The 12 Secret Characters of Street Fighter Alpha 2: Gold
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- čas přidán 4. 07. 2024
- Although not exhaustive, this video features lots of details on the changes EX characters have over their regular counterparts. As there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of info about this online, most of it just comes from doing a ton of testing.
Going back to Alpha 2 reminded me of how awesome it was. Incredible soundtrack, lots of great background details and easter eggs. Best in the alpha series, in my opinion.
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0:00 - Cammy
0:44 - Shin Akuma
1:25 - Evil Ryu
2:12 - Alt Chun Li
2:49 - EX Character Intro
3:15 - EX Ryu & EX Ken
4:23 - EX M. Bison
5:08 - EX Chun Li
5:54 - Alt Sakura
6:12 - EX Sagat
6:59 - EX Zangief
7:36 - EX Dhalsim - Hry
I remember this version of Cammy was the big draw for people to get their hands on Alpha 2 Gold. They even talked about it in game magazines at the time.
Before seeing this video, Cammys presence is the only new thing I knew about in Alpha 2 Gold.
The only interest I have in the video is Cammy
She was even featured on the actual disc artwork of SF Collection disc 2!!!
Because she is best SF girl.
I really like Cammy, especially her outfits in the "ZERO" series, which look very nice.
Cammy is quite strong in "ZERO2-G," but she isn't very strong in "ZERO3."
非常喜欢Cammy，尤其在《ZERO》系列她的衣服很好看。
Cammy在《ZERO2-G》里挺强的，但在《ZERO3》就不是很强了。
I would give so much for a modern port of Alpha 2 Gold, shouldve been in one of the many collections Capcom released recently
Definitely!
Limited release / PS2 Alpha 2 Gold & the PSP Alpha 3. All those extras. It's like Capcom doesn't want free money.
@@ChaoticHoly Seriously, what the hell Capcom?
@@ChaoticHoly I'd also add Hyper Alpha from PS2's Alpha Anthology.
I'm surprised the 30th anniversary collection didn't include it, considering how many versions of SF 2 it had
This video made me smile because I get to hear an 8 minute loop of Sakura's Alpha 2 theme.🤣
Remembers back in games that you can listen to their soundtrack in the options.
It's absolutely insane that they just... Dropped in Cammy. In this home console port. Before she got into Alpha 3. Like, at the time, she was a BRAND NEW CHARACTER for Alpha. Just secretely hidden in A2 Gold. Crazy.
CAmmys a shert knockoff
Of king of fighters blue Mary blue Mary didn't actually start on king of fighters or fatal fury she's actually from a platformer snk IP years before her first appearance in fatal fury
And her intro is straight from Street Fighter II: The Movie.
@@NeoMoonSevin the F you are talking? Blue Mary first appearance was in Fatal Fury 3 in 1995, Cammy debut in Super Street Fighter II in 93, 2 years before Blue Mary, she is one of the first female Fighting characters ever created along Chunli, Sonya Blade and Mai Shiranui....and Cammy is a TOTAL DIFFERENT CHARACTER than Mary, the only thing they have in common is both are blond and have blue eyes...different fighting styles, move sets, normals, in what way you fool say Cammy is a knockoff? she have some of the most unique attacks in Fighting games, and have influences a million of female rushdown character at this point, GET YOU FACTS RIGHT next time. Blue Mary not even ever appear in any other SNK game before Fatal Fury 3, and if you talk about KNOCK OFF....here I talk FACTS......Blue Mary design is inspired by Android 18 from DRAGON BALL. While Cammy was inspired by a Deunan Knute (Appleseed) and Mysty (Wounded Man)....FACTS that are documented, please share you sources, I will just sent you to wiki and plenty of books and artworks and interviews that documented very well the creation of these 2 legendary fighting girls.
