The Saturn and PlayStation ports both received praise for their faithfulness to their arcade counterpart, large selection of characters, and replacement of the easily exploited chain combo system from the original "Street Fighter Alpha". Some critics, while acknowledging that the 2D fighting game genre was outdated, held "Street Fighter Alpha 2" to be equal or even superior to any of the 3D fighting games then on the market. The Saturn version tied with the PlayStation version of "Tomb Raider" for "Electronic Gaming Monthly"s "Game of the Month". Though "EGM" never reviewed the PlayStation version of "Alpha 2", in an overview of fighting games released in 1996 Sushi-X commented, "Both the Saturn and PlayStation versions are great, but the Saturn version has a few advantages", citing frames of animation that were missing from the PlayStation version and the Saturn-exclusive illustrations mode. The following year "EGM" named the Saturn version the 36th best console video game of all time, saying they chose the Saturn version specifically due to its superior graphics.