Street Fighter III is a Capcom developed fighting game series and part of their Street Fighter franchise. Intended as the follow up to Street Fighter II and its subsequent re-releases, the series began with the arcade release of Street Fighter III: New Generation in 1997. The games featured a whole new cast, with the only returning members being Ryu and Ken, two characters introduced in the first Street Fighter video game. Subsequent sequels would add additional characters, with the third game, named Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike also seeing the return of Chun-Li from Street Fighter II.
Production at Capcom on the first game in the series started in 1994, and was initially planned to be a separate fighting game franchise entirely. Street Fighter II series producer Noritaka Funamizu felt fatigued with the Street Fighter franchise due to dwindling sales on home consoles, and the emerging 3D fighting game market thanks to titles such as Virtua Fighter. Capcom however insisted to stick with 2D sprites for their games, and to this end started development on the CPS-3 arcade hardware to support higher color counts for said sprites. When executives at the company pushed for a follow-up to II, Funamizu instead wanted to try and make a new game entirely. At this point, producer Tomoshi Sadamoto at the company had started work on a game titled New Generation. Capcom character designer Akira Yasuda felt that the game's roster lacked personality. Additionally he asserted the company was likely going to make the game into a Street Fighter title, and suggested pre-emptively to add that franchise's protagonist Ryu to the game's roster. He proved correct, as the game was re-christened Street Fighter III: New Generation'.[1]
Though several other characters were also initially considered for inclusion from the Street Fighter II roster, particularly Ken and Chun-Li, the development team instead chose to focus on a mostly original cast. This proved some difficulty however for Sadamoto as he felt most of the designs were not as well established as those in II, and had particular difficulty in creating female character designs. Yasuda however suggested to make the first female character a ninja, stating "Ninjas are cool!" While this led to the creation of Ibuki, another idea suggested was to introduce a character that was "Yuki in Africa" based off model Yuki Uchida. Yasuda designed the character, leading to the creation of Elena, which helped solidify the development team's vision for the rest of the game's roster. As development progressed Ken, Ryu's counterpart character from the series, was later also added to the roster.[2][1] Meanwhile when choosing a protagonist, they selected an American character, Alex, as they felt martial arts were more popular at the time in America and wanted to target that audience.[3]
The finalized cast however still proved difficult to create. Yasuda continued to work on the character designs, attempting to stay within Sadamoto's design constraints unlike previous games where he made the design choices more directly. In an interview with gaming website Polygon, when asked if in retrospect the game would have done better if it had not been a Street Fighter title, Yasuda stated while he liked some of the characters, "if I had to change the past, I'd rather just not have worked on that game at all". Meanwhile, Capcom's North American branch's design support for the title, Chris Tang, expressed shock at seeing the new character designs once they were revealed, with the character Oro in particular causing him to question if Yasuda had left Capcom. Other issues arose from a lack of software support to develop for the CPS-3 hardware, and the amount of detail the higher resolutions demanded of the designs. Character balance also proved an issue, as unlike other Capcom fighting games each developer was in charge of fine tuning their own character's gameplay, resulting in some feeling more suitable for Street Fighter's gameplay, while others felt more in line with Capcom's Darkstalkers fighting game franchise.[1] The long development meanwhile caused one planned character, Hugo, to be delayed until the game's follow up title, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, alongside other new character and returning character Akuma.[3]
Introduced in New Generation
Alex
Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (Tatsunoko vs Capcom), Shintaro Asanuma (SFV) (Japanese), Michael X Sommers (New Generation, 2nd Impact), Patrick Galligan (3rd Strike, Capcom Fighting Evolution), Mark Whitten (SFV) (English)
Alex (アレックス, Arekkusu) is a wrestler from New York who first appears in Street Fighter III: New Generation, and his design and character are based on Hulk Hogan.[4] He serves as a protagonist of Street Fighter III. His parents died at a young age, so he was raised by his father's friend, Tom, who trained him in fighting. In New Generation, Tom loses a fight with Gill, the president of the Illuminati and gets injured as a result. This angered Alex and prompted him to enter the third World Warrior tournament hosted by Gill in order to kill him. Alex beats Gill and wins the tournament, but spares Gill, who is impressed about Alex's skills after their encounter. Alex eventually returns to Tom as a changed person after fighting various people around the world.[5][6][7]Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact[8] retcons New Generation, but Alex's story stays the same, but he now has a rivalry with Hugo, a German pro wrestler of extreme height. Alex returns in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike[9] with a slightly different personality. He meets Ryu and fought him, only to lose, in which Ryu told Alex to explore the world and find worthy fighters.[10]
