Haru Ichiban!

Pocket Fighter

Games
(where Sakura made an appearance)

Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix (1997)

A fighting game using the Super Deformed characters from Puzzle Fighter featuring some different simplified style of gameplay (3 attack buttons, 1 used for taunts) and lots plain crazy attacks. There were no long combos, and you could chain combo simply by pressing the same button over and over again. This game was known in Japan under the shorter name of "Pocket Fighter".

Once again Sakura plays somewhat different compaired to her previous games and she even lost her Shunpu-Kyakuu, which had been trade for a really cool but quite hysterical dash attack. =) Waaaah! Also she is holding a umbrella during her Midare Zakura super move, which opens to grant her a slow safe landing. =)

Sakura changes through many costumes while fighting, including a bunny suit, bathing suit, tennis outfit, (kawai!) a kimono and even rides a scooter. ^_^

Rival Schools: United by Fate (1997)

Rival Schools was in my opinion a great game for it's time. The arcade game was ported to the Sony Playstion console, which shortened it's name to "Rival Schools" (minus it's subtitle). The graphics where not so great like in Tekken 3, but the gameplay was so much more fun that I rarely played Tekken 3 again. A playable demo was found on the Playstation version of "Pocket Fighter". In Japan this game was called "Shiritsu Justice Gakuen: Legion of Heroes".

Unfortunately they removed the "Simulation" mode in the USA version which really was a shame because it appeared be a most interesting addition to the game! Really odd also, that Rival Schools was in fact more populair in the USA compared to Japan. (Udon Entertainment even released a comic adaption from the game in 2006.)

Oh yeah, in the arcade version Sakura's in as a secret character, in the Playstation version she's playable right from the start. In my opinion she seems to be a little more experienced fighter, less goofy and more powerful also, compared to her previous games. (At least in my hands. :-P)

SFA3b

Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998)

Finally, the eagerly awaited Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Street Fighter Zero 3 in Japan) had been arrived! It featured new characters, including Karin (from the Sakura Ganbaru! manga) as a true rival for Sakura, selectable fighting styles, juggle combo's, great gameplay. (I find it amusing that Karin is positioned at the center of the character select screen; Really fits her egocentric personality. )

In SFA2 Sakura did have so-so moves and priority, but her supers where more damaging than average and pretty useful. In SFA3, she had been much better balanced then ever before: pretty much on par with the likes of Ryu, Ken and Akuma. She was also proven to be quite competitive in tournaments. New moves and a great ability to combo (she's also a good V-ism character) make her a really cool character to play.

One year or so after the great Playstation conversion, the Sega Dreamcast got a version with the subtitle: "Saikyo Dojo". It was an improvement over the Playstation version. Although it had been said in some circles that the gameplay had a lot of arcade imperfections.

However, at a later time the arcade got a new version in the form of "Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper", Japan-only, and was based on the Dreamcast version.

Later, a port to the Game Boy Advance was done with "Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper". Because of cartridge space limitations, only a small amount of character voices were ported over to this version, so Ken's voice was raised to a highter pitch and was used as Sakura's voice. o_O There also where 3 added characters from Capcom Vs. SNK 2.

In 2006 the game was released for the Playstation Portable under the name "Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX" and "Street Fighter Zero 3 Double Upper" in Japan. This version also included the characters from Alpha 3 Upper, plus Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution.

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