The MAD Story of STREET FIGHTER 3 & Why We Didn't Play It!? - RARE GAMING HISTORY

[@juicemanvon9859]

If I'm not mistaken, SF3 finally got popularity when 3rd Strike released, but the cult classic finally got the respect it deserved when EVO moment 37 happened.

[@sufamidan1006]

I can’t remember the magazine but I remember back in the day it scored 4.5 out of 10. They said something along the lines of “nobody wants to play 2D fighting games anymore, they look dated”. Even back then I found this hilarious.

[@StarDragonJP]

It's even more hilarious when you realize it came out before Marvel vs Capcom 2 & that game was hugely popular

[@enrique3574]

StarDragonJP Probably because it had 3D backgrounds, considering the consumerism at the time.

[@StarDragonJP]

@@enrique3574 The backgrounds may have been 3D, but the sprites were all 2D, with most of them being reused from older games

[@Tinkering902]

Those blocky 3d games are virtually unplayable now, but with that 30th anniversary game these SF games gained a new generation of fans.

[@AegisKHAOS]

When some of the best looking 3D fighters at the time like Tekken 3 or Soul Edge still look awful compared to sprite based games like SF3 or Garou MotW, I also laugh at that statement. Heck, considering the fighters that came out within that time frame, like Alpha 3, and the annual tradition that was KoF, I laugh even harder. Then I look at SNK's initial attempts at 3D with Samurai Shodown along with Arika and their attempt to make a 3D Street Fighter, then look at the hand drawn portraits and artwork for those games, and all I could think of was they should've just stuck to 2D till 3D was more viable.

[@StunnafulPhotography]

To be honest, SF3 3rd Strike holds the record for best tournaments in the Street Fighter series.

[@mowiezowie3261]

Stunnaful Photos You’re talking about 3d Strike which everyone love and not what this video is talking about, vanilla Street Fighter 3.

[@benjaminfrancisco6888]

Yep, this was a great time in the fgc for me. For casual fans, sf3 appears to have been largely forgotten at the time.

[@battosaijenkins946]

@Top Hat Gaming Man, actually believe it or not. There was a in depth interview amongst the actual character designers decades ago, and one of them mentioned that huge vs alex was very much akin to the Ric Flair vs Hulk Hogan rivalry back in the late 80s and early 90s and not Lex Luger. They said during this time, they thought Ric Flair was bigger than Hulk as far as interviews went, so Hugo developed some nuances such as when he's dizzy he had that, 'oh no please don't hit me visual cues', and Alex's golden blonde cut body with leg stomps akin to Hulk Hogan's infamous Hulkamania Leg drop. I wish I rememberd where this interview came from as it's literally lost through time but it's floating around in Google somewhere...

[@ugopiccardougopiccardo9273]

@@mowiezowie3261 we didn't really play it because they realeased a better version in a couple of years. we didn't have the time to even see the game in arcades rooms that we were already playing the third strike version

[@olschoolTonyCarter]

Third Strike was the shit for Dreamcast. Beautiful game.

[@ryanpalmer19]

Im glad Capcom stuck to their guns and stayed 2D with solid gameplay instead of folding to the pressure of the masses demanding graphical improvements over gameplay.

[@AirKangLocker]

cuz their 3D street fighter wasnt doing good both in sales and reviews...

[@kingarthurpendragon134]

but then this failure obviously had an effect on them since they went onto making the series 3D only now.

[@BankkeyAoshi]

I wish they’d keep that same approach and make capcom vs Snk 3 with way more characters and special intros. It would sell well in today’s era I’d like to think.

[@tonysmith9905]

@@kingarthurpendragon134 SFIIIs failure had nothing to with them going 2.5D. They made multiple fighters in 2D all the way up until the mid/late 2000's mate. And the fully 3D fighters they did make before going 2.5D? They did even worse than their 2D games.

[@velezf216o]

Third Strike actually has a healthy community online on PC. And it’s regularly played in tournaments. It’s actually considered to be the best SF by many in the hardcore FGC fanbase. The 2d animation and gameplay is one of the best ever produced.

[@milestone8585]

Exactly, As a member of the FGC this is the best!

[@blackneotheone2978]

My favorite is sf2 turbo and sf3 srd strike

[@7ten]

All due respect, whats that got to do with SF III in the 90s though? That's what this video is about. We're a minority. SF III (not 3S) was hardly played by anyone. I can bet even you didnt play it much at the time.

[@blackneotheone2978]

Alpha 2 and sf3 Second impact too

[@Genkaku]

That is not what the video is about. In the 90's up until the early 2000's there was almost no one playing it.

[@PTminatoPT]

Small correction mate... Sf3 was supposed to be released without Ryu and Ken. Alex was the poster boy, and due to backlash and lack of hype, Capcom added Ryu and Ken at the very last minute. True story.

[@ori.g4mi]

The backlash came from within Capcoms own ranks though. It was not player backlash.

[@Neogears1312]

It’s why Sean has the exact same body as ryu and ken. Just colored different.

[@daison96]

Dig deeper and you'll find that Alex's character design was an alternate design for Ken.

[@MrBranh0913]

The backlash was from location tests. The version used on location tests didn't include Ryu and Ken and people complained. So they were later added to the game

[@ShinGetterPoPo]

I recall the first images shown in(I think) egm before the game was released was a comparison of sf2 Ryu vs sf3 ryu throwing a fireball and how many more frames of animation 3 had for it. Something like a jump from 4 to 16

[@bsimpson2288]

SFIII is still my shit. All 3 of them. Some of the best music in a fighting game ever.

[@sieman78]

agreed. My brother had a dreamcast back then, I loved that game and still do - art/animation/music/gameplay - top notch in my opinion

[@samuraigundam0079]

Agreed. I still play it, and I’m still waiting for Q to appear in the new SF games.

[@sieman78]

@@samuraigundam0079 I think you got your wish, pretty sure they put that guy in SFV

[@austonsmith536]

Soundtrack reminds me of cowboy bebop. Very nostalgic.

[@stephencook7337]

Yup. Capcom needs to go back to their roots in the music department. The music in their most recent SF games is hot garbage.