Alex makes an appearance in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as a playable character, alongside other Street Fighter characters, Ryu and Chun-Li. He also appears in Capcom Fighting All-Stars and Capcom Fighting Evolution.[11][12] Alex reappears as a playable character in Street Fighter V as the first of 6 characters to be released after the game's launch in 2016.[13] In the story mode of Street Fighter V, "A Shadow Falls", Alex is first shown winning a pro-wrestling tournament. He then competes in a tag-team exhibition match with Laura against Zangief and R. Mika, which is broadcast live on television. However the signal cuts out due to a Black Moon detonating over New York City, causing a blackout. Dhalsim comes to his trailer, wanting the chess piece, but Alex believes Dhalsim is a mugger and fights him. Dhalsim successfully convinces Alex otherwise and receives the chess piece from Alex. Dhalsim then tells Alex that big things will happen to him in the future, foreshadowing his role as the main character of the Street Fighter III series, and teleports away.[14][15]
Alex was created early in development to be the series' protagonist, and was designed by Akira Yasuda. Early versions of his character established him as a police officer that used to be a professional wrestler, influenced by how popular the World Wrestling Federation (later renamed WWE) was at the time. They wanted a character that stood apart from Ryu, and was intended to be a simple protagonist so the supporting cast could be "flashy", with Sadamoto comparing it to how manga Saint Seiya approached its cast.[3]
In December 1997, Alex ranked 44th on Gamest's "Top 50" video game characters, tying with Goro Daimon, and in January 1998 was named the 22nd-best character of the preceding year, tying with Ryuji Yamazaki.[16][17]IGN voted Alex one of their top 25 fighters.[18] He was ranked as the sixth-best Street Fighter character by UGO.com.[19] Alex was also named as 10th-best character in the series by Complex.[20]
Dudley
Voiced by: Naomi Kusumi (SSFIV, SFXTK)(Japanese); Bruce Robertson (New Generation, 2nd Impact), Francis Diakowsky (3rd Strike), Stuart McLean (SSFIV, SFXTK) (English)
Dudley (ダッドリー, Daddorī) is an upper class heavyweight boxer from Britain with powerful techniques and speed. He seeks perfection both in and out of the ring, always behaving as an impeccable gentleman. He is also the son of an athlete who later became a successful businessman. When his father's business began to fail when he was in college, Dudley was able to recover his losses thanks to his boxing career.[5][21] In Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact,[22] he fights outside a London pub called the Sherlock Holmes, while Knightsbridge tube station and the Harrods department store can be seen in his 3rd Strike background. When his father's prized Jaguar XK120 is purchased from a debtor's auction, Dudley goes after the buyer, a man named Gill. In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Dudley has received the honorary title of "Sir"[23] after making a comeback and winning the championship title, and is invited into a contest that will be held in the presence of the royal family. Now known as Sir Dudlington, he decides to travel the world and improve himself before the day of the match.[10] He is also shown to have a great interest in the gardens of his illustrious country estate, occasionally losing track of time, or getting lost, as shown in his Third Strike ending.
In Super Street Fighter IV, Dudley returns as a playable character and joins the tournament in search of new roses for his garden. He also claims he needs something to get his mind off of his missing car and encounters Balrog who challenges him to a fight. In his ending, he is shown lamenting the fact that he was unable to procure the new roses for his garden. As he does so, Dudley notices a flower bloom and comments on its beauty to his butler, Mr Gotch. He also appears via DLC in Street Fighter X Tekken with his official tag partner, Elena.[24] In a small cameo, Dudley can be seen in the background of the England stage in Capcom vs. SNK 2, reading a newspaper while wearing boxing gloves, and he has another small cameo in Pyron's ending in Capcom Fighting Jam.
During development, they considered how boxing was seen as a "gentleman's sport" that was "currently being perfected in England". Feeling they had only previously portrayed boxing as being used by villainous characters, they chose England as Dudley's country of origin, and built the character's framework from there.[3] When creating his design, they gave him pronounced shoulders to emphasize his role as a boxer. Additional artwork also frequently displayed him enjoying tea, to help emphasize his British nationality.[25] Sadamoto considered Dudley they easiest character to finalize.[3]
Voiced by: Fumihiko Tachiki (SFV)(Japanese); Bruce Robertson (New Generation, 2nd Impact), Lawrence Bayne (3rd Strike), Liam O'Brien (SFV) (English)
Gill (ギル, Giru) is the main antagonist and final boss of the Street Fighter III series.[26] At the start of the series he is the President of the Illuminati, a secret society that has controlled the underworld for thousands of years and seeks to turn the whole world into a utopia by causing an armageddon. His ultimate goal is to test the skills of several warriors and coerce them into his cause. Gill appears in his default costume as a tall, muscular man with flowing blond hair, the right side of his body colored red, and the left side colored blue, wearing nothing but a loincloth. 2nd Impact introduces Gill's younger brother Urien as a player character of similar build and attire but with short hair; in addition, Urien's body is the same color on both sides. In Urien's ending, Gill is revealed to have been promoted to "Emperor" (天帝, Tentei, "Celestial Emperor") after Urien takes over Gill's former presidency, which he still holds by the time of 3rd Strike[27] The blond woman who assists Gill before battle in 3rd Strike is his secretary Kolin (コーリン, Kōrin), who also appears in Dudley's ending in the first two games, handing him the keys to Dudley's car.[28] Gill is not playable in any of the arcade versions of the Street Fighter III games. However, he is selectable once he is unlocked from within the console versions of 2nd Impact and 3rd Strike. He appears in the ending of Street Fighter V revealing that Helen is in fact his secretary Kolin. Gill makes his playable debut in Street Fighter V as a playable character in the Champion Edition update.
