Customer Reviews

Street Fighter III 3rd Strike

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Finally, after over half a decade, it has arrived: the much awaited third Street Fighter game. As usual, Capcom keeps releasing updated versions to perfect their product. This is the third revision - hence the subtitle 3rd Strike. If you're not familiar with Street Figter III, you're in for a shock: Capcom axed all existing characters!!!

The only ones left are the Shotokan guys: Ryu, Ken and the powerful Akuma. Add to this another one, Sean - a young Brazillian kid who wants Ken to train him. But no worries - most of these characters resemble the old ones. Like Necro, who is a lot like Dhalsim. And Hugo could be Zangief's stronger German brother. New characters have also been added in Third Strike. You've got the Guile-esque Remy, Twelve, Q, a playable Akuma and the karate girl Makato. This game also marks the return of 32-year old Chun Li, who has been changed drastically yet again. She plays/handles different and is not as easily accessible as she used to be.

Are you tired of all the crazy VS and Alpha games lately? Capcom pressed on the reset button and started all over again with Street Fighter III. No air blocking, no alpha counters and only one super art you choose to perform in battle. This is old skool Street Fighter. It's all about skill - not flair. Anyone could go through Marvel vs Capcom 2 and win by mashing all the buttons at once. Those players don't stand a chance in this game. The key to winning here is having skill & strategy and adjusting it accordingly to your opponent's fighting style. So basically, you really have to know every timing and frame of your character. This already indicates that 3rd Strike isn't for newbies - only for the hardcore fans.

SFIII also introduced parrying - which is a new way of blocking incoming attacks. Instead of just pressing backwards and down, you time your parry right and press forward or down at the moment you are about to get hit. When you do this, you'll recover much quicker (since you parry in a fighting stance with fists ready) and freeze your opponent for a short instant to counter attack immediately. But to master this, you will have to practice A LOT!!! I've spent months of practice to perfect it. Now I can parry every Shinkuu-Hadoken or Hurricane Kick Ryu throws at me. And mastering this technique gives you the winning edge. But it's not easy - you have to sustain your timing correctly to properly perform a parry.

Other new features include; leap attacks (which punishes turtles), the return of bonus rounds (smash the SUV and parry basketballs), a grading system that gives you a grade for your fighting skills after each character you defeat, and finally, the Progressive Hit Frame System - a nifty pixel precise targeting system that determines the amount of damage your apponent receives depending on the spot you hit them (i.e. Air-kicking in the gut will detract more energy than in the shin)

The thing you'll notice right away when you load up the disc is the excellent presentation. The intro shows flashes and zooms of rough sketches of the game's characters. Add to this a Street Fighter rap tune (yes!! Rapping in Street Fighter!!) and you've got one of the most impressive intros ever done in a Street Fighter game. The character animations are incredible! They're very smooth and packed with frames of fluidity. It's like wacthing an animated Manga movie. The art also has a comic book style to it. Excellent vibrant colouring!!

The biggest change over the previous versions of Street Fighter III, is attitude. This revision is all about it. The voices have been changed; They are more aggrevise and show much more character. Another amazing aspect of the game is the music. It's a mixture of acid jazz, hiphop and techno. Like I said before, there are a few Street Fighter raps included, done by the well established Canadian hiphop artist Infinite. My favourite tunes are the ones in the NYC stage (acid jazzy) and Ibuki's, Akuma's and Necro's stage. These are all excellent drum 'n bass songs. No whole soundtrack can ever replace the memoriable tracks from Street Fighter II, but the piano tune after completing the game is really soothing. The ability to listen to all these tracks in the menu is a great addition.

So if you like 100% 2D fighting games and want to discover your true Street Fighter skills, I urge you to get yourself this wicked old skool fighting game. No Capcom/Street Fighter fan should be without it!

