I'll just go ahead and say it- Street Fighter Alpha 3 was not my favorite game in the series. I always had a liking for the simplicity and the beauty of the first Alpha, and was amongst the first buyers for the game when it came out for the PlayStation console. Street Fighter Alpha 2 was just as likable, and still sits in my library of SNES games to this very day. But Alpha 3...I dunno. It's like something fell off the beaten path with me. On the contrary, many fans consider it to be one of the best fighting games Capcom's produced yet. Maybe it's just a matter of perspective...or maybe it was the fact I had my ass handed to me a number of times by the local arcade fighting club down here in Aurora. At least only my ego walked away with bruises and no serious injuries. Heh.

But that's not to say I hated the game. It didn't mesh with me like the previous releases but I still had modest respect for it, if mainly because it was a 2-D fighting game with plenty of stunning design and a few gameplay tinkerings that make it a key choice for fighting fanatics. So, yeah, I'm awaiting the US release of Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max, even though it's not on the top of my list of purchases. I still gotta have it, just to try and prove my worth with Blanka once again.

Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max marks the Street Fighter debut for the Sony PSP, and is the second fighting game for the handheld from the Capcom camp. The first, Darkstalkers: The Chaos Tower, kept fighting fans happy with elegant 2-D graphics and extra features, although its gameplay came up slightly short with a miffed bix of execution in the moves. I still dug it, it just took a little while to get used to. Hopefully, Alpha 3 Max will give us the total package- the wondrous 2-D art of Capcom mixed with solid gameplay to get your combo count on. I know our own Mr. Dawson relies heavily on this, as his Dead Or Alive 4 victory count will tell you.

It certainly sounds loaded enough in its specs. All of the fighters from Alpha 3 will be debuting on the handheld, including such favorites as Ken, Ryu, Sakura, and a strangely-bandaged Cody. (The mummy look is so in for a fighting game, I hear.) Four new fighters will also be joining the fray- Capcom Vs. SNK 2's Yuri, Maki, and Eagle will arrive ready to fight, while Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution will also make an impact. This brings the total count of fighters to 30, not counting hidden unlockables that could make the cut in the final product. THAT should keep you busy.

Like in the original arcade game and the ports that followed, the game lets you choose "isms", battle systems that change the way you fight in the game. Some "isms" work better than others, allowing grabs or setting up opportunities to get some power moves or combos pulled off, while other "isms" seem to work better for the experts out there, who are rewarded with a better fighting performance. As long as the controls are brought over with the kind of grace we remember from the original game, we should be good.

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