Ibuki
Voiced by: Yuri Amano (SFIII series, Pocket Fighter), Ayumi Fujimura (SSFIV, SFXTK, SFV pre-Season 5), Kana Ueda (SFV Season 5)(Japanese); Kat Steel (SSFIV, SFXTK, SFV pre-Season 5), Cristina Vee (SFV Season 5) (English)
Her initial design was drastically different, consisting of a short haired muscular girl with glasses, wearing an outfit similar to Guy from Final Fight, another character he had developed. However they felt this design looked "more like a martial artist than a high-flying ninja".[29] Another pass was done with a focus on a more traditional ninja, the next drawing giving her a full bodysuit and armor over her hands, ankles and crotch.[30] Her appearance and outfit were refined further,[31] giving her a look he described as cute "even though she looks shabby". Series artist and fellow character designer Kinu Nishimura took that statement to heart and emphasized that cute aspect of her art of Ibuki, as well as designing a school outfit for the character.[32][33] Sadamoto recalled that because they were located in Japan Ibuki was much easier to find reference materials than other characters. Her unique ponytail proved a bit of a problem for the animation team, as to do it properly she had "1.2 to 1.3x the character data" of other fighters, requiring several months to complete with Sadamoto himself helping at the end.[3]
In the plots of the original Street Fighter III and 2nd Impact,[34] Ibuki is sent by her clan to retrieve a mysterious "G file" from Gill's organization, the Illuminati. In Ibuki's game end sequence, Gill hands her the file after their battle. In 3rd Strike,[35] she is shown preparing to graduate from high school and is studying for her college application exams, hoping to move away from home to enjoy a normal campus life and find a boyfriend. As part of her final exam, Ibuki is sent to find and defeat the elderly martial artist, Oro. In her 3rd Strike ending, she is accepted into the fictional Sarusuberi University (私立百日紅大学, Shiritsu Sarusuberi Daigaku), at first without knowledge of its cover for an elite ninja training camp.[36]
A kunai resembling her is seen in Fei Long's ending in Street Fighter IV (2008). She became playable in Super Street Fighter IV (2010), where her introductory sequence shows her interacting with a fellow ninja Guy for the first time.[37] Her story for the game depicts her looking for fun and boys to date. Ibuki also meets Sakura Kasugano, as she tries to get Sakura to introduce her to a boy.
Ibuki reappears as a playable character in Street Fighter V as a DLC character.[38] In her prologue story, Ibuki finally finishes her ninja assignment and is informed by her friend Sakura about the party invitation sent from her rival Karin Kanzuki. Arriving at the Kanzuki Estate, Ibuki fights and defeat Birdie and Karin. After the fight, Karin lets her stay at the party with handsome boys and gives her the contract which has been approved by the Shinobi village to work with her. Ibuki also appears in the ending of R. Mika's prologue story, rejecting her offer in muscle training which angers R. Mika who beats her in a fight. Ibuki and R. Mika continue to argue and bicker through the course of the game's main story, "A Shadow Falls", which begins when they and Karin travel to the New York City to find out who is behind the activation of the seven Black Moons, eventually finding out it is a Shadaloo plot. During the first infiltration of the Shadaloo base, Ibuki fights Balrog but fails to beat him. She then uses her smoke bomb to distract the enemies and the two successfully escape with it until they reunited with Karin. They witness Zangief beat Abel, Ibuki watching in disgust while R. Mika idolizes him. In the final assault against Shadaloo, Ibuki and R. Mika fight off Shadaloo soldiers. Ibuki is last seen watching Shadaloo's destruction with the other fighters.[39]
Ibuki also appears in the crossover fighting game, Street Fighter X Tekken (2012), with Rolento as her tag team partner.[46] In it, she is persuaded by her village leaders to accept Rolento's request for a joint mission to the South Pole, serving as his advisor on infiltration.[47] In the story mode, Rolento initially addresses the very annoyed Ibuki as private but "promotes" her to the rank of sergeant by the end of the game. According to a backstory for the Street Fighter X Tekken DLC ninja costume-swap for the Tekken series' Asuka Kazama, Asuka was sent Ibuki's village to learn the ninja arts from her.[48] Ibuki's own Tekken swap costume is in the style of Yoshimitsu, with her latest assignment having her join his Manji Clan.[49]
Ryota Niitsuma originally considered her for inclusion as a playable character in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2008), but she was ultimately cut due to time constraints.[50] The "head student at Ibuki's ninja village" was supposed to be a new player character in the rejected concept of Street Fighter IV Flashback by Backbone Entertainment,[51]
