History YMMV / StreetFighterAlpha

** It's also commendable that in Japan you could get the first ''Zero'' game for the [=CPS=] Changer, a sort of home system version of the CPS-1 board as a failed competitor to the ''UsefulNotes/NeoGeo''. While some animation frames were missing and both the music and sounds were lower-quality, this backported version was otherwise a high-quality PolishedPort that had ''everything'' on inferior hardware.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: ''Alpha'' wasn't the first ''Street Fighter'' game on the Capcom Play System II, or CPS-2 for short, as that honor goes to ''Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers''. However, it was the first game of the series made for scratch on the hardware, and the smoother character animations, bright anime style, and higher background detail came together for a tour de force of how far Capcom had come at the time, holding the bar alongside games like ''VideoGame/{{Darkstalkers}}'' and the early ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' entries. It would take three more years to truly up the ante with the CPS-3 and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.

* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: ''Alpha'' wasn't the first ''Street Fighter'' game on the Capcom Play System II, or CPS-2 for short, as that honor goes to ''Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers''. However, it was the first game of the series made for scratch on the hardware, and the smoother character animations, bright anime style, and higher background detail came together for a tour de force of how far Capcom had come at the time, holding the bar alongside games like ''VideoGame/Darkstalkers'' and the early ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' entries. It would take three more years to truly up the ante with the CPS-3 and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.

* VisualEffectsOfAwesome: ''Alpha'' wasn't the first ''Street Fighter'' game on the Capcom Play System II, or CPS-2 for short, as that honor goes to ''Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers''. However, it was the first game of the series made for scratch on the hardware, and the smoother character animations, bright anime style, and higher background detail came together for a tour de force of how far Capcom had come at the time, holding the bar alongside games like ''VideoGame/Darkstalkers'' and the early ''VideoGame/MarvelVsCapcom'' entries. It would take three more years to truly up the ante with the CPS-3 and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII''.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution Ingrid]]. Those who like her think she's cute and a decent fighter atop of that. Those who don't dislike her. The fact that she's a crossover character from a universally hated game along with her DeusExMachina storyline in ''Alpha 3 MAX'' didn't help matters at all. Then came [[WordOfGod the official confirmation]] that Ingrid was the reason the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' conflict happened in the first place, as she created [[ArtifactOfDoom Pandora]]. Given both [[CriticalDissonance the fanbase's reaction to that game]] and the box's nature of giving prizes that either [[DudeWheresMyReward are extremely underwhelming]] or [[JackassGenie outright screw the winners over]], this revelation didn't do much to help her case. On the other hand, closer looks at the discarded concepts for ''Capcom Fighting All-Stars'' and [[UnexpectedCharacter an unexpected appearance from Ingrid]] in ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone 2'' seem to have improved her image a bit, the former because [[FanPreferredCutContent the original concept is vastly preferred to the final product]] (with Ingrid's plot importance and various quirks being designed from the ground up for ''All-Stars'' as opposed to being shoehorned into [[CapcomSequelStagnation a revision of a game released eight years prior]]) and the latter because her inclusion came with a lot of SelfDeprecation (though ''[=PXZ2=]'' had its own issue in Ingrid being the only [[AssistCharacter Solo Unit]] representing ''Street Fighter'', {{replac|ementScrappy}}ing the ''very'' popular [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV Juri]]).

* RetroactiveRecognition: The voice of Chun-li is Creator/YukoMiyamura, who is probably best known for voicing Asuka Langley Soryu (and later Asuka Langly ''Shikinami'') in the ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' franchise.

* UncannyValley: It may be the style, but some of the artwork done for the series can come across as pretty strange. Take a look at Dan and Zangief in the picture on this article's main page for an example of this.

* FanonDiscontinuity: Some fans would rather pretend that Ingrid's appearance in ''Alpha 3 MAX'' didn't happen.

* FandomRivalry: A rare case of "Inner-Fandom" Rivalry, as this series developed a heated one with the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'' series. Both games were developed concurrently as follow-ups to the massive successful ''II'', with ''Alpha'' serving as a prequel while '''III''' was the sequel, with two separate development teams working on the games. Naturally this caused a heated debate of which game was the superior successor to ''II'', not helping matters that '''III''' ultimately was something of an AcclaimedFlop.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: ''Alpha 2'' developed a large [[TournamentPlay competitive following]] in the United States, especially on the West Coast. This is in contrast to its native Japan where it wasn't received as well, especially compared to its sequel, ''Alpha 3''. It came to the point where it was generally accepted that the U.S. would hands down beat Japan if they ever competed in the game, a reverse of what usually happens.

