"What seems like one step forward and two steps back is really a massive leap in a different direction."

1987 brought Street Fighter. No one cared. Not even a little bit. The game was really quite broken on multiple levels. The controls were incredibly stiff and the game had no depth to its fighting system what-so-ever. The game told the story of Ryu (or Ken) who wanted to be the greatest fighter of all time. So he entered a tournament where he fought 9 fighters before fighting Sagat, the 'King of Muay Thai'. Regardless, it passed the public conciseness faster than it came.

Then, 1991 happened. That year brought Street Fighter II and it exploded with the force of a thousand atomic bombs. The game is still held as one of the greatest games of all time with its tight controls, incredibly deep fighting system and varied characters. Like Street Fighter, Street Fighter II told the story of whichever character you chose. There were eight playable characters which has risen to seventeen by now, instead of just one (Ken is a simple palette swap). In addition to that, the game had 6 boss characters which would all be playable in one version or another. Only 3 of Street Fighter's 12 character cast returned. Ryu and Ken, the playable characters and Sagat, the final boss. We later learn that Sagat is working for a man named Master Bison the leader of the evil Shadaloo. The same story returned but, Street Fighter II's influence cannot be denied. It popularized a genre. There were people who tried to touch its crown, Mortal Kombat being the most notable, but none could quite reach the pinnacle of Street Fighter II. It's mixture of depth of gameplay, allowing the gap between a new player and an experienced one to be completely obvious, and simplicity of controls, six buttons and an eight way joystick, were in perfect compliment. It lingered for years and is still played to this very day.

Then, 1999 happened. That year brought us Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Third Strike is the final version of Street Fighter III (unless you count Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition) and was tragically missed. The game just didn't have the impact as Street Fighter II, which is why it was almost ignored in the last decade. However, just because something doesn't have the punch as its predecessor, doesn't mean it's inherently worse. But, is it worse?

GRAPHICS:

Oh my god. This game looks amazing. For those of you who don't know, Street Fighter II was built on CPS hardware. Street Fighter Alpha, a weird, prequel, spin-off made in 1995 was built on CPS2 hardware. Super Street Fighter II and all the versions afterward also ran on CPS2. Street Fighter III was the first one to run on brand new, CD-ROM based CPS3 hardware. And god does it show. An interview with a Capcom exec. shows just how much freedom they were given with the graphics. He said that he purposefully made Gill, the final boss, and, to a lesser extent, his secretary, asymmetrical because they could now. Elena, a character who looks as though she's made of polygons, but isn't, is another example of them rubbing their CPS3 hardware in everyone's collective faces. Before that, all video game sprites must be symmetrical. If not, another set of sprites would need to be made. It's easier just to flip the image, even if it caused in consistencies. Those with sharp eyes would notice with Sagat's eyepatch switching eyes. But now, they have freedom. They have room to breath. Every character moves with more life, clothes rustle, nothing is jerky and every just looks so vibrant. Special attacks look really cool with all the flashy effects and the Super Arts looked even cooler. Even the backgrounds look great. In Ken's stage, cans will bounce whenever someone hits the ground. Ryu will sometimes drop a duffel-bag in the background that won't leave for the whole match. It might even fall down if the ground shakes. The game uses this to let the characters look like they're really moving. The game feels alive and powerful. Like it has punch and strength. The game looks great, there's no question about it. It's not perfect though. Ryu, Ken, Sean and Akuma are still just head-swaps and it's still really obvious. Besides that, it looks great.

SOUND:

Music is the hardest thing to rate because of how subjective it is. Either way, since the game in on CPS3 hardware, the sound quality has also gotten a facelift. The music doesn't sound like old-school video game music anymore with their blips and bloops. They sound much better. Voice clips don't sound like cheap, MIDI files. Ryu and Ken now have different voices and the characters just sound better. The sound effects are better and I never get tired of that Parry sound effect. But now, I must get to the music. The game decides to go for hip-hop tracks for the menus and it's... oddly humorous. It barely fits and the lyrics are nonsensical, but whatever. As for the music, the tracks themselves are good, but they aren't particularly memorable. They don't have their own special melodies that you remember. They're still good songs, they just aren't catchy. They fit the fights and pump you up, they just don't linger in your head like themes from II or, to a lesser extent, IV. So, they're good, but could be better.

GAMEPLAY:

*Sigh* This is the hardest part. In my opinion, Street Fighter III has one of the strongest fighting systems of all time. I don't want you to think that's an unbacked statement. I have reasons. Lots and lots of reasons, but I don't think people appreciate the game enough. The title of this review is how the game diverges from II's simplicity in a more complex fighting system. It's not harder to play, it's still just an eight way joystick and six buttons, but they've added three things that dramatically change the way the game is played. Parrying, juggling and canceling. They seem like three little things, Parrying allows you to stop your opponents move and negate it completely. Juggling is just keeping your opponent up in the air and defenseless. Cancelling lets you stop one attack and start another. Now, considering these are three huge differences, I'll break it down for you.