All right, all you old-school, 2-D fight fans out there...this is it. The best 2-D fighter on any home console (with Marvel vs. Capcom 2 a CLOSE second) finally arrives on the DC. Capcom may have yet to learn how to count past three (heck, it took 'em eight years to get past TWO!) but this one is absolutely the greatest of the Street Fighter series. The characters are plentiful (19 in all); their animation, just like the box ad says, seamless (if a tad pixelated). Gameplay is just like we Street Fighter fans like it; with the addition of a few new tricks (like parrying and leap attacks to confuse low-blockers). Backgrounds are beautiful as usual, and some of the items in the stages interact with the fight (like the leaves shifting on the ground when someone's head makes impact with it). The music's great too; a nice blend of jazz/fusion and cranking guitar. All that and the return of fan-favorite Chun-Li make for a wonderful fighting experience for just about anyone. You'll have some good fun with figuring out the new parrying system, the super arts, bonus stages, etc. as well. Even though the gameplay may be a little simplistic to some (especially Marvel vs. Capcom 2 fans), it's complex in its simplicity and should give you at least a few months of steady play, which is pretty good for a fighting game. The only reasons I gave it four stars is that the computer opponents are rather hard to beat, and if you're new to fighting games, that's trouble; and while the fighters move as fluidly as running water, they look a little too rough around the edges for Dreamcast standards, especially when they were hand-drawn.

Quite simply, SF3: New Generation was the game that single-handedly got me to go back to the otherwise lackluster local arcade to waste my hard-earned paycheck. The beautiful graphics and superb gameplay got me dropping quarters like I was back in the wonder years of Junior High. When SF3: Third Strike was announced for the Dreamcast, it locked in my decision to buy Sega's amazing system....

I'm astonished that people seem to be of two minds when it comes to SF3. On the one hand, people complain about the gameplay. On the other hand, they complain about the character selection. Why anybody would take issue with these elements is totally beyond me.

The gameplay in SF3 can be summed up in one word: stunning... unless you're some caffeine addicted speed freak. Games like SF Alpha 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 have given rise to insanely-paced, combo-intensive, button mashing frenzy levels of competition, and while this is good in its own right, SF3 takes off in the other direction entirely. Combat is deliberate and meticulous- you have to play defensively, watch for openings, and then masterfully execute your attack, or your toast. If you're going to overpower your opponent, you have to do it through skill, planning, and attentiveness, not button-mashing aggression. This makes SF3 so much more intense than anything you've ever played before, even more strategy-minded fighters like Soul Calibur. It's a truly amazing experience.

The graphics in SF3, likewise, are amazing. While the resolution could be better, it's still as good as any other 2D fighter out there, and the animation and the pure STYLE of the graphics put any other 2D fighter to shame. It is a beautiful game to behold, and especially to play.

And the characters? Anybody who whines about the lack of the "classic" SF characters needs to get a clue. Almost all of the original characters, with the exception of a few standouts like Chun Li, Cammy, and Zangief, (and of course Ryu and Ken) were all pretty stupid. Dhalsim anybody? Honda? With only the presence of three sad body-doubles to mar its lineup (Sean, Yang, and the wildly out-of-place Akuma, who all play fine but look ridiculous) the cast of SF3: Third Strike puts that of any other fighter to shame. Every fighter, from the crusading karate-girl Makoto, to the one-armed, narcoleptic Oro, and Q, the abominable man-machine, just radiates personality and ingenious character design. Anybody who doesn't fall in love with SF3's cast is waaaaay too uptight, and needs to spend some time evaluating their spikey-haird, army fatigues fetish.

When it comes down to it, SF3: Third Strike has so much going for it in terms of style and playability, it would be a shame if you missed it. Buy a Dreamcast, and make this one of the first games you pick up.

As a final note, if you can locate an arcade stick, by all means, get one. The DC pad isn't nearly as bad for fighting games as you may have been led to believe, it just takes a bit of re-adjusting if you're used to the Playstation pad, mostly in terms of the angle at which your thumb hits the D-pad, and the squishy feel of the analog triggers (for H-punch and H-kick), but it's something you'll quickly adapt to once you get absorbed in the action on-screen. Still, an arcade stick (if it's a good one) can make any fighting game experience better.

