Street Fighter III

Street Fighter III is a fighting game developed and published by Capcom, originally released as Street Fighter III: New Generation in 1997 for arcades. It was re-released later that year as Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, featuring two new characters and different stages and themes, and ported to the Dreamcast. Then, in 1999, it was again re-released as Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike (the version this article will mostly focus on), now with five new characters, improved themes and, again, different stages. This version was ported to the Dreamcast, Xbox and PlayStation 2. Finally, a version with updated graphics and soundtrack, optional content and an online mode was released in 2011, developed by Iron Galaxy and dubbed Street Fighter III: Third Strike Online Edition.

The games feature an entirely new cast, aside from Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Akuma.

Why It Makes Sense

 * 1) Stunningly beautiful graphics and detailed spritework thanks to the then-recent CPS III hardware, alongside well-made effects that succeed in carrying the weight and impact of attacks.
 * 2) The animation is SUPER FLUID and is much more detailed than what is seen on SF2 or the Alpha/Zero series
 * 3) Masterfully crafted combat system offering and improving on all that ever made Street Fighter special.
 * 4) Fluid controls that make fights fun even if you can't execute combos in rapid sucession.
 * 5) Each character has a different regular moveset, several special attacks and three Super Arts (the game's name for the really strong move that needs some time to be charged).
 * 6) On the topic of characters, the newcomers are at worst obviously inspired of Street Fighter II veterans that did not make into the game while still having some personality and being memorable in their own right, and at best so universally loved they became fans favourites.
 * 7) Fantastic soundtrack: every theme perfectly captures the personality of the character’s stage in question. Even the character selection screen has a full-length song about choosing your character.
 * 8) The PS2 and Dreamcast versions add training mode, unlockable character artwork, a complete rework of the original soundtrack, and a secret menu called "System Directions" that allows you to customize how the game works, for example by disabling universal overheads, or making EX moves free to use.
 * 9) *Finishing the Arcade Mode with more characters allows you to unlock even crazier settings for System Directions, such as being able to block during a jump, or having all Super Arts selected at the same time.
 * 10) Talking of Arcade Mode, on the PS2 and Dreamcast versions, finishing Arcade Mode with every character allows you to play as Gill, the final opponent of said mode.
 * 11) The Online Edition adds an online mode (duh) and more content, such as achievements, trials and unlockable character artwork.
 * 12) *The Online itself is of a outstanding quality, running under an excellent implementation of GGPO rollback netcode, and is probably one of the best netcodes in the series.
 * 13) **However, the Online Edition was made by Iron Galaxy, which was an American third-party studio, not by Capcom themselves.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) A lot of veterans from Street Fighter II did not made the cut to any version of the game, since it was intended to introduce a new generation. Only Ryu, Ken, Akuma and Chun-Li got in.
 * 2) *New Generation only had Ryu and Ken, since Akuma was added in 2nd Impact, and Chun-Li in 3rd Strike.
 * 3) *Ryu and Ken, the most well-known characters of the series, were not even supposed to appear, as Capcom added them only to avoid backlash from the community.
 * 4) Gill, the final boss of this game, is extremely overpowered, as one of his Super Arts fully restores his health bar. He is considered by most of the community as the cheapest boss in Street Fighter's history. However, he's thankfully balanced in V.
 * 5) The game suffered some censorship:
 * 6) * In 2nd Impact, in other versions (except the Japanese), Akuma's blood was replaced by green blood, which was unnecessary, in the Japanese version the blood is uncensored (red).
 * 7) * In 3rd Strike, If you play with Urien and let time run out, Urien will squeeze his arms and blood will come out, which in other versions is censored, but the Japanese version is uncensored, like 2nd Impact.
 * 8) Sean Matsuda was heavily nerfed in 3rd Strike, making him the weakest and worst fighter of the game compared to 2nd Impact where he was at a higher tier.
 * 9) The game's parrying mechanic makes its projectiles much less effective than those of normal Street Fighter games, which is a change that can be very difficult to get used to.

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