I don’t know why it took me so long to write something for this game, since this was the game that made me fall in love with 2D fighters. Everything is perfect in this game, the music, the sprites and scenery, and it’s the most fun I’ve ever had with Street Fighter. (This was my second SF game after Hyper SF2, cause this came with the game)
Look, it's third strike, not much has to be said about the legacy and honor that this game has. Parries are sick, SA is a cool system and a lot of a fundamentals of this game stayed with the series for good reason. That being said, I think this game is heavily overrated. I don't mind games with small rosters of viable characters, but some of these guys don't even feel finished. Shawn, Q, Hugo, Twelve, Remi, and like half the mid-teirs in this game only work because the system mechanics exist and are so strong, rather than feeling like a complete character. This feels weirder in Street Fighter because due to it's slight more grounded nature, they don't really have the insane stuff on low-teirs that can make them fun to play in those settings. Not even mentioning Chun and Yun, who are probably some of the most brain-dead top-teirs in this franchise. There's a lot of good, but I just can't vibe with the game as much as I want to given how many of the characters are more frustrating to play than they ever needed to be.
SF3!!!! I love the U.I. it looks nice and simple, the animation is great, art style is pretty and it feels generally very nice to play, responsive and clean. I really like this one and it's strange in the sense that it comes AFTER SFIV and SFV. The story IS cool and I think Gill/the Illuminati is a much cooler and interesting villain than Shadaloo and Bison, just personal preference. Though, as with all these older titles I wish the story was more conclusive and played a bigger part. IT ADDED MAKOTO AND IBUKI THOUGH SO PEAK.
Really is one of the greats of the genre.
Parry as a mechanic is simple to understand, fun to use, and has insane flexibility. So many ways to apply it, and it shapes a lot of the game. Serves as an interesting way to mitigate fireball wars too, when combined with building meter by doing normal attacks, even without hitting.
The soundtrack is classic, of course! Gives it a very different vibe from most games in the series, especially combined with the fluid and detailed spritework/animation. 3rd Strike still looks jaw dropping even now IMO.
I appreciate the sentiment of the super art mechanic, how they balanced supers by giving them different meter lengths and maximum stocks... But as a Ken player, the other two supers are so weak that you always pick Shippu Jinrai. I use Shoryureppa often, but that's just for the novelty of not always doing the same low-damage kick super. (Shippu is still broken and crazy useful though LMAO)
This game's still one of a kind! Go to Fightcade and play some matches, It's a great time. even if some of the characters deserved to be better balanced LMAO.
Parry as a mechanic is simple to understand, fun to use, and has insane flexibility. So many ways to apply it, and it shapes a lot of the game. Serves as an interesting way to mitigate fireball wars too, when combined with building meter by doing normal attacks, even without hitting.
The soundtrack is classic, of course! Gives it a very different vibe from most games in the series, especially combined with the fluid and detailed spritework/animation. 3rd Strike still looks jaw dropping even now IMO.
I appreciate the sentiment of the super art mechanic, how they balanced supers by giving them different meter lengths and maximum stocks... But as a Ken player, the other two supers are so weak that you always pick Shippu Jinrai. I use Shoryureppa often, but that's just for the novelty of not always doing the same low-damage kick super. (Shippu is still broken and crazy useful though LMAO)
This game's still one of a kind! Go to Fightcade and play some matches, It's a great time. even if some of the characters deserved to be better balanced LMAO.
Parries and relatively high damage off of supers give this game a very distinct taste, not one that I enjoy playing. Aesthetically this game is a classic, and there are mechanics that this introduced to FGs that would be refined better later on. It's probably for the best this game exists in the state that it does, but it also solidified my issues with Street Fighter as a whole.