2nd Impact and 3rd Strike went on to introduce more characters and gameplay features, so why bother with the first? Bare bones as it is, is still has a collection of some of the most beautiful stages and accompanying music within a single fighting game.

Sensing the opposing player's intent and pulling off a parry to instantly change the dynamics of the fight is as satisfying as anything else in gaming. New Generation still clicked better with me thanks to the heavy, tangible feel of the smoothly animating characters, more of an emphasis on wits than combos and the possibility of parrying almost any attack by tapping towards it at exactly the right moment. Here you're only able to use one of three selectable Super Arts (super moves) per match, fights are slower and have an overall simpler gameplay system than the concurrently running Street Fighter Alpha/Zero series. A quality game that found itself in the wrong place at the wrong time.everything from arcade operators rejecting expensive new hardware, difficulty in porting the game to home consoles, rushed development, the drastically changed cast and more meant it would take years until the trilogy of Street Fighter 3 games got their deserved recognition. Once I recognized Ryu in an unbelievably colorful and smooth 2D glory that wouldn't be surpassed for years, I knew one of the most anticipated sequels of the 90s, Street Fighter 3: New Generation had finally arrived. With a giant THREE written on the marquee and the words 'Street Fighter' in tiny print, my immediate reaction was that this had to be yet another shameless ripoff by a competitor. Somehow missing the news that Street Fighter 3 was indeed on the way (I'll blame my new N64), one day I visited the mall and noticed a new game in the middle of the arcade, placed in a deluxe style cabinet and surrounded by a small crowd.

By 1997, I almost forgot about seeing a 'real' sequel to SF2. The series was one of the hottest titles anywhere in the early 90s, then gradually lost relevance after a few too many small updates while plenty of other companies, even Capcom themselves, were taking the genre much further. I was privileged to experience the Street Fighter 2 phenomenon which cemented the 1-on-1 fighter and gave rise to the last major hurrah of American arcades.

Street fighter iii new generation elena