17. Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors’ Dreams (1995)

With 1994’s Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the cash cow’s fourth major update, Capcom had taken 1991’s surprise-hit sequel as far as the market would bear. What next? The answer, it turned out, was anime.

Street Fighter Alpha (Zero in Japan) deftly avoided the pressure of following up Street Fighter II by being a prequel instead, catching up with the characters in the interim between the two mainline games. Many of the World Warriors ducked out, replaced with new-old faces from Final Fight (Guy, Sodom) and the first Street Fighter (Adon, Birdie). New fighters Charlie, Dan, and Rose rounded out the cast.

Alpha made a big splash at the time for its cool anime look, quite a contrast to the relative realism of Street Fighter II. It was fun to play too, with smooth action, three levels of super meter, a new counter system, and the introduction of Darkstalkers-like chain combos and mid-air blocking.

But as fun as the novelty was in ‘95, Street Fighter Alpha hasn’t aged too gracefully. The small cast and stage count betray its low budget and brief dev cycle, the balance ain’t great, chain combos don’t add much depth, and most importantly, it was outclassed by a more well-rounded sequel just nine months later. Still, not a bad start for the Alpha series, especially for being developed in six months. — Alexandra Hall