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. All three modes have variations of movesets for each character, adding considerable depth to the gameplay. In addition, there are hidden modes that add handicaps to the player as well as benefits (for example, Classic mode prevents the use of Super Combos, but also makes the character unable to be knocked in the air and juggled).