| Manufacturer: | Capcom |
| Genre: | Beat 'em up |
| Board: | CPS3 |
| Year: | 1999 |
It's fair to say when Street Fighter 3: Fight for the Future first came out a lot of people were disappointed. It looked great, with way more frames of animation than we'd ever seen in... well anything and the new parry system added an extra layer of tactics that put it above any other 2D fighter at the time. However, the selection of characters was lacklustre. Although Ryu and Ken returned, none of the new characters were as seminal as Guile, Chun Li or M. Bison. Things improved with the first update, 2nd Impact. Yun and Yang were split off into two separate characters, Akuma return as a secret character and two new characters were added: Uriel, brother of end boss Gill, and Hugo, a pro wrestler and ex-Mad Gear gang member (as in the gang Guy, Cody and Haggar take down in Final Fight). More important that the new characters, 2nd Impact added EX Specials, which were more powerful versions of specials moves, that were performed by hitting two buttons instead of one and used up part of the Super Arts metre.
But what's a Street Fighter game without multiple updates and in May 1999 Capcom released Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Now Akuma was selectable from the get-go, first lady of fighting games, Chun Li, returned and four new characters were added: Karate school girl, Makoto, was hard to learn but devastating in the hands of a master; Remy, a French fighter who bore an uncanny resemblance to King of Fighters regular Iori; Q was a mysterious trenchcoat wearing figure, remaniscent of comic book characters The Question, Mr A and Watchmen's Rorschach; the final new addition was metamorphasing alien, Twelve, whose ability to mimic other characters' moves formed the template for Street Fighter IV's main antagonist, Seth.
3rd Strike was undoubtedly the game Street Fighter III should have been from the get-go, by the time it came out over here in the UK, arcades were already few and far between. The game was ported to several home consoles, including the Dreamcast and Xbox. Rumour has it Capcom are releasing it on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, but I'll believe that when I see it.
To end this month's CotM, here is perhaps the most famous Street Fighter video ever. Filmed during the EVO 2004 fighting contest, this is Justin Wong vs Daigo 'The Beast' Umehara and an incredible display of how powerful SF3's parry system could be. The Beast is Unleashed:
As a Street Fighter nerd, that video still gives me goosebumps. Incredible stuff.
MTW
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