Prepare For The Battle, Prepare For The War

Whenever I play a fighter now, I do the same comparison, every time, without fail. That comparison starts with a question;

“Is this game as much fun as Street Fighter 3: Third Strike?”

Generally, opinion is divided on 3^rd strike, as it is essentially the title that stopped Capcom from making fighters for over 10 years. The problem was that the learning curve wasn’t a curve, it was a line which rocketed up like a ride at Alton Towers and then didn’t slow down for a couple of years.

It divided the fans up; some people preferred the previous titles like Street Fighter Alpha, and the VS series of games like Marvel VS Capcom.

With the introduction of parrying into the game, some people felt that there was no point playing a game when your chances of landing a hit could be nullified with a game mechanic.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS7hkwbKmBM[/youtube]

An example of this is the classic EVO moment number 37, in which, during the final match of the tournament, Daigo Umehara manages to pull off a full parry of Justin Wong’s Chun-Li’s super art, and finish off his opponent. Now, there are generally 3 reactions to watching this clip;

1)      Wow, that’s cool, I’m going to play this game and I’m going to do that
2)      Damn, that looks hard to do, I’ll never learn that
3)      What’s the point in playing a game when you can’t land a hit?

The retail sales for 3^rd strike were far from amazing, In fact, I think it’s the worst retail performance of any Capcom Street Fighter game to date, however, with the re-launch on the current generation of consoles; we could be looking at the rebirth of the parry.

The problem with this now is that players who are coming into the fighting scene with games like Street Fighter 4/Super/AE/MVC are used to some assistance from the game, whereas 3^rd strike is raw, which is where I think its beauty lies. There is nothing like winning a round with a parry counter combo, however, the rush down opportunities for some opponents is nothing like that which new players have experienced and this may immediately put people off.

I will say that in my experience of playing fighters, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike is the most fun you can have in a fighting game, if like me, your enjoyment comes from not just playing, but learning, and in this game, you have plenty of opportunities to learn, mostly after you have been on the receiving end of a beating.

A beating isn’t always bad, as Kami pointed out in a recent blog – it can harden your resolve, make you want to sharpen your fangs, or it can help you realise that, you know what, I’m not for this, which again isn’t a bad thing, you’ve tried it, you have an opinion, its allowed.

It’s like I’ve always said, if you don’t try something new, you’ll always be shit in bed.

Am I saying that playing Street Fighter 3: Third Strike will make you better in bed?

The answer to this would be yes, obviously.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0P0NS480FU&hd=1[/youtube]