Was Street Fighter III A Failure?

[PrairieDillo]

Here is a tournament clip that really captures the intensity level around the game/competition.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSGW7CwD5GM

I was there. INSANITY filled the room...

People often don't get it. 3rd Strike was very significant because parry changes everything. No longer can someone just sit there and turtle up.

in the SF2-ST era, No other game had such a vast list of characters that catered to different styles and personalities. Very few were similar and Ken/Ryu were only mirrored there so that there was more continuity from SF and for initial VS play. No only was each character varied in his/her basic play style but people developed different play styles based on these characters. There isn't one way to play each character. It's that deep.

3rd Strike's parry changes things so that even if you jump into a combo and they don't have a rising uppercut counter... they could parry. If you think they are going to parry then you crouching sweep when jumping in. Some always fireball traps you with the fast and slow FBs then you just parry them.

The big problem... it was TOO deep and changed things so much that people got turned off.

I myself had to get talked into getting into it. Parry was so different that I couldn't get off my ST ways. Once I learned, I was hooked... I'm still not that good at it but love my own little combos and small juggles that I've learned to do.

 

[thestonedgamer]

Don't bother with this argument. You're not going to convince the elderly of anything. Just let them babble about their golf games and donkey kong high scores and believe that is considered deep high stress competitive gaming.

Nice. But that's the thing that really blows my mind - I'm in the age bracket of the guys you're talking about. I saw the 80's classics, and they were great and everything, but when SF and to a lesser extent MK came along it was like 'holy shit, this is what games should be. Me versus you. It's on!"

Then Golden Tee comes along and you have guys playing games who well...DON'T PLAY OR COLLCT ARCADE GAMES. Besides stupid ass Golden tee of course. I can't believe the 'classics' crowd has latched onto this boring turd.

So weren't we discussing something about the success and failure of sf3?

I'm sticking with SF III New Generation was something you played and said "wait a minute...is this even Street Fighter?'.

 

[thestonedgamer]

I was there. INSANITY filled the room...

You worked for Capcom BITD. You were someone who worked on Guitar Hero before it went downhill. And you were at this match.

SO. FUCKING. JEALOUS.

And the new Daigo shit-talkin' vid is hilarious.

 

[PrairieDillo]

SO. FUCKING. JEALOUS.

Meh... we all have fond memories of doing something... the funny connection is that I've gotten to meet, work with or party with gaming rock stars or real rock stars.

 

[thestonedgamer]

I don't have any gaming rock star stories to swap, but plenty about guys who once were rocks stars.

If you make it to EVO this year we should meet up. Maybe some cab matches in the BYOC section?

Back to SF III. I'm also going to go ahead and say that by the time 3rd Strike came out, the US arcade scene had pretty much died off for the most part. It's kind of hard to know what sort of buisness it would have had if arcades were still the rage when it was released.

Someone reading this needs to sell me a 3rd strike, dammit.

 

[Sarconus]

All so true about parry turning people away that didn't want to spend the time to learn the system. I grew up play all kind of games at home and most my teenage years in arcades.

Fighting games have and always will have special moments in my heart due to the community that we had. The amount of memories i have are related to Fighting games and Pinball (which i have started to collect as well). Other than that there were a hand full of other games i played seldom such as D&D, SHUMPS, etc.

I really don't care about Golden Tee because if you truly want a challenge take your a$$ to the course. I love golf but i prefer the real game and i can still drink beer while I play!

I was there. INSANITY filled the room...

People often don't get it. 3rd Strike was very significant because parry changes everything. No longer can someone just sit there and turtle up.

in the SF2-ST era, No other game had such a vast list of characters that catered to different styles and personalities. Very few were similar and Ken/Ryu were only mirrored there so that there was more continuity from SF and for initial VS play. No only was each character varied in his/her basic play style but people developed different play styles based on these characters. There isn't one way to play each character. It's that deep.

3rd Strike's parry changes things so that even if you jump into a combo and they don't have a rising uppercut counter... they could parry. If you think they are going to parry then you crouching sweep when jumping in. Some always fireball traps you with the fast and slow FBs then you just parry them.

The big problem... it was TOO deep and changed things so much that people got turned off.

I myself had to get talked into getting into it. Parry was so different that I couldn't get off my ST ways. Once I learned, I was hooked... I'm still not that good at it but love my own little combos and small juggles that I've learned to do.

 

[sosage]

DreamTR is the other hardcore SRK/Tournament player that lurks around here. I think he plays 3S way more than I do (I never got into it, even though I main Makoto of all characters in IV ).

The problem with 3S stems from being titled "Street Fighter". It's a fun fighting game, but parries did two things in its design to totally launch it into its own thing. The slightly less major effect was how it altered the normals footsie game (some of which Prairied mentions). The major tweak was that it made projectiles completely worthless. Normals footsie being different is weird, but passable...altering projectiles like that, however, is pretty major. It's considered a cornerstone of SF design. There is no real distance game in there. It's all down to that mid-range and baiting from there.