[@manbat106]

Street fighter 3 was ahead of it's time in terms of 2d graphics and competitive game play mechanics that's why it's still played to this day in tournaments

[@livingmaulana]

SF3 have 3 version, what you talkin about is the 3rd version and this video is talking about the 1st version

[@MaximRecoil]

@@livingmaulana This video is talking about all three versions of SF3.

[@HolySok]

It wasn't ahead of it's time in terms of 2D graphics. In fact it was behind the times as everyone was moving to 3D and saw 2D as outdated. It's only over the last 10-15 years that 2D games (particularly indie games) etc became a legitimate art style again that consumers were willing to buy

[@IrishKyokushin]

Unfortunately 3 came out when Arcades were dying in the West.

[@fevgomeli1951]

Agree totally, SF 2 And Mortal Kombat 1 2 and 3 enjoyed the welfare of ardent arcade game goers like me, those times were like tournament on the streets, by the time 3 came out, kids were playing on their ps1 n64 consoles at home.

[@contentcreators1206]

While mostly true, it also didn't help this game that Alpha 3 came out around the same time and at least in my arcade, most people looked to alpha 3 as the next real street fighter game because it was more familiar. Street Fighter 3 was always seen as some weird game.

[@kidthorazine]

@@contentcreators1206 SF III came out like 2 years before Alpha 3 did, the really big competition came from Marvel vs. Street Fighter and SFA 2, which was huge at the time. Then when III started getting it's traditional iterative releases, those had to compete with MvC and SFA3.

[@contentcreators1206]

@@kidthorazine True, I guess alpha 2 came out around the same time. I just remember a good amount of hype around alpha 3 and no one playing 3rd strike. Strange considering 3rd strike is way more popular and the superior game in my opinion.

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@fevgomeli1951 totally true

[@nimaiiikun]

this video totally hit the nail on the head. At that time I remember everyone was going ape shit over early 3d polygon games. Everyone loved games like Toshinden, which had horrible controls, but was an early polygon fighter. Now in retrospect, all Toshinden, and all those 32bit era polygon games have aged poorly while games like Street fighter 3 aged very well. In many ways the same could be said about many Sega Saturn games.

[@MaximRecoil]

"At that time I remember everyone was going ape shit over early 3d polygon games" Not everyone. I hated 3D polygon games from day one (and I still do). I was interested in the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation when they came out until I realized that nearly all the games for them were 3D. The last console that I actually cared about was the Super Nintendo.

[@kingstarscream320]

@@MaximRecoil Yeh me too. I was never such a sheep

[@kenrickkahn]

@@MaximRecoil I just wait until the Graphics improved.. The 6th Generation got it right..

[@hydra7311]

SF EX wasn't developed by Akira, it was Arika :p

[@bruceleeds7988]

everybody says Akira

[@zgboy23]

And it was awesome game, for me the best in series.

[@victorsunanto]

Akira A.K.A cascada is a singer

[@kazhwaqaz]

Well it was developed by Akira Nishtani who owns the company Arika (Which is his name backwards big shock) so either Akira or Arika is correct.

[@bristolbeatz7063]

One of the best street fighters ever.

[@Polymathically]

I played 3rd Strike in arcades, on the Dreamcast, PS2, and PS3. It's still one of the few video games I still play on PC, all these years later. It's such an incredible game, with so many little details and intricate mechanics. I main Chun-Li, Akuma, and Sean, but lately I've been experimenting with Twelve and Elena. Using some of the lesser-played characters is a great way to relearn the game all over again.

[@Larry]

I remember getting frustrated Capcom dragged their heels releasing a sequel to Street Fighter II, and constantly re-releasing the game with just one or two new features didn't help matters. So when they did finally release one, I just didn't care anymore and had moved on. Capcom must have realised scrapping all the chraracters in 3 didn't help either, as they're the main focus in both 4 and 5. I only ever saw SFIII once in arcades too, Sega Land in the Yohan Plaza, Brent Cross.

[@HellTantrumbull]

I was also annoyed by the multiple versions of sf2 and kept saying when are they going to make an actual sequel to the game and a game that looks good. Like so many people I was just burned out from sf2 and wasn't really impressed with the SFA games and only had fun with the marvel crossovers for a short time since capcom kept reusing sprites from other games that didn't look all that appealing to me. I just wanted sf3 at that point and thankfully I was able to play all versions on the dreamcast at the time and then play it again on the xbox and xbox 360 and ps3 when the game came to those systems.

[@randomcharacter6501]

I remember seeing somewhere that "The New Challengers" DeeJay, T. Hawk, Cammy, and Fei Long were supposed to be characters in a scraped version of SF3. If so I that would've been a great start even without Ryu and Ken.

[@schemar17]

@@randomcharacter6501 wait what

[@pizzasurf]

Sounds like APPLE

[@loyalgainz6330]

I can agree with this.. They teased us for so long with so many different versions of sf2.

[@ce4162]

I didn’t even know there was a Street Fighter 3 until Street Fighter 4 came out for the 360.

[@clonusmaximus4600]

The EX games are underrated polygon fighters

[@bubbastevegarcia2459]

Clonus Maximus especially 3

[@19zach75]

StreetFighter EX+@lpha is legendary in my book. It had the absolute best "E-X"-combo system of any of the SF games. Also has the best soundtrack of any SF series.

[@buster_wolfhopkins6801]

Fighting EX Layer retains a lot of the SFEX mechanics

[@InfinityLearning3D]

@@19zach75 totally agree with you

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@buster_wolfhopkins6801 I think EX layer should have had some of the Fighting Layer Characters in it, It doesn't have a single one

[@illiteratethug3305]

Chun Li: "Can I ask you a question Ken?" Ken: "SURE YOU CAN!!!"

[@willmistretta]

Yeah, I think this one taught Capcom a valuable lesson in fighting game sequel design. You need to maintain a favorable ratio of new to fan favorite characters. Familiar faces move units.

[@xdjrunner]

Funny because looking back at lot of those characters became staples in SF4

[@Martynde]

That was what Alpha was for. In the mid 90s, Capcom made several completely new series with completely new casts. Street Fighter III was one of them and almost did not include Ryu and Ken.

