Since starting the fighting game renaissance with 2009's Street Fighter IV, Capcom has continued to stay at the helm with expansions, HD remakes of classics, and revitalizations of other beloved franchises such as Marvel vs. Capcom. Sporting a crisp HD look, Theater mode, challenge modes, and (most importantly) an online mode, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition is a love letter to the fans who have supported it for the past decade, as well as a push to bring in a wider audience to one of Street Fighter's less popular entries.
Capcom recently invited us to get one last look at the game and some hands-on time before its release in the coming weeks.
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition (PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade) Developer: Iron Galaxy Studios Publisher: Capcom To be released: August 23 (PSN) / August 24 (XBLA)
As mentioned already, 3rd Strike has been remastered in HD, and all of the menu art has been completely redone to look pretty in hi-def as well. The classic menu art remains but only in the character select screen, where the new art is used for scroll-over images while the classic art is used for character icons. Also in the character select screen are two new fan-requested features -- a simple random character option and the ability to map and re-assign button commands and inputs.
Once in-game, 3rd Strike uses graphical filters to upscale the game for HD displays, with all the characters having their own filter to make them look as clean as possible. There is an option to switch back to the original graphics, but of course, it looks very pixilated on modern displays. There are other display options such as the arcade cabinet mode, which not only gives you the original aspect ratio, but also shows scan lines and a bent screen in order to emulate the look of old-school cabinets. Every display mode (with the obvious exception of full screen) preserves the original arcade aspect ratio, leaving space within the borders of the screen for 3rd Strike's challenges.
Challenges in 3rd Strike are a series of dynamic task that players can complete over the game's various offline and online modes. These range from throwing a certain number of fireballs to parrying entire super moves, plus some challenges that are character-specific. Similar to challenges are trials, specific sequences that serve as a way to ease in new players and welcome back seasoned veterans.
The trials in the game all revolve around learning the characters and mechanics. For example, the parry system of 3rd Strike is arguably the defining feature that separates it from all other entries in the series. It gives players a safe haven to avoid chip damage while blocking when they find themselves in situations where they can't afford to get hurt. In the parry trial mode, players start off with easy objectives such as parrying one fireball. The farther you go into this trial, the more advanced the tasks become, culminating with the game's making you recreate Daigo Umehara's famous EVO win over Justin Wong.
Challenges and trials are also tools for the game to track stats and earn points to spend in the vault. The vault is 3rd Strike's unlock market (think the Krypt from Mortal Kombat) where players can spend their vault points on well over 200 pieces of content. A good amount of it is art, both classic and new, but there are also character endings, the original intro video, stage backgrounds, original music, and remastered tracks. One of the cooler vault features is the ability to take unlocked music and set it as your background theme for all the menus. Speaking of which, the songs in 3rd Strike have been remastered by Simon Viklund (who also remastered the music of Bionic Commando Rearmed) with the vocal work done by Adam Tensta, a Swedish rapper and Street Fighter enthusiast.
As great as the remixes and masterings are, the biggest addition is online play, of which there are a number of modes available. There are standard ranked matches and player matches, the latter offering a spectator mode in which six people watch as two players duke it out. There is also a King of the Hill variant for player matches in addition to an eight-player tournament mode.
The glue holding the online suite together is the fan-requested GGPO middleware. Basically, this net code allows 3rd Strike to hide lag and offer players a smooth offline-like experience. If you're wondering exactly how GGPO "hides" lag, here is the simple version: the game can record and remember exactly who pressed what button at what time, so when lag interferes, the game refreshes faster than the eye can see as all button prompts register in the order they were pressed. If lag is particularly potent, GGPO can still refresh the game, though at a cost to graphical fidelity. There will be some noticeable screen-shaking when the net code is dealing with really bad connections, but Capcom stands by the idea that this is a small sacrifice for the smoothness of play on offer.
The final fan-requested (notice the theme) piece to 3rd Strike's re-release is the Theater mode. Theater mode's setup is easy enough to understand -- when you play a game, that match is automatically sent to your unsaved folder, which stores your last 100 matches. From there, you can save games (200 max) and play them back offline or online with seven other people. You can also upload matches to Capcom's website and search for other games by players who won, players who lost, characters used, and so on. You can even upload matches directly to YouTube!
Theater mode offers a nice feature set to be sure, but I found it disappointing that there is no option for frame-by-frame playback. In a genre where winners, losers, and WTF moments can be defined by such minute details, being able to step through frames would have been very welcoming. Just get your thumbs ready to mash the play and pause buttons to see those nitty-gritty details!
In any case, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition is shaping up very nicely for its release later this month.
Hopefully all the scrubs who prefer Turd Strike over the best Street Fighter ever(SSFIV:AE) can go to this so we can stop hearing how much better it is than the new version. "Oh, it's so much better? Then kindly go over there and STFU."
Can even Daigo reliable repeat that notable feat let alone achievement hunters across the world? Only time will tell if one of the greatest moments in competitive gaming will be rendered commonplace or if only a small handful of people or even just Daigo will be able to rise to the challenge.
Hell, he's never even said if he's played it. From the sounds of it he hasn't. His complaints tend to reflect someone who heard from someone else that there was a guy in another state that might have played the game once against someone good and got his ass rocked mercilessly.
@Rabite: You know, a salt-heavy diet is not a good thing, my friend. You should consult your doctor about lowering your blood pressure!
TL;DR: Y U SALTY, BRAH? (I've played it. Enough to formulate an opinion on it. I just like how butt-sensitive the Turd Strike fans are and like to rub NaCl in their wounds. ;)
Rammstein: Your TL;DR was longer than the rest of your post.
