Street Fighter 3: Third Strike… one of the most popular and longstanding games in capcom tournament history, but why? lets travel back in time to B4… 3rd strike appears for the first time in a srk sanctioned tournament. at this time the game is very unpopular in the usa besides the booming golfland scenes in california and a small but strong texas crew led by hsien(who was added to the usa vs japan event of the same year for no other reason than his proficency in 3S). so… B4 was a huge success which led to B5 the following year… but what did not return… third strike.
At this time i was more hardcore into the gaming scene than probably any other time in my life… nobody talked about, cared for, or played 3S… it was generally seen as the third and best installment of a failed series. any arcade you went to would be filled to the brim with people playing mvc2 and cvs(prior to cvs2’s release)… maybe one or 2 random people on a 3rd strike machine between their matches on other games. so… i propose this question… how did a game that was overshadowed by a game that was widely hated on(cvs) at the time, end up becoming the headlining game at more than one evo event?
My personal opinion is, as sad as it sounds, american fighting game players wish they were japs to the point of being straight up poseurs. say all you will about the solid gameplay and roster… it existed from day one. i’d say american gamers got serious about this game around day 1000(well into 3 years after it was released). why is this?.. what is there besides a yearning to be more like the japs that led this game to resurface on the american landscape? i honestly feel if the japs started playing CFE hardcore all of the sudden… the usa would jump on it like pigs in shit.
i have mad respect for top 3S players… i mean no disrespect by this critique. but what gives?.. i have never been into this game for the simple fact that i hate following trends, and until the day japan gives us a run for our money in MvC2, this game will always be 2nd fiddle to games my country picked up from the beginning and stuck with. thank you for reading.