[@Burning_Typhoon]

Also, Tekken 3 threw out old characters and replaced them with literal clones. And for the time, it was something street fighter did. SFII didn't bring back SFI characters, apart from 3 of them, and SFIII followed that. Ryu and Ken actually wasn't supposed to be in the game either, hence why Alex is the main character.

[@shyecity916]

@@Burning_Typhoon But people really didn't play SF1, so they didn't care or know. Plus with Tekken 3 even though they did replaced characters with clones, Tekken was still just new franchise, plus it made sense if you followed the storyline too. Compared to SF2 to 3s 6 year gap, people naturally had more time to be attached to them characters, but Tekken kept on evolving the story more frequently than SF. Tekken (1994) Tekken 3 (1997) SCV had already established characters during its fifth installment.... I think Tekken 3 got it out because it still new n fresh.. Even though they ended up bringing some of them old characters back later on...

[@INFERNO95]

Burning Typhoon Takken don't have a likeable cast like sf2 did. Most people don't remember sf1 due to the game not ageing well over the years.

[@Roge9]

I wonder how many people were like "wait... There's a STREET FIGHTER 3!?" when street fighter 4 was getting released.

[@G49-b6f]

Ofcourse his favorite character is Dudley, I wonder why 🤔🤔😂🤣

[@selami32]

:d good catch

[@Saikodan]

Hah me too 🤔🤔

[@kibbywitz]

Are you trying to say that alot of people like dudley and your curious why? Or that you understand why people like dudley so much and are being sarcastic?

[@sonicsupa99]

They’re both British kibby

[@kibbywitz]

@@sonicsupa99 why did i need to know that?

[@alexojideagu]

In my arcade in 1997 X-men V Steet fighter was a popular attraction, Street Fighter 3 was at the back collecting dust.

[@bruceleeds7988]

ours too

[@lazarushernandez5827]

@@bruceleeds7988 This might have been the case at home too, the DC was home to so many fighters; Virtua Fighter 3TB, Soul Calibur, Dead or Alive 2, Project Justice ( a 3D fighter Capcom handled just fine BTW) Capcom vs SNK etc... but the one that hogged all the attention was Marvel vs Capcom 2.

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@lazarushernandez5827 true, Soul Calibur (not Soul Edge) didn't pick up steam till 2 in the UK

[@thatguy3718]

@@bruceleeds7988 and I believe that was only because of the guest characters Link being the main reason

[@LunaticReason]

I would love for them to do another X-men vs Street fighter style game for console/pc. I would love to see what kinda of Meta they could come up for the X-men characters but honestly not a fan of the 2vs2 style of play. I just want a straight up sf game with X-men characters added in.

[@KasumiRINA]

13:58 Your forget Dead or Alive 2, it and Soul Calibur were the jams on Dreamcast.

[@michaelmanning9028]

Yep i got doa2 before I did soul calibur

[@KasumiRINA]

@@michaelmanning9028 we got both for our friend's birthday, and played them... Unfortunately, that friend passed away in his teen years, and I always remember the time we spend playing DreamCast very fondly.

[@keepitkrispy]

Don’t forget the Power Stone series

[@cactusdragon3553]

Also Capcom vs SNK

[@chriskeepit100]

@@michaelmanning9028 doa2 was 🔥🔥🔥🔥 ryu from ninja gaiden and i forget her name but that tag slam with those 2 was great

[@outsideredge]

I think the biggest thing holding it back was the roster. After so many variations in the II series the devs wanted a clean break. Originally they weren't even going to have Ken and Ryu. Eventually they put in Chun-Li. The new characters took a long time to be accepted by the audience. I remember EGM had a poll in the early 2000s asking which SF series were people playing and at the time the Alpha games were considerably more popular than the III games. Even the Vs series were more popular.

[@stefanurquelle7736]

Street Fighter III is my favorite Street Fighter...I still play 3rd Strike to this day and run it on my Sega Candy Cab as my main game.

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@skurinski ...and that is my point exactly. Look at what Lonewolf just said SF3 is my fave I still play third strike. Lone wolf doesn't love SF3, he loves THIRD STRIKE. SF collection is avaliable for everyone to play the others and you have no one coming back saying "those others weren't that bad". The truth is.. SF3 killed street fighter, SF4 brought back the franchise and the entire genre

[@worsel555]

@@skurinski I fired up and played SF3 and 2nd Impact, it was quite interesting to go back to them. SF3 was pretty slow and clunky compared to the much faster Alpha and previous SF2 games, and you can see that 2nd Impact was ALMOST the formula that made 3S great. I would say that 2nd Impact is quite playable and not too hard to do if you are a 3S fan.

[@freebando]

3rd strike will always be the number 1 fighting game, people still play it online and they still have major tournaments for it

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@freebando SUPER STREET FIGHTER 2 TURBO will always be the number 1 fighting game, the pinnacle version of the game that sparked this genre with a true worldwide following.

[@freebando]

@@bruceleeds7988 well I'd rather watch a 3s tourney than a turbo tourney any day, all I ever see Is spam in turbo tourneys and over powered throws, 3s has parries, red parties and alot more shit I could name, bottom line 3s way more exciting to watch and play

[@AyeYoYoYooo]