IGN's Jesse Schedeen stated "Ibuki is an apple that falls a bit far from the ninja tree. She's not a musclebound brute, but a young, quirky girl still finding her way in the world," adding that her eccentric nature was "part of what makes her so fun."[52] Martin Robinson of AskMen stated "ninjas might be ten-a-penny in videogames, but none are as effortlessly cool as Ibuki" and added that she "is one of a handful of characters worth salvaging from Street Fighter III."[53] Gavin Jasper of Den of Geek praised her as "too fun not to like", noting her complex life specifically and giving additional praise to her role as the straight man to Rolento's eccentric behavior in Street Fighter X Tekken.[54]Paste stated "her design, both aesthetically and as a fighter, is actually pretty strong", further calling her the best ninja of the series "by far".[55] Amanda LaPergola and Becky Chambers of The Mary Sue praised her status as a ninja, but criticized the emphasis of her story on her story on meeting boys, a trait they felt was too common amongst female characters in the Street Fighter universe.[56]
Necro
Voiced by: Michael X. Sommers (New Generation, 2nd Impact), Lawrence Bayne (3rd Strike)
Necro (ネクロ, Nekuro), whose real name is Illia (イリヤ, Iriya), was born in a poor Russian village near a lake. He is the third of four children, with two older brothers and a younger sister. He also has massive data. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he wanders off from his home village and into the vicinity of Moscow, where he comes into contact with Gill's organization, which remodels his DNA to turn him into a living weapon, granting him superhuman flexibility.[57] His fighting style is simulated by a computer, then programmed into his brain with cyber implants.[5][58] Necro has a long reach and can use throws and electrocution. In his ending, he is tricked by Gill and left for dead in a facility, until he is rescued by a young girl named Effie (エフィー, Efī), and the pair go on a journey together. Necro's story is the same in 2nd Impact, in which he gains the nickname "super electromagnetic alien". In this game, however, he also has a role as one of Hugo's potential final bosses and tag partners, forming the tag team "Thunderbolt". In 3rd Strike,[59] Necro and Effie are pursued by agents of the organization, but still live in hope of "truth and liberty". In his ending, Necro saves Effie from falling and thwarts agents of the Illuminati at the Siberian railroad.[10][60]
Unlike Ryu, Ken lacked any early design sketches, with the work progressing directly to the sprite design phase.[61] The development team found his design easily to build around, but with 3rd Strike they focused on improving the character's gameplay and adding more leg-based techniques to help subtly differentiate him further from Ryu.[62]
Oro (オロ)[63] is an ancient martial arts master who lives a secluded life of an immortal hermit.[64] His lack of attachments has allowed him to exceed his legendary fighting skills beyond those of an ordinary person, though he does seem to have a weakness for cute girls. He attained such extraordinary abilities through the mastery of an extreme fighting style known as senjutsu (仙術). He sets out on a journey to find a worthy successor of his secrets in order to kill time. Through the use of magic, he sealed one of his arms in order to even the odds in favor of his opponents as he could accidentally seriously injure or kill his opponent if he did not.[65][58] Oro decides that the only martial artist he met worthy of inheriting his secrets was Ryu.
Oro later reappears in Street Fighter V during Dhalsim's character story as Dhalsim encounters him while teaching a police officer named Mahesh how to breathe fire. Oro engages a discussion with the yoga master about mastering one skill before he leaves sensing another interesting person in the area. He was later mentioned in Karin's character story as Karin travels to India to find Oro, but is told by Dhalsim that he had already left a few days prior. He is also seen in Menat's character story when Menat, sent by her master Rose, warns him of an evil power in their world, which Oro is already aware of. He was made a playable character in the game's fifth season, in which he confers with Rose and Dhalsim about this lingering Psycho Power left behind after M. Bison's defeat. He once again fights using only one arm, carrying a tortoise named Yamasen in the other. Outside of the video game series, Oro also appears in the Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki comic book miniseries where Ibuki's final ninja exam is to challenge him. Together with her friends Elena and Makoto, she goes to the shrine on Mount Atago, where Oro has travelled to meditate. After the fight, Oro says that she actually made him think about using both hands and commends her on an entertaining challenge.
