Then came E3 2011 which confirmed an arcade perfect port, GGPO netcode and the ability to upload videos to Youtube from in game.
Except when the game was released... players found out that the game had numerous bugs, the art had been changed for the worse, it was based off earlier console ports, the GGPO netcode didn't work too well and the YouTube videos were really low quality. Needless to say, they were not happy...
Broken Base: Ken has been earning a lot of scorn from mostly online players because so many people use him online. No one knows why, but it might be due to his ease of use instead of Ryu, who somehow got harder to use as time passed.
Character Tiers: Chun-Li is S+ tier in the new Arcadia list, and Ken is A+, with Akuma not far behind. Especially tragic since this plays into Complacent Gaming Syndrome (see below). Let it be noted that these are not tiers decided at the margins, Chun and Ken all have 7-3 and 8-2 matchups against much of the rest of the cast. Thankfully the high tiers are also populated with new, fun and unique characters like Yun, Makoto, and Dudley.
More recent tiers have Chun and Yun at S-tier, with Ken and Makoto at A+. Akuma has dropped down to B-tier and is considered slightly worse than Dudley now (though he still has some disgustingly cheap bullshit according to Kuroda).
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: In Street Fighter III, as a result of removing all of the old cast except Ryu and Ken. As a result, 75% of all players picked Ken, 20% picked Ryu, and 5% picked one of the other characters. It got a little better in Second Impact. But in 3rd Strike, not only was Ken a tad bit easier to learn than Ryu in the III series, but he was top tier (alongside Chun-Li and Yun) in 3S. In other words, Tournament Play was filled with Ken, Chun-Li, Yun, and the occasional Akuma. This status followed him into Street Fighter IV, with lukewarm reception. There's a reason the trope used to go by the name of "That Damn Ken".
Make your first move, so what's it gonna be? You're trapped in the new world of Street Fighter III! The third chapter, so what's it gonna be? The 3rd Strike y'all, it's Street Fighter III! Make your first move so what's it gonna be? You're trapped in the new world of Street Fighter III! Fightin' for the future so what's it gonna be? The 3rd Strike y'all it's Street Fighter III!...'' (Let's get it on now), Select and make your first pick, (Let's get it on Yo) 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, (Let's get it on Yo) Choose and pick the best one (Let's get it on now) 5, 4, 3, 2, 1
The theme from the E3 2011 trailer for 3rd Strike Online Edition by Adam Tensta.
(Welcome to the world of Street Fighter III) As I stare at myself in the mirror, and the noises around me fade No fear for my health, never give up though the voices around me say: "It's a long shot, it'll never happen - don't put you money on that" as they're laughin' (Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha) I know I'm up against the best but we fightin' in the streets - left right, right left This is what I live for right here - you think I'm gon' fold cause the lights glare? Like I don't know what this life is? Well think again cause I won't no hype is Ever what they paint it up to be, and the underdog is evidently The one who got more to win - I'ma make you taste the ground; here's my Hadouken! You know what they say: "The Third Strike is what counts" And you can get it too - don't think that l can't knock you out Out, out knock knock you out Out, knock knock knock you out Out, out knock knock knock you out Don't think that l can't knock you out (Prepare for Battle) Beat Out, out knock knock you out Out, knock knock knock you out Out, out knock knock knock you out Don't think that l can't knock you out (It's over)
Ensemble Darkhorse: Ibuki, to the point where she placed 22nd on IGN's List of Top 25 Street Fighter Characters.
Dudley. A lot of fans like him better than Balrog, to the point where he actually won a fan poll to see who fans wanted to appear most in Street Fighter IV. Capcom granted the fans' wish by including him in Super Street Fighter IV, alongside Balrog. In addition, he placed 25th on IGN's List of Top 25 Street Fighter Characters.
Makoto. Unlike many of the newcomers in III, she has actually been hailed as a great addition to the cast. Episode 33 of 1up.com's Retronauts podcast actually singled out Makoto as being "pure Street Fighter" in relation to the rest of the cast, when she placed 23rd on IGN's List of Top 25 Street Fighter Characters. Her popularity might also be due to her high-risk playstyle and high-tier status. Perhaps being savvy enough to realize this, Capcom included her in SSFIV.
Yun and Yang. The fact that Yun has had the most out-of-series appearances out of all the III characters (CvS2, later revisions of Street Fighter Alpha 3, Capcom Fighting Evolution) and the Fandom Rejoicing for the twins' inclusion in the Arcade Edition of SSFIV cements them as this.
Elena is both this and (unfortunately) Tier-Induced Scrappy: while it's hard to dislike her optimistic personality and you'll find plenty of fanart of her (for obvious reasons), you'll rarely see her actually played, as she's considered to be underpowered.
According to the polls for Tekken X Street Fighter, Q is the second most requested character from Street Fighter III after Alex, the main character.
Fan Dumb: Apparently, a black British gentleman is still something so foreign to some people that lengthy debates about Dudley's ethnicity rage to this day. His overtly caucasian features don't particularly help matters...
Yun and Yang are the same age in every game they appear in. Thankfully, their appearances in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Capcom vs. SNK 2 are non-canon, but even in their SFIV cameo, they look the same as ever.
We don't know anything about Q, or if it's even a him, or if it's even human. He is a creepy looking figure in a trenchcoat with a seemingly metal expressionless face, he breaths heavily and grunts without talking in fights. Absolutely everything about him is unknown, and he could be anywhere at any time.
Twelve is overall quite creepy on his own, but what really takes the cake is the downright chilling voice he has while copying an opponent with the X-Copy Super Art... It must be heard to understand...
They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The series got, and continues to get, a LOT of flack for its character roster. A critic of GamesRadar listed their personal worst SF characters; SFIII fighters placed in eight out of the eleven slots.
The kid who appears in Ibuki's 3rd Strike intro sparring with her is a boy named Yuta Homura.
While the story takes no pains to hide that she is, in fact, a girl, people not familiar with the series often mistake Makoto for a boy. But given that she is as feminine as a truck driver, that her gi is quite concealing, and that the name "Makoto" is a name for both males and females in Japan, the misunderstanding is almost expected. Her SSFIV in-game model, however, has the cleavage slightly more exposed, enough to avoid confusion in full. Previously, it was only that visible during her dizzy animation, in which the shoulder of her gi slips off.
Vindicated by History: As said above, the Street Fighter III series was trashed when it was initially released because it was a complete departure from the considerably more user-friendly Alpha series, and some professional reviewers even went so far as to dock it for looking "like an SNES game." Eventually, about a decade later, tournament-level players latched onto the series as most mainstream fighting games began to resemble Guilty Gear more and more and they desired something a little more technical, and casual fans discovered the game through emulation and a Playstation2 re-release, and the series is now a mainstay at the EVO tournament.