SF3 has aged like a timeless renaissance painting FFS. What a STUNNING BEAUTY, visually, stylistically, audio-wise, 🕹gameplay-wise. Every aspect of the game is both timelessly classic, and FRESH AF, not a spec of dust on it💿. (Except the original bitrate arcade audio 🎤📉📞lol) But the PS2 Arranged OST ? Masterpiece. The masterfully comprehensive online edition by Iron Galaxy ? The most beautiful and well presented of them all, but the PS2 arranged OST is better than OE “updated” OST. ALL THAT SAID… I still abso-MF-lutely cannot wait for : 1. SF3 Collection - -- SF3: New Generation -- SF3: 2nd Impact -- SF3: Third Strike -- SF3: 3rd Strike ↗️Upper “3rd Strike ↗️Upper” would include all stages and audio tracks from all 3 titles, as well as from their arranged console versions♻️, as well as several additional playable characters, that Capcom planned to include in the cancelled 4th installment of the SF3 series. And with that momentum: 2. Marvel vs Capcom Collection: -- X-Men: COTA -- Marvel Super Heroes -- X-Men vs SF -- Marvel SH vs SF -- Marvel vs Capcom 1 -- Marvel vs Capcom 2 -- Marvel vs Capcom 2 ↗️ Upper MVC2↗️ Upper would include all stages and audio tracks from all 6 titles, as well as from their arranged console versions, as well as several cancelled characters from the series, with the most completed animation, other than their assist animations from MVC1♻️. And after that, if possible: 3. Capcom vs SNK Collection: -- Capcom vs SNK -- Capcom vs SNK Pro -- Capcom vs SNK 2 -- Capcom vs SNK 2 ↗️ Upper CVS2↗️ Upper would include all stages and audio tracks from all 3 titles, as well as from their arranged console versions, as well as several additional playable characters, that Capcom planned to include in the cancelled 4th installment of the CVS series♻️. Each collection could command 💲77.77 - 💲88.88 USD, for the physical editions📙, with 24x36 posters, easily. 💙💛DO THE RIGHT THING, CAPCOM !💙💛 PEACE ! ☮️

[@1ex1uger-prank-calls]

I played SF3 in the arcades circa 1998. Arcades in North America were becoming extinct at the time.

[@Daveybird]

Ironically, back in the 90s, at the arcades and consoles, I was all Street Fighter 2 and 3, and Darkstalkers. didn't touch Alpha 1-3 until the mid-2000s on the PC emulators.

[@tensaantares]

Righ you? In 2019?

[@davetorres3906]

Bloody Murica.

[@RyanBarrett80]

Was looking for this comment! Not disappointed. 🤣

[@nintruendo6411]

It’s pronounced Rye Yew. 30 years later and you still haven’t figured that out yet?

[@nintruendo6411]

@@tensaantares I already told you how it is pronounced you dee formed muppet. Open your eyes and keep up.

[@tensaantares]

@@nintruendo6411 It's simple. You're wrong. It's in multiple games, movies and series that can be viewed on various videos on KZbin. You clearly don't know what the fuq you're talking about. Just to be clear this is about the pronunciation of a fictional Japanese video game character. One goddamn fuqing word...Japanese...NOT ENGLISH. "Dee formed muppet"? Because I said ree tarded? Yeah right, repeat something similar to what I said but I'M the "muppet". It's not obvious but I spelled it that way to get past a possible censor. "Open and your eyes and keep up." Yes, keep up with the sarcastic-know-nothing because I really want to be stupid also. You do it better.

[@ephoenix7]

Fighting games typically launched in the arcades. 3 was initially a flop because it was exclusive to the Dreamcast, a flop system. However, there have been several re-releases since then

[@dieseldust27]

Gameplay wise this is a great game. Hand-drawn sprites running on 60 fps. The downside is there's a lot of missing classic characters

[@Crunch_Buttsteak]

I just never liked when people refer to them as "sprites"...idk it just takes the fun & humanity out of the characters. Just 1's & 0's.

[@GamersBay]

It didn't take off in America because Capcom didn't mass produce it the way they did other titles, nor did they do much to advertise it. Very few Americans even knew it existed at the time, at least in the U.S. market. I had no idea there was an SF3 at all until I walked into a local arcade in Southern California back in 97. Either way, I can't agree that anyone was turned off by the game; especially given the fact you had to wait in line for a half an hour or longer just to play it.

[@thenerderrant4293]

"give this title the downright respect it deserves" Don't you mean the down, down-right, right + punch respect it deserves? 😉

[@Tenchigumi]

The respect it deserves is Down, Right, Fierce.

[@juniorsamples4855]

Derp

[@JstormZx]

Hadoken lol

[@bryantnonya8704]

The creation of Street fighter alpha was actually a great move! They didn't want to ruin the street fighter franchise so it was better to focus on a prequel because it was a novel idea back then to look at the origin of Street fighter. Also there's more freedom to write the story as they see fit because no one knew the origin of these different characters... I think this guy actually undersold the impact of the Street fighter alpha series, especially Street fighter alpha 2! When that SFA2 hit arcades it was game over!!

[@cir4000]

SFIII was pretty big in the valley back in the day, it was one of the best SF games in history and even now many people in the FGC still enjoy playing it today.

[@Arz2003]

Shatto 39 Lanes had all the good 3S players

[@blackchang1981]

I honestly don't know what you are talking about because when Street Fighter 3 and the 2 follow ups were released it was highly praised and played (at least on the East Coast, specifically New Jersey, Philadelphia and South Florida). Maybe it was overlooked in the U.K., granted it may have not reached the same height in popularity as it's predecessor but trust me it had a strong following.

[@dbmooo]

I still play on my Dreamcast. 3rd Strike is my fav SF. Great video 👊🏻

[@marmadrid4921]

I play it also on my dreamcast emulator mobile version its fun back old memories xD

[@mdedes9891]

I still have all 3 releases on my Dreamcast running in my arcade cabinet.

[@mobilegamebasicslover5980]

Im playing SF3 4rd edition hack in my mobile cps3 arcade

[@MoteofLobross]

I can't speak for anybody else, but me and my friend group were not huge on SF3 because we were busy playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 and the Capcom VS games during the Dreamcast era.

[@NLT31]

I love the artwork, it reminds me of the great 90's cartoons.

[@marjoken246]

Alpha, and crossover series were released on the ps1 / Saturn. To wait for 3rd Strike to see a release on Dreamcast means the other two didn’t have a home release killed the potential.

[@AcornElectron]

I was so ingrained in the sfII ecosystem and it’s many iterations that when 3 finally made its appearance I just didn’t care about the new one.

[@Martynde]

The magazines of the time reported that fans were getting tired of SFII and was wanting something new, so Capcom gave us SFIII to satisfy those who wanted something new.

[@AcornElectron]

No they didn’t. I was reading cvg, Nintendo power and psm at the time. No one was asking for sfIII.

[@YoureNotAlexander]

@@AcornElectron: All the hardcore fans who were tired of playing and purchasing repackages of Street Fighter II for years and years and years were clamoring for the third installment in the series. I remember reading a gag in a prevalent video game publication of the day poking fun at Capcom for apparently not being able to count to 3.

