Street Fighter III was a bit of a mixed bag, really. If you’re a casual Street Fighter player, it’s unlikely that you’ll have played it – since other editions are far more well known and played. However, for fans of the series, it’s both loved and disliked at the same time. While the game was praised for it’s engine – specifically for competitive players - the fact that all of the regular Street Fighter cast were dropped (save for Ryu and Ken) caused a fair amount of fans to feel somewhat alienated – their favourite characters pushed aside for the new generation, with new guy Alex taking the spotlight as the lead role. The main series of Street Fighter returned to it’s older cast in Street Fighter IV – with which most people are quite happy – but there are still fans that argue that number III was the best.
Personally, I fall into the former category. Although I’ve not been playing Street Fighter as long as some fans, it’s been a good decade and I never really did sit with the idea of characters such as Sean, Elena, Necro and Oro taking the place of the established cast from all of the other titles – they just didn’t feel like real Street Fighter characters to me. However, the game did spawn some characters that are more familiar to me in later titles, such as Ibuki, Dudley and Makoto (added to Super Street Fighter IV) as well as Alex, Yun and Yang (seen in various Capcom vs. titles). While I’d be unhappy if Street Fighter III had set the new roster for the future of Street Fighter titles, it’s still an interesting title with a good engine and some interesting new characters – so I wouldn’t wish to deny it’s existence as a standalone title.
Recently, amongst the news of new titles such as Street Fighter X Tekken and Marvel vs Capcom 3, there has been a brief confirmation that we haven’t seen the last of Street Fighter III. At Comic-Con 2010, after discussion of Super Street Fighter IV, Yoshinori Ono revealed that Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition is being produced.
“We have not forgotten about SF 3. In fact, from it. We’ve just started producing to bring this back to you. Street Fighter 3, Third Strike, Online Edition. Because you saved my job, the least I could do is bring Street Fighter 3 back to you.
Now that I have announced it, the company can’t stop us, so we’re going to take our time to bring this out. It’s not going to come out in the immediate future, but just let everyone know that Street Fighter 3 is coming back”
Sounds like we won’t be seeing it in the next few months – but it’s good to know that it’s in the works. It’s too early to know if the game will be a simple port with a few updates, or a complete graphical rehaul in the vein of Super Street Fighter II: Turbo HD Remix. Either way, it looks as though current-gen console owners will be able to get their hands on a copy of the title sometime in the future.
So what’s different about 3rd Strike to the rest of the SF series? Well – aside from the roster and stages, the game incorporates a parry system that allows people to block attacks with no damage – by precisely times taps of the down or forward direction, allowing for counters. The game also includes high jumps, dashing, and Super Arts, all of which were new to the series at the time – giving a lot more ability to move around the screen, and finish opponents with devestating attacks. The game also has bonus rounds, recently revived in Super Street Fighter IV. Oh – and SFIV Seth haters? Be warned, final boss Gill is also a very tough opponent to defeat.
It’s certainly nothing we haven’t seen before – but it’s an often missed chunk of Street Fighter history – and is more than likely the Street Fighter title most likely to have characters and features you’ve not seen elsewhere in the series. I’m definitely looking forward to it.
On a side note – it seems that we may also be seeing a new Darkstalkers game at some point, with Yoshinori Ono rallying fans for support at Comic-Con. There’s no official word on such a title – but we can only hope the concept will turn into reality sooner or later – it’s about time we saw a full-blown Darkstalkers title released in Europe – and with Morrigan and Felicia appearing in Marvel vs Capcom 3, perhaps now would be a good time for Capcom to seriously consider it.
You can read Mike Nelson’s full coverage of Capcom’s Street Fighter IV panel at Comic-Con 2010, here.
-Leon
Frankly I just got into Street Fighter not to long ago. I’ve played games like Street Fighter Alpha Series, Capcom vs SNK series, Marvel vs Capcom Series, Street fighter 2, 3, and the new 4. Third strike was the most recent Street Fighter I’ve tried out and the gameplay rapes all the other Street Fighters including, 4. The sprites was also very impressive! Third Strike is just really really addicting.
Argh, When will it come out when?
You don’t have a clue mate, You’re not a SF fan if you’ve never played SF3..It was THE best SF in it’s time, And it Still has a playerbase larger than SF2 so don’t go saying SFIV was better since it has a playerbase smaller than SF3 which means..that it’s not as good.
I have played it, I just didn’t get on with it. I’m not denying that it has a good engine, nor that it wasn’t the best SF title at the time, I just find SFIV more enjoyable as an overall experience. To each their own – I’ll definitely be getting it, and I’ll enjoy it. I just don’t see it taking over from SSFIV as the main title I pick up when I want to brawl.
Frankly 3rd Strike Online can’t come out fast enough. Frankly it’s the SF game with the best gameplay and to be quite honest it’s better than SFIV in literally every way.