Introduction

I love Third Strike, and you should too. The game is a lot of fun, you don’t have to worry about balance patches changing the meta when you’re not looking, the online through Fightcade’s netcode is actually better than most modern fighting games, the art style is sick, the vibe is street and hip hop-like and the game rewards studying as well as having good reads in a clutch. Also, parrying is the best thing ever and the best mechanic ever added to a fighting game, fight me irl.

I’ve always wanted to write down something to have all the infos I needed about this game in one place, and honestly, I don’t feel the hunger for competition and modern fighting games anymore, so this will be a perfect opportunity for me to dedicate myself to what I’ve always called “the game I’ll be playing when I retire”. The time comes for everyone uh.
Either way! This doc is not made for beginners, I won’t go and explain the basics, so don’t use it as a guide for fighting games, but as a guide specifically for Third Strike for fighting game players. That being said, let's get into it.

My twitter: @klaww__

DISCLAIMER: The frame data you’ll see in this doc is written down following today’s standards (I can’t help it, I’m sorry), so when talking about how fast a move starts up the first active frame will be counted. This translates to values that are shifted one frame compared to the old way of writing, but in the end the values are the same.
Ex. Throws are 2f startup + 1f active in the old notation and 3f startup + active (active is already counted in the final number); in the end it’s the same thing.

System Mechanics

Health gauge

Each character has 160 health points (which is the actual pixel length of the bar) and an attack and defense stat that define the damage each move does (lowest defense stat is akuma at around 26 and the highest is a triple taunt Q with 44). The stats are all taken into consideration and rounded up to integer numbers when the game calculates values.

Although the game follows these stats we currently don’t know the exact numbers; what we have is a more traditional hp based measuring of each character’s stamina, tested a long time ago. If you factor all the defense stats and put them in relation with a more standard 1000hp style view, each character would have roughly this amount of health:

Hugo - 1300                Urien - 1220                Alex/Q         - 1200          Ryu/Ken/Dudley/Makoto - 1150                 Sean - 1120         Oro/Elena/Chun Li - 1100 Necro/Remy - 1070         Twelve         - 1050         Yun/Yang - 1020         Ibuki - 1000                 Akuma - 950

Additionally, the game has its own “guts system”, providing damage scaling when the hp drops below 25% (25% additional damage reduction).

Stun gauge

Stun is however unique to characters; it’s either 72, 64 or 52 points, which is also the length in pixels of the different gauges. The icons on the character depend on the attack that caused the dizzy and change the amount of stun duration if you don’t mash. While mashing to recover from stun, each input recovers one frame of stun. Stun lengths are:

• Long Stun Bar (72) - Hugo / Gill / Alex / Q / Dudley / Oro
• Normal Stun Bar (64) - Urien / Ryu / Ken / Makoto / Sean / Elena / Chun-Li / Necro / Twelve / Yun / Yang / Ibuki
• Short Stun Bar (56) - Remy / Akuma

Each character also has a different stun recovery rate. The way the game handles stun recovery is based on the types of inputs received and a fixed “-1 point of stun each frame”, here’s a handy chart:

• Directions; -2 points of stun per direction, -4 if it’s a diagonal
• Punches; -1 point of stun per punch (negative edge doesn’t count)
• Kicks; -1 point of stun per 2 kicks (negative edge doesn’t count)

As you can imagine mashing kicks is useless due to the game only accepting 2 or more per press, so the best stun recovery strategy is to mash 3 punches while alternating diagonals.

Meter gauge and meter building

Depending on which super you pick the length of your ex bar will vary, from the lowest of 64 points to the highest of 128 points. EX moves always consume 40 points of the gauge.

Unlike other street fighters however, in third strike you get meter for whiffing normals, instead of just specials. This only works with medium and heavy normals; you build 2 points for whiffing a medium, 3 for whiffing a heavy, 3 for whiffing a special move (excluding projectiles) and 2 if the special move is a command grab (unless it’s a command grab that does no damage, in that case you build no meter). Also parrying builds 4 points of meter.

Keep in mind that the game is very specific, and there are exceptions.

