Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper

Street Fighter Alpha 3 discards the "Manual" and "Auto" modes from the previous Alpha games, and instead offers three different playing styles known as "isms" for the player to choose from. The standard playing style, A-ism (or Z-ism in Japan), is based on the previous Alpha games, in which the player has a three-level Super Combo gauge with access to several Super Combo moves. X-ism is a simple style based on Super Street Fighter II Turbo (the term "X-ism" being a reference to that game's Japanese title, Super Street Fighter II X), in which the player has a single-level Super Combo gauge and access to a single but powerful Super Combo move. The third style, V-ism (or "variable" style), is a unique style that allows the player to perform custom combos similar to the ones in Street Fighter Alpha 2, but cannot use Super Combos.

In X-ism, the player cannot air-block nor perform Alpha Counters, and can only use one Super Combo move in its powerful Level 3 version. To activate V-ism's Custom Combo, the player must press both kick and punch buttons of the same strength. X-ism has the highest attack power but the least defense. A-ism has more attack power than V-ism and a similar level of defense.

Two years after the events of Street Fighter Alpha 2. Various World Warriors follow a path that leads them to track down M. Bison and his Doomsday Device, the Psycho Drive, and just like the first two Alpha games, Each character has their own storylines, their rivals in their fifth and ninth matches, final battle against M. Bison, their own endings involving them defeating Bison, some of them invading the Shadaloo base and destroying the Psycho Drive, which causes Bison’s body to explode. Bison’s soul survives and possesses Rose, but Shadaloo scientists created him a new body.

In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter Alpha 3 on their September 1, 1998 issue as being the second most-successful arcade game of the month. Its April 15, 2001 issue reported that Zero 3 Upper was the best-selling arcade game of the month.

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the Sega Saturn version of the game a 32 out of 40; they later scored it 30 out of 40. The PlayStation version also scored 32 out of 40 on release.