Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

The structure of the 3rd Strike combat system is basically the same as that used in previous iterations of Street Fighter III , but some aspects have been revised to a certain extent. The teams have been changed for the execution of a parry in the air, attacks from an attack ( Leap Attacks , they are universal overheads ) and throws (captures). The parry mechanics was added by the possibility of the so-called parry from the block ( Guard Parry ), which can be activated by entering a command to parry at the moment of blocking at least the first hit in the combo; the successful use of the technique by the player is marked by a characteristic fiery red color with which the character’s sprite blinks (hence also another name for this mechanics - Red Parry ).

Another innovation is a system for evaluating a player’s performance according to the results of a battle (single player or with another player) according to four criteria: Offence (offensive game), Defense (defensive game), Tech (knowledge of techniques) and Extra (additional points); when certain conditions are met, the player may be awarded Special Points . After taking into account the above criteria, the player receives a final score, ranging from the lowest E to the highest MSF (abbreviation for the English. Master Street Fighter - Russian. Master Street Fighter ).

The single-player mode consists of ten levels, on eight of which the player must choose one of two characters with whom the battle will take place. After the third and sixth battles, the player goes through two bonus levels: updated versions of the crush the Car and Parry the Ball mini-games that returned from Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, respectively. In the penultimate battle in the passage, the player encounters a story opponent of a character (example: Ken for Ryu, Urien for Ken and Chun Li, and so on), a battle with which can be preceded by a dialogue between the characters; the final opponent for all the characters is Jill (for Jill himself, Alex is one). Under certain conditions, the player can meet Q as a secret opponent (although Q itself is also available for selection by the player).

Characters

The list of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike characters includes all playable characters from 2nd Impact and 5 characters added; thus their total number is 20, and all of them (including Akuma, in the 2nd Impact formerly a secret character) are available for play from the very beginning ^{[comm. 1]} .

All returning characters received completely new arenas (some of which are common to two fighters) and endings for single player mode; also, all returning characters received new musical themes or remixed versions of previously available ones; with the exception of Akuma and Ibuki, all returning characters also received new voice actors.

New Characters

Of the five characters added, all but Chun Li (Seiyu Atsuko Tanaka ) who returned from Street Fighter Alpha 3 are new to the series. Among them:

• Makoto ( ま こ と , Seiyu Makoto Tsumura ) is a young Japanese karateka who seeks to restore the neglected dojo that she inherited from her late father.
• Q (voiced by Len Carlson ) - a mysterious masked man persecuted by the CIA .
• Remy ( レ ミ ー Remi: Seiyu Eiji Sekiguchi) - a young fighter from France, with a certain degree of contempt for all other fighters after losing his family.
• Twelfth ( Japanese ト ゥ エ ル ヴ That (u) eruvu , English Twelve , voiced by Lawrence Bane ) - Illuminati super-soldier, sent to kill Nekro - his prototype, and able to take on the guise of other fighters.

Returning Characters

Street Fighter III 3rd Strike was originally released on arcade machines based on CP System III in 1999. The release of the game for the Dreamcast console took place in 2000, including all the modes that were available in the games from the Double Impact compilation, receiving an additional System Direction mode, which allows the player to customize some features of the game. As in Double Impact , Jill can be selected by the player, but only upon reaching certain requirements. Also for this version, one additional remix was made on the musical themes of each character (they were later included in the version on the PlayStation 2), playing during the third round of each match.

The edition of the game for the PlayStation 2 was released in 2004, including all the features from the version for the Dreamcast, including the choice between the soundtrack from the arcade version of the game and arrangements from the version for Dreamcast; this version was later reissued in Japan in September 2008, complete with Capcom vs. SNK 2 . In Japan, the game came out on its own; in addition to the standard edition, a limited set was released, including the publication All About Street Fighter with materials on the history of the franchise, a 500-piece puzzle and a DVD with a game guide. In North America, the PlayStation 2 version of the game was distributed as part of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection compilation along with Hyper Street Fighter II . In PAL countries, this version has not been published.

The Street Fighter Anniversary Collection for the Xbox was published in 2004-2005 in all three regions. The 3rd Strike version for the Xbox includes the same features as the version for the PS2, as well as support for collective play through the Xbox Live service. Support for the online components of the game was discontinued in April 2010.

Online Edition

At the San Diego Comic-Con festival in 2010, Capcom announced the development of a redesigned edition of the game called Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition ; the game was released in August 2011 on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade ^{[3] [4]} network services; the latest patch to fix some problems was released on February 12, 2014 ^[5] . This version, developed by Iron Galaxy Studios , includes new modes of training ( Trial Mode ), tournament ( Tournament Mode ) and observer ( Spectator Mode ); various visual filters; network game mode based on GGPO technology; the ability to share battle recordings on the YouTube service and an additional remix soundtrack by Simon Wicklund; according to the above features, the game is similar to Final Fight: Double Impact .

Soundtrack

The music in the game, written by composer Hideki Okugawa (who this time worked without the participation of Yuki Iwai, unlike New Generation and 2nd Impact ) with the participation of Canadian rapper Infinite (he also acted as an in-game commentator), was performed mainly in the genres of house and drum n-base ; elements of jazz , hip hop and techno are also present. The official album with songs from the game was released by Capcom in Japan in 1999; in 2000, the album was released in North America by Mars Colony Music.

Song List

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was very well received by critics. After the release of the game on Dreamcast, reviewers at Famitsu magazine rated the game 34 points out of 40 possible. ^[6] With the release of Online Edition , Brian Leahy of G4tv.com gave in his review all 5 points out of 5. ^[30] .

Third Strike received eleventh place in the ranking of the best arcade games of the 1990s according to the magazine Complex . ^[31] The same publication in 2013 put the game in tenth place in the ranking of the best two-dimensional fighting games, noting that the game is “much better than many thought” ^[32] . In the same year, Alex Langley from Arcade Sushi portal in the comparative ranking of the best and worst “old” and “modern” games from the Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat series named 3rd Strike the best “old” game in his series (from the games of the Mortal Kombat series he recognized Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 ) ^[33] .

• Studio Bent Stuff. All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Games 1987-2000: [] . - Dempa Publications, Inc., Sep 2000. - ISBN 4-88554-676-1 .

Comments

Sources

• Official Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition official site (jap.)
• Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Guide on StrategyWiki
• Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike on the Street Fighter Wiki