Alpha Counter

An Alpha Counter (known as Zero Counters in Japan) are a defensive counterattack technique first introduced in Street Fighter Alpha.

Executed by performing  or  while blocking an attack, the character will perform a quick counterattack, usually one of their special moves, at the expense of 1 level of super meter. In the original Street Fighter Alpha, pressing or  was character dependent. Beginning with Street Fighter Alpha 2, each character has two different Alpha counters; one performed with  and the other performed like.

In Marvel vs. Capcom 2, they are known as Variable Counters and are instead executed with  or. Instead of counterattacking using one of character's special moves, however, it will instead call in one of your two assist characters to perform the counterattack. They are otherwise functionally identical to their Street Fighter Alpha counterpart.