Street Fighter III: New Generation (1997). Play Free Online

Summary

When I first saw Street Fighter III: New Generation back in arcades, what hit me was the shift in visual tech—Capcom moved to the CD‑ROM‑driven CPS‑III board, giving the sprites a punchier, fluid look impossible on earlier CPS‑II boards. The game wiped the slate clean except for Ryu and Ken, slapping on a fresh cast head‑lined by Brazilian Brawler Alex and swapping the series baddie with a new charismatic leader, Gill. In combat the toolbox had grown: you could dash like the characters from Darkstalkers, pull off quick‑step recoveries from X‑Men: Children of the Atom, and even perform “leap attacks” aimed at a crouching foe. The most talk‑worthily gimmick was the real‑time parry, letting you deflect an attack the instant it would land and open a safe window for retaliation—everything from a basic jab to a full‑blown Super Art. Those Super Arts themselves borrowed the resource meter idea from earlier titles and could even be cancelled into for combo‑freak plays. Years later the original arcade version survived its single home‑console outing on the Dreamcast's Double Impact, earned a spot in the 30th‑Anniversary Collection, and its 1997 soundtrack, shaped by Yuki Iwai and Hideki Okugawa, still gets nostalgic spin‑offs among collectors.

Storyline

Street Fighter III: New Generation throws players into a roster of fighters each driven by personal quests. Ryu continues his endless search for stronger opponents, while Ken, now the U.S. martial‑arts champion, heads to the tournament to test himself against his old friend. Alex, the series’ lead, fights to avenge his friend Tom’s defeat at the hands of the enigmatic Gill. Dudley, a genteel British boxer, enters to reclaim his late father’s antique Jaguar convertible, also taken by Gill. Elena, an African princess from Kenya, practices capoeira and simply wants to make new friends during the showdown.
Ibuki, a fledgling female ninja, is dispatched to retrieve the G File from Gill’s organization. Necro, a Russian subject of Gill’s experiments, seeks revenge but ends up barely escaping his own captivity. Oro, a hermit master, searches for a worthy heir to inherit his lethal fighting style, binding one arm to avoid accidental kills. Sean, a young Japanese‑Brazilian, self‑appoints as Ken’s apprentice, hoping to learn from the champion. Twins Yun and Yang, kung‑fu experts from Hong Kong, lead their city together, swapping bodies yet sharing a single slot in the original roster. Gill, the leader of a secretive group aiming to reshape Earth into a utopia, serves as the final boss for every fighter in New Generation.

Edited by Maya Carter