@@Kusanagikaiser999 I thought Cammy was heavily inspired by Gally from Gunnm (Alita from Battle Angel)
@@NeoMoonSevin pretty sure you got Blue Mary mixed up with Athena, that's the only KOF gal that had a platformer appearance long before showing up in a fighter
This is why Alpha 2 was next level. So many cool throwbacks and secrets
@desk, 2:25 sprite is re-used again in Marvel Vs Capcom: Clash of Super heroes
Best 1
The EX characters were great throwbacks to CE, though I didn’t know about the different normals.
Glad to see someone elaborate on them as a whole.
(IIRC, EX Zangief & Dhalsim has a full set of colors while the others only had 2.)
Using them was harder because they didn't have super moves or any new tech
Nah sf sux except ex sf by Arika
Not a throwback, they are the exact versions of CE in terms of technical idiosyncrasies.
One thing I loved about the ex series was every characters came complete with all there super moves including the trademarked Arika super moves most of these have never been seen outside of street fighter ex series which sux because Street fighter outside of ex series all look incomplete in terms of super moves nope we get a stupid handicap pick ya super move option menu but never actually have access to all super moves including the super moves Arika put into the street fighter ex series Arika SF plays with everything every characters feels complete unlike all other street fighters outside of the ex series either moves have been taken out or super moves have been completely been removed never ever to be seen ever unless you got ex series the rest is shert I hate all of them. shert, shert and shert And sf6 seems like a knock off KOF with shert movie seen super moves boo fark crapcom and fark street Fighter aswell
@@redacted2275 They are not "exactly the same." They are still SFA2 characters, but with modified play styles INSPIRED by their Champion Edition movesets.
Wow this was amazing
Secret characters... in these days we pay for these.
You… you do realise Gold was a new version of Alpha 2 that you had to pay money for right?
@@dutchpotato3557 You.... you do realise he's probably talking about how nowdays things like the EX characters and such would be solo paid DLC instead of a cool unlock/code, not that he had to buy a game, right?
Even in KoFs, that must be the game that popularized "alternative versions", it's purchased as dlc. In KoF 13 and the Orochi CYS dlc in KoF 15.
Actually at the time, some classmates tried to make money by selling information about these secret characters…
@@carlosaugusto9821 Still doesn't change the fact that rocking up at an arcade/friends house and seeing this alternate skin/character and being told how to do it with a code/Character select combo is and will always be more enjoyable then "Bro, how'd unlock that guy?!" "Oh you know, just the $90 pre-order with the $25 "Special Edition" upgrade. DW, you can play as him too! Just wait for 3 months then u can buy it for $14.99, and for an extra $10 you can get the 3 alt skins! Not this skin tho, this ones pre-order only."!"
Seriously, paying for character/skin "bundles" has always sat wrong with me personaly. Just put them all in from the get go instead of giving us half a game. Again, feel free to disagree or whatever, this is just personal opinion on the subject.
So many years have gone by, and I'm still blown away by these secrets that's just under our noses. Great job desk!
Alpha 2 Gold was such an incredible game. I remember when I was like 10/11 and I saw Alpha 2 in the arcades and I thought it was LEVELS ABOVE Alpha 1.
i didn't know SFA2 had so many secrets like this! it reminds me in a way of the EX characters from SNK titles like KOF and Fatal Fury (and that would be cool to look at if you were ever inclined to do any SNK stuff!)
SF actually did this before KOF (97) and FF (RBFFS). The very first idea of alternative old versions can be credited to SSF2T (94). Then SFA2G (96) made it easier to choose the alt versions, which became the KOF standard in the 90s. Other games like MvSF and MvC1 used a complicated method of picking alt versions.
SF invented the idea but it became less used after A2 sadly. KOF became the most popular example of the idea because of KOF 98.
@@carlosaugusto9821 right, totally forgot about the SF2 version select, somehow
no the ex fighters in that game was stronger then the original. This game is the opposite of that
SFA2 Gold, specifically.
I wish that "hyper Alpha" game mode from Alpha anthologies was playable these days. Such a cool concept that is locked away to time.