[@a-dutch-z7351]

Too many iterations and the Alpha series made it all so confusing. Also the game did not come out on the consoles that mattered at the time. I also do not like the graphical style, to me SF2 and Final Fight are the best graphical style for fighters ever.

[@AcornElectron]

A-dutch-Z agreed. The lack of home port didn’t matter to me as I was of the age where arcades were fine for me to frequent without any issue. I just didn’t care. The video summed it up. I was more concerned with vf, tekken, vr games and mk3 by the time sfIII mattered.

[@pigs18]

While I was never a big SF3 fan, my perception quite differs. People wouldn't shut up about SF3 and its parry system at the time while I feel that it's only popular now to the same players that were into it at the time. If anything, the polygon fighters split the non-Street Fighter fans so that no one single 3D fighter gained major traction with perhaps Tekken leading the way.

[@Boojakascha]

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike version was famous among competitive players. Personally I played it a lot on the Dreamcast. Maybe it is a regional thing whether it was popular or not (Europe Mainland it was popular).

[@Old_Man_Jay]

I agree. In the U.S., at least on the east coast, I remember SF3 being hella popular so I don't relate at all to some of the things said in this video.

[@MrBranh0913]

Street Fighter III New Generation wasn't even popular competitively. Due to their being broken gameplay and a lot of infinites. 2I and 3s faired better. Street Fighter 3 was relatively popularly in Japanese arcades though. Certainly way more popular than it was in US arcades.

[@gamersplaygroundliquidm3th526]

I owned this arcade cabinet i got rid of it a few years back , kind of sad i did nowadays lol The whole CPS 3 and CD rom drive and cd came in a Killer Instinct 2 Arcade cabinet i had flown to my state from Oklahoma and when I opened the backup, I saw the board and hardware just laing in the bottom of the cabinet so i hooked it all up and it ran perfect. HAd so many good times and nights with so many matches between so many ppl over the years.... Picked up the Killer instinct 2 cabinet in 2002 and got rid of it in 2017 It was the first rev of the game it really was a decent SF game and a competent fighter.

[@TopHatGamingManChannel]

I have got really bored over the last few days of fantasists commenting on here about Street Fighter 3 being really popular in the Nineties. The 'We' in the title of the video refers to myself and the mass market as I very clearly state in the actual content. To put it into perspective the franchises dip in popularity, here are some figures. Street Fighter 2 Games Sold in the 90s :20,000,000 units Street Fighter 3 Games Sold in the 90s : 80,000 Units Over 19 Million fans ditched the franchise...Unless Street Fighter 3 fans were just all pirates?

[@Huss_D]

I think he’s right when he said there was street fighter fatigue by the time 3 came out.i remember being really lost in how many SF2 games there were at the time. It wasn’t till years later that I played it on ps3 (third strike) and its now my favourite of all the street fighter games. Also love marvel vs capcom 2, (played it for the first time on ps3 as well) but that’s not really a street fighter game. And yes I’m casual gamer, but I’ll never forget the first time I saw SF2 champion edition at the arcade, it completely changed the way I looked at video games.

[@cebolla1449]

3rd Strike is the greatest 2d fighter ever released, if not the greatest fighting game of all time

[@RickyThaRuler]

Greatest 2d fighting game? MvC2 hands down

[@cebolla1449]

TET - COM SF2 is super slow and incredibly broken. No throw techs, attacks do random stun, fireballs are waaaaaaaaayyyyyyy too good, and Guile and Dhalsim are broken as all hell. Super Turbo: Motherfucking Akuma, Vega wall climb strats, people can win rounds in 3 seconds by doing 1 full stun bnb combo, Ryu’s shakunetsu, etc Also the game is really damn ugly compared to 3rd Strike 3rd Strike IMO one of the best looking games ever created, I can still look at all of the sprites and say, “wow, that looks incredible.” IMO the soundtrack is better, although SF2s OST is more iconic, stuff like Jazzy NYC, Killing Moon, Ibuki’s theme, Longshoreman, Q’s theme, Dudley’s theme, and even the god damn character select rap are all better than all of the sf2 soundtrack except for super turbo guile and Ken. Incredible gameplay, it’s much faster paced, parrying supers led to the most hype fighting game play of all time(Evo Moment 37), fireballs are way less broken, attacks do set stun, and combos feel much more free form now that they’re supposed to be there. The game balance is soooooo much better. Yeah Chun, Ken, Yun, and Makoto are all pretty good, but they’re nowhere near SF2 Guile/Dhalsim or Super Turbo Akuma. Overall as someone that likes fighting games as a competitive esport, 3rd Strike is the best Street Fighter game, the best 2d Fighter ever created, and the best fighting game ever created despite me dominantly being a smash 64 and Tekken player

[@cebolla1449]

RickythaRuler I can see where you’re coming from there, however I haven’t had the chance to play a lot of MvC2 so what I know about it comes from friends and from what I gather it seems great despite being completely broken with tons of infinites

[@RickyThaRuler]

onioN it’s just that fun it is even today the infinite combos are tournament legal

[@bruceleeds7988]

@@cebolla1449 Thats kinda bad of you if you are calling Third Strike the GOAT, you have to play MvC2 thorough before you chat so bold

[@thejokersonyou]

I'm born in 1981... So SF2 came out at the right time FOR ME. Wht I cant answer... Is whether I aged out of being in arcades... Or if the "Arcade culture" actually dwindled in the late 90s as consoles and life in general gave more options than 5-7yrs prior.

[@seanramos6091]

What was very disapointing back in the late 90s, it was announced as a title for the n64, it would have been a game changer if it was released. They put too much emphasis on 3d gaming and never took full advantage of the systems 2d capabilities

[@DOYLETWAT]

N64 had no 2d capabilities.

[@seanramos6091]

@@DOYLETWAT mortal kombat trilogy...killer instinct..just to name a few ( and only ). every CPU has 2d capabilities, even the start menus in many n64 games are in 2d.

[@RippahRooJizah]

@@seanramos6091 Ultimate Mortal Kombat Gold doesn't exist. You're talking about Mortal Kombat Trilogy and Killer Instinct Gold.

