Street Fighter III: Game Information

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was the third version of Street Fighter III. It was released in Japanese arcades on May 12, 1999,^[1] with worldwide versions arriving in June and a Dreamcast console port the following year. Chronologically, the events of the game happen near the end of the timeline, after Street Fighter I, Alpha, II, IV, and V. Street Fighter 6 follows the events of Third Strike. ^[2]

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike launched with a roster of 20 playable characters—15 returning from Street Fighter III and Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, plus 5 new characters. Though he is playable in some versions of the game, Gill is typically banned from tournament play.

Street Fighter III
Akuma	Hugo	Ryu
Alex	Ibuki	Sean
Dudley	Ken	Urien
Elena	Necro	Yang
Gill	Oro	Yun

3rd Strike
Chun-Li
Makoto
Q
Remy
Twelve

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is one of the more fast-paced Street Fighter titles. Its high movement speed and fast combos combined with the choice of several super moves and a rewarding parry system allows for a high degree of player expression.^[3][4]

The Super Arts system gives each character access to one of three super attacks with different strengths, weaknesses, and meter lengths. They also have different amounts of 'stocks', which allow characters to save their meter and gain access to multiple uses of their super. Super Arts play an important part in defining the strengths and weaknesses of the roster with some, such as Yun's Genei Jin (SA3) and Chun-Li's Houyoku Sen (SA2), defining the meta game of high-level competition.

For the first time in the mainline 2D Street Fighter series, part of the super gauge can be spent on enhanced versions of existing special moves. These attacks may have enhanced properties like higher damage, faster speed, lower recovery, more safety, and invincibility to name a few. Gauge length and number of stocks also impact meter usage leading to some characters and players prioritizing EX specials over supers, or rarely using them in order to save for their more impactful super art. Akuma does not have access to EX specials.

A defensive mechanic in which the defender taps forward (for high and mid attacks) or down (for low attacks) within a small window of time to negate an aggressor's attack. Parry can be done on the ground or in the air. Parry is generally stronger than blocking as it negates damage from attacks entirely instead of taking chip damage and generally leaves the attacker open to punishment. Every attack in the game, with the exception of throws and command grabs, may be parried. Parry is one of Third Strike's most important mechanics and plays a huge role in the meta game. Some of competitive Third Strike's most famous moments prominently feature parrying in do-or-die situations and responding with game-winning combos and sequences, such as EVO Moment 37 at EVO 2004 and EVO Moment 38 at EVO 2024.

• 3rd Strike on SuperCombo Wiki