Definetely, would love to see Hyper Alpha get remastered and finished, because it was obviously something the devs at the time never finished and fully fleshed out. Capcom only cares about shilling bare-bones arcade ports these days though for a quick nostalgia cash grab. Just look at the recent 'Capcom Fighting Collection', it lacks a definitive Vampire Savior/Darkstalkers game with all characters inclusive. We're not bound by CPS2 hardware limitations, but we only get the individual arcade ports, as-is. They need to do more if they're going to make something like Fightcade redundant, and I wish they would, I'd pay money for that.
@@Albert-lj5jb damn i never thought of a definitive VSAV game that had every character and on stronger hardware like Cps3 or something else. That would be too good to he true.
@@Albert-lj5jb Fair point - but much like an anime fan-sub - support the official release.
@@Albert-lj5jb stop giving capcom money. They never deliver, and its always been better on the other side of the fence (fc2, emulation, playing classics on authentic hardware with other enthusiasts), anway.
@@benjiroberts4434 what, we should all stop giving Capcom money? They deserve no more money? Should they go out of business?
Just stick with "lol.i dnt pay 4 games"
Alpha 2 gold was one of my favorites. Glad i still have my copies both on saturn and the the anthology set on the ps2
it's great that you take vintage games! The classics never dies!
Always a joy to see Alpha 2 Gold covered! More than just an updates version, its a much better spread of characters, enhanced music and gameplay! Absolutely love this game! Great vid! ❤
Never knew how to unlock them. Great way to showcase the differences and references. You should try this retrospective style with other games and characters
Thanks for making this video. It’s cool to see every change, and it’s really well edited to boot
Alpha 2 Gold could possibly be one of the greatest SFs ever. The problem and irony? Back in the arcade era - non-tournament versions/fixes were basically ignored by the entire FGC. You can excuse 'practice' for competition (legit reason) but it's hilarious now that all games have patches that do this exact same thing to 'improve' the competitive play.
Personally, I don't like version/reactive patching at all. But this game was patched by the TOP japanese players after years, carefully protected and only once. I just think it's a shame this hasn't been tried through enough
Alpha 2 Gold and Alpha 3 Upper should have revitalized their respective games, but people were too interested in using the same broken crap from the original releases. Ditto for the versions of Third Strike that fix bugs including Urien's unblockable with Aegis.
Reactive patching is the only reliable way to get it done. Dislike it all you want, it's here to stay.
The fgc has exaggerated traditionalist issues, so they are against these kind of updates because they are overattached to the original. For some reason they have nothing against yearly sequels like SF2 Turbo, the sequel to Champion Edition that didn't even add new chars. But they are against SFA2G, SFA3U (and all following updates) etc.
Those issues were blatantly exposed in cases like the SF2 HDR and SF3OE where the community refused (or was very divided) to accept the rebalance of the originals. They even complain about those problems in the originals but still won't accept lightly that the game is changed.
I'm not close to the TK community to know if they function the same way. Like about those updates that became a pattern since TK5. But i know that KOF fans are as much attached as SF fans (still a little less than SF fans though). Like in KOF 98um and 02um, there is a pretty fair acceptance of them and the biggest complaints only come from people who basically only learned to abuse the original top tiers, infinites, etc.
@@carlosaugusto9821
Compilations lacking these games don’t help.
'Patches' meant new physically delivered hardware in 1996 arcades.
Lovely, great presentation, nice music choice, love the demostrations of every change in place. Exactly what I looked in a video about secret chars and unknown crap that developers implemented back in the day but nobody knew. Keep it up.
Man, fighting games from the 90s surely had this magic... secrets, variants, revisions, betas, that made them much more interesting to play and research surely.
Thorough reference points, lists, & comparisons. Fantastic Work!
Will you go back to Alpha 3 soon? From a combo standpoint, you could look into World Tour mode and it's ISM-Pluses, since SF6 is using the name again. 3 MAX on PSP is the only one that lets you unlock Air Chain Combos, though that is in Hyper Alpha on PS2, except Chain Combos work differently altogether compared to A3 Ports.