Taunts

Known as PAs (Personal Actions) in japanese, they are taunts (performed with hp+hk) but with added bonuses; they usually increase attack, defense, stun recovery etc… and usually only last for one hit or one round. Here’s a quick recap on what they do from shoryuken’s wiki:

Alex: Unheld taunt - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 9.4% for the first taunt and 6.3% for each additional taunt. Maximum: 6 taunts, 37.5% bonus. Held taunt - Increases damage for the next hit/combo or throw by 6.3% per extra arm turn. Maximum: 8 turns, 50% bonus.

Akuma: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 43.8% and increases stun damage for the next hit/combo by 28.1%. One taunt is the maximum.

Chun-Li: Yawn (happens 100% of the time) - Increases stun recovery rate by 10% for the first yawn and an additional 21% for the second yawn. Lasts the whole round. Maximum 2 yawns, 33% bonus. Shoulder tap (happens 21% of the time) - Increases defense by 18.8%. Lasts for the whole round. Maximum one shoulder tap. Neck stretch (happens 38% of the time) - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3%. Maximum one neck stretch. Back stretch (happens 15% of the time) - Increases defense by 31.3% (more than the shoulder tap) for the whole round. Also increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3%. Maximum one back stretch.

Dudley: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 25% if a rose is thrown. Like Sean, there's no bonus if the rose isn't actually thrown. One taunt is the maximum.

Elena: Increases stun damage for the next hit/combo by 18.8% per taunt. Maximum 4 taunts, 75% bonus.

Hugo: Unheld taunt - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 18.8% (maximum 1 taunt). Also increases defence for the rest of the round by 6.3% per taunt (maximum 4 taunts, 25% bonus). Held taunt - Increases damage for the next hit/combo/throw by 25%. One taunt is the maximum. Poison - No bonus.

Ibuki: Increases damage for the next hit/combo/throw by 43.8% only if she gets the leapfrog. Otherwise you get nothing. Maximum one taunt.

Ken: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3%. One taunt is the maximum.

Makoto: Part 1 - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3% per taunt. Maximum 2 taunts, 62.5% damage. Part 2 - Replaces a second Part 1 taunt. One two-part taunt is the maximum. Part 3 - Increases stun recovery rate by 10% for the first full taunt and an additional 21% for the second full taunt. Lasts the whole round. Maximum 2 full taunt, 33% bonus. Hayate taunt - No bonus.

Necro: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3%. Holding the taunt does nothing bonus-wise. One taunt is the maximum.

Oro: Recovers stun by 600-800% as the taunt is held longer.

Q: Increases defense for the whole round by 12.5% (maximum 3 taunts, 37.5% bonus). Also increases stun recovery rate for the whole round by 10% (one taunt is the maximum).

Remy: Increases stun damage for the next hit/combo by 18.8% per taunt. Maximum 4 taunts, 75% bonus.

Ryu: Increases stun recovery rate by 10% for the first taunt and an additional 21% for the second taunt. Lasts the whole round. Maximum 2 taunts, 33% bonus.

Sean: Increases stun damage for the next hit/combo by 12.5% per ball thrown. If Sean throws nothing (ie. another ball on the screen), there is no bonus. Maximum 3 balls thrown, 37.5% bonus.

Twelve: It turns you invisible for a while.

Urien: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3%. One taunt is the maximum.

Yang: Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 31.3% and increases damage for the next throw by 6.3%. One taunt is the maximum.

Yun: Unheld taunt (works for held too) - Increases damage for the next hit/combo by 6.4% for each taunt/hat twirl. Maximum 8 taunts/twirls, 50% bonus. Held taunt only - Increases damage for the next throw by 6.3% for the first extra twirl and 3.1% for every additional twirl. Maximum 7 extra twirls, 25% bonus.

Throws

Throws are 3f startup in this game, have 1 active frame and can be teched for 5 frames after they connect. Extra info, they all have 21f of whiff recovery.

Being 3f is actually very strong, for some characters throw is often the only block punish they have vs some moves. There are 3 types of throws; neutral, front and back. They usually differ in damage and positioning but sometimes even in juggle properties.

Damage-wise, generally there are either 20 or 17 dmg throws.

Also, keep in mind that if you attempt to parry the game will not let you tech throws during the window.

Jumping

Similarly to other fighting games, jumping has frames of “pre-jump” in which you can still be hit grounded and those vary from character to character. Additionally, if you’ve attacked during your jump you get 2 additional frames of landing recovery at the end.