Despite appearing only in SFIII at the time, Oro was voted 35th-most popular out of 85 Street Fighter characters in Capcom's own poll for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter.[66] Oro also ranked 21st in a worldwide Street Fighter character poll held between 2017 and 2018.[3]UGO Networks listed Oro as one of the top 50 Street Fighter characters due to his "unorthodox, powerful, and unique" design.[67] He also ranked in Den of Geek, Complex, and Paste Magazine's favorite Street Fighter characters lists.[68][69][70] Meanwhile, GamesRadar named Oro one of the worst Street Fighter characters.[71]
The character that became Oro was originally planned to be a BrazilianJiu Jitsu fighter, inspired by the Gracie family. As development progressed, they looked over previously suggested designs, and Oro's finalized appearance stood out to the development team, with the sprite art team pushing to utilize it so they could see the character in motion.[3] Oro's additional art was designed to make him look more intimidating than his in-game sprites. At one point in development he was also intended to have a scar on his back.[72]
Ryu's design required few early design sketches because of how recognizable the character had become within the company. In particular they wanted to emphasize his white headbang, in contrast to the red headband that was exclusive to the Street Fighter Alpha series of games that had released during New Generation's development.[61]
Sean Matsuda (ショーン・マツダ, Shōn Matsuda) is a young boy from an average home in Brazil and the younger brother of Laura. Impressed by Ken's performance at a martial arts rally, Sean seeks to become his disciple, calling him "Master Ken". An intense but courteous young man, Sean is determined to win no matter what. He was once trained by his grandfather, who was of Japanese descent. Sean's greatest weakness is receiving attacks while attacking. He dreams of creating his original special moves.[5][73][74] It is Sean who leads the basketball parry bonus round in 3rd Strike. In his ending, he becomes Ken's disciple, only to be told that he needs to defeat Ryu to become worthy. In 3rd Strike,[75] Sean is allowed to participate in a martial arts tournament, but Ken tells him that his current skills will not even get him through the preliminaries and that he needs to develop his own style. In his 3rd Strike ending, Sean dreams that he has won the championship title, but in fact he loses in the qualifying rounds as a result of his lack of training.[76][10] Sean makes a cameo appearance in Ryu's ending and intro in Marvel vs. Capcom, and as a supporting character in Street Fighter V.
Sean's pierced ears were something they felt was difficult to properly portray in his artwork. Additionally, they had considered having his palms and the soles of his feet be paler, but scrapped this concept during development.[61]
Yun and Yang Lee
Voiced by: Koji Tobe (New Generation and 2nd Impact), Kentarō Itō (3rd Strike, SSFIV:AE)(Japanese); Ted Sroka (SFIV), Todd Haberkorn (SSFIV:AE) (English) (Yun)
Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (New Generation and 2nd Impact), Masakazu Suzuki (3rd Strike, SSFIV:AE)(Japanese); Ted Sroka (SFIV), Johnny Yong Bosch (SSFIV:AE) (English) (Yang)
In their backstory,[77] The Lee Brothers, Yun (ユン) and Yang (ヤン) were separated from their birth parents when they were young. They were raised by an adoptive grandfather who runs a restaurant in Hong Kong and have eight underground bosses as godfathers. By the time of Street Fighter III, the two brothers are the leaders of their local town. Yun, the elder of the two, is described as being more responsible, while his younger brother Yang is calmer and more analytical.[78]
In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike,[79][80] Yun and Yang set off to fight a mysterious organization (Gill's group, the Illuminati) threatening to take over their village.[81] In their respective endings, Yun and Yang end up driving away Gill from their home town and the two return home to be greeted by their female friend Houmei and her younger sister Shaomei, who both harbor a respective crush on Yun and Yang.
Prior to Street Fighter 6, when their cousin, Jamie was still a young kid, the brothers saved him from being beaten by common thugs, thus serving as Jamie's inspiration to be a fighter like them.
The Lee brothers were intended to be "popular from the start", and "flashier" than series protagonist Alex. In particular their designs were built around the parry system, a new gameplay element unique to Street Fighter III, and they were given kung fu as a martial art to highlight this aspect. In addition to giving them the most consideration during development, they also wanted to emphasize the pair's boyish youth.[3]
Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (2nd Impact, SVC Chaos, SFXTK, USFIV)(Japanese); Len Carlson (3rd Strike), Jim Wallace (Final Fight Revenge), Gerardo Sprigg (Final Fight: Streetwise), Patrick Seitz (SFXTK, USFIV) (English)
Hugo (ヒューゴー, Hyūgō) is a member of the Andore family, recurring enemies in the Final Fight series whose designs are based off real life professional wrestlerAndre the Giant. A German man of massive height, he acts as a professional wrestler himself. Managed by fellow Final Fight character Poison, they seek to develop their own wrestling promotion by forcibly recruiting other fighters. Hugo would return alongside Poison for its sequel as well as Ultra Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter V, SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, and Street Fighter x Tekken.
