* Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX.

- Street Fighter Alpha 3 discards the Manual and Auto modes from the previous Alpha games by offering the player three different playing styles known as "isms." 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, 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), a unique style that allows the player to perform Custom Combos similar to the ones in Street Fighter Alpha 2. In X-ism, players cannot air-block nor use Alpha Counters. Alpha 3 also introduces a Guard Power gauge which depletes each time the player blocks - everytime the gauge is completely depleted, the player suffers a "guard crush" (in which the gauge itself decreases in size, thus causing the player to gradatively lose ability to block attacks as the guard gauge keeps decreasing) which leaves him/her temporarily vulnerable for an attack.
- Additionally, each of the three fighting styles profoundly affects the speed, strength, and damage-resistance of a player in different ways: X-Ism provides the highest overall strength of the three styles, dealing the most damage per blow of any kind, but it's negated by having the slowest speed and the worst defense (i.e., takes the most damage per hit); V-Ism has the highest speed and defense, but attacks deliver the least damage; and A-Ism ostensibly features the middle ground on all three factors (medium strength, speed, and defense). Choosing to fight in Classic Mode bases a player's fighting abilities on X-Ism, minus the Super Gauge.

- The controls for several actions have been modified from previous Alpha games. For example, the level of a Super Combo move in A-ism is now determined by the strength of the attack button pressed (i.e. Medium Punch or Kick for a Lv. 2 Super Combo), rather than the number of buttons pushed; and throwing is now done by pressing two punch or kick buttons simultaneously.