Super Jump

You can super jump in this game, by inputting D then U, giving you a higher and slower jump. Like normal jumping, super jump startup can be super cancelled and is also longer; there are some cases of moves that are not super cancellable but are super jump cancellable (ex. chun li’s close hk); in those cases you can super jump cancel then cancel the first frames of the super jump into a super.

Going back to the previous chapter, pre jump frames are also special cancellable in this game, and this becomes extremely useful for characters with a long super jump startup; super jump cancelled into a special move is a good way to avoid throws while going for a counter attack.

Universal Overheads

Universal overheads (UOH), also known as “leap (attack)” in Japanese, are present in this game and can be performed with mp+mk. Other than being overheads they have the property of going airborne (usually on the 5th frame) and can thus avoid some low moves if timed correctly. They’re slow-ish on startup (16f) and have around 10 active frames. They’re minus on block but can be made neutral or even plus with meaties.

Depending on the character you can decide whether to recover standing or crouching after the UOH, the characters that can decide are:

Oro, Dudley, Makoto, Twelve, Alex, Elena, Hugo, Ibuki, Necro, Urien, Remy, Q,

Parry

The mechanic that made 3rd Strike renown due to Evo Moment #37.

There’s so much myths and misinformation about the mechanics, so let’s try to narrow it down in a good, understandable way.

A parry input consists of pushing either forward or down for a high or low parry, from NEUTRAL position of the stick, before the incoming attack hits.

On a successful parry, both characters freeze for a brief moment while the defending character flashes blue in his parrying stance, and then the parrying character can act immediately.

Not every parry is equal, though.

First, let’s talk about parry height: if you want to get a successful parry, you need to know how the incoming attack can be parried. Some attacks can be parried only high, some only low, some others both ways. Most instances are pretty intuitive, but it’s still useful to check. Some general rules are:

• any standing light button, and all crouching light punches can be parried both ways
• most crouching medium punches can be parried both ways
• attacks where the opponent is airborne must be parried high (EXCEPTION: necro’s drill!)
• you can only parry forward in the air
• Throws of any kind and the first hit of Gouki’s Kongo Kokuretsu Zan super cannot be parried

Parry windows:

The window for a successful parry is more or less lenient depending on a number of factors. A big one is returning to neutral immediately after the parry input, which in most cases grants a bigger opportunity: that is a clean parry attempt. If you don’t go back to neutral (i.e.: you input down for a down parry and then keep holding the down direction) the window is shortened, in an unclean parry. So keep in mind that in most cases it is fairly better to tap the direction and let the lever go back to neutral as soon as possible.

The other main factor is the parry situation. The game differentiates among three types of parries:

1. when you are on the ground and you parry a grounded attack or a projectile
2. when you are on the air and you parry any attack or a projectile
3. when you are on the ground and you parry a jumping attack (anti-air parry)

The windows for a successful parry (measured in maximum frames of leniency between the input and the hitting frames) result in the following table

As you can see, in the instance #1, which is the most common use of parry, the difference between clean or not is quite relevant; anti-air parries are the hardest, with no clean input bonus to boot, and that’s what makes them riskier, especially against characters who can vary the jump-in timing a lot. Keep in mind that some moves that start on the ground are considered jumping moves when they hit, such as Remy’s Cold Blue Kick.

(To be continued)

Throw invincibility on wake up and after blockstun and air reset

Wake up animations have 6 frames of throw invincibility, meaning you can’t actually do meaty throws in this game, drastically changing the overall risk/reward of oki situations.

The same concept applies to block and hit stun; after every strike that touches the opposing character, whether blocked or hit, the game makes the receiver invincible to throws for 5 more frames after blockstun ends, so no tick throws. Same applies to air resets.

Absence of autoguard

Autoguard (or sometimes called absolute guard) is often overlooked as a concept, being so widely present in fighting games; it’s basically a mechanic of fighting games where if you press buttons or input directions during blockstun and the stun is tight the game will let you do that while also blocking.

Having that and also red parries in third strike would render a lot of blockstrings unsafe while having virtually no risk for the one attempting a red parry; for this reason autoguard is not present in this game (ex. if you try to punish Akuma’s lk tatsu but he does mk instead you will have let go of blocking to punish and you’ll get hit, this doesn’t happen for example in SF5).

Priority system

The game has a priority system for trades which goes:

throws (super throws > special throws category 1 > special throws category 2 > normal throws) > supers > specials > heavies > mediums > lights.

