The upcoming “Online Edition” of the venerable Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike will teach you how to replicate the most legendary moment in fighting game history.
The year was 2004, and Japanese fighting game master Daigo Umehara was in a tough spot at the EVO tournament. He was in the Street Fighter III semifinals against American legend Justin Wong, and his Ken barely had a sliver of health. If he lost, he would be at a match disadvantage. Justin Wong activated his super attack, knowing that if even one of the flurry of blows landed – or was even blocked – the damage would be enough to win him the day.
What transpired, as you can see here to the right, was the stuff that legends are made of. It’s undeniably the greatest moment ever in Street Fighter, if not in all of competitive gaming.
Capcom is re-releasing its classic Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike as an “Online Edition” downloadable title for XBLA and PSN. One of the improvements to the decade-old fighter is a new training mode, which will teach new players how to utilize the game’s mechanics – like the ability to parry attacks without taking a point of damage. Daigo Umehara’s legendary comeback was all about parries, and I think you can see where this is going.
The final “Expert” challenge for the parry mechanic is, of course, to replicate that famous moment from EVO 2004. Not only must you parry every single hit from Chun-Li’s super attack, but you have to finish her off with the exact same combo Daigo himself used. As you can see over at Kotaku, Capcom’s Seth Killian demonstrates the feature and can’t even get the first parry off – and he works with these damn games for a living!
If nothing else, it will give gamers a bit more respect for just how tricky the whole thing is to pull off in the silence of your living room, let alone at an international fighting game tournament with a room full of people watching your every move.
(Via Kotaku)
