I was really looking forward to it, but it seems that it was never released in the US. Have Capcom USA no faith in a series with an uzi-wielding little girl?

Oh, crap:
http://ps2.ign.com/articles/683/683075p1.html

All five games in the collection will share the same three gameplay options: Arcade, Versus, and Survival, and it has been confirmed that the titles involved will all be direct arcade ports.

As it stands, I won't be buying this.  Alpha 3 just feels so empty compared to Alpha 3 Upper, and there really is no reason Upper shouldn't be on this. After all, MAX would still have exclusives in the CvS2 characters as well as Ingrid.

They put it on the PSP at launch, which raises an interesting point. If you believe the stories as to why MMXC lost its extra content, between that, this SF collection, the Classics Collection, and the DarkStalkers thing, Capcom seems to be uniformly screwing over console collections in favor of remixed products for the PSP. From what I've heard, the PSP is nearly as popular as the DS in Japan, and it's quickly losing ground in North America. So uh, what's the logic here?

As for the release itself, don't care about Alpha 1, and already own the home versions of A2G, A3, and Pocket Fighter so...non-purchase.

Heh, its so ironic I just found this, as I was thinking of finally splurging and getting Alpha 2 for the PSX (I had the SNES version from so long ago).

But if this pack does indeed come out, then perhaps I'll reconsider that decision.

Little correction, DS sold more than twice as often as PSP did in Japan (where there's a shortage of DS units at them moment since Nintendo apparently didn't plan this ahead). No idea what's the logic though. ; )

On those Double Upper characters, I have the PSP version and they are excellent. Eagle is a particluar favourite and seems to slot perfectly into the game. Overall, it's a pretty stunning version of the game and the d-pad add-on thing actually makes it playable. With that add-on, I could find myself going back to Darkstalkers and enjoying it much more.

It does seem odd that they wouldn't include Double Upper with this selection. I have a huge soft spot for Alpha 2 - it was the peak of the entire SF series in my opinion. Oh and, csK, you're better off without the PS1 version - it was cut to shreds due to memory constraints.

Don't you mean ISN'T?

-Joshua

Given the context, it is clear he meant 'isn't'.

I generally agree that this Alpha collection doesn't sound too inspiring, especially if Capcom is really giving us the original arcade SFA3 and not any of the newer versions with the increased character sets.  That said, I'll still buy it, especially if it comes out at $29.99 or less.

D'oop. Yes, that's what I meant. Behold, even with an edit feature is it still very possible to completely screw yourself up with a typo.

Magic Box has a screenshot of the main menu:

http://the-magicbox.com/0601/game060125b3.shtml

Hopefully having the arcade flyers on the main menu won't be the closest thing we'll get to extras.

I'm looking forward to this.  I prefer the Alpha series, but sadly don't own a single one.  It would be nice if they would sneak in the DC Super Puzzle Fighter IIX.  It would also be nice if Marvel gives them a nod to release a vs Marvel collection.

I'm not much of a fan of Capcom's Marvel fighting games, but I think I would buy a collection of them if the price was right -- just for fun, you know?  That said, with Activision and EA being the current Marvel licensees, I wonder if it's possible.

I couldn't be certain of course, but I would imagine that would be possible. Although Capcom's license to produce Marvel games has long expired, I would think that publishing a game that was produced in that period would not be a problem as long as it was in its original form (no updates or speacial editions or anything). That all depends on what they worked out to begin with but it would have been something that would have made sense - otherwise the game is unpublishable, with Capcom owning the rights to some characters and Marvel holding the others. A property that has an earning life as short as their development deal wouldn't make sense.

Like I say - I can't be certain.

Awesome...now where is my KoF Anthology

The game industry in the US can be f'ed up sometimes...I wouldn't be surprised if they could only release such a thing in Japan. I do know that with music, a label is allowed to rerelease something they released before just fine, on a different format, no matter who has the current contracts for that property.

-Joshua

I'm gonna wait for the XBox version of this (if it happens).  These games need online play, and that's just not gonna work with the PS2.

The announcement says we'll get the original arcade versions.  But I hope Capcom will include the arranged music that was in the console versions.

I'll spend most of my time playing Zero (for nostalgia) and Zero 2 Alpha, though.  I never liked Zero 3. 

Now, I'm curious, wasn't Alpha 2 Gold just a very slight update on Alpha 2 with only one or two additonal characters?  Now that I think of it, it seems kind of redundant to include both?

Yes and no.  The major updates in Zero 2 Alpha were:

-Zero (Alpha) counter damage was toned down and used more meter (1.5)
-Custom combo damage was toned down, and I think the command was changed
-Guy got a new super
-Cammy was added

Aside from those changes, the game was largely unchanged.

It's official: this collection will suck.

http://www.insertcredit.com/archives/000992.html

Wow, I didn't know T. Hawk, Fei Long and Dee-Jay were in Alpha 2 Gold!

Wow. Part of me says "it's probably just a placeholder graphic," but another, I've-been-hurt-before part of me says "maybe, but it's also probably never going to be replaced."

Capcom reminds me of my academic self; I know they're capable of great things, I've seen them do it in the past, but lately they're content to just half-ass it and call it a day.