Speaking of Alpha Anthology , there's also visually showing what all the "Secret Option" bug fix dipswitches do (there's a GameFAQs guide for it), taking a look at what each secret Shadaloo ISM does in Hyper Alpha, or just a general look at Alpha 3 Upper on PS2, but with Crouch Cancelling turned back on, to see how that would play without the NAOMI version's inherent lag.
To be completely honest, there's something about the presentation and soundtrack of Alpha 3 that feels like a step backward to me. I realise this has nothing to do with the gameplay and it's just my taste but it just makes it a less attractive prospect to go back to.
However, you're right, there's a ton of stuff in alpha anthology that would be really fun to explore. And those are all great ideas. I'm almost certain I'll be doing more stuff on Hyper Alpha at some point.
Thanks for the comment!
@@deskcombo I have the same problem! Alpha 2 just screams to me what I remember loving about Capcom's vibe as a kid. I do not feel it as strongly in 3. Thank you for your incredible content as always, Desk.
@@deskcombo 90s industrial music doesn’t translate well in fighting games
@@deskcombo Yeah, even though Greg Irwin in A3 is one of the best fighting game announcers of all time, and the new visual framework compliments that, the music was not able to beat out the A2 remixes or the originals. That honor remains with the EX series. Plus, the A2 Q-Sound and pre-fight jingles have been my ringtone/text tone for years!
My love for A3 comes not from the gameplay, as I'm more of a Tekken player than 2D, but specific nostalgia of owning A3 (and A2, MSHSF, XVSF) on PS1. Like, I've learned all of A3's systems nowadays, but since my young friends didn't like learning fighting games, back then I could only enjoy it as an RPG, with World Tour mode. But enjoy it, I did immensely, in the same fashion people did with Soul Cal 2's Weapon Master, Smash's many single player modes, or, in modern terms, MK's story modes.
It remains in my mind after all this time because of how little offline content modern fighting games will have beyond "Arcade, Survival, and a weird story campaign". Even though having "customs" in any way has fallen off due to online ranked, customs + special challenges remains a strong idea.
More to the point, I'd ask you, if anything, to look for A3's appeal not from a competitive standpoint, but from the casual aspects of the many ports. The PS1/Saturn started it off with WT, the Dreamcast has unique stuff with Saikyo Dojo, and the PSP is the only one where you can create a custom without doing all of WT mode 1st (via Edit Mode), has exclusive characters, and the exclusive Variable Battle tag switch mode.
@@deskcombo I feel you. Even tho I love Alpha 3's art style, the presentation as a whole is too try hard for me and the music just doesn't fit imo. Would love to see Alpha 2 with 3's roster tho. Maybe a hack in the future?!
Incredible presentation and editing. Kudos and hope your channel grows a lot.
Great video, desk. Love learning this lore and info I never knew about!
Love it. How charming. The little things… so much love into the game. Man I loved it. Great video.
The rumor is Cammy was planned for the original SFA2 but wasn't finished on time. They used what was left of her for XMEN a few months after SAF2 came out. Since Gold was released roughly a year later, that gave them time to finally implement her. It makes sense given that it's a bit odd to have Cammy's Killer Bee persona debut in the X-Men crossover.
Thanks for this! Was super interesting to me as a person who knows very little about these games - the comparisons are fantastic!!
another great video full of oddities and amazing combos
Really awesome video. Love the detail and presentation. More plz!
Alt Sakura have a new set move (Sakura Otoshi) : F D, DF + K, and then you can tap Punch for a maximum of 3 times for the follow up. (Edit : Correction : The 1st hit is a knockdown, so Sakura with only hit 1 time (Thanks to Rafael for the info)) This is the same move that Justin Wong used as his finisher in his V-ISM Custom Combos on Street Fighter Alpha 3, (except in SF2 Alpha Gold it's a knockdown, hence 1 hit.
Actually that was introduced in Zero 2 Alpha (aka Alpha 2 Gold) it wasn't in the original Zero 2.
