Street Fighter Alpha 3

English restoration

Game

Street Fighter Zero 3 (Japan 980904)

Hardware

Capcom CPS-2

MAME set

sfz3j

Version

rc1

Updated

2026-10-11

Screenshots

About this patch

Street Fighter Alpha 3's US arcade version cut each character's win quotes down to eight generic lines. The Japanese game also has a quote for each opponent. This restoration brings back all 625 opponent-specific quotes, with all 825 of the Japanese game's win quotes in English.

Detailed stage locations return in English, in the original stage panels. Biographies, rival dialogue and endings follow the Japanese script in natural English that fits each character. Capcom's English stays where it was accurate, and Alpha 3 MAX's official wording is used where it fits.

The game uses the Japanese 980904 revision's gameplay and secret-character access, with its original difficulty and Turbo 1 defaults. Regulation starts OFF, restoring red hit blood and the full defeat and ending effects; the operator can still switch it ON. The US arcade endings already contain the same scenes and page timing, so this restoration preserves them.

Alpha branding in the animated intro, character selection, player introductions and win screens, English A/X/V-ISM labels, descriptions and score rankings, Western names in the intro and fights, title and entry announcements, and English operator menus retain the USA presentation. It runs in MAME and on MiSTer with the jtcps2 core. Supply your own original Japanese sfz3j romset; split sets also need their sfa3 parent and QSound firmware.

This is a release candidate.

What's changed

• All 825 Japanese win quotes in English, including 625 opponent-specific quotes the US arcade version left out
• All 24 detailed stage locations in English, centered in the original panels
• Biographies, rival and boss dialogue, and endings that follow the Japanese script, keeping Capcom's wording where it was accurate
• Japanese Regulation OFF by default, with its operator switch and uncensored effects
• Japanese 980904 gameplay, difficulty, Turbo 1 defaults and secret-character access
• Alpha branding in the intro, selection, player introductions and win screens; English A/X/V-ISM descriptions and score rankings, Western names, title and entry announcements, and operator menus

Spot a difference we missed?

A restoration is only as complete as its list of differences. If the Japanese version does something this one still doesn't, whether a line of text, a scene, a screen or a small detail, please let us know. Anything you find goes into the next release.

Downloads

You need your own dump of Street Fighter Zero 3 (Japan 980904) as the MAME set sfz3j.zip. Each zip includes a readme.txt with full instructions.

Merged, split and complete sets work, including nested or renamed ROMs. Use --rompath /path/to/roms to search a collection (repeatable), and --check to check inputs before building. ZIPs and extracted folders need no extra software; 7z archives require 7-Zip. QSound can stay in your emulator's ROM path; valid firmware already embedded in a source set is kept in complete outputs.

How to apply

unzip sfa3-restoration-rc1-ips.zip -d sfz3j-patch
cd sfz3j-patch
python3 apply.py /path/to/sfz3j.zip --out-dir out

The script checks every file against the checksums below, applies the patches, checks the result, and writes the files for every platform in one go:

out/mame/sfz3j.zip
out/mister/_Arcade/_Arcade Patches/_Restorations/Street Fighter Alpha 3 (USA) [Restoration].mra

MAME and original hardware. Put the zip from out/mame/ ahead of the stock set in your MAME rompath (it keeps the name sfz3j.zip), or burn its ROM files. MAME's game menu won't start a set with patched ROMs, so start it from the command line: mame sfz3j. MAME shows checksum warnings for the patched ROMs. That's expected, and the game runs normally.

MiSTer. Copy the _Arcade folder from out/mister/ to the root of your SD card, and keep the stock, unmodified romset at games/mame/sfz3j.zip (split MAME sets also need qsound.zip). You need Jotego's jtcps2 core, which update_all installs. The MRA applies the restoration in memory as the game loads, so nothing on your card is modified, and it keeps its own settings and saves under sfa3r. The MiSTer-only download holds the same MRAs, ready to copy.

Any IPS patcher. Apply each file in ips/ (Flips, Lunar IPS, …) to the ROM file of the same name and re-zip the set yourself.

Changed ROMs

Release history

rc1 (2026-10-11)

• First release: all Japanese win quotes, detailed stage locations and the story and endings in English, with Japanese gameplay and USA presentation.

Related projects

• Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, the later Naomi version with regional presentation

Notes

• MAME reports expected checksum warnings for patched ROMs.
• Fan work, unaffiliated with Capcom. The download contains patches and tools; supply your own original ROMs.