Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future (USA 990608) - MAME machine

Capcom CPS-III kit published 25 years ago:

Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike: Fight For The Future © 1999 Capcom.

Street Fighter III 3rd Strike is a one-on-one fighting game for one or two players and is the second follow-up to "Street Fighter III", following "Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact".

3rd Strike increased the character roster by adding five new characters, notably including the legendary Chun-Li. New characters Remy, Makoto, Q, and Twelve were also added, bringing the total number of playable fighters to twenty. Also re-introduced was the fan-favourite 'Destroy the Car' bonus stage.

One of the new gameplay mechanics introduced in "3rd Strike" is the Guard Parry, also known as the 'Red Parry', which allows players to parry during guard stun, providing the timing is correct. Another new feature is after-match player evaluations in which the winner of a two-person match is graded in Offense, Defence, Tech and Extra. In single-player Arcade mode the player will always be evaluated, even in event of a loss. The grades range from E (lowest) to MSF, or Master Street Fighter (highest).

The single-player mode consists of fighting ten regular opponents, which includes a character-specific rival as the penultimate opponent and 'Gill' as the final boss for each of the characters except for Gill himself, whose final boss is Alex. Despite his status as a regularly selectable character, the CPU version of Q can only be fought in the single-player mode as a secret challenger. Clearing the game with every character, including Gill, unlocks the extra options, including infinite super arts, will be available for toggling on and off. The full roster of playable characters are as follows:

•• Returning 2nd Impact characters ••

AKUMA
Appears in 2nd Impact as a secret character and has a non-playable "Shin Akuma" version which can be selected in the Dreamcast version of the game in 2nd Impact.

ALEX
The lead character of the Street Fighter III games. He fights with close-range wrestling and quick rushing attacks. His goal is to avenge the defeat of his friend, Tom, at the hands of Gill.

DUDLEY
A dandy British boxer who, having been knighted since making a comeback and winning the championship title, enters the tournament to train for a contest that will be held in the presence of the British Royal Family.

ELENA
An African princess who uses the fighting style of capoeira. She seeks to make new friends.

HUGO ANDORE
A professional wrestler who wants to find a strong tag team partner. He is often accompanied by his manager, Poison. Based on the Andore enemy character from Final Fight, also a direct nod to late professional wrestler André the Giant.

IBUKI
An aspiring ninja whose fight in the tournament is part of her final exam. She is very quick and agile.

KEN MASTERS
Knowing that Ryu has entered the tournament, Ken enters to test his strength against his old friend.

NECRO
A Russian man who was kidnapped and experimented on in the Illuminati's "G-Project". In 2nd Impact, he finds a companion named Effie who follows him and mimics his actions.

ORO
A hermit who seeks a fighter worthy to inherit his fighting style. He binds one arm while fighting, to keep from accidentally killing his opponent, except when performing specific special arts.

RYU
As usual, Ryu enters the tournament to improve his skills and find worthy opponents.

SEAN MATSUDA
A young Brazilian fighter who is being trained by Ken, Sean wants to improve his skills and prove his ability.

URIEN
Gill's younger, bitter brother who wants to forcibly take the Illuminati from him. He can manipulate electricity and metal.

YANG LEE
Yang is a Kung Fu expert from Hong Kong, and the twin brother of Yun Lee.

YUN LEE
A cocky fighter who, along with his brother, Yang, protects his hometown in Hong Kong. He's a happy-go-lucky person who likes to do things his own way.

GILL
The leader of the secret organization known as the Illuminati, he wants to restore balance to the world. He can manipulate fire and ice.

•• Additional characters ••

CHUN-LI
Chun-Li once again enters a World Fighting Tournament after the young orphan in her care was kidnapped under mysterious circumstances.

MAKOTO
A young Japanese girl, trained in Rindoukan karate. Since her father's death, Makoto's dojo has been floundering, so she finds Ryu and challenges him to restore her dojo to a flourishing state. Her fighting style is suggestive of a more traditional style of karate.

Q
A mysterious figure with a featureless facemask and concealing overcoat. While he can be chosen as a playable character, he is also a hidden computer-controlled opponent in the single-player mode. His design is based on K, the main character of the Tokusatsu show, 'Robot Detective K'.

REMY
A long-haired French fighter wearing a leather jacket emblazoned with an omega. He bears a grudge against all fighters since his father disappeared and his sister died. His special moves are similar to those used by preceding Street Fighter characters Guile and Charlie as they are mostly charge based specials.