Additionally, punches have priority over kicks when pressed together and the strength priority goes lights > mediums > heavies.

Proximity normals

The game uses proximity normals to shift normals between a far and close version; the distance for the change is however character and move dependant.

Invincible reversals

The only fully invincible reversals are supers (not all of them), ex dps (shotos, dudley, elena, yun, ibuki, oro, remy) and meterless hp shoryus from akuma (fully invincible) and ken (invincible but the hurtbox appears together with the hitbox, so you can trade).

There are however a lot of moves with partial invincibility (ex: only upper body). Shoto’s meterless dps are upper body invincible, makoto’s ex dp is upper body invincible, alex’s stomps are lower body invincible etc…

In practice this means that vs those moves if your meaty is not big enough it’ll go over/under the lowered/upper hitbox and whiff (ex. shoto’s close hp vs shoto lp dp).

There are also moves that are fully invincible but for small intervals; for example chun’s ex spinning bird kick is actually fully invincible for a couple of frames during startup, but then the hurtboxes reappear before the hitboxes come out, so if you’ve got a meaty that is very active (ex. makoto’s s.mp) you can actually hit her out of it.

Some invincible moves still get beat by supers because non-throw supers don’t only hit the normal hurtboxes but also the pushbox. More in the next chapter.

Super hits and pushboxes

One peculiar aspect of supers in this game is their interaction with pushboxes. Pushboxes, if you didn’t know, are the areas of the character that define collisions and movement; they basically are the areas where characters can’t overlap and will push each other while walking.

While these boxes don’t have any interaction with moves in the game, for some reason hitboxes from supers actually collide with them resulting in a hit. Practically, this means that although your character might be invincible during a specific move, pushboxes are always there meaning that a super can hit invincible moves out of their “invincible” frames.

As everything else in this game keep in mind that most of the design choices are a case to case scenario, so things might vary.

Reversal input buffer

There’s no reversal input buffer in this game except for limited cases. This means that punishing a -9 move with a 9f normal is actually a 1 frame link. There is input buffer however if you use special/super moves (also some 2 button moves, like throws) and any move during parry freeze, helping with the leniency.

Wake ups

There’s only two kinds of wake ups in this game; no wake up or quickstand. To quickstand tap “down” as soon as your character touches the ground. Keep in mind that you have to be very precise, there’s a window of 5 frames to execute the input. After an unsuccessful input, it’s locked out for 7 frames before being possible again (to prevent quick mashing of QS). Think of it like “parrying the ground”. A successful quickstand raises the super meter by 3 points.

You cannot quickstand after being hit by a super and also some specific moves, like Ibuki’s Raida, Alex’s Stomp, Necro’s Snake Fang, Oro’s Nioh Riki.

Every character has different wakeup timings, so universal meaties don’t exist in this game. This also makes setups a bit harder to pull off; still possible though. Here’s the table of frame advantages tests copypasted and google translated from Game Restaurant (they knocked down all the characters with the same 3 types of moves); as you can see each character has three different kinds of knockdowns, sweeps (which are always the same, while other normal moves change the opponent’s wake up timing depending on the move), mash throws and multi hit moves (we’re not sure what classifies as a multi hit move)  and slamming(?)/special/super moves. Tbh we’re not sure what moves cause what knockdown, but we at least have some referenced tests here. Keep in mind that a character’s weight influences how fast they fall down, changing the wakeup timings even more; more than that, since you’ve got 5 frame to quick stand, depending on when your opponent quickstands the wakeup animation could get delayed to up to 5 frames. Basically, each character has a different wakeup timing on every knockdown, ouch.

Also, every character goes through a mandatory standing animation for one frame when waking up, except Chun-Li; meaning that you can actually use moves that only hit standing as a meaty and if they’re trying to crouch the hit/block effect will still be treated as standing.

Wake up side switches

Due to pushboxes interaction it's possible to go over and cross up with a dash some of the largest characters during a quick stand animations while they’re cornered. You can cross up: Dudley, Urien, Necro, Twelve, Alex and Hugo.

Meaties

While in other fighting games meaties work following mathematical rules (ex. hitting 3 frames later, +3 in the end), in third strike the meaty advantages were handpicked and decided for moves and characters, meaning that for example even hitting Makoto’s st.mp (+7 on hit) many frames later yields only a +9 on hit; they generally tend to work the way we know though.