[@seanramos6091]

@@RippahRooJizah duly noted mk trilogy, wish I would have kept my system, the point I'm making here is that napoleon stated there were no 2d games ever, and we only had two 2d fighting games on the n64. Street Fighter 3 was demoed via video and highly publicized in EGM. It was nothing but anticipation for smoke and clouds.

[@tom-ot8kg]

I don't think the N64 would've been powerful enough to handle this series. The Dreamcast had slightly better graphics making it basically an arcade console.

[@jamesmason7979]

In my opinion, Street Fighter 3 is still one of the best looking fighting games. Part of me wishes that Street Fighter was still a 2D series.

[@ShinAdamSmasher]

I played Street Fighter III religiously.

[@scott-richardson]

I remember playing SFIII for the first time and being amazed that it was actually a thing. I walked into a Timezone in Sydney and there it was. I was kinda blown away by the animation and graphics at the time having been a hardcore SFII player. But ny then, as you say, people were not only moving to 3D fighters, but also starting to move away from arcades. I did manage to have a couple more years in the arcades in the early 00's and played a lot of 3rd strike. It was such a beautiful game to play. Very fluid and responsive. It's probably my favourite handling SF game to date. Ken just flowed so nicely with his kicks. Fast forward to last weekend I went on a trip with my son to Sydney and was pleasantly surprised to find four SFIV arcade edition cabinets there, and I was excited that several other people challenged me and we had some great battles.

[@HeavyJ713]

It didn't have the classic characters everybody wanted (Besides Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and Akuma) is one reason

[@bloodaonadeline8346]

I will say for me it’s because 3d fighting games were in despite the fact that I played the SF versus games and Aloha 2 all the time. Once I bought 3rd strike on the Dreamcast I realized how wrong I was.

[@MrSlinxy]

SF3 review with mention of evo moment 37?! bow your head in shame!!

[@octoman_games]

you're a true fan! Daigo and Justin Wong single handedly open everyones eyes to SFIII

[@saaah707]

Like a decade after SF3 original release. By the time third strike came out fighters were already dead in usa.

[@rickyandino1339]

There is so much information out there on SF3, that he barely scratched the surface 😒

[@bradleremond]

Long story short, only keeping two known characters was a risky move, the arcade scene was slowly fading, in addition of the concurrence going 3D, and (especially) the two first titles had little, and late presence in home ports IMO, as gorgeous as it was, The first title was lackluster, but the two updates made it amazing

[@nandovee2025]

Love this game. Total classic. The flow of combat is amazing and parrying is an excellent addition that makes for some truly amazing fights

[@billepperson2662]

My god! I nearly fell out of my chair when I heard your Lex Luger reference... Happy days are here again! 👍 Great to know your an OSW fan!

[@DannyTheBarGod]

This game was vastly different from the previous iterations and I never got into it. Now over 20 years later I'm trying to learn Urien

[@Psmgamer]

I grew up with Street Fighter 2 Champion Edition and Super Street Fighter 2 The New Challengers on Sega Genesis. I was completely burned out of Street Fighter as a kid in the 90's. I never heard of Street Fighter 3 till Capcom released Third Strike on PS3. I am glad Capcom released a 30th anniversary of Street Fighter Collection that includes all of the arcade versions of Street Fighter games.

[@sebbie_gonzo]

Hard to believe EVO was thinking of removing SF III from its tournament line up and that's the year we got Moment 37, one of gaming's greatest tournament highlights ever.

[@triggahappyyt5420]

Sf3 was the game you would challenge someone at the arcades, the parrys changed everything. Have it on my ps3.

[@dabreadman6567]

SF3 has a player base on PC and they're damn good. They do things you see in EVO like it's casual Fridays.

[@doro626]

We didnt play it, because as you noted, it had new weird characters and this new system and we would go and play sf v whatever or alpha. The game also felt too fast. Maybe teh system too technical. I don't even think Alpha 2 did as well as alpha 1. We all stuck to the familiar. I remember when third strike came out, there was this buzz about it being better, but i think it was already too late. we were doing screen wide supers in marvel vs capcom by then.

[@Tenchigumi]

"Gameplay in the SF series reached the ceiling of 2D possibilities a while ago, and as good as this game admittedly is, besides the stunning graphics there's little to distinguish it from the 11 games before!" "The game makes you look forward to the next SF installment rather than getting you excited about playing this one repeatedly." It's wild hearing these kinds of comments today, but I understand them in context. The SF3 titles are lauded to this day for having some of the deepest gameplay and competitive replay value of any fighting game in history (which is why it's still a staple in FGC tournaments over two decades later), but at that time we were so infatuated with polygons and "next gen" that we had no idea what we actually had in front of us. The fact that the game didn't have a console release (and a final version in Third Strike) until two years after launch hurt it tremendously, as players were unlikely to see for themselves how good the games were, and relied on reviews from jaded journalists who, in retrospect, had no clue what they were talking about. In the end, SFIII: 3S gets the last laugh, as it boasts one of the most historic moments in eSports history, and is still lovingly remembered by fighting game fans today.

[@TexasHollowEarth]

Most of the backgrounds don't even have parallax. The roster is full of hipster characters. Millennials worship this series & it irritates me.

[@etang5]

I got into this title in the mid 2000's and it's what got me back into fighting games. The mechanics for the game made for an incredibly high skill cap and fun game to play. Parrying made a comeback possible no matter how far behind I was and that was always exciting.

[@MetaSynForYourSoul]

6:14 You're telling me! Street fighter 4 and 5 both take place before Street Fighter 3 in the timeline.

[@sirarthur0]

That is correct, SF 4 is between 2 and 3, and SF 5 is after 4.

[@AndersonTenecela]

Canonical order: SF1 SF Alpha 2 SF Alpha 3 SSF2T SF4 SSF4/Arcade Edition/USF4 SF5 SF3 2nd Impact SF3 3rd Strike

[@MetaSynForYourSoul]

@@AndersonTenecela Yep! Not as "chronologically confused" as Zelda but still a mess none the less, especially in regards to release dates as opposed to in game dates. Like SF1 no supers, SFAlpha 3 supers, SF2 NO supers till SSF2, SF3 multiple supers but you gotta pick one, and they basically keep that format through the rest of the games, minus a few exceptions.

