You learn something new every day I guess.
I was very much aware of Street Fighter III: Third Strike. Like, very much aware. I put tons of hours into that game. It barely missed out on being a 10's game. It's the only game I've ever played in any sort of semi-official competition (I won my first round matchup before getting absolutely smashed by someone who actually knew what they were doing in the second). And yet I didn't realize it was actually the third game in the Street Fighter III series. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. It's not like Capcom didn't have a penchant for doing this. Street Fighter II was essentially it's own series, there's World Warrior, Champion Edition, Turbo, Super Street Fighter II, Super Turbo, on and on, you get the point. So I guess it makes sense that they would do the same thing with SF III and I shouldn't have been too shocked to see that there were two other games, New Generation and 2nd Impact, that were released before Third Strike. All of these titles found their way to the Dreamcast, but for the purposes of this review I am playing the Arcade versions that were released with the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Edition. I can't imagine there is too big a difference, the arcade is still probably superior but by the 6th generation ports were starting to get very, very close.
It's difficult to review a game like this, because you essentially have to look at it as if the other two games that iterated on it don't exist. It would be one thing if they were true sequels, but they are more like different versions. Nowadays, the balance changes added in Second Impact and Third Strike would have been released as patches and the characters they added would have been DLC. But at the time they had to be released as separate games. It would also be misguided, and a little lazy, to just say that the later versions are strictly better because they have more characters or whatever. Sometimes balance changes make a game worse, or new characters hurt more than they help. There's no better example than the previous Street Fighter series. I don't think anyone would take issue with someone saying they prefer SF II Turbo/Champion Edition to Super or Super Turbo. I know I do, I always find them better to play and a bit more balanced. I think that Super SFII changes made the game less fun to play and the new characters really didn't add much at all. Super Turbo may be the competitive standard, but no one is ever going to pretend it isn't far more busted than its previous iterations. Anyone that doesn't think that has clearly never played against a good (or even decent) Vega player.
So, where does that leave SF III: NG? It's still a great game, but unlike its predecessor I think the series did improve as it went on. It lacked a lot of the improvements of Third Stike and the roster felt incredibly small. Again, it's hard to put a score to it because on one hand, it's essentially not worth playing in a world where Third Strike exists. On the other, it's still an outstanding game and still far better than 98% of fighting games out there and was very likely the gold standard of 2D fighters when it was released. After years and years of SF II iterations, it definitely brought plenty of new stuff to the table. The first, and probably most obvious change is to the roster. Capcom took the whole "new generation" thing very seriously, because it's an entirely new crew outside of Ryu and Ken. Many of the characters introduced here became series staples, but at the time, it was shocking to see an SF game without Guile, Chun-Li, Sagat and M. Bison. Fortunately, the character design here is excellent, and SF III introduced Alex, Dudley, Ibuki, Oro, Elena and others that have become iconic in their own right. All of these guys and gals have unique play styles that are just familiar enough to long time players while also not feeling like palette swaps of existing characters.
Of course, the changes go far beyond just characters. For one, the super move system has been fleshed out, it is far more similar to what you would find in the Alpha series than the bare bones implementation in Super Turbo. Each character has a choice of one of three, which they can pick at the character select screen. Of course, having supers changes the way you have to approach the game. But the biggest change here is probably the parry system. It's simple in theory, but challenging to execute in practice. Basically, you can parry an enemy attack by pressing forward at the exact time an attack hits you. This opens them up for a counter attack while also avoiding chip damage that comes with blocking. I am not going to lie, I'm absolutely terrible at this, so it doesn't effect my game too much. But it was still a major gameplay change that I think was for the better. For one, it led to one of the craziest moments in competitive gaming history (the Daigo parry is still crazy to watch). But it also allowed for a different play style that wasn't possible in the SF II games.
The presentation is on point, with detailed backgrounds and top-notch animation on all of the characters. The SF III games are certainly candidates for the best looking 2D games of all time, at least I think so. The character design moves a little bit further into the realm of ridiculousness, but I kind of like it. I think it's cool how the backgrounds change between rounds, they will switch from night to day or have people switch positions. It's small details like that which really set high end games like this apart. The sound is okay, it's got some interesting tracks and I fell like this is where the sound font for Capcom's modern fighting games got its start (SF III: NG and the original Marvel vs. Capcom came out around the same time). Truthfully, I prefer the classic soundtrack in SF II, as well as the heavier tone of the SF Alpha games, but it's still a high point here.
Really, the gameplay here is just straight up quality. The controls are precise and tight and the button inputs are responsive. I will say judging distance was a little weird, it felt a lot different than Third Strike, but it was very consistent. That is the key here, consistency. I kind of expect it from Capcom, they had clearly done this before. SF III really felt like a true sequel, improving upon a lot of the technical and balance aspects of SF II. I don't know if it's quite as iconic and it doesn't feel as fun, but it's probably more technically sound. I kind of understand why SF III was met with middling reviews when it came out, it was a 2D game when people were clamoring for 3D titles and to most gamers it probably just felt like a new coat of paint for SF II. But, like Mega Man X4, I think people realize keeping the franchise 2D was the right call in the long run. Play this or 2nd Impact or 3rd Strike and then go play Mortal Kombat 4 and you will see what I am talking about.
My biggest issue here would have to be the final boss. Look, we all know M. Bison is cheap as all hell in the SF II games, especially World Warrior. But he pales in comparison to the boss of SF III, a two-toned monstrosity with a god complex named Gil.
This is no Gil Gunderson, he is going to absolutely wreck you with his fast specials, insane range and brutal damage. One combo from this beast will take away almost all of your health and if you think you can keep him at a distance with fireballs, forget about it. His projectiles go straight through yours. Oh, and his super move? Resurrection. If you KO him when he has a full super bar, he gets restored to full health. Good luck! I hate this guy because he is kind of the antithesis of a SF boss. M. Bison always felt like he was on the level with your characters but used cheap tactics to win. Gil felt like the developers decided to get lazy and just said "let's make the boss overpowered and a chore to fight." He feels like a Mortal Kombat boss and that's not a good thing.
Again, SF III: NG is a weird game to review because it kind of creates a paradox. On one hand, it's essentially not worth playing because SF: III Third Strike is kind of the same game but better. On the other, it's still a well-designed fighting title with near flawless gameplay that puts even more advanced fighting games to shame. I guess it's kind of similar to SF II: World Warrior in that regard. Sure it's iterations are pretty much all better, but it also still feels like it's worth booting up every once in a while. I have to judge it on its own merits and pretend that 3rd Strike or 2nd impact don't exist, which is tough. I think the new characters and balance changes do warrant the later iterations scoring higher. But even on its own, SF III: NG is still an outstanding fighting game that's more than worth your time.
9.25/10
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