This thread will be to post everything about SF Alpha 2, since his release, to the different ranking system in different countries, to the gold famous B3 tournament, to tournaments around the world, to fighting strategies, videos, scans, opinions, etc…
**The Raking system of Alpha 2 in USA (1996)
LOS ANGELES CALIFORNIA RANKING CHART:**
1- KEN (*5.56)
2- CHUN-LI (*5.53)
3- ROSE (*5.50)
4- RYU (*5.47)
5- AKUMA (*4.97)
6- ADON (*4.89)
6- SAGAT (*4.89)
8- CHARLIE (*4.81)
9- ROLENTO (*4.78)
10- M.BISON (*4.75)
11- GUY (*4.69)
12- DHALSIM (*4.67)
13- SAKURA (*4.64)
13- SODOM (*4.64)
15- ZANGIEF (*4.22)
16- GEN (*4.14)
17- BIRDIE (*3.67)
18- DAN (*3.25)
SUNNYVALE CALIFORNIA RANKING CHART:
1- SHIN AKUMA (*7.18)
2- CHUN-LI (*6.45)
3- KEN (*5.93)
4- DHALSIM (*5.84)
5- ROSE (*5.79)
6- RYU (*5.59)
6- ROLENTO (*5.59)
8- M.BISON (*5.56)
8- OG CHUN-LI (*5.56)
10- CHARLIE (*5.27)
11- SODOM (*5.06)
12- EVIL RYU (*5.04)
13- SAGAT (*4.86)
14- OG DHALSIM (*4.84)
15- AKUMA (*4.81)
15- ADON (*4.81)
17- GUY (*4.75)
18- SAKURA (*4.56)
19- ZANGIEF (*4.13)
20- BIRDIE (*3.65)
21- GEB (*3.38)
22- DAN (*2.95)
23- OG ZANGIEF (*2.81)
JAPAN GAMEST RANKING CHART:
1- CHUN-LI (**108/109)
2/3- CHARLIE (**98/101)
3/4- ROSE (**94/95)
4/2- ADON (**93/106)
5- BIRDIE (**92/93)
5/7- ROLENTO (**92/87)
6/7- GUY (**89/87)
8/6- DHALSIM (**88/90)
9- M.BISON (**87/86)
10/12- RYU (**86/83)
11- KEN (**83)
12/10- SAKURA (**82/84)
13- AKUMA (**80/81)
14- SODOM (**77/79)
14/15- SAGAT (**77)
16- ZANGIEF (**72/73)
17/18- GEN (**70/53)
18/17- DAN (**61)
(* --> AVARAGE POINTS)
(** --> TOTAL POINTS)
This is the full Alpha 2 tournament video hosted at B3:
http://home.coqui.net/evilaro/gcc/b3.wmv
(thanks to Eidrian for uploading the full video)
B3 Tournament scan from the Capcoms official Alpha 2 Strategy Guide Magazine:
http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/8995/b3tournamentpage5hs.jpg
Tournament Player Style Guide made by jason Cole, Graham Wolfe, Jeff Schaefer, Mike Watson and scaned from the Capcoms official Alpha 2 Strategy Guide Magazine:
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/9017/tournamentplayerstyleguides16m.jpg
http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/241/tournamentplayerstyleguides29p.jpg
In many countries Alpha 2 is still played by many players and I’m sure there is lot of people out there who knows a lot about this game and their opinion are very welcome here, even in the countries were there are a very small number of Alpha 2 tournaments or almost no Alpha 2 tournaments theres still players who play this game and/or still enjoy this game and/or have good memories about this game.
One of the best levels of Alpha 2 recorded until today was from the famous B3 Tournament held on 20 July 1996 at Sunnyvale Golfland in San Francisco Bay Area California, proposed by Justin Ratcliff, organized by Tom “Inkblot” and Tony Cannon and promoted/supported by ALT.GAMES.SF2
MIDWEST CHAMPIONSHIP 2000 Finals: Alex Valle (Zangief) vs John Choi (Ryu)
http://www.michigangamers.net/videos
(Scroll down to EXTRAS)
Japan SF Alpha 2 National Tournament videos:
http://walhall.sakura.ne.jp/movie.html#zero2championship-
By TS:
*"A2 was, in some ways, a much more simple game.
