Street Fighter III: New Generation (Japanese: ストリートファイターIII -New Generation-) is a 1997 fighting game in Capcom's Street Fighter series. It was first released as an arcade game and is a follow-up to Street Fighter II (1991). This game only kept two characters from the previous game, Ryu and Ken, and introduced a new group of characters led by Alex. A new villain named Gill replaced M. Bison as the main enemy in the game.

Street Fighter III was created for a new type of hardware called the CD-ROM-based CP System III. This allowed the game to have more detailed 2D graphics than earlier Street Fighter games, such as the Street Fighter Alpha series, which used the CPS II hardware. Even though many games at the time used 3D graphics, Capcom chose to keep Street Fighter III in 2D. A different version of the game, Street Fighter EX, used 3D graphics instead.

After its release, Street Fighter III had two updates: 2nd Impact in 1997 and 3rd Strike in 1999. A home version of the game was released for the Dreamcast in 1999 and 2000 as a two-game compilation called Street Fighter III: Double Impact, which included New Generation and 2nd Impact. The game received mostly positive reviews but was not as popular as its predecessor, Street Fighter II. It was later followed by Street Fighter IV in 2008.

Gameplay

Street Fighter III is a one-on-one fighting game, where two players use attacks and special moves to defeat their opponent. The original Street Fighter III includes many new abilities and features. Some abilities are similar to those in other Capcom fighting games, such as the ability to dash or retreat, as seen in the Darkstalkers series, or to perform super jumps and quick stands after being hit, as in X-Men: Children of the Atom. The game also adds leap attacks, which are small jumps used to strike opponents who are crouching. Unlike earlier games, players cannot block attacks in the air, as in Street Fighter Alpha. Instead, they use a technique called parrying, which is called "blocking" in the Japanese version of the game.

The 1994 game Samurai Shodown II is often credited with introducing the first parry system. This system allows players to deflect an opponent's attack without taking damage. At the exact moment an attack is about to hit, the player can move the controller toward or downward to parry. This makes the opponent vulnerable to a counterattack. Parrying also lets players defend against special moves and powerful attacks without taking the usual small amount of damage from blocking. However, parrying requires precise timing.

Another new feature in Street Fighter III is Super Arts. These are strong special moves similar to Super Combos in earlier Street Fighter games. After choosing a character, players select one of three unique Super Arts to use in battle. A special move energy bar fills as players perform regular and special moves. Players can only use a Super Art when the energy bar is full. The length of the energy bar and the number of times players can use Super Arts depend on the chosen move. Players can cancel a special move into a Super Art, a technique used in Street Fighter EX.

The game also includes detailed character images with multiple hit stun animations. One new animation shows a character turning around (facing away from the opponent) after being hit. Only certain attacks can cause this turned-around state. Grabs and throws can now be used in combos because characters take longer to recover from this type of hit stun.

Characters

• Ryu – Ryu wants to improve his skills and find strong opponents. His voice is performed by Wataru Takagi in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Toru Okawa in 3rd Strike.
• Ken – Ken is the current U.S. martial arts champion. He wants to challenge his old friend and rival Ryu again. His voice is performed by Koji Tobe in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Yuji Kishi in 3rd Strike.
• Alex – Alex is the main character in Street Fighter III. He uses close-range grappling and strong punches. His goal is to avenge his friend Tom’s defeat by Gill. Later, he loses to Ryu in Third Strike. His voice is performed by Michael Sommers in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Patrick Gallagan in 3rd Strike.
• Dudley – Dudley is a British boxer who wants to recover his late father’s antique Jaguar convertible from Gill. His voice is performed by Bruce Robertson in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Francis Diakowsky in 3rd Strike.
• Elena – Elena is an African princess from Kenya who uses capoeira, a fighting style that uses legs and feet for attacks, including punches and throws. Her voice is performed by Kaoru Fujino in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Mie Midori in 3rd Strike.
• Ibuki – Ibuki is a young female ninja who is sent to retrieve the G File from Gill’s organization. Her voice is performed by Yuri Amano in all three games.
• Necro – Necro is a Russian man who was kidnapped and tested on by Gill’s organization. He wants revenge but is later trapped and barely escapes. His voice is performed by Michael X. Sommers in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Lawrence Bayne in 3rd Strike.
• Oro – Oro is a reclusive hermit who looks for a fighter strong enough to inherit his style. He fights with one arm tied to avoid harming opponents, except during special moves. His voice is performed by Kan Tokumaru in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Takashi Matsuyama in 3rd Strike.
• Sean – Sean is a young Japanese-Brazilian fighter who becomes Ken’s apprentice. His voice is performed by Isshin Chiba in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Mitsuo Iwata in 3rd Strike.
• Yun and Yang – Yun and Yang are twin kung fu experts from Hong Kong who lead their city. They share the same moves and player slot, but Yang has a separate moveset and slot in 2nd Impact. Yun’s voice is performed by Koji Tobe in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Kentaro Ito in 3rd Strike. Yang’s voice is performed by Wataru Takagi in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Masakazu Suzuki in 3rd Strike.
• Gill – Gill is the leader of a secret group that wants to turn Earth into a utopia. He can control fire and ice. He is the final opponent for most characters in New Generation and 3rd Strike, and for many characters in 2nd Impact. Gill is only playable in console versions of the series. His voice is performed by Bruce Robertson in New Generation and 2nd Impact, and by Lawrence Bayne in 3rd Strike.