TWELVE
One of the first successful soldiers of the Illuminati's "G-Project" experiment, and can shape his body into weapons. Twelve is ordered to hunt down and kill his prototype, Necro, as his first mission.

TECHNICAL
Capcom Play System III hardware (CPS III)
CD Number: CAP-33S000
CD Label: CAP-33S-1

Players: 2
Control: 8-way joystick
Buttons: 6
→ [1] LP (Jab), [2] MP (Strong), [3] HP (Fierce)
→ [4] LK (Short), [5] MK (Forward), [6] HK (Roundhouse)

TRIVIA
Released in May 1999.

Twelve's name is incorrectly spelt 'Tweleve' on the opponent selection screen. The mistake then appears again when the screen scrolls to display the next opponent choice.

Shin Akuma is present in the game code. Shin Akuma in 3rd Strike differs somewhat from his 2nd Impact guise. For a start, in 2nd Impact Shin Akuma had his own audio samples. In 3rd Strike, he shares Akuma's soundfile. His second Super Art is somewhat glitchy at times, and unlike 2nd Impact, he seems to have only 2 outfits. The blue color outfit is for Player 1, and the white colour outfit for Player 2. Both are hardcoded.

This is also the first Street Fighter game to adopt a rap/hip hop urban theme.

UPDATES
VER. 990512

• Ken Vs. Makoto neutral throw bug: If Ken defeats Makoto with his neutral throw (i.e. knee bash), the game will reset.
• Chou Denji Storm graphical glitch: P2 Yang has 'Chou Denji Storm' listed as one of his Super Arts instead of 'Tenshin-Senkyutai'.
• Unblockables: Certain characters (Urien, Oro) have moves/combos which are impossible to block.

VER. 990608

• Ken Vs. Makoto neutral throw bug has been fixed and doesn't reset the game.
• Unblockables are no longer unblockable.

TIPS AND TRICKS

• 6 Costume Colors: Highlight a fighter at the character selection screen and press one of the 6 buttons for the standard outfits (button 1 aka LP is the original color).
• Secret Colour: Highlight a fighter at the character selection screen and press LP+MK+HP.
• Play Against Q: Get at least five super art finishes and you cannot lose any rounds. However, you can get the grade at least D or above, and at least two special points needed. If done correctly, Q will appear and you will fight him on the stage you fought in (Also now Q's theme is playing).

SERIES
ORIGINAL

• Street Fighter (1987)
• Street Fighter II - The World Warrior [B-Board 90629B] (1991)
• Street Fighter II' - Champion Edition [B-Board 91634B-2] (1992)
• Street Fighter II' Turbo - Hyper Fighting [B-Board 91634B-2] (1992)
• Super Street Fighter II - The New Challengers [Green Board] (1993)
• Super Street Fighter II X - Grand Master Challenge [Green Board] (1994)
• Street Fighter III - New Generation (1997)
• Street Fighter III - 2nd Impact: Giant Attack (1997)
• Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike: Fight For The Future (1999)
• Hyper Street Fighter II - The Anniversary Edition [Green Board] (2003)
• Street Fighter IV (2008)
• Super Street Fighter IV - Arcade Edition (2010)
• Ultra Street Fighter IV (2014)
• Street Fighter V - Type Arcade (2016)
• Ultra Street Fighter II - The Final Challengers (2017, Switch)
• Street Fighter VI - Type Arcade (2023)

ZERO

• Street Fighter Zero [Green Board] (1995)
• Street Fighter Zero 2 [Green Board] (1996)
• Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha (1996)
• Street Fighter Zero 3 [Green Board] (1998)
• Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper [Model GDL-0002] (2001)

EX

• Street Fighter EX (1996, ARC)
• Street Fighter EX Plus (1997, ARC)
• Street Fighter EX2 (1998, ARC)
• Street Fighter EX2 Plus (1999, ARC)
• Street Fighter EX3 [Model SLPS-20003] (2000, PS2)