[@AndersonTenecela]

@@MetaSynForYourSoul SSF2T is the official canon game of the SF2 series since that was the one that had Akuma and in the prologue of SF4 it was revealed that Akuma perform the Wrath of the Raging Demon to M Bison before the boss fight is canon.

[@MetaSynForYourSoul]

@@AndersonTenecela So does it work like that with 3rd Impact, too? Or are those like separate rounds of the same tourney?

[@iradhill81]

In truth in 1999 while people played polygon games, there was a war between tekken 3 and marvel vs capcom which was 2D but was the only 3v3 fighter. No one really hated on 2D fighters bc of xmenvsSF, mvsSf, mvsc, mvc2.

[@Ric_Roar]

SF2 Championship, SF2 Turbo, Super SF2, Super SF2 X(?), SF Alpha, SF Alpha 2, SF Alpha 3, Puzzle Fighter, SF EX, SF EX 2 probably diminished interest in SF3.

[@salvatronprime9882]

That's a major factor, expecially considering that all those other games were superior as well.

[@Mallyumansky]

Can forget SFA2Gold as well LoL

[@bruceleeds7988]

you didn't even mention the VS games either

[@mikef8846]

Capcom was just too scared to do a follow up to Street Fighet 2. How could they possible top the success of that game? When Street Fighter 3 released, the marquee on the cabinet just said "Three." It was almost as though Capcom was afraid to really call it Street Fighter 3! Very weird. It had only two returning characters, and the new characters were too weird. It was just a strange release overall.

[@LegatoSkyheart]

Street Fighter 3 was underappreciated until the summer of 2004 when EVO Moment #37 happened.

[@raymondgibbs5327]

Agreed

[@FelixTheWiseOne]

This game looks better than even the recent ones

[@AntonioRodriguezSilver]

It's funny that Alpha wasn't named III because the creators wanted to make it a point that it is a prequel, yet V is a prequel to III so they don't care about that issue anymore. I have no idea where IV goes but I am fairly sure that III is meant to be the most recent, story-wise. Anyway, I didn't play vanilla III that much in the arcade. I was a fan of Chun-Li and Fei Long and was very disappointed with their absence. I saw Double Impact once or twice, but ignored it as well. However, I loved 3rd Strike! Not only was the Chun back, but Yang was awesome! Much more fun to play as than his brother IMO. Third time was the charm with III!

[@exiaR2x78]

Story wise they go SF1, SF Alpha, SF2, SF4, SFV, SF3 haha

[@caiusmadison2996]

So future aged Ken and Ryu of SF5 come before K&R of SF3?

[@AntonioRodriguezSilver]

@@caiusmadison2996 Yes, though Ken and Ryu in III don't seem that young anyway. Well, you can mostly see Ryu's age in III in the way his expressions are drawn and Ken's age can be taken from his son's age in the ending. My big concern is how Yun and Yang don't age (in fact they seem to get younger!) from IV to III! And that sentence structure would make no sense without knowing that III is the last chronological one!

[@INFERNO95]

exiaR2x78 Capcom need to clean up the SF timeline.

[@roastefied3309]

I never had the patients or the money to understand the mechanics of the game back 1999. Until 12 yrs later I learned how to stomp and dominate with hugo.

[@jesuszamora6949]

Honestly, saying "2d was passe" ignores just how well-received SFA3, which came out after SF3, was. Not only that, but the genre was over-saturated in the late 90s. You were just more likely to get someone to play with on SFA3.

[@marcusalexander4437]

Yeah it has more to do ith sf3 unfamiliar cast that anything else, even sfa3 had most of the cast from sf2 which is why it was popular

[@jesuszamora6949]

@@marcusalexander4437 To a point. I remember the gameplay being rather controversial at the time too, seeming a bit more reserved and technical compared to the relative insanity of SFA or the Marvel games.

[@PS5Akatsuki]

SFA3 is the best SF game ever imo.

[@19zach75]

StreetFighter 3 had better balance than all of the different iterations of SF2, except for SF2 turbo: The new challengers. The combo system was the best, and parrying was a skill that could make or break the fight. I loved SF3 "third strike" the most. I think people were burnt out on SF when the SF3 series came about. We got the "Alpha" series and the "VS Marvel" games, which were all popular in arcades AND on home consoles, before SF3. Had the SF3 series been released directly after the SF2 turbo, it would've had more of an impact.

[@humansaredumfuckthemtodeat9461]

I have this game on original Xbox I even recall playing it in the arcade in a kinda skate park kinda arcade kinda paintball all in one place. I barely played street fighter 3 even though I have it.

[@themcfaceman]

umm I've been playing 3rd Strike since H.S. (16+ yrs) my fav fighting game ever!

[@FIXTREME]

HOT TAKE We didn't play SF3 for the same reason we ignored the movie-game: It sucked ass in every single aspect other than gameplay and graphics. And SF The Movie at least had a real roster. SF3, on the other hand, was Capcom's Saved by the Bell: The New Class. You can slap a franchise's name and 2 stalwarts onto a project, but that doesn't make it a real Street Fighter game. Maybe if SF3 wasn't called the 3rd game, it would have been received better.

[@therush757]

Speak for yourself. I’ve played SFIII since the arcade launch of New Generation and still have 3rd Strike on Dreamcast.

[@michaeltaylor1211]

me too

[@Free-JackWolff]

Used to have to own one to play it. Dreamcast has the best version of sfa3

[@thatguy3718]

I had a boot leg copy on my Dreamcast

[@fabricebacquart]

Yup :) My dreamcast died but i still have the anniversary collection version on ps2.

