WHOAH MAMA! Polygon's "Oral History of Street Fighter" finally catches up to part 3! A fascinating and heartbreaking look into the difficult development and release of this (now) classic game series!

https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/8/22151873/street-fighter-3-an-oral-history

#SF3

Street Fighter III came out at the exact worst time possible. When arcades were dying, consoles were booming and 3D was the new king. All these factors created an environment where very few people could appreciate the game upon release.

These are some representative 3D fighting games from this era. Several of these still have their charm. I LIKED 3D fighting games, but in 1997 I thought people were INSANE for thinking SF3 looked inferior or dated!

Continuing To Flog A Dead Horse: In the mid 90s, game magazines were already complaining that Capcom's 2D fighting games looked dated next to the likes of Criticom! https://twitter.com/Richmond_Lee/status/862558955322523648?s=20

Ironically, Street Fighter III and the CPS-3 board were made to flex the power of arcades over console. While people thirsted for primitive 3D, Street Fighter 3 actually had way too much animation to be replicated on home consoles of the time!

There's some irony in how this excellent retrospective was published on "Polygon." The 3D takeover of videogames has become so complete that polygons are assumed to be the default building blocks of games!

There was simply no way Street Fighter III could have even a quarter of the success of Street Fighter II. It performed way under expectations and seems to have traumatized many of the people working on it. It's so painful to hear them talk about it as a regretful failure.