** Cody, thanks in part to [[InstitutionalApparel his appearance]] and [[DarkerAndEdgier new outlook]] [[SameCharacterButDifferent on life]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIL6K-oL760 His theme]] in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV SSFIV]]'' just happened to be another nudge in the right direction, and he'd go on to return in Season 3 of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV''--this time as the new mayor of Metro City!

* TooCoolToLive: Charlie, according to WordOfGod, does everything Guile does but better (sure, he taught Guile everything he knows in the first place), demonstrated in-game by his being able to throw Sonic Booms one-handed (or even out of his feet). And we can't have one of ''Street Fighter''[='s=] poster boys being overshadowed, can we? [[DoomedByCanon Bye bye, Charlie.]] He eventually [[BackFromTheDead came back]] in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', though. [[spoiler:Only to die ''again'' in a HeroicSacrifice so that Bison could be weakened enough for Ryu to finish the job.]]

** Charlie, who has the terrible luck of dying in his ending ''[[TheyKilledKennyAgain in every single game]]''. Only his ''Alpha 3'' ending [[HeroicSacrifice has any semblance of hope and dignity to it]], but that's of little consolation. Twisted further in ''V'', where it's revealed that [[spoiler:it was his ''Alpha 2'' ending that was actually canon, with Charlie's betrayal by Air Force squadmates (implied to be Shadaloo moles), death, and revival having turned him into a much darker and far more jaded character, compounded by the fact that he's LivingOnBorrowedTime and later ends up dying for good in a different HeroicSacrifice]].

* BaseBreakingCharacter: [[VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution Ingrid]]. Those who like her think she's cute and a decent fighter atop of that. Those who don't disliked her. The fact that she was a crossover character from a universally-hated game, and her DeusExMachina storyline didn't help matters at all. This is even more so when it was confirmed that she was the reason the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' conflict happened in the first place. Given both the [[CriticalDissonance fanbase's reaction]] to that game and the box's nature of giving prizes that are either [[DudeWheresMyReward extremely underwhelming]] or outright screws the winners over, she's really not helping her case any.
* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: V-ism is why it just isn't as fun watching people play ''Alpha 3'' competitively. One of the best ''Street Fighter'' games, awesome to play....but without V-ism.

** Rolento, who was one of the most commonly-requested characters for ''Super Street Fighter IV'' and even managed to show up in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken'' years after his last appearance (''[[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2MarkOfTheMillennium Capcom vs. SNK 2]]''), and eventually made it in ''Ultra Street Fighter IV''.
** Cody, thanks in part to his appearance and [[DarkerAndEdgier new outlook]] [[SameCharacterButDifferent on life]]. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIL6K-oL760 His theme]] in ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV SSFIV]]'' just happened to be another nudge in the right direction.
** Karin. For a girl who had only appeared in ''one'' canonical game and two other games (''VideoGame/CapcomFightingEvolution'' and ''VideoGame/NamcoXCapcom'', where she's paired with Sakura no less) prior to ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'', she has a surprisingly large fan following, which naturally lead to Karin being one of the most fan requested characters for ''SFIV'' (alongside Rainbow Mika, [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Elena]], and Rolento). This eventually reached the point where, in an [[http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2013/mar/29/results-capcoms-street-fighter-favorite-characters-popularity-poll/ official poll]] by Capcom, she was rated the #1 most popular character in Japan, even more popular than Ryu himself. Her popularity was likely a factor in her return in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV''.
** R. Mika has likely reached this status, if not after missing out on ''[=SFxT=]'' (and thus a long-awaited chance to team up with Zangief), then most certainly after being set up as the butt of a cruel joke alongside [[VideoGame/StreetFighterI Retsu]] for Decapre's reveal in ''Ultra Street Fighter IV''. She returned in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', much to the delight of her fans.

* EpilepticTrees: In ''VideoGame/RivalSchools'' (a series with loose ties to ''SF''), there is a character who goes by the name of Ran Hibiki. Given that Hinata learned how to fight by watching a video by Ken and Chairperson practices Saikyo, fans have been wondering if Ran is a relative of Dan's (particularly, his sister). The CFN profiles for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' would canonize Dan's sister from his ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'' ending (and name her '''Yuri'''ko in what is yet another [[TakeThat rib on]] ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''), but the jury's still out on Ran.

** The crouch cancel bug in ''[=SFA3=]'' (basically, being able to cancel longer move recoveries by crouching during a Custom Combo, which made it so that since the character using it never entered a neutral state, their opponent never got an opportunity to flip out of their combo) which made the already powerful V-Ism borderline broken by allowing players to kill their opponents in one long combo.