I see, so it came first in SFA2G. Good to know.
You can actually tap one time only... 3 times is only in SFA3.
@@Rafael-cz4vb Oh yeah, you are right, the first hit is a knockdown.
4:01 - I can't unsee "TIMER DRAAME"
Fanatastic breakdown on a lesser known fact about A2, thanks for making this kind of thing Desk 😄 (I had no idea about the ‘EX’ versions!!)
Alpha 2 Gold, not original Alpha 2. Not sure if you caught the difference there, but it's important.
The best SF ever made for the arcade. I remember people getting really hype and gather around arcade playing this game
Very detailed stuff. Thanks!😊
It remembers the magazines of that time and their secret cheats sections. Man there is a lot of things I did not inow here. THIS IS REALLY GOOOD CONTENT!
The amount of work this video needed seems Huge ! Amazing encyclopedia of sfa2 !
Suggestion: in the occasion of 30th anniversary of Mortal Kombat, Art of Fighting and World Heroes this year, go over the history of "clones" in 90s 2d fgs. Chars that started as palette swaps based on the prime model of Ryu-Ken, and chars that weren't palette swaps but had very similar moveset like Ryo and Robert. SF shotoclones, Yun and Yang, MK ninjas, WH Hanzo and Fuuma, AOF Ryo and Robert, KOF Ralf and Clark, etc.
Nice work, you are great!
This video is everything I ever hoped for.
Very interesting stuff. Very informative. Well done. :)
7:25 I dunno if this was intentional but this syncs up really nicely with the music lmao. especially zangs little "hurgh!"
Neat! I like how Ryu has 3 versions of himself. I also like everything about Cammy and Shin Akuma here.
I loved the ost choice, simply the best of the best in SF
What a labor of love this video is
Awesome Video
Everything about this video si amazing
What a treat. I never bothered exploring the EX versions of the characters so the alt time out poses are nice. Thank you ^_^ I tried leaving some gamefaqs links but I think those get flagged. Please make a cameo list for Puzzle Fighter and Pocket Fighter if you're able to some day.
This version of alpha is my favorite of all time. I can play for hours on end.
Capcom's legendary pixel, bold, and full Mount Venuses in all its glory. Also, Alpha 2 Gold has THE best OST version from that game. Sooo good!
I love these timeout poses so much
Didnt know about this. Will have to revisit the game and check it out
Street fighter seems really hard to get into historically because it seems like there are so many versions of each game. Capcom is a master at destroying their own markets by oversaturating.
Pick the SF collection and play those games. Or at least just check the game list and play them in an emulator if you want. It's the essential set and a very important experience for a newbie who started in SF4 or 5. SFA2G or the many SFA3 updates for consoles/portables are not essential.
Besides, all fg companies worked that way in the 90s. Strictly yearly releases or every 2 years. And still a company with more than 1 fg brand never skipped a year.
Like SNK, who even made more fighting games than Capcom. In 94 there was no new FF, but they made a new AOF, a new SS and the start of KOF. Then in 95 they made a new FF and started Savage Reign, a totally new brand (their 5th one). Then in 96 there was no new FF but they made a new AOF, new KOF, new SS and a Savage Reign sequel.
@@carlosaugusto9821 actually, real bout fatal fury special was released in 1996
nicely done, desk.
Nice video!
I KNEW CAMMY WAS IN GOLD!!!! She is on the back cover of the Sega Saturn version iirc. I would need to go in my closet and make sure lol. I just never knew how to unlocked her. Great video.
Muy currado. Enhorabuena!!
thx for the effort
There is an entire "All About Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha " (A2 gold in US/EU) book referencing all the changes
Been watching your videos for as long as I can remember, thank you for the quality knowledge sharing.
I have the pcb and didn't even know this stuff. thanks for the research and video!!
Cammy is not in Arcade board.
Early games: "make this long convoluted sequence to unlock secret characters"
Alpha 2 gold: "hit start 2 times"
Today: "just pay"
Yeah that special code idea was invented in SSF2T. Then SFA2G came with a simple new idea, also very considerate, since messing up the code in an arcade cabinet sucks. Sadly the Marvel series continued using the codes.
