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As much as I adore SFIII, I still lament the loss of that CPSIII Darkstalkers sequel. Darkstalkers' animations would've looked insane on that hardware.

I feel bad for a lot of sprite-based games in the later half of the 90s. Being outshined by the appealing new third dimension, _right_ as sprites were hitting their peak. I don't mean to disrespect those early 3d games, and I'm usually not the kind of person to laud which "aged better" or not. I'm just sad about it because I simply love spritework and it would take almost two decades for sprites to make a comeback in the gaming scene. We missed out on what could have been the pinnacle of early spriting until the indie scene brought them back.

What's interesting about the arcade situation is that, as a kid, I never would have been introduced to games like Tekken 3 had it not been for the arcade. I remember playing it in an arcade then rushing to the game store afterwards to buy a PS1 copy.

SF3 is just so cool. All of the new things it tried, the music, the graphics, even those "freaks", it was all so good and I think it really set it apart from the rest of the series.

With a brand new year, we have a brand new What Happened. Street Fighter III started out as underperformer, but over time, with the additions of Chun-Li (that's always important), seeing what the game can do, and that sweet character art by Artgerm in 2011, now everyone will say... "Why don't they make Street Fighter like this again?"

We need a What Happened for King of Fighters XIII. Explain to people why it played a big part in the downfall of the company and how the graphics were actually achieved.

I'm not gonna lie, I was one of those people who scoffed at SFIII at the arcade when it came out. It was a different era at the arcades and all of my friends, myself included, were preoccupied with the latest trend of 3D games: Tekkens, Dead or Alive, Cruisin' World, etc. It was a crazy time seeing the new technology, as they would roll out something insane every month, and Street Fighter was just old hat. Ironically, these days I use SFIII and Mark of the Wolves as my go-to gold standard for designing pixel art. Those teams were godly.

I have to agree New Generation was kinda lackluster, but to be fair, Alpha 1 was fairly weak too. Fortunately both series lived to see sequels that vastly improved their formulas. Third Strike and Alpha 3 are two of the best fighting games of all time, with Double Impact and Alpha 2 being in the running.

I am so glad you included the quote at 20:19 . I have never been able to fully articulate why Third Strike is my favorite fighting game, but that just hits the nail on the head. So many fighting games feel like you watch them as much as you play them, but every battle in Third Strike is its own unique beast, and therefore infinitely replayable.

i gotta say, out of all the 2d fighting games Street Fighter 3 is the most visually impressive for me. the incredibly fluid pixel art animation is still top tier

I remember when Street Fighter II came out in 1991, there was a crowd around the arcade units, and you had to wait hours to play. When Street Fighter III came out, you could see at most one person playing. And those were the good days, as most of the time no one inserted a coin into the arcade unit. Everyone else was playing Tekken, Rival Schools, or King of Fighters 97.

You know, as a kid with little too no internet at the time of SF3... I honestly thought it was a myth. I remember hearing about it in Nintendo Power or GamePro magazines at some point, but never saw it in the wild. I had older cousins tell me I was wrong, and that SF Alpha was actually SF3. Since I didn't even end up getting a playstation, I didn't really follow the news if what games were coming for them, so after a while I genuinely believed them. I just thought oh maybe the article I read was like an early working title, because of COURSE you'd follow up with SF2 with SF3.

I wish there were sequels in the same vein but I understand the animation workload was just too insane.

Can't wait for a "Brutal Legend" episode of what happened!

This is probably one of the most bittersweet "What happen" episodes ever.

Just looking at 3rd Strike's animations, I cannot believe this game is soo damn old. It looks so modern and beautiful

Street Fighter 3 has always been in this state of mind for me where I don’t hear too much about it compared to the other entries of the franchise, so I’m curious to see what it’s development history would be like .

Jeez the background art on new generation is crazy. I know Tekken 3 and VF3 looked pretty sharp, but SFIII has aged superbly in comparison

3rd Strike is still awesome to me, and the soundtrack is🎤 🔥 . Even tho it didn't get the credit it deserved back then because of the competition, it aged well. It's good to know alot more people are starting to appreciate it today. 👊🏾🎮💯

Makoto's hair is probably my favourite part of SF3's animation. The way it flows and follows on action while being as short as it is, it's a masterwork.

That cameo was so good. A+ delivery and A+ timing.

Third Strike and Garou we're two of the games that had some of the best sprites and animations. Thanks for this history lesson, I haven't really looked into the history for III.

SF3 is definitely my favorite art style/aesthetic design of the series so far

I remember these times. I was shocked at how no one liked such a bad ass and beautifully fluent fighting game such as Street Fighter III. Side by side with Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 at an arcade, people were playing UMK 3 more over it.

