Street Fighter Alpha 2 EX / Zero 2 EX — reconstruction kit
==========================================================

Version:      rc1 (2026-10-06)
Hardware:     Capcom CPS-2
Target:       MAME and HBMAME sets, and MiSTer (jtcps2) — USA and Japan
Project by:   Steve Gordon (https://x.com/strygo)
Website:      https://strygo.github.io/arcade-patches/sfa2-ex/

This kit builds Street Fighter Alpha 2 EX, an enhanced CPS-2 edition of
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold / Zero 2 Dash, from your own PlayStation 2 disc
image and arcade romset. Original game ROMs are not included.

WHAT YOU NEED
-------------

  1. Your PlayStation 2 anthology disc image:
       - USA   : "Street Fighter Alpha Anthology" (USA)
       - Japan : "Street Fighter Zero - Fighter's Generation" (Japan)
  2. Your arcade Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha romset:
       - sfz2al.zip  for the USA set
       - sfz2alj.zip for the Japan set
  3. Python 3.10 or newer. Nothing else — no emulator, no assembler.

USAGE (recommended — build every platform for one region)
----------------------------------------------------------

    python3 apply.py --iso <anthology.iso> --romset <sfz2al.zip> \
                     --region <us|jp> --out-dir out

This creates:

    out/mame/<region>/<set>.zip  4MB — stock MAME or real CPS-2 hardware
    out/hbmame/<set>.zip         8MB — HBMAME, with every sound uncompressed
    out/mister/                  8MB — ready to copy to a MiSTer SD card

Use the same output folder when building both regions. Each region needs the
matching disc listed above.

REGIONS
-------

    us    Street Fighter Alpha 2 EX
    jp    Street Fighter Zero 2 EX (Japan)

USAGE (single file)
-------------------

    python3 apply.py --iso ... --romset ... --region us --size 8mb --out sfa2ex.zip

The kit verifies the finished files automatically. It stops with an error if
the supplied disc or romset does not match the selected region.

The 4MB sets keep the arcade set names (sfz2al, sfz2alj), the same names the
Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold kit uses, so keep one of them at a time in your
MAME ROM path. MAME's game menu won't start a set with patched ROMs, so start
it from the command line: mame sfz2al (or mame sfz2alj). MAME shows checksum
warnings for the patched ROMs; that's expected and the game runs normally.
To start it from a menu, use the HBMAME build (sfa2ex, sfz2ex).

ON MISTER
---------

Copy the contents of out/mister/ to the root of the MiSTer SD card:

    _Arcade/_Arcade Patches/_Enhanced Versions/<name>.mra         the USA MRA
    _Arcade/_Arcade Patches/_Enhanced Versions/_Japan/<name>.mra  Japan
    games/hbmame/<set>.zip                                        the 8MB sets

The standard Jotego jtCPS2 core is required. If QSound was absent from your
input, keep qsound.zip or qsound_hle.zip in games/mame on MiSTer. MAME/HBMAME
can find it in their normal ROM paths.

GAME MODE
---------

The title-screen mode menu, EX Versus and OPTIONS appear in CONSOLE game mode.
The MiSTer MRAs start in CONSOLE. MAME and HBMAME start in ARCADE, which keeps
Gold's arcade title; set GAME MODE to CONSOLE on the SYSTEM page of the
operator menu.

LEGAL
-----

Unofficial fan edition. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Capcom. All game
titles, characters, and artwork remain the property of their owners. You must
own the disc and romset used as inputs. The recipes carry a few pieces of
Capcom data: about 4 KB of Cammy's theme score from X-Men vs. Street Fighter
(Capcom, 1996), which her stage music is built from; the infinity and star
symbols from Street Fighter Zero 2 Dash for the Sega Saturn; a few bytes of
projectile data from Super Street Fighter II Turbo; and EX's mirrored and
recolored versions of the game's own art. Do not sell this kit or distribute
it applied to game images.

ROM COLLECTIONS
---------------
Merged, split and complete ZIP/7z sets and extracted folders are accepted.
Use --rompath DIR (repeatable) to search a collection. Names may differ;
required contents are verified by strong hashes. 7z needs installed 7-Zip.
Use --check to preflight arcade inputs without supplying the disc.
--out-dir builds all supported platforms; --platform selects just one.
Source archives are never modified.
QSound is optional when building. Valid embedded firmware is preserved.
--include-devices requires and includes firmware from any supplied archive.
