LogFAQs > #933704281

#84. Street Fighter III: Third Strike


Oh hey, speaking of Capcoms reluctance to count to 3, that all started with Street Fighter II and its many permutations, followed by going from that to Alpha (Zero in Japan). You even had spinoffs like Street Fighter EX and a crossover in X-Men vs. Street Fighter. Eventually, Capcom did make Street Fighter III. For a long time, the only access I had to the game was the original version in the arcades because all three versions were Dreamcast exclusives for a long time. Ive still never played Double Impact (although I do have the 30th anniversary collection, so it might be time to finally play it!).

Now Capcom has learned to count all the way up to 5, but it doesnt know how to count in order! I find Street Fighter lore kind of fascinating (most fighting games have really interesting lore if youre willing to deep dive on it), so if youre not sure how the timeline goes, its 1 --> 0 --> 2 --> 4 --> 5 --> 3. It leaves me wondering if theyll actually move beyond 3 in terms of chronology with Street Fighter 6 since SFV built up to the introduction of Gill, SFIIIs big boss. The reason why Capcom has been reluctant to do that is because it would presumably mean saying goodbye to a lot of the iconic SFII characters, as SFIII (appropriated subtitled The New Generation) ditched all of them except for Ryu and Ken originally, eventually adding in Chun-Li and Akuma by the end. SFIII was originally not going to have any returning characters, but Capcom thought thered be too much resistance to that, so they threw in the original Street Fighters.

Anyway, Ive spent too much time just talking about the backstory to Street Fighter III without actually talking about the game itself. Like I said, I love the series lore! Third Strike is generally regarded to be the best version of the game, and its a lot of fun. The sprites look fantastic, and the animations are so fluid. Street Fighter III introduced the concept of parrying, where you could completely nullify all damage, as well as be able to retaliate more quickly, if you hit forward at the precise moment of your opponents attack. It was addicting working on the timing. You could also choose your Super Art, and they would all have different properties for how they charged, which was kinda neat.

Ken and Chun-Li are probably my favorite characters to play as in the game. Theyre so quick, and they have so many different things they can do with their kicks. As far as new characters are concerned, my favorites are probably Urien and Ibuki. The only ones I didnt really care for were Necro and Makoto. Theyre both just too slow for me. Finally, let me say a quick word about what a crappy mechanic it is for Gill to have a full resurrection Super Art. I hate that this is a thing, although over time, I learned how to bait him into using his other Super Art first so he doesnt have the full bar available to revive.

---

http://i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/080/145/638.png
https://imgur.com/WqDcNNq