Alright, that's cool.

3rd Strike is not only the definitive Street Fighter, but the definitive fighting game, period. Ever since I first played it a few years ago, it's been comfortably slotted in my Top 10 favourite games of all time, and after this replay, it might be in my Top 5.

To start this off, let's talk about the gameplay. Simply, it's the best Street Fighter has ever been. Everything runs butter smooth, specials and super arts work perfectly, hits feel like orgasms, and to top it off, it's insanely addictive. Hell, after typing that last line, I started playing it again, this time as Chun-Li. I ended up getting to the 5th stage before stopping and coming back to finish this, and I know damn well that right after I do, i'll hop back in.

Next on the list is the atmosphere and OST (i'm including them together since they basically go hand in hand in this), and fucking hell, they nail it. It really leans into a late 90's and early 2000's vibe with the soundtrack, even having the announcer be the same guy who sings the opening and character select music. On that topic, holy shit idk his name but he fucking COOKED with the character select music. It's probably my favourite song in the entire game, that or Chun-Li's theme.

Now, since I talk about the final boss in most of these reviews, I might as well do it here too. Gill is a tough boss, no, a REALLY tough boss, but unlike another game cough Alpha 3 cough you don't get a single try to beat him. Also, there's no input reading, the AI is just really good, and it makes for a tough, but fair opponent. That's the best way to describe the difficulty of this masterpiece.

I don't believe any game is perfect, no matter how much I love them. Goddamn though, does 3rd Strike come close. Peak game.

"We await your return, Warrior."

Now, if you came here to read about 3rd Strike, you can stop reading now, this part has nothing to do about it. I wanted to mention that my 2nd Impact review was my 200th on this site! To all of my followers, anyone who liked my reviews, commented on them, etc, I just want to say thank you for all the great times, and God bless you all.

You know, sometimes, I like to sit outside on my balcony, in a nice little chair, watching either the sunrise or sunset depending on the time of day, and I like to think "Man... life is good. Life is grand, there is so much to love about humanity and our planet in general, and I am glad to be alive."

And then I remember stuff like this game exists, and then I quickly remember that humanity was a mistake, and that the Earth should have been shot into the sun a long time ago to rid the universe of us.

Game #216