Game Discussion of the Week: Street Fighter III

Added and stickied.

Haven't played any version of Street Fighter 3 yet but I definitely plan to. It seems to be regarded by fans as the fastest and most hardcore entry in the series. The character animation is a sight to behold. Capcom really went above and beyond in giving SF3 the best quality animation possible at the time. They spared no expense in that regard.

However, I've noticed that SF3 has a lot of clone characters and I've also heard fans say that it's a very tier driven game, so it seems it's not without its flaws.

I've played all 3 releases of SF3 (I haven't played New Generation or 2nd Impact nearly as much as 3S though) and while we're probably going to be talking mostly about 3rd Strike, I'd at least like to comment on the first 2 editions based on my own short experiences with them.

SF3: New Generation was pretty good on it's own, but as an entry in the SF series it's lackluster. It introduced parries (which imo, had stricter timing than in 3rd strike), universal overheads, dashing, super jumps, changed how supers worked from the SF Alpha series, and probably some other stuff I'm missing. That's alot of new mechanics, but what holds SF3 back is it's selection of characters. Having a relatively small selection of characters is understandable in a new series, but a good chunk of these characters are half-baked design-wise and aren't even worth playing. SF3's initial roster is nowhere near as solid as SF2's and I think that could've turned alot of people off (since I've heard that SF3 wasn't well received when it came out).

2nd Impact was an improvement for sure, adding new characters like Urien, Hugo, and Yang (who is his own character now) and Akuma as a secret character, bringing us closer to an actual solid roster of characters. Hugo and Urien in particular were excellent additions. It also added new mechanics we'd see in SF games to come, like EX moves and throw breaks. One of the things that kept 2nd Impact from reaching the popularity of 3S was how broken it can be. Sean and Ibuki stand head and shoulders above the rest of the cast, to the point where I honestly wonder what the devs were thinking when they made these characters. I've also heard that things like infinite combos were a problem in 2I, but I'm a scrub who's only played singleplayer in 2I so I wouldn't know much about that.

One thing I like about both of these games over 3S is the overall presentation, like the menus, HUD, and ESPECIALLY the stages. I wish Capcom could've put these stages in SF3 Online Edition.

3rd Strike added a horde of new changes and mechanics, some of which include red parrying, 2-button throws, a different command for the universal overhead. I think most people would agree in saying that most of these changes were improvements, it's stood the test of time after all. I'm always a fan of 2-button throws even though I can't actually tech throws for shit in the games that feature them. I also like how the command for the universal overhead is less obtuse than it was in the previous 2 iterations.

3S, in an attempt to beef up it's roster, added 5 new characters. The problem is that only 2 of these are worth playing and one of them (Chun-Li) is only slightly less disgusting than Sean was in 2I. Makoto is the only one of these new entrants that I can say positively impacted the game as a whole, which is sad since the sprite work on these characters lives up to the SF3 standard. Balancing was always a problem in SF3 and 3S isn't exactly an exception, although it's still much more balanced than the previous 2 iterations.
On the bright side, Yang and Yun were further differentiated form eachother in terms of gameplay, and some of the bigger offenders from 2I like Ibuki and Sean were nerfed. Ibuki remains a viable character in 3S but Sean was sent to the shadow realm, never to be seen again.

Edit: I linked to Moment 37 before seeing that stratogustav beat me to it. Epic video.
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If you guys like Street Fighter videos, watch the King of Chinatown (2010). It's alright, and gives a great insight into EVO.

Pixel art can be so much more than a retro throwback like we often see. It really is an art.

Gill can die in hell. Thats all i'll say.