I just want to know if you've actually played it. I have asked several times in different posts. You have evaded the question each time. If you've actually played it, then fine you don't like it. A lot of people didn't like it. But to take other people's word for it and not give it a chance of your own because you heard that one of the mechanics is supposedly broken is truly sad. Oh well, either way I'll enjoy both AE and 3S. And MvC3. And MvC2. And MSH. And SFA3. And... You get the idea.
@Rabite
"It's not an easy game in the series to get into."
For sure!
I was a fan of Super Street Fighter II when it came out, then a huge Alpha fan - I competed in tourneys for a bit during High School.
I think 3rd Strike is an incredibly hard game to get into - frankly, I didn't get into it during my prime, either. The generic new characters didn't really do a whole lot for me, and I was playing too much Marvel, SNK 2, and Guilty Gear at the time.
Magnalon: I was lucky enough to have an arcade by me that had MvC2, SF3:3S, SFA3, MvC1 and a few others. I slowly made the transition from playing MvC2 over to 3S. It's been my favorite ever since. But said transition was not easy and I never was as good at 3S as I was at the others. I predict many an ass kickings online for me, but at least I can use almost anybody in the lineup.
I loved everything about SF3. I remember New Generations hitting the arcades and you couldn't tear me away from those sticks. SF3:Double Impact was a day one purchase for my Dreamcast.
I find it just a bit hilarious that people criticize the game for having "generic" characters when they championed SF2, which had such amazingly ground-breaking characters such as Ryu, Guile, Zangief, T.Hawk, Boxer, Dictator, Fei Long, Dee Jay, etc. I'll take Dudley over Boxer any damn day of the week.
Main thing I loved about SF3 was that there was a great balance between offense and defense, mainly because of the ability to parry - especially parrying in the air. It meant that you could actually advance on your opponent, as opposed to just waiting for them to come to you. Advancing in any other SF would mean you'd eat a freakin' shoryuken unless you did it very, very, very slowly.
@Magnalon
I grew up with those SF2 characters too. Was more than ready to abandon them as soon as characters with some flavor behind them came around, though.
Good job on the info; glad to hear they really did update the portraits.
But "one of Street Fighter's less popular entries?" Maybe back in 1998 when arcades wouldn't get anything but Namco titles, but SFIII3S has been trendy for at least the last 6 years or so. If you're into SF, you gotta love SFIII3S and kiss Daigo's ass or you're not "hardcore." The game really ain't all that; it's probably the most overrated in the whole SF series...
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Contest:
1:30 PM on 08.08.2011 | 
Also, I hope Infinite's songs make a return.
3rd Strike is a great game, despite not liking the mechanics(parries are broken)
they should have make it like the Aplha Series, for every parry you use a certain amount of bar.
on second thought when are they gonna make a Alpha 2 Gold/Alpha 3 Max Online Editions???
You want some fries with that salt?
TL;DR: Y U SALTY, BRAH? (I've played it. Enough to formulate an opinion on it. I just like how butt-sensitive the Turd Strike fans are and like to rub NaCl in their wounds. ;)
Third Strike stood the test of time for over ten years against every game in the genre, including other SF games, proving that it's better.
SSFIVAE JUST came out last month, while Capcom and Ono already announced they're working to completely resemblance it...yeeeeah.
Kindly take your own advice.
I just want to know if you've actually played it. I have asked several times in different posts. You have evaded the question each time. If you've actually played it, then fine you don't like it. A lot of people didn't like it. But to take other people's word for it and not give it a chance of your own because you heard that one of the mechanics is supposedly broken is truly sad. Oh well, either way I'll enjoy both AE and 3S. And MvC3. And MvC2. And MSH. And SFA3. And... You get the idea.
Nigga, I got some water--Dat Aquafina-- for that salty taste you got, son.
"It's not an easy game in the series to get into."
For sure!
I was a fan of Super Street Fighter II when it came out, then a huge Alpha fan - I competed in tourneys for a bit during High School.
I think 3rd Strike is an incredibly hard game to get into - frankly, I didn't get into it during my prime, either. The generic new characters didn't really do a whole lot for me, and I was playing too much Marvel, SNK 2, and Guilty Gear at the time.
Plenty of fighting game fans missed 3rd Strike.
I find it just a bit hilarious that people criticize the game for having "generic" characters when they championed SF2, which had such amazingly ground-breaking characters such as Ryu, Guile, Zangief, T.Hawk, Boxer, Dictator, Fei Long, Dee Jay, etc. I'll take Dudley over Boxer any damn day of the week.
Main thing I loved about SF3 was that there was a great balance between offense and defense, mainly because of the ability to parry - especially parrying in the air. It meant that you could actually advance on your opponent, as opposed to just waiting for them to come to you. Advancing in any other SF would mean you'd eat a freakin' shoryuken unless you did it very, very, very slowly.
You grow with those characters though - after years of loving them, characters like "robot in a trench coat" (Q) was hard to get into.
So rusty now.
Well I pretty much have to go back to scratch with my main Q, last time I played on ggpo the competition was intense.
I grew up with those SF2 characters too. Was more than ready to abandon them as soon as characters with some flavor behind them came around, though.
But "one of Street Fighter's less popular entries?" Maybe back in 1998 when arcades wouldn't get anything but Namco titles, but SFIII3S has been trendy for at least the last 6 years or so. If you're into SF, you gotta love SFIII3S and kiss Daigo's ass or you're not "hardcore." The game really ain't all that; it's probably the most overrated in the whole SF series...