« 3rd Strike Online Feedback Series: A Newcomers Opinion »

iPlayWinner contributor LVC chimes in with his thoughts on the upcoming rerelease of Street Fighter III. This article is a little different from the past entries in that this is the opinion of a player who started at the tail end of the game's life span. Enjoy!

Check out the other entries in this series: Arlieth | Haunts | MrJared

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike is a game I hold very close to my heart. I first started getting serious about fighters in the beginning of 2008 and by serious I mean playing with people in the arcades and actually learning the game. I moved to southern California mid 2008 for a brief period of time and I was treated to the wonderful arcades such as "Denjin Arcade", “Family Fun Arcade”, and “Arcade Infinity".

At the time my character of choice was Yun. I thought I had everything down and I was gonna show up to the arcade and do well. Boy, was I in for an eye opening experience. Having only played at home on my dreamcast, playing against anyone was jarring and shocking. Not only did I not know how to play Yun at all, I was getting perfected, taunted, mauled, and laid to rest almost every match I played. It was disheartening to say the least, but I loved the game and I wanted to get better no matter how many quarters I tossed into the machine. As corny as it sounds, the pain of losing made me a better player. Soon enough, losing didn’t upset me anymore. I just threw another quarter into the machine.  

Thanks to playing on GGPO and the beatings I experienced at the local arcades, I soon began to develop the proper mindset for fighters. The type of calm mindset that pulls you into the game. When you're playing 3S nothing else matters, nothing. At the time I didn't even think about the complaints that most people have about the game now. Such as Yun's super art 3 being broken and Chun Li's super art 2. Nothing like that even crossed my mind. This was the game I was playing. I loved it. Why change anything about it? 

When 3rd Strike Online was announced I was ecstatic. Finally, Capcom is putting my favorite game on consoles and (hopefully) giving it an arcade perfect port. I hopped on SRK to read the reactions of the members. Most of what I read made me quite sad. So many complaints about almost every character and what Capcom should fix. Have any of these people played this game in the arcades or in tournaments? Or are they sitting behind their computers complaining about a game they’ve never REALLY played. 

A classic set between KO and Daigo from EVO.

Nothing needs to be changed in Third Strike Online. Keep the game the same. If you change anything it just won't be Third Strike. I went into the game a complete scrub and I spend hundreds of dollars getting beat into oblivion by Chuns, Yuns, and Kens and it made me a better fighting game player overall. People should stop complaining and learn the matchups. Learn how to parry, learn how to deal with Yuns SA3, learn to be careful when Chun has meter, and most importantly learn how to play smart. Third Strike is mind game heavy. Unlike Street Fighter 4 (a game I play regularly and enjoy by the way) there is no bullshit. No mash shoryu, no easy reversals, no brain-dead input shortcuts. If you get hit by Chuns low forward to SA2, that's your fault. You and only you.

Change what you want Capcom, just give us an option to play the original game online and off. Then I'll be happy.