Before I start gushing about the greatness of this game, a word of warning is in order. If you already picked up second impact for the DC you may wish to either hold off on this title or trade-up for it (the latter being my personal take as 3rd strike offers a lot that 2nd impact does not.)

Well, where to start? Street fighter 3 is a visual treat, completely inseperable from playing an anime. The characters have so much animation it is really stunning. For all the people who whined about it taking so long for SF3 to show up--this is why: the technology wasn't there immediately to do what they have accomplished with the SF3 series which is to make the most beautiful 2D game ever.

Gameplay is of course exactly where it should be. Ultra-tight controls and deep game play. Some people have complained that SF3 slows down the pace considerably from the alpha series, and by removing air blocking, has in fact gone backwards, however this makes SF3 much less spastic and more rewarding in the long run. Capcom has not forgotten its fan base however, and much of these features can be altered.

It also seems worth mentioning that 3rd strike includes a relatively large roster of characters--19! I know that doesn't stand up to Marvel vs. Capcom2, but if you compare what's really being offered you'll find that the characters in games like MvC2 are mere shadows of their SF3 counterparts. Here the characters feel as though they do in fact exist--as though they have weight and behave in a realistic fashion (well, beyond throwing fireballs!) Given the degree of work that must have gone into every character here, 19 seems like a lot! What's more, beyond tweleve, there doesn't seem to be a weak character in the lot. Pretty impressive given that early SF games often suffered from characters being unbalenced in strength.

I also want to mention the sound on this game which is well above normal Capcom standards. It isn't that I am a big fan of hip-hop, but this makes the game infinitely more cool. I mean, we are talking Street Fighter, not Office Fighter. Enough of the sterile synthisizer soundtracks. All the fighting scenes have great musical backdrops, but even better are the short rap numbers that accompany all the inbetween scenes. There is a rap song for selecting your character, a very short one while you choose who you will fight ('check it out now, third strike y'all'), and plenty of others. This definitely ups the cool factor way above 2nd impact!

OK, here is the BIG difference and the reason why you'll want to get this even if you have second impact. 3rd Strike can be completely modified. I've toyed around with this a bit, turning on chain combos, air blocking, etc. and really turned 3rd strike into a completely different game. This ability to get under the hood of the Street Fighter engine puts 3rd strike up there with Alpha 3 in its awesome potential for replayability. If you choose, now you can have all three supers available at the same time, use chain combos, cancel super arts into other super arts... Its all up to you. There is even enough here to keep the Marvel vs. Capcom fan happy as you can make the game quite spastic if you feel the urge.

All in all, this is one of those top-tier games for the dreamcast that really makes owning the system a necessity for fighting game fans.

During the existence of the Dreamcast, Capcom has been releasing a whole lot of their best titles ever created like Power Stone, Tech Romancer, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel VS Capcom, JoJo's Bizzare Adventure, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, and more ! When the Street Fighter III series came out starting with Double Impact, it has made every SF fan's dream come true and when Third Strike came out a year after Double Impact, it was agreed that it was one of the greatest SF titles among the series, according to the fans. Some people would say it's the worst Street Fighter ever, or as always, just another Street Fighter game. Whoever doubts this game or gives it a low score, is totally out of their mind. Street Fighter III: Third Strike in my opinion, is still revolutionary and arcade perfect even today. The graphics look even better than that of the two Street Fighter III titles featured in Double Impact. There are barely any pixels and the characters move at a smooth framerate. Furthermore, most characters look like they're featured in an anime. The backgrounds and special effects look great but some stages look kinda dull. The audio is improved and better than ever. The background music is pumped up with techno and hip-hop. It even has their own rap song about the game itself which sounds fairly catchy. The sound effects during fights still sound like the ones from the other SF3 series like the hitting and the hyper sound of executed super moves. The gameplay is much improved over the other Street Fighter III games and the fighting engine is much better. Now you can parry in any direction, even in the air. Plus, you get an arsenal of new moves for each character, but not all of them. The controls still remains faithful to the SF3 series, but it has more variety than the other SF fighting engines. And finally, in one of the Bonus Stages during the Arcade mode, you can hit an SUV Truck until it explodes. This was an old element featured in Street Fighter II where you hit a car in both directions. Now it's featured in this game. And you still get the Parrying stage where Sean throws numerous red, white, and blue Basketballs. When it comes to a selection of characters, it doesn't get any better than this. You still get classic characters like Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Yun, Yang, Alex, Dudley, Urien, Oro, Necro, Elena, Sean, Ibuki, and Hugo. Plus some new characters like Q, Remy, Twelve, Makoto, and the triumphant return of the first lady of Street Fighter, Chun-Li. So in the end, Street Fighter III: Third Strike is one of the greatest 2D fighters ever known in the Dreamcast's library of 2D fighting games. If you never bought this one, you have already missed out on one of the greatest 2D fighters, and you'll have to wait a little longer for a used version to arrive at your retailer. But by all means, if you still like Street Fighter, Third Strike will not dissappoint.