It's not too deep at all (IMO it's as deep as any other good fighting game), it's just too different. IV fucks up a lot of things as well, but unlike 3S they attacked it in a smart way by making absolutely sure Ryu was the central character to design around. You really can't screw up footsie and projectile design in a Street Fighter title as long as Ryu remains the central character to design the system around.

my 2 cents...PLONK!

 

[Drew57366]

I was there. INSANITY filled the room...

That is such a great video clip. I found it a few years ago when the topic of 'pro gaming' was brought up. I'm not a fan nor follow pro gaming, but when you watch that clip, you can't help but get excited about how it all goes down - the ups, the downs, the finish. I wouldn't mind catching a fighting game based tournament sometime.

 

[LeeB99]

I would have to say that SF3 was in fact a HUGE flop. By the time it FINALLY came out, people were like "Oh look, Capcom FINALLY learned how to count to THREE!". Having a bunch of new characters that people couldn't identify with made it that much worse. I can only remember trying SF3 ONCE in the only machine that (to my knowledge) was EVER in my city. I don't think that I played more than one game. There was just NO interest. Compared to 2, Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting, there was simply NOT the same exciting environment that surrounds one-on-one head-to-head contests where people actually WAITED their turn to challenge the person who was on a winning streak. I also never got into the Mortal Kombat or Snk fighting games, with the exception of World Heroes 2 jet, which had similar play mechanics to SF2. The KOF series just didn't have the right "feel" for me to get into it. To this day, Hyperfighting and the SF4 games are my favorite fighters, with the Tekken series being enjoyable, but it feels more like a button-masher to me, as opposed to the precision timing and counters that the Street Fighter series delivers.

So, in short, I couldn't ever get into any of the SF3 titles. And I KNOW that I am not the only one that feels this way. I am 41 years old, I don't smoke pot, I only drink on occasion and I enjoy BOTH fighting games AND golf games. Given a choice, I would keep my Hyperfighting machine over my PGA Championship golf machine...

Lee

 

[Magog]

They also have more depth than most of the games made back in the day.

I've noticed a lot of the guys on this board who don't seem to have an appreciation for Street Fighter usually own a Golden Tee.

That wasn't a slam on Friz, it was just a Golden Tee rant I've had brewing. We now take you back to your regularly scheduled program.

Ahem...Only missing a SFIICE due to space issues, Id love to have one.

I love fighting games, I excel at them. I apprecaite the strategy and timing of them. Especially the first MK and SFIICE.

I have a standing challenge. I proclaim myself to be the MK champ. MK and MKII fuck four and three...meh.

Anytime anyone wants a shot at the champ come and find me!

 

[gutsman004]

I can't believe it! I give a +1 to everyone posting in this thread because no one mentioned the "B" word. The word I hate hearing. The word that every whiny fighting game fan-boy douchebag always bring up when it comes fighting games and that word is.........BROKEN!

This forum kicks so much ass.

And as far as the depth of gameplay in fighting games,there is a ton although a lot of people who aren't into fighting games simply overlook it. For the average casual gamer,it's "I beat you or you beat me". For the fighting fans and/or competitive players,it's: "How do I best utilize my moves and skills for the character I selected to beat my opponent with their chosen characters' inherent skills." "What advantages/disadvantages does my character have over my opponent and vice versa." I know that's very simplified,but I don't want to make this too long.

I was a huge fan of MK II BITD and I remember the strategies of using a certain player against another. I remember Mileena was considered the best player to use against a human opponent if skill level was equal and Reptile the absolute worst.

 

[Les Manley]

I can't believe it! I give a +1 to everyone posting in this thread because no one mentioned the "B" word. The word I hate hearing. The word that every whiny fighting game fan-boy douchebag always bring up when it comes fighting games and that word is.........BROKEN!

This forum kicks so much ass.

And as far as the depth of gameplay in fighting games,there is a ton although a lot of people who aren't into fighting games simply overlook it. For the average casual gamer,it's "I beat you or you beat me". For the fighting fans and/or competitive players,it's: "How do I best utilize my moves and skills for the character I selected to beat my opponent with their chosen characters' inherent skills." "What advantages/disadvantages does my character have over my opponent and vice versa." I know that's very simplified,but I don't want to make this too long.

I was a huge fan of MK II BITD and I remember the strategies of using a certain player against another. I remember Mileena was considered the best player to use against a human opponent if skill level was equal and Reptile the absolute worst.

Reptile was the bomb to use if you were good with him. Turn invisible and just dodge projectiles to stay invisible instead of blocking them. Then torment the other player cause he can't see you. That was so much fun. I miss those days.