Street Fighter III Double Impact

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Product Details

• Our recommended age: 12 - 20 years
• Manufacturer recommended age: 0 months and up
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00004TTID
• Media: Video Game
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #5,724 in Video Games (See Bestsellers in Video Games)

Product Description

Product Description
There had been fighting games before Street Fighter (remember Karate Champ?), but not in the way we think of them today. In fact, few would remember Street Fighter had it not been for the technological improvements of Street Fighter 2, whose graphics and handling brought into the spotlight a game of paired fighters leveraging muscle, mass, and forces of nature in a mano a mano battle for supremacy. The series owes its success not only to the fact that outcomes of each fight rest on the growing abilities of players, but also because it breaks the video-game stereotype that commonly links size to strength--isn't it refreshing to see a small character like Chun Li take down a big oaf like Blanka? Also, this veteran series benefits from regular infusions of new blood; it features an ever-expanding cast of characters, each with different origins, fighting styles, strengths, and weaknesses.

With Street Fighter 3: Double Impact, you get two full coin-op games built into one Dreamcast disc: Street Fighter 3: New Generation and Street Fighter 3: Second Impact. New Generation features returning vets Ken and Ryu and introduces us to a new group that includes a tough New Yorker avenging his defeated martial arts instructor; twin Chinese kung fu masters; a sophisticated Afro-British boxer; a teen-aged female ninja from Japan; a daughter of an African tribal leader; a Rus sian cyberpunk; a Brazilian student; and Oro, a 140-year-old hermit who fights with only one arm. Second Impact sees that ante and raises it with three additional characters. The games allow players to deflect oncoming attacks with a technique called parrying; players can also customize characters with one of three different Super Art moves before each fight begins.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What took so long?, August 27, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Street Fighter III and its sequel, Second Impact, were the last Capcom fighters I genuinely got hooked onto, before the hyperactive, button-mashing "Vs." series took over and I lost interest (moving on to Tekken and Soul Calibur). But this was way back around 1997, and I'd been waiting for SFIII to get a proper home-console release ever since.

Suffice to say this was, aesthetically and mechanically, a very well-designed game. Moving away from the Alpha and Vs. series, air blocking has been eliminated, replaced with a much more skill-oriented option, the parry, which requires very good timing and reflexes to pull off. The parry option makes the battles much more uncertain -- in one tournament one player has been known to turn the tide by parrying 14 hits of the opponent's super art move, and then retaliating. The new style of drawing, which is more like U.S. comic books (contrasty, shadowy, distinct lines) than manga (the animation style of the Alpha series), is very nice to look at, and controls were some of the tightest in Street Fighter history. And the game is well balanced -- there's no overpowered character like Wolverine or Ryu in Marvel Super Heroes, or Adon in Alpha 3, which means that skill counts for more than button-mashing or endless air combos. I once lost a game using Ken against a master at Hugo, one of the "alternative" characters, but I also routinely beat Ryu fanatics with Sean (weaker version of Ryu and Ken), so there aren't any novelty characters like Dan or Juni (Alpha 3) here. Every character is equipped with strengths and weaknesses that don't tip the handicap drastically. So even after three years, I still love this short-lived but well-designed series, and its appearance on a home console was long overdue.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old-School 2D Fighting at its Finest!, June 25, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Forget the fact that this game doesn't contain a wealth of different play modes to choose from, hundreds of unlockable characters or life-like 3D graphics. What it does have is a fighting engine that has been refined over the years, and the result is perhaps one of the best ever. If you're the sort of player who likes to simply mash buttons and watch the results, stay away. This is the sort of game that rewards skill, and defeating a veteran player takes more than dumb luck. An arcade stick will complete the experience (and is highly recommended, as the standard Dreamcast controller isn't the best match for this game.) Yes, it would be nice if there were some extras included (ala Street Fighter Alpha III), but this arcade-perfect port can stand on its own quite well.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Fighter, July 21, 2000

By A Customer

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

[This review is from an adult gamer's perspective] Whereas Street Fighter Alpha 3 is like a fully-optioned, competent sedan, Street Fighter III:Double Impact (SFIII:DI) is like a manual-shift sports car. SFIII:DI does not have a world tour or survival, or three-player modes like Alpha 3. What it does have is surprisingly tight gameplay and graphical sophistication.

You'll have to know how to handle these beautifully animated characters without falling back on excessive "safety" moves and "super" moves as in the Alpha series. And the new characters are fun to play as well, from the one-armed 140-year old Oro to the US brawler Alex (my favorite, he's fast AND very powerful). Ryu and Ken are here again but they're mostly the same old with new animations. Alex is the new focal point of the series, but the storyline also continues to emphasize Ryu as the one with most skill.

Another note to make is that the 2 games on the disc here are actually somewhat different. The first SFIII has ten characters and weaker music, and it has less moves to perform. BUT, it has awesome animated backgrounds! There are actually three different backgrounds for some characters, one for each round of a normal 3-round fight! The newer SFIII variant has superior gameplay and sound (and four more characters) but the backgrounds were toned down--too much--in animation and variety. The two SFIII's together make for an awesome 2D fighting package.

DTWhite