32| Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Released: May 12th, 1999

Definitive Version: PS3; Also on: Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, DC

It is incredibly rare for competitive games to get a second chance. In genres where there are lot of choices to pick and only so much time to invest, first impressions mean the world. During the 1990s if there was one game that was synonymous with competitive gaming it was Street Fighter II. Initially released at the dawn of the decade, the game turned many heads due to its strategic and skill based gameplay. Not only did it single handedly revive the arcade market, but it also became a cultural phenomenon. It was regularly mentioned in popular culture and even received a summer blockbuster film around it. Throughout the '90s, one question was constantly burning in gamers' minds, "When's Street Fighter III?" Technically Capcom did make a successor series, the Street Fighter Alpha titles. But to many there is a built in psychological factor that "true sequels" need to be numbered. Eventually Capcom did release Street Fighter III, six years after the legendary second entry launched.

Unfortunately the game didn't do well at all. It was coldly received by most players. Many complained about the lack of familiar characters as the game was a virtual roster reset with a much more darker and "weird" cast. On top of that the game introduced a controversial parry mechanic in which players can stop their opponent's attacks without receiving any damage. Diehard players felt that this was a cheap move that erased much of the risk in strategic play, while casual fans were annoyed that their attacks were often canceled out by more experienced players. On top of that the game was released on the new CPS3 hardware which wasn't only expensive but prone to failure. This was at a time when arcades were entering their twilight years and were doing their best to penny pitch to save the small profits they had. Street Fighter III alienated its hardcore fanbase, the casual players, and arcade owners. To top it all of, due to it being a high end 2D game, no console at the time could run it, thus a console release was out of the question. As a result, Street Fighter III far under performed Capcom's expectations. To recoup the cost Capcom released two revisions of the game, Second Impact in 1998 and Third Strike 1999.

Street Fighter III faded from memory for most gamers, but did have a cult following. Fighting games in general experienced a severe decline in popularity, however the diehard group continued to grow. Major competitions such as Final Round and Evo became popular annual events. Then in 2004, two major events happened that would propel Street Fighter III from being the black sheep of the franchise to the black swan. One event was that the game finally released on a platform that people actually owned, the Playstation 2. The other reason is due to this moment at Evo 2004. Possibly the most infamous moment in FGC history, Daigo Umehara managed to execute a legendary comeback against his opponent. It caught the attention of not just the diehards in the fighting game community, but gamers as a whole. The reason it turned so many heads is because it managed to show all of the strengths of Street Fighter III's unique fighting system in less than a minute. The parrying mechanic was instantly seen less like something that was added for complexities sake, and more like a very useful tool that can turn the tides of any match. Due to these two events, Street Fighter III quickly became the most played game in the fighting game community.

It's been well over a decade since that moment and the fighting game scene has never been healthier. Street Fighter III's time in the spotlight has come and gone, and now the days of it lighting up huge screens for tournaments are a distant memory. Ignoring its obvious history, how does the game actually stack up? Replaying the game after all these years I can comfortably say that Street Fighter III: Third Strike just isn't an excellent fighting game, but also the best in its respected series.

For starters, Street Fighter III is by far the most unique entry in the series. This isn't just because of the game's newly added parry mechanic, but because the game just "feels" different. Unlike Street Fighter II which was fast paced and had player bouncing off of invisible walls, Street Fighter III is much slower. It's almost as if the game is telling the player to "calm down and make sure you calculate your actions." Besides Ken, Ryu, Akuma, and Chun-Li, the Street Fighter III series features an entirely new cast. What's more is that much of this cast doesn't play like characters in Street Fighter II or the Alpha series. There are characters like Urien who revolves around trapping opponents in electric reflecting mirrors, Q who controls essentially like a tank but doesn't rely on grappling abilities, and Elena who seems to be dancing more than fighting.

As expected these changes were very controversial. Even during the height of Third Strike's popularity it seemed that the fighting game community was split into two fronts, those who liked this unique take on Street Fighter and those that didn't. However, something everyone agreed on was the game's phenomenal presentation. For starters the game had a very nice comic-book-like artstyle. The characters looked just like a grounded anime while the backgrounds were painted like a high color print comic book. But where the game really stole the show was in the animation department. Until Skullgirls came around, Street Fighter III comfortably held the title for the best animated 2D game in gaming.

has a very high frame count and detailed animation. To be fair it isn't that strong in the squash and stretch department, but it does have its moments.

There is also the matter of the game's soundtrack. Unlike previous games in the series, and pretty much any game since, Street Fighter III: Third Strike uses a hip-hop soundtrack. Unlike almost every other game that has incorporated such a soundtrack, it is actually pretty good. I even find myself listening to the music while I am working on various projects, an extreme rarity when it comes to hip-hop music not made by actual hip-hop artists.

Despite its heyday being years in the past, Third Strike still gets a lot of play as it isn't uncommon to find well over a hundred people playing online at any given time. In many ways Street Fighter III was part of a lost era in gaming. It was made to be a high-end 2D game for the arcades that was meant to evolve fighting games in general. It was meant to not just shake up fighting games, but gaming as a whole. Unfortunately the game was released in the wrong time. In 1997 arcades were taking their last breath as they only had half a decade or so before becoming truly extinct. 2D games were yesterdays news as 3D was all the rage. While fighting games were declining in popularity as the newest Street Fighter on consoles went from being the biggest hits on their platforms to barely squeaking out a million copies sold.

Some would say that the game was simply ahead of its time, others would say it was a happy accident more than anything. Whatever it was, Street Fighters III: Third Strike is one of the most fun, unique, and addicting fighting games out there, that will be continued to be played for years. Welcome to the world of Street Fighter III.