Valle vs Choi in any game looks good…frankly, they should be the only two people allowed to play A2 if there are cameras around (imagine if there were two Justin Wongs and they both played MvC2 against each other…that’s essentially what Choi vs Valle was. They make the game look different than it normally does, like Daigo in 3S).
While A2 has a lot of options, but…put it this way. People don’t like A3 because custom combos do 50% damage. A2 has custom combos that do the same damage, and are easier to do, and are legitimately unblockable in some situations.
Yes, Alpha Counters in A2 are good (just ask Dhalsim…poor, poor Dhalsim). …however…it should not be assumed that this is a bonus. You have the option to easily stop a lot of moves (you can literally AC people after a blocked Jab if your timing is good), and you even get to block first. And they’re about 3 times harder to counter (if your character can do so at all) than they are to abuse (the “Choiversal” as people started calling it at one point). In Alpha 3, there is at least a penalty for thier use…it’s ironic that people would call them shitty and complain about V-ISM in the same post, as their only big use other than maintaining or to sudden change momentum, is to stop blocked/confusion VCs.
Yes, Level 1 supers are often good…but, they’re a bit too good in some cases. They frequently do over 25% damage, and have a lot of invulnerability. Which is good for Birdie, for the sake of balance (high-damage games are that way), but also good for…well, all of the characters who are better than Birdie.
The thing that makes A2 supers somewhat queer (and, interstingly enough, the same thing that makes CCs too good), is that, when the screen freezes, it has an odd effect on super moves (or rather, the non-supering character)…the time freeze is a bit too long for said character, and you get hit by stuff that wouldn’t connect in later games, with a few exceptions. You see it in MvC2 with the “one-frame” supers, or if anyone who’s been hit with seemingly random Lightning Storms at close range. So when you get hit with Sagat’s tiger shot super from half a screen away because you whiffed a Jab like 20 minutes earlier, or you get hit with a super from a full character-and-a-half distance away because you weren’t blocking before the screen paused… It’s really surprisingly gay, sometimes. Funny enough, Gen, who was considered the worst character in the game (not nearly as good as his A3 version, for those who don’t know the difference) was considered the worst character in the game (he was somewhere in the bottom 3, depending on who you asked), had supers that sucked. But, he had bigger issues…
So, basicaly, A2 is good because it’s easy to understand (for the most part). To say that it’s like ST would be false…throws and fireballs are still decent, yes, and there are high-damage options…except that they’re more easier and more simple in A2, and supers are twice as good, and you can do 20% while blocking (since I know all of guys play Ken, so who are we kidding? …maybe some Ryus and like ONE Chun Li player…which is hillarious because people talk about A2 being a balanced game, because those are 3 of the top 4 characters). And ST had no unblockable custom combos. Also, crossups worked in ST, you could not instantly recover from sweeps, etc.
A3 and A2 are roughly the same, balance-wise.
Until I die, it will bother me that people (most of whom don’t play A3 and are probably judging by a handful of a-cho vids or heresay) will bitch about infinites in A3, but seem to never mention the fact that CCs in A2 are literally unblockable in 2 seperate situations (when either standing too close, or standing up/walking forward from too close, as you can’t block low). That’s…that’s insane. That’s…wow. Just, wow. I will point out that top 3 characters in A3 don’t have infinites (Akuma, Sakura, Dhalsim…I don’t even know if Japan considers V-Sagat top 3, or 4 for that matter). Most characters with infinites are second-tier, and second-tier characters in general can compete with the characters above them). Birdie, who’s name has been mentioned more time in this thread than all threads prior combined, has one, and it’s a reason he’s a decent character (though you could just go for X-Birdie and try to trade hits and avoid getting hit with a CC).
I think it’s just that A3 makes people feel stupid. Either they find some Chun Li or Zangief player who abuses their guard meter and they learn the hard way about the juggle system, or they get beat up by some random V-Sak and don’t really understand the 10 things they did wrong before they got hit with the VC they didn’t avoid, etc. I think A2 is just easier to jump into, and that’s why people like it. People just throw around a bunch of stuff about balance or how something in A3 isn’t good just to try to justify it, but the point is that A2 feels more natural to them, and that’s really 90% of the reason.