The animation in SF3 is simply superb, and it is a real shame that 3d became the default art style. I know there's the whole financial logistic of making games like that, and also the all the work that goes in animating games like that, but I'd sure love to see more of hand drawn art in games.

Street Fighter III was very different but still enjoyed the game we should have gotten a animated movie of Street Fighter III.

Ayyy perfect way to kick the new year off!

IDC what anyone says SF3 was an amazing series that I’m still playing to this very day. It was different but a breath of fresh air. It was funky, cool and a dope hip hop vibe too it. It’s aged well.

I remember seeing SFIII at my arcade. It was in the middle of the place, in a nice special cabinet. Nobody but myself ever played it. I don't remember which version it was, but I remember liking the hell out of it. It was beautiful, the animation was on point. The sound effects were great, the movement was great. I never understood why nobody was playing it. everybody was over on Tekken. Then one day the machine just vanished. I never saw SFIII again until third strike came out on dreamcast.

Matt, these videos have become my favourite series on all of KZfaq. Well done, really, this is brilliant and well researched stuff!

Oh man, this was a beautiful video. I consider myself extremely lucky that my town's Aladdin's Castle arcade received a copy of "Three" and you couldn't pry me away from that game before running out of quarters. I fell in love with the music, too (or what I could hear of it that wasn't drowned by the surrounding cabinets 😅), thanks to Sean's Jazzy NYC, and Dudley's Leave Alone. And I loved that you included that new fanmade animated intro that's going around, too. Thank you, Matt. 🤜🤛

SF III: Third Strike is still hands down my favorite fighting game of all time. For me, nothing really competes with it from an artwork, music and mechanic standpoint. Sometimes I just play it to hear the music and even now I just marvel at how good this game is and appreciate it more now knowing it was ignored for so long and glad it finally got its roses. Marvel vs. Capcom 2 comes in a close 2nd and then MK II for me.

Street Fighter III, my all time favorite fighting game series. What happened indeed.

I distinctly remember walking into my local arcade, probably 3 or 4 days after Street Fighter 3 came out, being excited to play a new SF. To my surprise no one was playing any of the three cabinets (my arcade went all out for SF3) and everyone was still playing SF2. I started playing and after 2 games went back to Street Fighter 2 and my Guile super throws and golden stances

This game is one of the best fighters ever. Such a shame it was ignored when it released

Me and my homeboy was always hip to Third Strike. I think, because I enjoyed Double Impact, I was sorta always familiar with the look and feel. It was never really jarring even though I grew up on 2 Turbo on the SNES and Alpha 3. I’ll never forget learning how to do Super Arts on the Anniversary Collection. I nearly flunked spending so much time playing Third Strike and then subsequently Street Fighter 4. Ahhhh, how I miss the good ol’ days.

I remember when SF3, the first one, arrived at an arcade I used to go to with my brother and friends. We were amazed at the animations and played a couple of rounds..but we eventually went to play King of Fighters or the Alpha games. It was mostly abandoned. They retired it after a while. It's a shame we didn't appreciate it more on those days but we enjoy it more nowadays thanks to the SF collection released a few years ago. It's a game that has aged well. Better than any other 3D fighting games.

3rd Strike, in my opinion, is probably one of the best fighting games of all time. The visuals, the combat, and the soundtrack all have a unique feel to them.

As a kid the way I played 3rd Strike was on my uncle’s original Xbox, he had the anniversary collection. I’ve always loved how the game was different from sf2, new characters and mechanics. The OST is fire, also always loved the jazz and hip hop aesthetic. This game really was aimed for a new generation 😂 I’m a 97 baby

It is hard to explain to people who weren't around at the time just how much of a flop SF3 was at launch. SF2 cabinets were everywhere in the 90's, to the point that you almost couldn't avoid them if you tried. SF3 on the other hand, was practically non existent. I only ever saw one SF3 cabinet in the wild (around fall 98 I think) at my local bowling ally, and they got rid of that machine after only a month or so due to literally nobody playing it. People really did despise that game at launch. It was too much change all at once, and with 3D fighters being all the rage at the time SF3 never really had a chance.

You should definitely explore Mortal Kombat 4. I'm curious to know how midway handled that lol.

2:29 is pretty much the list of all the games (minus Street Fighters thanks to the Anniversary Collection) that need to be brought to modern platforms.

Happy New Year, Matt McMuscles and everyone in this comments section!

I feel like a Wha Happun could also work for Garou due to the financial state of SNK when it was made , heck an entire whu happun could be made about SNK at that time

I'm so glad somebody else feels the same way about 1 minute 20 seconds in what he says about part 3 is true. This game should have had tremendous height. How did I find out about it? All of us at my job about 20 years ago maybe 22 years ago I don't know for sure, but it was an arcade game at a movie theater. And I kept saying to myself when did this get released? How did I not hear about this? And is this game worth playing with these characters I never heard of?