The absolute best fighting games for Dreamcast are Soul Calibur, Marvel VS Capcom 2, and this one (No particular order).

For people who've never played this game: Check it out at your local arcade and see for yourself just how cool it is. This game is great for all you fighter fans that love games that take a lot of skill. By the way, this game has great artificial intelligence.

For people who've played this at the arcade: Not only does the Dreamcast version have a perfect replica of the arcade, it also has bonus features. You can tweak the game options to do just about anything you want (how about VS mode against computer at maximum difficulty, playing against the character you have the greatest trouble with in a race to 4 wins?), the parry training (watch the computer show you how to parry Chun-Li's second super and expect you to do the same) and normal training is very useful for practicing. As for people complaining about poor graphics, they have yet to see the beauty of this game in VGA mode (just like the arcade, 60fps & in vivid detail and color).

My only problem: The game itself is flawless, but the controllers aren’t. This game was designed for the perfect controls found in the arcade. I’ll explain the pros and cons of all availiable controllers:

--------Regular DC controller---------

Pros-useful directional pad & analog stick

Cons-hard to press 2 buttons simultaneously (grab, ex moves(2 punch/kick buttons at same time))

-hard to use trigger buttons

--------Ascii’s Capcom VS Snk pad----------

Pros- useful directional pad, better location and size of buttons

Cons-still hard to do ex moves

-Buttons are still too small

--------Joysticks----------

Pros-buttons are perfect, just like in arcade!

Cons-square holed joysticks make super moves(double fireball rotation, 360 rotation) hard to do

-Note: The Interact Alloy Arcade stick has a huge square hole :(

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How to get an ideal joystick:

-Note: I recommend the Super Joystick (has the best reputation). The hole is a small perfect circle!

-Note2: This is how I fixed my alloy arcade stick, but I had to accommodate the extra large size of the joystick part by mounting the whole controller on top of an inverted tupperware container with a hole cut out for that joystick part. I also had to trim the joystick part to fit it on my controller. Lots of work, but a great result :)

Conclusion: Get the game, it is great fun and has much replay value (beat the game with all characters and you’ll unlock Gill as a playable character!). As for controllers, either put up with the available ones or go hard core getting an ideal one. Happy Gaming!

I have owned, at one time or another, just about every street fighter game in the series. I have been a big fan of fighting games ever since the original Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter II. And I am currently loving SFIV. But if I had to choose a fav from any fighter that I have ever played, I would pick this game. Even when considering the newer rendering of games like SFIV, this game's fun factor is without peer.

-combos are fantastic (and parrying is awesome)
-19 characters, all of whom are very diverse and have many moves and many awesome combos. Highly customizable.
-the BEST video game music I've ever heard. Tons of tracks, as well.
-graphics are incredible--both characters and backgrounds; smooth and fast-paced gameplay (actually the most fluid I've ever played), very colorful and stylish, etc.
The new stages, endings, and tweaked combat just added to the perfection.

