#2D FIGHTER MAKER 2002 PARRY SERIES#
The response from developer Capcom and series producer Tomoshi Sadamoto was to find ways to implement real life fighting mechanics like the 3D fighting games had, but into a world of fireballs and dragon punches. By the late 90s, though, 3D fighting games like Tekken and Virtua Fighter were drawing attention away from aging 2-dimensional sprites, and they worked better on home consoles of the time with the muscle to push polygons, giving normal arcade-going fans a reason to stay on their couch.
Fan expectations and the then-contemporary games media meant enormous pressure for another sea change. It's hard to follow up a smash like Street Fighter 2 with a proper sequel. "It got better with each iteration, and 3rd Strike is the undisputed star of the series, but the core experience always stood far apart from that of the Street Fighter 2, the Alpha series, and of course SF4 and SF5." "The Street Fighter 3 series overall is a strange duck," says former Capcom producer Seth Killian. | John Learned/USG, Capcom Face Down on the Mat Now on its 20th birthday, we dutifully accept it as one of the all-timers, the masterpiece that it’s always been. The game is in resurgence in competitive circles, and has become revered amongst critics and players as the years have passed. But it's to these people that we thank for keeping the fire lit for so long. Having been released at perhaps the worst time for a fighting game to come to an arcade, it was unabashedly targeted to the hardest of its hardcore followers. As the fighting game maxim of "easy to learn and impossible to master" goes, the knowledge that 3rd Strike can practically never be fully mastered makes it a cruel teacher, but its followers love it for that reason alone. Now, grown and wise, it's the pinnacle of its form. We used to talk about 3rd Strike as an unloved middle child. It's ironic to talk about Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike in those terms.
We want to see a comeback because, on rare occasion, we get to see what hope can look like. We want to believe in comebacks because we want to remember what hope is. It's Daigo swatting away 15 kicks before a small, screaming crowd of true believers. It's Ali stepping back in the ring after government exile. It's the Cavs roaring back from being down 3 games to 1. And then by calm control, sheer will, or dumb ass luck, there is a shift almost tectonic, the tables turned. The other side's domination has only produced a gulf to cross, their continued battering of the underdog almost comical. One competitor is on the losing side, down to a sliver of themselves. It's primal, I think, the rush of witnessing the snatch of victory from the mouth of defeat.
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