Urien
Voiced by: Yūji Ueda (2nd Impact), Masayuki Katou (SFV)(Japanese); Lawrence Bayne (3rd Strike), Bill Rogers (SFV) (English)
Within series lore, Gill and Urien (ユリアン, Yurian) are the children of gifted parents who excelled physically and intellectually.[82] The Illuminati separated the brothers from their birth parents at the age of six and gave them a specialized education to become candidates for the organization's presidency. Gill was ultimately chosen, leaving Urien bitter with resentment.[5][83] In 2nd Impact, Urien challenges Gill for the presidency. He eventually gains the title, only to learn that Gill has been promoted to Emperor, the true leader of the Illuminati, whose existence is known only to its presidents and chairmen. In 3rd Strike, in spite of his new position, Urien still resents the supremacy of his brother.[84] He decides to eliminate Gill permanently and destroys the preservation facility where Gill is still recovering.[85] During the character introduction that precedes every match in Street Fighter III, he is presented as wearing business attire prior to the beginning of his fight, where shortly afterwards his skin darkens and his clothes disappear, leaving him wearing only a white loincloth like Gill.
Gavin Jasper from Den of Geek placed Urien 34th place in a ranking list of Street Fighter characters, noted that his role as a disgruntled underling plotting to usurp his brother calls into question who is the true main villain of the Street Fighter III series.[86] As Urien is essentially a head and palette swap of Gill's in-game model and gameplay mechanics, Jasper praised the developers of 2nd Impact for differentiating both characters by applying select variations to Gill's moveset and visual design to create Urien. Ian Walker from Kotaku noted that Urien was popular with players in both casual and competitive spheres of Street Fighter III due to his distinct look and abilities.[87]
When working on Chun-Li for 3rd Strike, the development team ran into a problem as they needed input from Yasuda, who had originally designed the character. However, he was unreachable as he was currently working on character designs for the Gundam franchise in Tokyo, Japan. The development instead traveled to him, and were able to finalize her design for the game.[88]
Q, who first appears in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, is a mysterious individual in a trenchcoat and hat, whose face is concealed by an expressionless metal mask, based on the main character from Tokusatsu series Robot Detective (Robot Keiji K). Q is being tracked by the CIA because of his presence in numerous strange disasters.[10][89] Nothing of his background has yet been revealed. All of Q's techniques are named in "descriptive" form rather than with traditionally-styled move names, as if they are given by people who have watched him fight.
Remy
Voiced by: Eiji Sekiguchi
Remy (レミー, Remī), who first appears in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, is a young turquoise-haired savateur from Paris who seeks revenge against his father, a martial artist who abandoned him and his sister. After Remy's sister died, he encased her body in an iced casket, which he keeps in an underwater cove in the Bay of Biscay. Remy takes his aggression out on other martial artists by challenging them to battle. Remy's rival match illustrates this, as his sudden appearance and challenge surprise Alex, who thinks him nothing but a troubled man. In his ending, Remy realizes that he has been inadvertently following in his father's footsteps. He makes peace with his sister and follows a new path. His attacks are similar to that of Guile and Charlie, but no notable connection to them has been established.[90] Remy was voted 8th in Capcom's popularity poll of 85 characters for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter.[66]
Twelve
Voiced by: Lawrence Bayne
Twelve (トゥエルヴ, Tueruvu) is a humanoid creature introduced as a playable character in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. His stage background, shared with Necro, is Saint Basil's Cathedral. Twelve is the ultimate humanoid weapon developed by Gill's organization. He has a shapeshifting body that is an improved and strengthened version of the prototype body given to Necro. Via the X.C.O.P.Y. super art, Twelve has the ability to briefly copy his opponent's form and moves. His targets are filled with despair when he corners them.[10] His objective is to track down Necro and Effie, who are fleeing from the organization.[91] Twelve is considered a bottom tier character due to his low damage output and health.