Hitstun quirks

Following on meaties, most of the “irregularities” while going for meaties happen because a lot of moves have different amounts of hitsun based on the frame that is hitting, a good example is Elena’s st.lk, which is +4 on the first active frame and +3 on a later active frame.

There’s also a different approach to getting out of hitstun; any character can act out of hitstun one frame earlier than the math would suggest.

Practically this means that to link a move after another you need the to be as plus as the follow up +1; for some reason this doesn’t happen with supers because the super freeze overrides the specific frame that allows them to recover faster.

ex: yun’s cl.mp is +7 on hit and his cr.mk is 7f startup; the link from the first to the second doesn’t work but it works with yun’s st.mp which is 6f startup.

ex 2: hugo’s lp clap (18f) doesn’t link after a mp clap on hit (+18) but does if the mp clap hits crouching and becomes +20.

Crouching hit advantage

If you get hit while you’re crouching the move does +25% damage and gains additional frames of advantage; 0 for lights, 1 for mediums, 2 for heavies and specials.

The frame advantage difference was handpicked for every move, the above is true for many moves but not all of them. In some cases the difference is more, in others is less. That’s why frame data lists separate values for standing hit and crouching hit.

There are crouch only combos due to the increase in frame advantage. A good example of a crouch only combos is Ken's b.mk link into SAIII.

Unique character frame changes

There are unique character quirks with frame advantages on block. For whatever reason Ryu, Chun li and Q get 2 frames of additional blockstun while crouching (so a -4 move becomes -2) and poor Q gets 1 even when standing (-4 to -3).

Weight system

This game has a weight system that dictates how fast each character falls from juggles; heavier characters fall faster and get juggled lower while light characters fall slower and get juggled higher.

Character width

Characters have different widths related to their hurtboxes, influencing things like combos, juggles and even corner crossups. To crossup your opponent in the corner you must be the narrower character; just to give an example, Q has a very narrow but tall hurtbox, meaning that he gets juggled easily but often cannot be crossed up in the corner.

Here’s a quick character width recap:

Hugo > Twelve/Necro > Urien/Alex/Dudley > Akuma > Chun/Oro/Makoto/Sean/Ken/Ryu/Elena > Remy/Q/Ibuki/Yun/Yang

Juggle hitstun and juggle decay

The game uses two main values to handle juggles and juggle hitstun; sakugen (roughly “reduction”) and tsuigeki (roughly “pursuit”). Basically tsuigeki is the hitstun frames each juggle causes (ex: 250 frames) while sakugen is the reduction value each hit has in a juggle.

Everytime a juggle is started the game starts counting down the tsuigeki counter from a fixed value 1 point per frame; each time you hit the opponent in the juggle you increase the counter a bit subsequently increasing the juggle timer but the amount is related to the sakugen counter; the higher the reduction counter the lower the hitsun increase will be; the juggle reduction counter goes up based on each move used in the juggle.

When the reduction counter reaches 6 your hits basically don’t increase the juggle timer anymore which means that in 99% of cases the juggle will end. The game also has as forced juggle limit set at 15 and (very important) super hits reset the juggle counter back to 0, increasing juggle potential.

Just to give the whole picture, here’s the amount of hitstun each move causes in a juggle based on where the juggle counter is at.

Juggle counter at 1; 121 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 2; 101 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 3; 81 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 4; 61 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 5; 41 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 6; 21 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 7; 11 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 8; 5 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 9; 2 frames of hitstun

Juggle counter at 10 or more; 1 frame of hitstun

Stun combos and stun juggles

If you hit an opponent in the first frames of the stun animation the game will keep the stun status and let you combo things that aren’t normally comboable, for example Hugo’s hp clap > stun > hp clap > continue the combo.

On the other hand in juggles, stunning your opponent will make it so that all hits that normally force an air reset during juggles stop working that way, meaning that you can use every move you want during a stun juggle. An example is Hugo’s neutral throw in the corner; usually you get a st.lp that air resets the opponent ending the juggle; if the throw stuns though the st.lp won’t air reset letting you juggle following the juggle hitstun and counter logic explained before.