Time and memory is such a funny thing, I remember playing SF III: New Generation at a 7-11 by my school, I would play for hours on end. I totally loved playing Necro, as a fellow lanky dude it was some much fun to see his animations in action. I do hope we get to see both Necro and Effie again in the SF series. 💜

_We awaited your return, warrior..._ And you didn't disappoint. Good job, McMuscles!

Always love hearing Ibuki's theme.

Starting 2022 with an outstanding "Wha happun?" Happy New Year Matt! 🤠🎉

Maybe development was sloppy but they deserve HUGE credit for the art style and soundtrack. The continue track is still in my head...

I’ve been addicted to Third Strike lately so thanks for this

2:55 I just screamed “Caesar!” In my head

SF 3 is the game that we all were waiting for, after long years playing 2 and it’s reissues. I remember when I played 3 for the first time, the amazing graphics the beautiful super arts, but I also remember the heavy feeling that all characters had and how disappointing was the new cast of characters. I also remember how there was only one machine and there wasn’t lines, it was always empty and only I had interesting to put some coins there. Here in Brazil KoF already took over the arcade scene. SF3 was a special game, very flawed but very special. I eventually moved on to The option I had in my house as Alpha 2 and 3. But I always cling to SF3, I try it again on the Ps2 and I really get into it when Capcom put the online edition on the Ps3. Now I think Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike is probably the greatest SF ever and its gameplay is just too good. SF is always on my blood and I have stories with all Street Fighter games, but that is for another time!

Say what you want, all three OSTs are some of the best music in gaming history. I’ve even grown to like 2nd impact’s more than 3rd strike

Finally you made a What Happened video on Street Fighter 3 especially since you've literally been using the "Yeah that makes Sense" sound effect for years now.

Gouki's Killing Moon theme has to be in most people's top 10 themes ever.

3rd strike is what got me into street fighter, And what they went with was perfect. But you know, the things he said about game design is something that flies today, and i guess what depends on a game's success.

My question on this:. If Evo Moment #37 never happened, would people still remember SF3 the way they do now? This may be a rare case where you can pinpoint the exact moment that people's opinion of the game changed for the better.

your editing/clip game was on another level this video. Really well done

YEAH I’ve been waiting for this!!

Starting this year with a bang

Awesome video! Also love how you included the Fan made opening for 3S in the end.

Wow asked for this topic like 5 months ang i am glad that it's finally here matt, awesome job as always.

Been waiting on this video for a long time Matt, and I’m glad you went all in for it. Great way to start off the new year. … so when’s the inevitable Garou video, huh? Groove on Fight? Tekken 4? Seriously, the 90’s and Early 2000’s were a treasure trove for underrated fighters that tried to reinvent themselves, failed, and are now seen as modern classics in their own right.

Happy new year. Quite a nice topic to start the year on. It's refreshing to see the case of a game that while considered a massive failure when it launched, was later reevaluated and embraced as the underappreciated master piece it was. And yeah, I second that Capcom is long past due bringing the Online edition to modern platforms.

Having only played 3rd strike, my main take away from this video is that the first two editions of the game had some awesome background stages that got cut in the final iteration.

I blame you for getting Elena's theme stuck in my head again

Absolutely love this video series so much, it’s always interesting to learn more about the troubled history of certain games and films👏👏👏 It would be awesome to see you cover Jump Force tho, since that’s a troubled game that doesn’t have that much time left.

Regardless of its lackluster sales and delayed appreciation, SF3 and all its renditions remain to be some of the best in the series.

Third Strike was and still is my fave SF. Nigh perfection. From the parry system to the unique soundtrack, it dominated tournaments in NYC. The beautiful aspect about the arcade era, which isn’t said enough, are the bonds and friendships created from the competitions. That’s something online gameplay cannot quite replicate yet. Cheers to this outstanding post to my favorite game! 💯🙏🏽❤️🥳🆙

I unironically have some 3rd Strike OST music in my playlists. Ken’s and Q’s music slaps hard 🔥🔥

Happy new year, dude! Love your content, from gameplays to full-on game dissection series like Gone Too Soon and Wha Happun? (the high point of my Saturdays). Cheers from Brazil!

Oh Hey its me!

I was all over sf2 when it came out and continued with that for years. I I remember when sf4 came out I was wondering why they skipped sf3. I honestly had no idea that sf3 had even come out. Blew my mind when I found out I had missed an entire entry.

Its crazy to hear all of this when Street Fighter Third Strike is what got me into loving fighting games as an adult.

You cant emphasize how “wrong for the moment” SFIII was back then. Not only had “too many versions of SF2” become a joke, an extra 12 frames of animation on a fireball was hard to get people hype about. Even after all these years it still feels slow compared to classic SF or Alpha.