* IronWoobie: Rose. Kind of comes with the territory of [[spoiler:being the good part of Bison's soul expunged from his body]], but things seem to almost ''never'' go Rose's way. Even so, she's completely dedicated to her mission of stamping out evil, no matter the toll it takes on her.

* StoicWoobie: [[TragicHero Cody]]. [[DullSurprise He barely bats an eyelash at anything]] since he's been incarcerated, and though he ultimately will continue to fight the good fight against wrongdoers, Cody believes [[FallenHero he's no longer the hero from his Metro City glory days]], to the point he tells Guy in his ''Super Street Fighter IV'' ending that he thinks jail is where he belongs. It takes until the events of ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', where he (at Haggar's suggestion) becomes the new mayor of Metro City, that Cody ''finally'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding gets out of his funk and turns his life around]].

** [[SNKBoss Final Bison]]'s Final Psycho Crusher from ''Alpha 3''. It does ridiculous amounts of damage regardless of if you block it or not. The only way to avoid it is to use a high-priority move (i.e. {{Shoryuken}}), WallJump, or, if you're Akuma/Evil Ryu, Ashura Senku it out of there. The first two require critical timing and ''a lot'' of luck. On top of that, Bison's boss-exclusive Shadaloo-ism allows him to build meter incredibly fast, meaning he can abuse it multiple times per round [[AIRoulette if he's feeling nasty]]. Making matters worse is the fact that if you lose to Bison, that's it. You don't get a chance to continue and try again; it just goes straight to the [[DownerEnding bad ending]]. It's even worse at the end of the World Tour in the Dreamcast and PSP versions where you fight ''two of him '''with infinite Super gauge''''', meaning you're bound to take many defeats to the sheer prospect of two Final Bison spamming their Final Psycho Crusher ad nauseam at you. Fortunately his AI can be read like an open book as you're given cues to when the CPU will throw that attack at you so you can try and react accordingly.

** Shin Akuma. He's Akuma without his usual drawbacks: he has very high recovery, his moves have high priority, and the psychic AI will make sure to combo the hell out of you. In fact, you might actually ''learn to play as Akuma just by getting your ass handed to you by the boss version''.
* TooCoolToLive: Charlie, according to WordOfGod, does everything Guile does but better (sure, he taught Guile everything he knows in the first place), demonstrated in-game by his being able to throw Sonic Booms one-handed (or even out of his feet). And we can't have one of ''Street Fighter''[='s=] poster boys being overshadowed, can we? Bye bye, Charlie. He eventually [[BackFromTheDead came back]] in ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'', though. [[spoiler:Only to die ''again'' in a HeroicSacrifice so that Bison was weakened enough for Ryu to finish the job.]]

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Dan. Storywise, he isn't taken seriously as a fighter. In reality, he's popular due to his JokeCharacter status.

** Charlie.

** Juni and Juli from ''3''. Specially in Juni's [[TearJerker/StreetFighter heartbreaking ending]]. [[spoiler:Double for [[TheWoobie Juli/Julia]], when you see [[EmptyShell what]] [[EmotionlessGirl happened]] [[TraumaInducedAmnesia to her]] by the time ''SSFIV'' happens.]]

* CrazyAwesome: Rolento is ''way'' fixated with military jargon and utopic dreams, but hey, he can dish it out pretty well.

* {{Mondegreen}}:
--> "SOUL FUCK!" [[note]]Rose's Soul Spark. Can retroactively apply to her voice acting in this series, though this isn't all too common.[[/note]]

** Shin Akuma. He's Akuma without his usual drawbacks.

** [[SNKBoss Final Bison]]'s Final Psycho Crusher from ''Alpha 3''. It does ridiculous amounts of damage regardless of if you block it or not. The only way to avoid it is to use a high-priority move (i.e. {{Shoryuken}}), WallJump, or, if you're Akuma/Evil Ryu, Ashura Senku it out of there. The first two require critical timing and ''a lot'' of luck. On top of that, Bison's boss-exclusive Shadaloo-ism allows him to build meter incredibly fast, meaning he can abuse it multiple times per round [[AIRoulette if he's feeling nasty]]. Making matters worse is the fact that if you lose to Bison, that's it. You don't get a chance to continue and try again; it just goes straight to the [[DownerEnding bad ending]].

** Ingrid. Despite appearing in few games, [[http://fb.namcobandaigames.com/fbtekken/statistics_user.php?sid=78423 she is one of the most voted characters]] by Japanese fans for ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken Tekken X Street Fighter]]''... in Japan at least.

** Ingrid. Despite appearing in few games, [[http://fb.namcobandaigames.com/fbtekken/statistics_user.php?sid=78423 she is one of the most voted characters]] by Japanese fans for ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken Tekken X Street Fighter]]''... in Japan at least. In America? Well... see above.