Stage length

Stages are not the same length in third strike, here’s a measurement in dots/pixels thanks to Game Restaurant:

1036: Alex, Ken

1032: Yun, Yang

1030: Makoto

1028: Urien

1026: Remy

1024: Dudley, Akuma, Twelve, Necro, Gil

1023: Ibuki

1022: Oro, Hugo, Chun-Li, Sean

1020: Ryu

1012: Elena

Judgement

In the remote chance of a draw, the game doesn’t actually give both players a win but enters a draw phase known as judgment. In this phase the “judgment girls” come up on screen and decide who the winner of the round is gonna be based on the same metric that awards grades at the end of matches (S, A, B, etc…).

Parameters taken into consideration to assign grades are:

• Number of times you stunned the opponent
• Max combo length you’ve done
• How many successful parries
• First attack
• Universal overhead used
• How many successful throws, throw techs, taunts, quick rises, target combos, reversals, supers
• Repeating the same moves (affects negatively)

Super freeze

Every time a super move is activated the game enters a state of freeze (after the 4th frame), in which the time stops and no inputs are accepted. The super freeze lasts for 50 frames in most cases, in which you cannot enter any commands and also cannot buffer anything, so any move done after the freeze has to be done precisely in the first available frame. Only exception to the no buffer rule is that you can start charging a charge move during the freeze.

Crouch tech

Crouch tech exists in the game, if you input cr.lp + throw you tech if they tried to throw you but jab if otherwise. Be careful though, as a crouch jab can be baited and parried.

Left-right unblockables

Contrary to modern fighting games, in this game some projectiles actually count as independent entities and have to be blocked in the direction they spawn from. This means that if you can set up a projectile on one side and go over and attack from the other side, the opponent has to block you from there and the projectile from the other side, effectively creating an unblockable setup.

There are three characters that can reliably setup left-right unblockables in this game and they are Urien (using SAIII), Oro (using SAII) and Yang (using SAIII). These setups are of course extremely strong but since projectiles can be parried using a down parry (which has no sides), depending on the situation and the adjustments the aggressor takes they can be avoided or parried out entirely. The opponent can of course change the timing of the setup to prevent parry attempts and so on, creating a mindgame of its own.

TDK

Usually in third strike after being air reset characters are invincible until the frame they land and are able to input a reversal in the frame after BUT if after being reset there’s still time in the juggle hitstun timer then the character WILL be vulnerable to hits in that frame, meaning that as the one resetting you are able to meaty your opponent without fear of a reversal coming out.

Characters

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is for sure its roster; all the characters are unique and the general sense is of quality rather than quantity. You’ve got your usual shotos but with a unique twist added (Sean); you’ve got characters with unique mechanics in the form of install supers or even air dashes and of course all the usual “archetypes” but again, each with a unique twist that gives the game a fun and fresh roster to play around.

Down below is a breakdown of all the characters in third strike; I won’t be covering every single aspect for the sake of brevity but each character will have extensive resources linked in their own section to get into the nitty gritty. For every char there will be a short intro, a description of their playstyle and a rating section to give you a quick idea of their unique strengths and how they place into the game-meta and into tier lists.

The characters are ordered going from strongest to weakest.

DISCLAIMER: The ratings are just to give a quick idea of the characters at a glance, they don’t cover things like character specific situations or player tendencies. Take them with a grain of salt.

Chun-Li

Intro

Arguably the best character in the game, Chun is a footsie based monster equipped with some of the best normals and super in the game.

Her pokes are fantastic, normals like st.hp, b.hp and cr.mk dominate the neutral thanks to their huge hitboxes, overall speed and hit confirmability. And that’s the other big trait of this character; Chun’s SAII (a 4f full screen super btw) has one of the largest hit confirm windows in the game, meaning that she can easily convert most of her incredible pokes hitting in a huge chunk of the opponent’s life being deleted (the super does insane damage). If that’s not enough, the actual super launches for a juggle at the end, allowing for (depending on the character) corner to corner carry and oppressive air resets into pressure.

That’s far from over though; she has the best 3f button in the game (cr.lp) to contest blockstrings and punish moves on parry, her crouching hurtbox is so small that she goes under a lot of moves, she has one of the longest kara throws in the game and she’s overall relatively easy to pick up and play.

That being said, the character is luckily not perfect; her specials are not amazing (though still nice); her meterless combos are lacking in both damage and versatility and for some reason if she blocks any move crouching she gets block stunned for an additional 2 frames (ex: a -4f move becomes -2f). She’s also combo friendly due to her THICK lower body.

She’s THE meta-defining character of the game though, no contest.