A2 footsie game is…not bad. You can choose to AC anything or throw someone who wants to AC, except that you can’t get to close, or you get hit with a CC. Likewise, you might not be so close in the first place, if they have Valle CC available. Outside of that, you have random supers vs guessed pokes and fireballs.
It’s not that A2 forces you to think, and that A3 makes you master the mechanics of the game…it’s that A3 requires both, but you don’t have access to your options until you can learn the game. I will say, that A2 rewards you more for knowing your opponent.
Since someone asked about Juni: yeah, she’s actually pretty decent. Japan has a lot of character specialists…3S players who pretty much always stick to Necro, CvS2 Kyo players, etc. Maybe the Juni guy just isn’t that good…? Seriously, though, she’s just not popular for whatever reason…the only vid I remember seeing her in was an a-cho one from like 2 years ago where she beat some V-Akuma player IIRC. Don’t know her matchups well enough to say that she’s not popular because she loses to common characters, though I’d guess she doesn’t do too hot vs Dhalsim or Akuma or Vega or Chun Li. Juni is pretty middle-of-the road…not BAD, but…A2 equivalent would be Bison, maybe…?"*
By RWD:
*Since we are firing out A2 tier lists, I thought it was more like:
Top Tier: Ken, Chun-Li, Rose
High Tier: Ryu, Rolento, Zangief, Sodom, Akuma
Mid Tier: Sagat, Charlie, Sakura, Guy, Adon
Low Tier: Gen, Dhalsim, Bison
Bottom Tier: Dan, Birdie*
By Latis:
*As I see it…this is how the tiers of both Japan and US are in A2.
USA
- Ken
- Chun Li
- Rose
- Ryu
- Akuma
- Adon
- Sagat
- Charlie
- Rolento
- M.Bison
- Guy
- Dhalsim
- Sakura
- Sodom
- Zangief
- Gen
- Birdie
- Dan
JAPAN
- Chun Li
- Charlie
- Rose
- Adon
- Birdie
- Rolento
- Guy
- Dhalsim
- M.Bison
- Ryu
- Ken
- Sakura
- Akuma
- Sodom
- Sagat
- Zangief
- Gen
- Dan
Japan’s tier list is wack*
By: Best Kind Boxer
*Chun is the easy mode character in A2. Really good too. Her CC is big damage at lvl1, s.MP anti-crossup, kick AC is long, and low MK into FB was good poke… she even leans back during the FB to avoid CCs lol.
And her lvl1 rush super is so anti-FB block strings it’s not funny. If close, block the FB and super. If further, just go through the damn thing.
Gief has HUGE range Valle CC with his offensive sweep. His grounded CC of green hands into SPD is fat damage. Jumping knees into SPD is practically a combo sometimes (is this the last game where ticks are good?) s.MK is good on ground… etc.
He does have issues though, as SPD attempts are beaten by CC easily, but that’s guessing games. Also, lariat is CC bait as are a lot of his normals. I honestly don’t think he’s quite up there with Sakura/Rolento/Sagat, but apparently the OG people who play this game do. I can remember having this argument years ago, and being repeatedly drilled about how gief was solid 2nd tier.*
By: omni
*Wow…an a2 thread. I played a2 last night at Family Fun while awaiting SBO finals and got like 10 wins with Guy. Roundhouse didn’t work so i sat forever on the char select screen trying to figure out who to play with no RH and guy it is!
A2 Top tier:
Chun, Ken, Ryu, Rose. Prolly in that order. Maybe flip flop Ryu/Ken depending on what day it is but that 4 is locked in stone.
2nd tier: Sak, Sagat, Gief, Rolento, Charlie
3rd tier: Guy, Sodom, Adon, Dhalsim, Akuma, Bison
Bottom: Dan, Gen, Birdie
Gief is hella good in A2 for a lot of reason already stated. You can cc through his spd but you can also just jump knee custom yourself to beat their custom. or even just jump knee and block.
Thats one reason why i still to this day like A2 better than A3. If you have meter you have many options - super, custom, or ac.
Anyways, birdie sucks*
Semi final match taken place in Las Vegas “Arcade of Pros” U.S. Fighting Game Championships:
Alex Valle (Rolento) vs John Choi (Sakura)
Link: [media=youtube]c5nf_wY9kWk[/media]