(1) PARRYING:

Parrying is done by pressing forward the exact moment your opponents attack hits. This will cause the game to freeze, you will flash blue and you will be absolutely fine. This seems like nothing but your offensive and defensive options are now completely different. To put it in a situation, in Street Fighter II, if you jump over a crouching Guile, you are going to get hit with a Flash Kick, no question. It's going to hurt. But now, if you do the same thing, just replace Guile with Remy and Flash Kick with Rising Rage Flash you can survive. You can parry it. Baiting your opponent (into doing something stupid) has always been a part of fighting games and this game will make you think twice. That bad move your opponent did might just be them getting you to do something smart. Mindgames, intense mingames. The game forces you to mix it up or you aren't going to survive. Also, since defense can be done by nothing more than clever timing and quick fingers, the game is a bullet compared to other Street Fighter games. Now you can afford to be more reckless because you can bait your opponent to obviously attack you, parry it and attack them. Strategy. Keeping up the pressure is an even better strategy because now you have a failsafe that just requires timing. Anything in the game can be parried from a light punch to a Super Art and it just adds another level of depth. And it lets the game move faster. A game can ride on smart parrying. However, parrying is something that needs to be beaten into you over time and you will need to play consistently to learn how to parry Super Arts.

(2) JUGGLING:

Juggling is the act of keeping your opponent up in the air by attacking them. It's nothing new but it is something new to Street Fighter. Unless you count X-Ism, but that was in Alpha and it was a disaster. There were infinite combos and 100% for almost every character. Street Fighter III fixes Alpha's obvious problems by cutting those out. Every character has ways to juggle and, while some may be better than others, everyone can. Almost every character has a way of throwing your opponent into the air and you can keep the pressure on with smart timing. Another thing they added to help the juggle game was a 'Wall'. I use that term loosely. Basically, some characters have attacks that can bounce your opponent off of an invisible wall. That increases the juggle opportunities for every character that can do them. Like Street Fighter II, Street Fighter III lets you punish your opponent for failing and leaving themselves open. Instead of characters just having low health, they have a lot of health and require you to learn how to hit really hard when you can. Some combos need your opponent in the corner, some end with a Super Art and some are just quick hands and 1F links. Speaking of that.

(3) CANCELS:

I could've meshed this with juggling, but I decided not to. Canceling is the act of stopping your move, mid-animation and doing another one. You don't understand how much of the game is changed because of this. Little moves can lead into bigger moves and shorter combos can push into devastating juggles or outright Super Cancels. Ryu fans are all aware of the strength of a cr. Forward. Knowing your characters' cancels is the first step to higher play. Another cancelling strategy is to hit your opponent with a quick light attack and follow it up with one of your characters' special attacks. That way, if your opponent blocked, you'd still be safe. If they didn't you can go into a combo. The game opens up now, because of that. Weak moves, strong moves, they lose some meaning now. Weak moves can be canceled. Cancels can lead into juggles. Juggles can lead into Super Arts. The game changes dramatically because of it. It makes learning a character that much more fun because you can experiment and see what cancels can lead to what juggles and how you can maximize damage in any situation. Dedication can lead to useful combos.

IN CONCLUSION:

In general the combo system has been given a makeover. Keeping your opponent were you want and turning their every fault into a devastating mistake while still being able to cover yourself quickly makes the game faster and more strategic than Street Fighter II. The game just flows better and, without the parrying, the games flow would be messed up with all this slowness. It let the game move faster without sacrificing any of the strategy. The game encourages aggression because now the faults of being aggressive can become your strengths. The game switches it up. People wanted Street Fighter II and they got something different. Yes, the game is a large divergence from Street Fighter II, but that doesn't mean it's worse, it just means it's different. Yes, Parrying and the new combo system change the game dramatically, but that doesn't mean the game is worse off because of it. Someone once said Street Fighter II is like a game of chess. Letting people think out what they want to do. Mistakes kept to a minimum and thinking ahead kept the pace just right. Street Fighter III is like speed chess. Hit fast and hit hard. But think ahead or else you'll lose right away. You have to think on your feet and this contrast just makes it a better game. This game doesn't play like Street Fighter II or IV. I went from IV to III and I had to relearn the game a bit because my old strategy wasn't as effective. The soul of the game is the same but the core is very much different. This isn't Street Fighter II, this is Street Fighter III.

OVERALL

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/09/11

Game Release: Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (US, 10/04/00)