STAFF
Character Designers: Who, Ikusan Z, D-Kurita, Chimorin Shogun, Sibaki, Chunzenji & Rute, Tsuyoshi, Jun-Ikawa, Toshihiro Suzuki, Noya-T, Seiji Yano, Naoi Ryosuke (Hell), Tomo, Hirano=Daichi, Izumi. N, Akira Yasuda (Akiman)
Scroll Designers: Imahori 75%, Sugiyama 50%, Youko Fukumoto, Yuki Kyotani, Sawatch, Atsushi, Ryo Uno, Yusuke Saiwai, Kenichi Yamahashi
Original Artwork: Daigoro, Harumaru
Title Logo Designer: Y. Uchida
Instruction Designer: Sakomizu
Programmers: Kazuhito Nakai, Nobuya Yoshizumi (LT1), Yuko Kawamura (Tate), Hiroshi Nakagawa (Raoh), Y&M.Inada (Ine), Masahito Oh!Ya!, Akihiro (Star) Yokoyama
Sound Effect Designers: Satoshi Ise, Yoshiki Sandou
Music Composer: Hideki Okugawa
Sound Designer: Kazuya Takimoto
Sound Management Director: Yoshinori Ono
Song Writers for Third Strike, Let's Get It On and Moving On: Infinite/Hideki Okugawa
Song Arrangement: Hideki Okugawa
Vocals: Infinite (Courtesy of Lock Down Entertainment Inc.)
Recording Engineer: Yutaka Shinoyama (Victor St.) (Lock Down Entertainment Inc.)
Mix Engineer: Paul Shubat (Lock Down Entertainment Inc.)
Assistant Engineer: Vladimir Nikolic (Lock Down Entertainment Inc.)
Artist Management: Cain (Lock Down Entertainment Inc.)
Planning: Hidetoshi Ishizawa (Neo_G), Haruo Murata, Numach (T.O), Yasunori Ichinose, Sada 36
Message Translators: Erik Suzuki, Dan Okada, Chris Tang
Producers: Noritaka Funamizu, Kouji Nakajima
General Producer: Yoshiki Okamoto

• Voice Actors:

Ryu: Touru Ohkawa
Ken Masters: Yuji Kishi
Sean Matsuda: Mitsuo Iwata
Yun Lee: Kentaro Itou
Yang Lee: Masakazu Suzuki
Ibuki/Effie: Yuri Amano
Elena: Mie Midori
Oro: Takashi Matsuyama
Akuma: Tomomichi Nishimura
Makoto: Makoto Tsumura
Remy: Eiji Sekiguchi
Chun-Li, Poison: Atsuko Tanaka
Urien, Necro, Twelve, Gill, Announcer: Lawrence Bayne
Alex: Patrick Gallagan
Dudley: Francis Diakewsky
Q, Hugo: Len Carlson

Special Thanks: Youichi Egawa, Takuya Shiraiwa, Abu, Tomoaki Tsuji, Tobuto Dezaki (Mam2), Mitsuaki Araki (Tim2), Takechan, Oni-Suzuki, Hiroshi.Sugimoto-Bug, K. Shinano, Gon, Syachi (S. Ohoka), Yng. J. Matsubara, Miura Cuberick, Tetsuya Haze, Yoshihiro Tomita, Hmx-12 Hamada, Masayasu Mukai, Punch Kubozono, Tetsuya Iijima, Lisa E. Jones, Masayuki Fukumoto, Lance Luu, Nate Williams

PORTS

• CONSOLES:

[JP] Sega Dreamcast (june.29, 2000) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future [Model T-1209M]"
[JP] Sega Dreamcast (Oct.4, 2000) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future [Model T-1213N]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (jul.22, 2004) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future [Model SLPM-65621]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (jul.22, 2004) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike [The Limited Edition] [Model CPCS-01009]"
[US] Sony PS2 (Aug.31, 2004) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection" [Model SLUS-20949]
[KO] Sony PlayStation 2 (Sep.3, 2008) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection [PlayStation 2 Big Hit] [Model SLKA-25437]"
[EU] Sony PS2 (Oct.30, 2004) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection"
[JP] Microsoft XBOX (Oct.28, 2004) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection [Model STJ-00001]"
[EU] Microsoft XBOX (Oct.29, 2004) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection"
[AU] Microsoft XBOX (2004) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection"
[US] Microsoft XBOX (Feb. 22, 2005) "Street Fighter Anniversary Collection [Model STJ-00001]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (Dec.14, 2006) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike [CapKore] [Model SLPM-66639]"
[JP] Sony PS2 (Sep.18, 2008) "Capcom vs SNK 2 Millionaire Fighting 2001 + Street Fighter III 3rd Strike Fight for the Future Value Pack [Model CPCS-01040]"
Sony Playstation 3 (Aug.23, 2011) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike" Online Edition
Microsoft XBOX 360 (Aug.24, 2011) "Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike" Online Edition

CONTRIBUTE
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