Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Introduction
Street Fighter III: Third Strike: Fight for the Future (ストリートファイターⅢ サードストライク FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE) is a 1999 Capcom arcade game that served as the third entry in the Street Fighter III series. It is widely considered one of the best fighting games ever made. It added 5 new characters to the roster: Chun-Li, Makoto, Q, Remy, and Twelve. It expanded upon the story; added new stages, music and voice acting; and changed some system mechanics and rebalanced the cast.

Third Strike received tournament play 20 years later in 2019, and enjoyed a lively reign until the release of Street Fighter IV. Well known as the game at EVO during which Daigo Umehara "unleashed the Beast" by full parrying Justin Wong's Chun SA2, it has served its time as a stalwart reminder of the golden age of Capcom's arcade fighting games.

The game has had a lively netplay community, be it through Fightcade or GGPO; Third Strike Online Edition, or the new anniversary release. It has extremely solid and well-polished, competitive gameplay that rewards high execution and skill. Having been in business for 20 years, the meta has understandably stagnated with Ken, Yun and Chun at the very top with no real challenge. However, over two decades, countless of players have discovered tech for the lower tiers and made them work even in competitive settings. Due to having 20 characters, there is a character for nearly any type of player, however all take a decent amount of skill to play effectively including the top tiers. This is because of the prevalence of advanced techniques at high levels: parrying, buffering, kara throws, etc.

If you are looking to get into Third Strike, make sure to check the links at the bottom- there is a goldmine of information on the game.

Gameplay
Third Strike is a 6-button 2D fighting game, with controls standard to Capcom fighting games. Notation is as follows:

LP - Light Punch

MP - Medium Punch

HP - Heavy Punch

LK - Light Kick

MK - Medium Kick

HK - Heavy Kick

Each character has a number of special moves performed with directional inputs followed by a button. At the character select screen, players choose the Super Art of their choice, a powerful move performed usually by 2 directional inputs and a button. Moves that hit the opponent, or are blocked, gain meter that goes toward being able to use this Super Art, as well as perform EX versions of their special moves. Depending on what Super Art you use, you are allowed up to 3 bars of meter, with the Super Art costing 1 bar. The most powerful supers, like Hugo's SA1 Gigas Breaker, only allow one bar of meter.

Parrying
Parrying is the central mechanic of the Street Fighter III series.