Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

"Dragon Punching into the future."

Well it looks like Capcom did it again and released another upgrade to the Street Fighter games. Most people are already sick of the upgrades but I don't care just as long as the game is good. It could have been better if this came with Street Fighter 3 Double Impact but what are you going to do about it. One thing that got me excited was that Chun Li was going to be in this game and I wanted to see more old characters and with her are 4 new ones. They are the karate girl Makato,Necro's successor Twelve,Remy who uses moves from both Guile and Charlie,and finally Q the trenchcoat wearing mystery man who has to be another one of my favorite Street Fighters. Well you know what to do next so just read on.

Graphics
These are the best I've seen in a Street Fighter game to date. The character animation is outstanding and they sure worked hard on that because it looks so fluid. The backgrounds are completely new this time and they too show a job well done.

Gameplay
They added two new things here. The first one is that you can choose which two opponents that you want to fight next, the second is that there is a nice(if kind of confusing) grade system. The usual modes of play are still here and like the rest of the SF3 games you pick your super art and guess what the car breaking bonus stage from SF2 is back(Even though it did originate in Final Fight). Good if not great job on gameplay.

Sound
I' am not that big of a rap fan really but the rap music in the intro was great and it is good to see Capcom do something original music wise. The other music is great too like the track playing in Alex and Ken's stage. The voices are good and match the character's perfectly like Dudley for example has this typical snotty British accent and Ryu retains his usual voice. What else do I have to say except the sound is great.

Control
Usual 6 button control setup like in the other games but if you are playing on the regular Dreamcast controller then you may have to get used to it. The special moves still retain the regular control input and the parrying system is still here. Good but not great.

Replay
Of course there is. Beating the game multiple times could gain you new stuff(I' am not telling what you get though). There are completely new endings in the game that are different from the ones in previous installments so that's another reason to play this some more.

Final Word
If you don't like this game then tough because this a great Street Fighter game(If not greater then Street Alpha 3)that should not be ignored. I'am sure that this is the last SF3 game and Capcom did a good job at ending it with a bang. If you didn't try it yet then what are waiting for and go play this excellent fighter.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/17/01, Updated 04/17/01