** Charlie. The fact that's he's the [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark Kenny]] of the series (see TooCoolToLive below) only seems to have bolstered his popularity among the fanbase.

** Ingrid. Despite appearing in few games, [[http://fb.namcobandaigames.com/fbtekken/statistics_user.php?sid=78423 she is one of the most voted characters]] by Japanese fans for ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken Tekken X Street Fighter]]''.

* ScrappyMechanic: V-ism is why it just isn't as fun watching people play ''Alpha 3'' competitively. One of the best ''Street Fighter'' games, awesome to play....but without V-ism.

** Maki was the darkhorse of ''VideoGame/FinalFight 2'', hence her appearance in the handheld versions of ''Alpha 3'' following [[UnexpectedCharacter a surprise appearance]] in ''[[VideoGame/CapcomVsSNK2MarkOfTheMillennium Capcom vs. SNK 2]]''. And to pose a somewhat irrelevant question: Are ''all'' the {{ninja}}s in this series darkhorses?

* EpilepticTrees: In ''VideoGame/RivalSchools'' (a series with loose ties to ''SF''), there is a character who goes by the name of Ran Hibiki. Given that Hinata learned how to fight by watching a video by Ken and Chairperson practices Saikyo, fans have been wondering if Ran is a relative of Dan's (particularly, his sister). The CFN profiles for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' would canonize Dan's sister from his ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'' ending (and name her '''Yuri'''ko in what is likely yet another [[TakeThat rib on]] ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''), but the jury's still out on Ran.

* NightmareFuel: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0ZJwo2HuQw M. Bison's ending]] in ''Alpha 2''.

** Shin Akuma. He's Akuma without his usual drawbacks in these games.

* UnpopularPopularCharacter: Dan.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Although Guy is canonically married to Rent, at least by ''Final Fight: Streetwise'', he's been paired with Maki (Rena's sister, and thus his sister-in-law), Rose, and [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Ibuki]], among others. In particular, Guy/Rose reached FanPreferredCouple status, thanks in part to their interactions in ''Super Street Fighter IV''.

* HilariousInHindsight:
** The Biblical reference to Sodom's name, which was intended as a reference to the heavy metal band Sodom.
** Early in 2013, some ROM makers managed to make [[http://shoryuken.com/2013/03/04/error00001-adds-rolento-to-street-fighter-iv/ a hack]] of ''SFIV'' that let you play as Rolento using his model from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken''. In July 2013, Rolento was announced as one of the new characters to be included in ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'', which basically ported him over from ''[=SFxT=]'' along with Poison, Hugo, and Elena.

** Early in 2013, some ROM makers managed to make [[http://shoryuken.com/2013/03/04/error00001-adds-rolento-to-street-fighter-iv/ a SFIV hack that let you play as Rolento]] (using his model from ''VideoGame/StreetFighterXTekken''). In July 2013, Rolento was announced as one of the new characters to be included in ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' (which basically ported him over from ''[=SFxT=]'' along with Poison, Hugo, and Elena).
* HoYay\NoYay: Bison commenting about Dhalsim's "excellent body" before match.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Although Guy is canonically married to Rena (at least by ''Final Fight: Streetwise''), he's been paired with Maki (Rena's sister, and thus his sister-in-law), Rose, and [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII Ibuki]], among others. In particular, Guy/Rose is ''rapidly'' approaching FanPreferredCouple status, thanks in part to their interactions in ''Super Street Fighter IV''.

* {{Mondegreen}}:
--> "SOUL FUCK!" [[note]]Rose's Soul Spark, as per the dub of ''IV''. Can retroactively apply to her voice acting in this series, though this isn't all too common.[[/note]]

** Birdie's Murderer Chain. Go... to Heaven!

** Final Bison in ''Street Fighter Alpha 3''. Aside from ThatOneAttack above, early versions of the game didn't let the player continue if they lost to him.
** Shin Akuma. Basically Akuma without his usual drawbacks in these games.

* EpilepticTrees: In ''VideoGame/RivalSchools'' (a series with loose ties to ''SF''), there is a character who goes by the name of Ran Hibiki. Given that Hinata learned how to fight by watching a video by Ken and Chairperson practices Saikyo, fans have been wondering if Ran is a relative of Dan's (particularly, his sister). The CFN profiles for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'' would canonize Dan's sister from his ''VideoGame/MarvelSuperHeroesVsStreetFighter'' ending (and name her '''Yuri'''ko in yet another rib on ''VideoGame/ArtOfFighting''), but the jury's still out on Ran.