STREET FIGHTER III? THAT'S LIKE THE SECOND BEST ONE WITH THE NUMBER 3 IN ITS NAME

I really love this video, I like history of games and how they flopped and then got very popular over time! I just subscribed to your channel Matt, I really enjoy your content

I didn't play SF3 until 3rd Strike, so as a kid I didn't even know it was a revision lol. I do wish Capcom hadn't overcorrected so hard to 3's reception though. A lot of the time they practically pretend it didn't exist. It's cool that we occasionally get characters like Oro back, but they're usually put aside in favor of SF2 nostalgia bait which doesn't do much for me since 2 was before my time.

This is something that I was always confused about when it came to Street Fighter 3. I was born in 2001, my connection to street fighter was always the second game and the fourth one, occasionally hearing of the alpha series. From what little I heard online people usually disregarded the third game, in fact I remember looking at the EVO moment and thinking "Hey what what Street Fighter game is that"? It was only about a couple of years ago when I heard everyone going YEAH MAN THIS WAS THE SHIT WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT.

That ending quote was damn cool

3rd strike is one of my top 3 fav fighters...I put a lot of quarters into my local machine..and loved necro the freak..Ken and Dudley..never knew all this

Anecdotally, I remember back when I first saw the cabinet at an arcade in the late 90s. Seeing the game being simply labelled "Three" made it extremely hard to tell that it was supposed to be a Street Fighter game. Which in turn kept me from playing it for awhile before finally... well... seeing Ken and Ryu in it. Like... I think they were trying to do something unique with the display title, but it just made it confusing.

As a Street Fighter fanatic (and a particularly big fan of the III series), I was waiting so long for this episode and it delivered big time! I knew a lot of the cliffs on how the development cycle went, but it's awesome to know all the little details about who was brought in and why, what specific challenges they faced, what the team was thinking about the game at different junctures, etc. I was one of those fighting game hipsters who was on board the SFIII train from the jump while people hated on it, only to be vindicated later haha. Tends to happen to me a decent amount because, I think because I'm just really open to sweeping change, bucking trends, and like to look a things for what they are rather than what they could/should be. Just today I expressed the same sentiment about Groove On Fight, which was initially blasted by Power Instinct fans for being such a big tonal departure from the other games, only to be revered later on much like SFIII. I was a fan from the first time I saw images of it in a gaming mag, same with SFIII. But I was a fan of SFIII's more deliberate, grounded gameplay, beautiful visuals, and even though a lot of the new cast was kinda wacky, I just welcomed new characters to use. Also, obviously I'm good with it now, but 3D overtaking 2D was one of my saddest times as a gamer haha. The early 3D years were pretty rough, and visually I just really didn't think it held a candle to good quality 2D stuff. It eventually forced some great 2D fighters to move to 3D and look kinda bland by comparison (the EX games, early 3D Mortal Kombats, King of Fighters). Nowadays ArcSys has the formula for mimicking 2D with the highest fidelity, and I still wish we could get a Street Fighter game (or if I want to make myself even sadder thinking about it, a Darkstalkers game) with that level of 2D feel and quality.

I remember actually enjoying Street Fighter 3 (as well as 2nd Impact and later on Third Strike) at an arcade (now defunct) at West Edmonton Mall called "Circuit Circus". Really miss that arcade, plenty of good memories.

Happy new year legend love this channel

New year, new generation.

I hate how fighting game fans at the time refused to accept the new challengers in SF 3 because honestly SNK took so many risks with introducing K’ or even Kyo in King of Fighters but people easily accepted it I still respect SF 3 as a fighting game because it was revolutionary at the time and is finally getting respect that it deserves

This was an amazing breakdown on the history or SF3! 🔥🔥

Glad I found you channel and this series. This is some top tier content. I know what I’m doing all day👍👍👍

street fighter 3 is my favorite precisely because there was almost no returning characters and that is unheard of in modern times, to take a huge profitable success that was sf 2, a game that literally invented the fighting game genre and try to reinvent it. In an era of endless boring trash remakes, rehashes and reboots, i really appreciate the boldness and the risk this game took.

I'd never have known about most of the fighters you cover, its really interesting stuff. I personal don't like playing fighters, watching is a different story. These stories are fascinating

Honestly this seems to go way more in depth than most fgc circle 3rd strike conversations. People usually just kinda go "no one bought it" and barely touch on anything else.

New year off to a great start Matt!

Happy 35th anniversary Street Fighter this year. Cheers for Street Fighter 6.

I feel like Ex3 doesn't get the love it deserves. 3rd Strike and Ex3 are my favorite SF games.

Great video. So well done.

YAY THANKS FOR MAKING THIS VID DUDE

There is one Urien who, after literally 2 decades later, amazes me with his technical prowess in this game. Two letters you will never forget: RX If you love 3S, please look this player up. He does some jaw-dropping stuff with Urien.