Merci pour nous avoir fait decouvrir tous ces secrets
man i played every alpha and i never knew that lol (there was not much internet in my country at that time). Awesome job
Very good
Using my favourite bgm from Alpha 2. You know damn straight 😎
AWESOME PERIOD!!!
this analysis is so good, wish I knew when I had my psx 😢
Alpha 2 Gold was my favorite version of the game! 😃
so good
This was so sick to watch
I just did a playthrough of this game! Such a classic!!!
Originally they were gonna have Final Fight version of Guy and Sodom (where he wield katanas instead of sais) for Alpha 2 Gold but did not have enought time to implement those so those got included for Alpha 3 instead. A majority of these secret character forms are implement as X-ism in Alpha 3.
EX Zangief also got the same SPD active frames and range of CE Gief (in SFZ2A).
YOU SIR, DESERVES A BEER AND AN ESCORT FOR THIS VIDEO.
"Hey, how about some WAY worse, in almost every way, versions of the roster?" - Capcom
This makes me glad I found a copy of Street Fighter Alpha Anthology last year
Should find an interview with some of the creators somehow; that would be epic
Aside from Cammy (Killer Bee), Alt Chun-li and Evil Ryu, I had no idea about the other ones, specially the EX characters!
_also a shame you didn't use Cammy's theme as background music ahah_
Ok you convinced me, I did press the bell
Nice
deserves a like
Wait... So they COMPLETELY remade every single Alpha Chun sprite.. To be her original outfit.. For a secret character.. In a console port I've never even heard of until now?? Seriously, the effort old Capcom seemed to put in to have such cool shit be as hard to discover as possible.
That whole redrawing work wasn't done for this game but for XvSF. The Marvel series used her classic outfit.
Regardless the praise in the end of the comment is totally deserved. 90s Capcom was the king, the current Capcom fg devs (since SF4-MvC3) are below their level. They achieved way too much with 90s technology and abusive yearly schedules, and had a superior artistic sense and creativity overall.
I remember an article about this secrets in EGM, it didn't give a complete breakdown about the EX characters though.
I wish I could like this video more than once.
I am so excited for Street Fighter 6 and I hope Fei Long will return in Street Fighter 6
Thanks for explaining the difference with alt/classic Chun li
Thi video makes me happy 😊
more fighting games should do this
versions of characters that plays like the earlier entries in the franchise
Should make a poster on this. The reason why my Saturn is still running. For some reason, kids enjoy this more than SFV.
I was watching the vid and was like is this desk? Ofc it's desk the transitions are too good.
Legendary
Que vídeo top e bem feito. Muito bom.
You used the PSX-only version of Sakura's theme, nice. Also agreed with your comment about A3 being a step backwards in presentation. I also felt the same upon playing 3rd Strike when it came out. A3 and 3S were incidentally the first SF games I didn't like. Although I'll still play A3.
What about some BTFG combos.
Its not a PSX only track. Its also on the Saturn Ver. of both Alpha 2 and Alpha 2 Gold.
@@CDages the Saturn version has a different main instrument synth. It's 90% the same, except that...pretty big difference.
FYI Cammy also have a different theme in Gold between PSX/Sat.
playstation1 version you see more of the background stage as the upper portion is higher then the arcade, saturn version you see less of the stage as they cropped the view by 32pixels, hence why character sprites look fat/massive on saturn
7:04 gief's cr.mk and cr.hk from sf2 are still in alpha 2, they exist with his new ones. They are instead mapped to downback cr.mk and downback cr.hk.
SFA2 was one of they best games. SFA3 was dope as well.
Awesome thumbnail
I have wondered for years what was different about "special" Sakura hahah
Music takes me back to the 90's
Gotta love Desk, man...
Everyone's EX: Got something new to compensate the loss of all their Alpha stuff
EX Sakura: Colors.