[@F_And]

3rd strike is a completely different game than what the video is about

[@ravagingwolverine]

I absolutely agree about Alex. I always found him unappealing. His overall look strikes me as that of a bad guy as well. I never really liked a lot of the Capcom character designs and artwork starting from the Alpha series and that continued here. In fact, my favorite Capcom sprites are the Marvel and SNK characters. The cool thing about Double Impact is that it has a native widescreen mode. As for home versions, the Saturn was definitely powerful enough. The CPS3 had a single SH-2 running slower than either one of those CPUs in the Saturn. And Saturn had basically infinite sprites. The only thing preventing Saturn from running SF3 is memory. Perhaps there are more limitations like bandwidth or VRAM issues, but CPS3 is still using the same standard Capcom resolution and the power doesn't even match Saturn, at least in CPU and sprites. What I'd really like to know is how much expansion memory would SF3 need for a good port and if the Saturn has technical limits on how much expansion memory can be used. Of course, in real life cost would be a factor as well. Just because the Saturn could run it with more RAM doesn't mean it would make sense to do it. RAM wasn't inexpensive in those days. I do think it is interesting to consider though. It's worth noting that, as SF3 is not a tag fighter, you could have two fighters with more frames in RAM as opposed to four fighters in RAM. I remember a friend taking me to a local comic shop to see SF3 in action in early 1998. That's when we became aware of the game in our area. While the animation was impressive, I still didn't like Capcom's general style or most of the new characters -- I didn't even see Gill, he's awful. Right next to the SF3 cabinet was a Neo Geo red cabinet with King of Fighters '97. Though not quite as well animated as SF3, I enjoyed the animation more. I loved the stylish characters and the look of the game play. I fell in love with KOF '97 immediately. As soon as I got home, I checked to see if it was coming to the Saturn, which I was happy to see it was. It's a good gaming memory of mine.

[@michaelmanning9028]

I play it on my dreamcast pretty often, 3rs strike, 2nd impact they are both really good

[@emaculatej650]

Yes initially street farther free was looked down on but if you ax many people 3rd strike is arguably the best street fighter game ever made

[@chrisbg99]

Pretty clear: The arcade scene was fading after the early 90s boom and Street Fighter 3 just didn't have the same general appeal as Street Fighter 2 did.

[@cyberdelicxp9125]

SF3 series wasn't bad. Its beautiful, deep, and playable. It did come out during a very transitional time. But the main reason nobody played it where I'm from is the Cabinet was very rare. By the time it came out at home, the market was so crowded it was kinda an afterthought. It's also kinda hard to play, the most advanced tech is hard to execute. Truth is it has aged better than most of its peers from he same era, and its still a joy to watch

[@daruna3142]

3S is already revered in the competitive scene as one of the best games of all time

[@joelfamilia9989]

daruna it’s THE best fighting of all time

[@lHurtYourFeeIings]

Literally. SF3 is the best fighting game ever.

[@strangelovemd1]

Missing Double Dragon 🐉 franchise. Those were the days back in the early 90s. NES and Arcade.

[@LowellLucasJr.]

I can definitely say I remember playing Street Fighter 3 back in the 90s and enjoying all the arcades put out for it. I didn't get too many people to join me in The Fray but I had a great time playing them especially when third strike came out and to me it's still the definitive Street Fighter game besides super turbo

[@vio2112]

I just picked up Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection for my Switch for only 20 bucks at Walmart. Everyone should do the same. It is a great deal at that price. You get the original arcade versions of all 3 Street Fighter 3s, all 3 Street Fighter Alphas, all the numerous versions of Street Fighter 2 and even the original Street Fighter(not a very good game, but an important part of gaming history). Several of the games have online play as well, including Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike.

[@davidjames579]

You can see why Mr Top Hat likes Dudley. They have the same mustache.

[@debo2189]

SFIII was released I believe when arcades were dying and PS/Xbox still weren't mainstream. I have tons of childhood memories of SFII, SSFII (&turbo) , the entire SF alpha franchise, SF vs Xmen but almost 0 memories of SF3, I only saw it once at an arcade, yup ONLY ONCE and never agin until I saw the Daigo Evo moment on KZbin when i started learning about SF3.... Finally I came to know I wasn't the only one who believe this game was overlooked!

[@rockerkellyjr]

The greatest soundtrack I’ve ever heard in my life....Absolutely mesmerizing, timeless & just made me feel so damn good.

[@ReiTheRabbit]

I wonder why Capcom didn't allow Chun Li to be put in the first two SF3 installments. That's probably why they never gained traction with their audience. How can you have a Street FIghter game without her? Lol

[@awwrelic]

I just went through my Official (US) Dreamcast Magazines and while I think the mag shut down before they could get a review of SFIII 3rd Impact (last issue was March/April 2001), they did have a review of Double Impact in the May/June 2000 issue. It got a 7 out of 10, largely because, while they were convinced it was the "best 2D fighting game on the Dreamcast", they were annoyed at the lack of classic characters. Of the three, my favorite is still SF III 3rd. But my favorite SF game over all is still Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the Sega Saturn (a game I still own).

[@protoroc]

Arcades were mostly dead by the time SF3 came around. SNES port being fantastic, proved that home market was where it's at.

[@rufioquin2406]

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike is the pinnacle of Street Fighter.

[@Rising_Light]

1- Alex was literally based on Hulk Hogan lol 2. Parrying was done by pressing down for low attacks or forward for any other. Very fun video though!

[@Captain.Scarlet]

Never saw SF3 in the arcades, Tekken and other 3D fighters to me looked really poor in comparison to the 2D fighters of the era. I would still play Street Fighter 2 other any other.

[@M4rk._06]

today a lot of people give the game (3rd strike specifically) legendary status even tho it has some flaws specificaly sean, 12 and remy, but besides that the game is fun and adored by a lot and played on fightcade 2

[@realmchat6665]

Played the crap out of this on the Dreamcast, I remember wondering at the time why the game wasn't better known/more popular - still one of my favorite 2d fighters.

[@cmfunk7665]

Because X-men vs street fighter and marvel vs street fighter was z much bigger deal. You gotta think. X-men back in 96-97 was like the avengers is today. Street fighter 3 seemed boring in comparison

[@HolySok]

Because not many people had a Dreamcast and had become more interested in 3D games

[@raggaeldestro]

I practically stayed in the arcade. Alpha and SFIII were the only Street Fighter games I was actually good at.

[@nightbirdds]

Street Fighter EX was developed by Arika, not Akira. Yeah, that messes me up too.