I'm very, VERY much into the beat-em-up Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. I can bore you stiff with it infact. However there's no time to be bored because this game is the business end, top of the pile BOSS of current 2D fighters.* It's still even played competitvely across the world today and is seeing a renewed ineterst.
Now to get a sense of the infectous excitement this game generates please direct your browers to this google video and tell me that didn't stir something up inside you?! That was JPN player Daigo taking apart a keep away Chun Li *boo*
Whilst something very similar occurred at one of the regular London Ranking Battle's recently as well. swish
What the hell did I just see?
The parry ladies and gentlemen, the parry. You press forward the moment before you get hit, you parry. Giving you a split-second advantage to counter and a little meter. Risky. To do it multiple times like in the video you have to press forward at a rythmn roughly half the speed of the move as it would land normally. That sounds complicated but it isn't beyond anybody with a little applied practice and patience.
Now for a plethora of more video's and suitable links take a perusal in here and in general here and here.
With the advent of the 15th Anniversary Capcom knocked out Street Fighter Annivesary Collection containg all the SFII's in a big mish-mash called Hyper Street Fighter II Anniversary but unlike the PAL PS2 version included SFIII:3rd Strike as well with LIVE play for the xbox.**
So if you do fancy a course in Strikeology with a bit Kenomics and ultimately the way-of-the-unblockable then there's a good number of chaps over at greenhillzone and rllmuk for gamertags ^_^
If your near manchester there's also an arcade with this game amongst others
I could go on and on and on about other stuff like brillaint new characters etc. but that's for another day. I know Strider and some of the GamesTM team got into this so hopefully the love flourish
In other news, KOF XI is looking completely tasty with the new chap Oswald, he's like a Gambit with the card thing from Xmen but too cool. Duck King is insane and the Garou cast like Gato are also in there.
Garou: Mark of the Wolves is another title up there I dearly enjoy, some of the characters are fantastic, Freeman much MUCH better than SFIII's similarly looking Remy. Tizoc/Griffon is also a top banana, that P 720 move? Painful.
Spread the enthusiam for the other fighters even the 3D one's if Soul Calibur, Virtua Fighter and even Dead or Alive float you particular boat.
*With respect, all the other beat em ups offer plenty fun and depth and everyone will have their favourite but this title and this alone introduced a game where the emphasis on techincal skill wasn't paramount. Instead with the parry, it shifted away from being able to produce the longest string of moves to keep someone in a block/corner trhoughout the match, break your guard meter, infinite juggles and 100% combo's. It's now 50/50 with your own personal mind games. If, like other fighters do, you repeat yourself with combo's a