Critial reception
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The introduction of Street Fighter III's cast proved controversial at the time, particularly among the players of the franchise.[92] Matt Edwards of Eurogamer described the series' first game as "a mixture of baffling design choices" particularly in how it handled the characters, noting that many of the characters felt too similar to previous characters introduced in Street Fighter II, with Yun, Ibuki and Alex being particular standouts in his eyes.[93] Sam Stone of Comic Book Resources meanwhile suggested by being released after the Street Fighter Alpha series of games, which featured characters more recognizable to the fandom, Capcom was essentially competing with itself, which helped to severely hamper New Generations sales to the point they were one-fifth of those of the much older Street Fighter II's and caused the franchise to remain untouched until the 2008 release of Street Fighter IV.[94]
Not all reception was negative however. Edwards emphasized by comparison with the release of 3rd Strike the characters felt more refined, even if the introduction of Remy felt too similar to previous character Guile.[93]Paste's Elijah Gonzalez attributed some of the series' cult favorite status to how the cast was made up of "oddball characters [...] each with a distinct look that catches the eye" that was emphasized by how well the game's pixel art expressed their personalities.[95]
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 299
↑ Capcom. p. 12. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Alex character biography (in Japanese): Family. Young fighter living in Manhattan, New York City. He was separated from his parents when he was a boy. He now spends his days training with his father's best friend Tom at the martial arts gym he runs. Tom is a veteran, but he often travels around the base as one of the best combat instructors in the US military. He usually lives with Tom and his 14-year-old daughter Patricia. Personality. He has a split bamboo personality and is insensitive. He is not a man of many words, but he often gets into trouble because he says things out loud. However, she is not easy to hate. Fighting style A fighter who uses his instantaneous force and strong physical strength to leap into his opponent's bosom and fight with powerful throwing and punching techniques, without making him feel his large frame.
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Alex character biography (in Japanese): Fighting with the best fighters in the world, Alex learned the fear and depth of fighting. He could not suppress the mysterious feeling of elation that welled up inside him without his knowing it. Driven by the desire to fight a "strong man," he once again left Tom in search of a stronger foe yet unknown.
↑ Capcom. p. 18. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved 3 July 2008
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Dudley character biography (in Japanese): Family. Father was a successful sportsman and successful businessman in the UK. Dudley had an unencumbered childhood. He was able to recover from his father's business failures during his university years, this time by becoming a successful professional boxer. Character. A proud dandy, he strives for perfection in everything he does, but is quite lenient towards others. Fighting style He is a small heavyweight boxer, but he has the speed and technique as well as the destructive power. His techniques range from out-boxing to in-feinting with his feet, and he is able to play with his opponents without any difficulty. However, in his pursuit of the perfect fight and finish, he can be a bit lax in his technique.
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Dudley character biography (in Japanese): Dudley, who successfully returned to the championship title and was awarded the special title of "Sir". He was invited by the royal family to perform an imperial match. The day is still young. There are still days left. There is still time enough for him to tour the world and further improve his skills.
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Ibuki character biography (in Japanese): Family. Ibuki is an ordinary high school student in a small mountain town, but this town is the home of ninja who have been active from the Warring States period to the present day. Despite her ninja training, Ibuki is an idol-loving high school student with a very normal adolescent lifestyle. She uses ninja body techniques, a combination of ancient Japanese martial arts. She slips into her opponent's bosom with sharp, lean movements and strikes a killing blow to the vital spot.
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Ibuki character biography (in Japanese): Ibuki is about to graduate from high school. She strongly hopes to go on to an ordinary university instead of getting a school-recommended job. To do so, she must pass a rigorous graduation exam. Just the thought of meeting someone new and having a sweet love awaiting her makes her put a lot of effort into her bitter polishing. I'm definitely going to enjoy campus life with a wonderful boyfriend!
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Games 1987–2000, page 300.
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Necro character biography (in Japanese): Family. Born in a cold Russian village by a lake; third son of four siblings, two brothers and a sister. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he left his village and wandered around the Moscow area, where he came into contact with Gil's organisation. Character. Although he tends to be radical in his hopes for freedom in the turbulent Russia, he is in fact a man of principle and lives naturally. Fighting style He was DNA-modified by a secret organisation as a weaponised human experiment and given superhuman flexibility in his body. The fighting techniques to utilise his super powers were built by computer and imprinted on his brain at once by cyber technology.
1 2 Capcom. p. 17. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved 3 July 2008
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Necro character biography (in Japanese): The organization's relentless pursuit gave Necro and Effie no respite. Whether they raced in the darkness or hid in the backcountry, black shadows would appear before them, snatching away the faintest glimmer of hope. But Necro believed. One day, they would have true freedom.
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 331
↑ Street Fighter III - Fight for the Future: Conclusion Step/Master the Secret (in Japanese). Vol.194. Gamest. 1999. p.30. ISBN4881996274.{{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 3rd Strike Oro character biography (in Japanese): "...I'm bored~" Oro's boredom had reached its limit. He tried taking young fighters on as apprentices, but they never lasted long. One day, he happened to hear an intriguing worldly rumor. He was told that a mysterious organization had a fighter who had mastered the art of fist fighting. ...... Well, he would have a good time.