Development

On March 27, 1996, Capcom announced during a meeting in Tokyo that Street Fighter III was being developed. They later said the game took over two years to make. Development for the first game in the series began in 1994 and was originally planned as a separate fighting game franchise. Noritaka Funamizu, the producer of the Street Fighter II series, felt tired of the Street Fighter franchise because sales on home consoles were decreasing, and 3D fighting games were becoming popular, such as Virtua Fighter. Capcom decided to continue using 2D sprites for their games and began creating the CPS-3 arcade hardware to support more detailed colors for these sprites. When company executives wanted a follow-up to Street Fighter II, Funamizu wanted to create a completely new game instead. At that time, producer Tomoshi Sadamoto had started working on a game called New Generation. Akira Yasuda, Capcom’s character designer, thought the game’s characters lacked personality. He also believed the company would later turn the game into a Street Fighter title and suggested adding Ryu, the franchise’s main character, to the roster. His prediction was correct, as the game was renamed Street Fighter III: New Generation.

Although other characters from Street Fighter II, such as Ken and Chun-Li, were considered for inclusion, the development team focused on creating mostly new characters. This was difficult for Sadamoto, who felt the new designs were not as well established as those in Street Fighter II, especially for female characters. Yasuda suggested making the first female character a ninja, saying, “Ninjas are cool!” This idea led to the creation of Ibuki. Another idea was to create a character based on model Yuki Uchida, called “Yuki in Africa,” which resulted in Elena. This helped the team finalize their vision for the game’s characters. Later, Ken was added to the roster. When choosing a protagonist, the team selected an American character named Alex, as they believed martial arts were more popular in America at the time and wanted to appeal to that audience.

Creating the finalized cast remained challenging. Yasuda continued designing characters while following Sadamoto’s design rules, unlike previous games where he had more freedom. In an interview with Polygon, Yasuda said he would not have worked on the game if he could change the past. Chris Tang, from Capcom’s North American branch, was surprised by the new designs, especially the character Oro, which made him question if Yasuda had left the company. Other issues included limited software support for the CPS-3 hardware and the high detail required for the game’s graphics. Character balance was also a problem, as each developer was responsible for tuning their own character’s gameplay, leading to some characters feeling more like Street Fighter and others like Capcom’s Darkstalkers series. The long development time caused one planned character, Hugo, to be delayed until the next game, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, along with other new and returning characters like Akuma.

The game was first shown at the Japan Amusement Machine and Marketing Association show in September 1996, with a short clip included in Capcom’s PR demo tape. Capcom’s senior planner, Shinji Mikami, said it was impossible to port the game to home consoles at the time, leading to rumors it might be released on the upcoming Panasonic M2. In January 1997, IGN saw a demonstration of the game on the Nintendo 64 and 64DD. IGN speculated the game might launch with the 64DD peripheral in Japan, but Capcom called the Nintendo 64 release a “rumor.” Nintendo delayed the 64DD’s release until December 1999. In late 1997, Capcom said it might be possible to port the game to the Sega Saturn if a RAM expansion cartridge was used.

Because the first three Street Fighter III games use the CPS III engine, more detailed 2D sprites were created. Each character is made up of about 700–1200 individually drawn animation frames, with the game running at 60 frames per second.

Noritaka Funamizu, the general producer, explained the decision to keep the series in 2D: “We feel that 3D is not really suitable for the head-to-head fighting… and, to be frank, Capcom doesn’t really have the techniques to display high quality graphics in 3D.”

The game’s name on the arcade cabinet is Three: A New Generation of Street Fighters.

In 1999, Capcom released Street Fighter III: Double Impact (Street Fighter III: W Impact in Japan) for the Dreamcast, a compilation containing the original game and 2nd Impact. The compilation includes Arcade, Versus, Training, and Option Modes for both games, as well as a “Parry Attack Mode” in 2nd Impact, where players can test parrying skills in the game’s bonus round. This version also allows players to use Gill (in both games) and Shin Akuma (in 2nd Impact only), who are exclusively computer-controlled in the arcade version.

New Generation was re-released in 2018 as part of the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch.

The soundtrack for the first game was released on CD by First Smile Entertainment in 1997, and the 3rd Strike original soundtrack was released by Mars Colony Music in 2000, with an arranged version later. The 3rd Strike soundtrack includes three songs and announcer tracks by Canadian rapper Infinite. The music features drum and bass, with some jazz, hip-hop, house, and techno elements. Yuki Iwai worked on the soundtracks for New Generation and 2nd Impact, and Hideki Okugawa worked on all three games.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed Street Fighter III as the most successful arcade game of March 1997. However, the game had difficulty making enough money to cover costs, as it required a high budget of 1 billion yen ($8 million), but only sold 1,000 arcade machines. Worldwide sales estimates suggest between 1,000 and 10,000 units were sold.

Next Generation reviewed the arcade version, giving it four stars out of five. They noted, "The mystery is why Capcom named this game SFIII instead of saving that title for a more advanced 3D game. The gameplay in the Street Fighter series already reached the highest level of 2D game design. While this game is good, it does not offer much new compared to the 11 earlier games in the series, except for its impressive graphics." GamePro also commented that the graphics and controls are excellent, but the game lacks new ideas or changes players expected. They added that some new characters seem better suited for another game series called Darkstalkers, and concluded that the game makes players look forward to the next Street Fighter game instead of wanting to play this one repeatedly.

Famitsu magazine gave the Dreamcast version of Street Fighter III: Double Impact a score of 31 out of 40. Jim Preston, who reviewed the Dreamcast version for Next Generation, gave it three stars out of five. He wrote, "It is a basic version of the arcade game that works well in group settings but is not useful for solo play."