I could go on, but just writing about it makes me want to go throw this in right now...

I'll just put it this way: I love doa 2, marvel vs. capcom 2, SFIV, soul calibur, ki2, virtua fighter 5, and many other fighting games that nailed the fun-factor formula. But this is the first and probably only game that I would consider to be completely flawless and unable to improve upon. It's timeless. I sold my dreamcast a few years back, but have since bought another one just to play this game again.

Hot on the heels of Capcom's double whammy of Street Fighter III action, Double Impact, comes 3rd Strike, the third game in the Street Fighter III series. While the two releases are roughly the same, 3rd Strike delivers new characters and enough new options to make it a worthwhile product, even if you already own Double Impact. The main attraction that 3rd Strike adds over Second Impact and the original SFIII is the addition of more characters. The most notable addition is the return of Chun-Li, who has been done up in true Street Fighter III style, and she now possesses more frames of animation than she knows what to do with. Other new characters include Twelve, the alien creature; Q, the robot guy in a trench coat; and Remy, who looks like he escaped from a King of Fighters game. Aside from a few minor gameplay tweaks, it's business as usual, with selectable super arts, parrying, and Gill, the game's ultracheap boss. What really makes 3rd Strike special is the system-direction option screen. This separate screen gives you ten pages of choices that alter the gameplay, allowing you to cancel super arts into super arts, enable air blocking, turn on chain combos, and lots more. Suffice it to say that if there's something about 3rd Strike that you don't like, odds are you can alter it with the system-direction settings. Graphically, the game is smooth. The new characters are as frame-laden as the older characters, and they fit into the world rather nicely. The backgrounds occasionally look a bit flat, but they still look decent. The game's sound has been given a pretty major overhaul since Second Impact, with the addition of a new announcer, a few altered voices, and a couple of Street Fighter raps that play over the select screen. If you bought Double Impact, that may very well be all the Street Fighter III action you need. But if you skipped out on Double Impact - or if you're fanatical about your SFIII - 3rd Strike is a good, refined 2D fighter that won't disappoint.

If you like old school Street Fighter, this is your game. Fast paced and beutiful animation seperates Street Fighter 3: Third Strike from all the other 2d fightes. Easy to follow, this game will give you fun for a long time.The game has the characters Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Sean, Elena, Oro, Q, Yun, Yang, Hugo, Alex, Remy, Chun Li, Dudly, Ibuki, Necro, Urien, Makoto, Twelve, and the secret character and boss, Gill. This game can be fustrating at times because Gill can revive himself. You can parry attacks and choose your super art to use for the battle. Selection of 3. The music is pretty good and the stages are nicely detailed. It has two bonus stages where you have to desroy the car and parry the basket balls. This game is all about counter strikes and priority. Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Fight for the Future is must have for all Street Fighter fans all over the world. A Capcom masterpiece.

This game is great. It take a while getting used to the new fighting system, but once you get the hang of it you'll be set. The big difference in this game from other SF games is the "parrying" mode which allows you to block an opponents move by breaking the move and taking the advantage. The music is pretty good too, you get a variety of tracks (different styles)and the graphics are the best in any streetfighter so far. As you may have read elsewhere, the game's boss "Gill" is pretty cheap, he had me mouthing off the screen at times, but I managed to cheese him back. Here's a tip on how to beat Gill: set the rounds to 1 and beat him as fast as you can before his special art metter reaches maximum, this disables him from using his cheap regenerating move and you only have to beat him once. I've beat him with 8 different characters so far and I haven't even been playing that long. If you're a button masher you can forget about this game, you will not get anywhere with button mashing. Great graphics, sound, and gameplay are the reasons you should get this game. Anyway, this game is well worth the buck, and at this price you should be going to jail because it's a steal. So come on, go on and get it. Now is the time to strike, before the games becomes scarce.