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Oro character biography (in Japanese): Family. Over 140 years old and live in caves in the Amazon jungle. He is said to be of Japanese descent, but details are unknown. He has mastered the art of hermitage and has become a hermit. Personality He appears to be a bit dim, but he is only slightly obsessive and is several times more capable than ordinary people in all aspects of his abilities. In his spare time, he sets out on a journey to find a successor to the art of hermitry. Fighting style Several times more experience than others and undiminished athleticism allow him a free and natural physical style. His seemingly futile movements leave no room for intrusion.
↑ Capcom. p. 15. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved 3 July 2008
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Sean character biography (in Japanese): Family. Sporty boy from a very average Brazilian family. He was impressed by Ken's fighting style at a martial arts tournament and followed Ken as an apprentice. Personality. A hot-blooded boy who hates to lose, even if he loses today, he will win tomorrow. His Japanese-American grandfather taught him to be polite and respectful. Fighting style He is an aggressive fighter, idealising Ken's fighting style, but he does not have the sharpness of Ken's techniques. As a result, even though he seems to be on the offensive, he himself takes a lot of punches, and it seems that he cannot win unscathed. His dream is to eventually have his own original special move.
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 3rd Strike Sean character biography (in Japanese): Sean finally decided to participate in the martial arts championship. However, his master, Ken, sternly declares. "Your current ability will only embarrass you." No matter what, I have to master my own "style" that makes Ken groan!
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 320
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Yun & Yang character biography (in Japanese): I separated from my parents when I was a baby. He was raised by his grandfather, who runs a restaurant in Shanghai and has eight bosses from the underworld as his godmother. Together, they are now trusted as the young leaders of the town. Personality. The older brother (Yun) is a cheerful, active young general with excellent intuitive decision-making skills. The younger brother (Yang) is a calm and collected generalissimo who helps his elder brother with his insight and ability to see the bigger picture. Fighting style Both brothers were trained in various Chinese martial arts by their grandfather. They use a series of quick techniques to kill the momentum of their opponents, and use a strong, powerful, and deadly blow. The sharpness of their techniques is hard to compare, but the older brother, Yun (Hat), uses a momentary flash of inspiration to knock out his opponents with a series of gale-force moves. The younger brother, Yang, uses a series of techniques that are like the swell of a great wave, winding his opponents into his own pace and knocking them down.
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Yun character biography (in Japanese): Hong Kong is a city where people's zest for life fills the air with a pleasant sense of tension. When Yun and his team discover the existence of a mysterious organization that threatens the peace, they decide to take the initiative and venture into the depths of the organization. Yun's heart beats wildly in anticipation of the inevitable battle. I will protect our city.
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Yang character biography (in Japanese): Keeping the peace in the city is a proud job. Naturally, we must not allow the selfishness of the "mysterious organization". His older brother Yoon is also burning with a sense of mission. "Well, leave it to me this time too," Yang murmured to Yun who was proud. "I can't keep relying on you forever. Look at me, big brother!"
↑ Official Street Fighter 2 2nd Impact Urien character biography (in Japanese): Family. One of those educated as a candidate for the organisation's presidency with Gil. Both parents of the candidates are intelligent, physically sound and talented. Urien's parents both hold doctorates, especially his mother, who is active in the field of sports mechanics and is herself an Olympic athlete. However, children who are selected as substantial candidates are separated from their parents when they reach the age of six and are taught imperialism by the organisation. Therefore, the people they feel closest to are the few other führer candidates with whom they have studied imperialism. Personality. As leaders of mankind, they have been trained in Imperialism from an early age, and their personalities are the very qualities of Emperors. However, the fact that he had to hand over his only führership to Gil is nothing but a humiliation for a man who was educated to be a führer. The day is not far off when he will realise the dark, writhing emotions that are growing deeper and deeper in his heart day by day, and will be troubled by his own conflicts. Fighting style The fighting techniques he has learnt are the culmination of the organisation's thousands of years of history and the secret traditions handed down only to the candidates for the presidency. It is considered impossible to master all of its fighting techniques, but Gil has progressed to the final level of mastery and has mastered one of its 66 secrets, the Resurrection. Among Urien's techniques, the Aegis Reflector is one of his profound techniques.
↑ Capcom. p. 16. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved 3 July 2008
↑ Official Street Fighter 3 3rd Strike Urien character biography (in Japanese): Urien has fulfilled his ambition and became the new president of the organization. But he was extremely dissatisfied. As before, Gil is still sitting at the shadow top of the organization as the "Emperor of Heaven". Can you forgive such absurdity? "I should be the ruler! I will punish my foolish brother with despair!!"
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 344
↑ Street Fighter III - Fight for the Future: Conclusion Step/Master the Secret (in Japanese). Vol.194. Gamest. 1999. p.2. ISBN4881996274.{{cite book}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 308
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, page 347
↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987–2000, p
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