Playstyle

Defensive / Footsies / Hit confirm based

Ratings

Normals: 4.5/5                         Specials: 2/5                 Super(s): 4.5/5                 Difficulty: 2/5        

Overall:

4.75

Strongest

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Chun-Li - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd Strike Beginner Chun Li Primer

SFIII:3S Chun-Li Practical Combos and Set Ups

Yun

Intro

Yun shares the title of “strongest in the game” with Chun, but for different (but also similar?) reasons. Their main difference is, however, the ease of use.

While the character does not have the neutral defining normals of Chun, Yun still boasts very good normals like cl.mk, cr.mk, cr.mp, his target combos and his divekicks. Where he shines though is in specials. He has a quick lunge punch for hit confirming and punishing, a command grab that leads into a combo to open turtles and a relatively safe shoulder check.

HOWEVER, we all know the character for one thing and that’s Genei Jin. Genei Jin (or SAIII) is arguably the best super in the game; an install that increases the priority, speed, recovery and juggle potential of all of Yun’s moves and while that might not seem game breaking on the surface it very much is. In SAIII Yun can convert hits into a 50% damage juggle (depending on the starter of course) using Genei Jin normals (they count as super hits) that win all trades thanks to the game’s priority system. The super bar is also extremely short and easy to build, meaning you often get more than one install per round.

All these elements define a very strong playstyle: play solid and build meter until you get super, pop Genei Jin once or twice, get a couple of hits, win the round.

While the character is super oppressive though, you actually need to optimize him. Genei Jin combos change from character to character and are quite hard if you go for max damage; even using his divekicks requires knowledge of their spacing.

While on paper Yun is without a doubt the best character in the game, he’s kept in check by how hard he is to optimize.

Playstyle

Rushdown / Oppressive / Mixups

Ratings

Normals: 3.75/5           Specials: 4/5                 Super(s): 5/5                 Difficulty: 4/5        

Overall:

4.75

Strongest

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Yun - SuperCombo Wiki

Yun Spreadsheets, FAQ and Videos

[Street Fighter III - 3rd Strike] Yun tutorial

THE ART OF YUN - SF3: 3rd Strike Yun Tutorial

Ken

Intro

The best shoto in the game by far, Ken is a jack of all trades that excels in all the aspects that define the game’s meta. He has a good super, good normals, good specials, good mixups, he’s good at converting parries into damage and at punishing unsafe approaches.

Starting off, Ken’s meterless damage is insane and probably the highest in the game; by getting a hit with either a poke or a jump in the character can melt lifebars while keeping his meter for punishes and okizeme setups.

His normals are very good; shoto sweep is a classic and hard to punish for many characters, cr.mk is incredible for whiff punishes, cl.mp xx hp target combo unlocks huge damage and he has plenty of overheads that lead into a super knockdown with okizeme.

His specials are no joke either; while all ground tatsus suck and fireballs are often unsafe, the dps are insane. Lp dp is fast, damaging and leads to juggles and hp dp has full invincibility on startup (a rare feature for meterless reversals in this game). Get a target combo hit into double lp dp in the corner and your opponent just lost 30/40% of their life.

His best super (SAIII) is insanely fast (3f) and can punish tons of otherwise safe moves and be linked after many normals, while also leading to oki pressure and mixups.

Overall, Ken is uber strong and hardly has any weaknesses; the only thing that separates him from Chun and Yun is missing a broken super.

Playstyle

All rounder / Footsies / Rushdown

Ratings

Normals: 4/5                Specials: 3.75/5               Super(s): 4/5               Difficulty: 3/5

Overall:

4.5

Uber strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Ken - SuperCombo Wiki 

SF3 Bread and Butter Combo Guide and General Notes - Ken

AC-Slayer's How To Master Ken's Kara Shoryuken 

Deshiken | 3rd Strike Film Room

Makoto

Intro

Makoto is one of the most extreme characters in the game’s roster and that’s pretty clear from the get-go; she has the slowest walkspeed in the game BUT the fastest and longest dash, contributing to a unique hyper aggressive and effective gameplan that is probably the hardest and most annoying to fight against in the whole game.

This explosive duality defines the character in all of her aspects; her normals are very good for pressure and can convert into huge damage (st.mp and cr.lk are standouts here) but are also limited by a lack of hit confirmability and sometimes range. Her special are insanely good and well suit her goals though; the dash punch can be comboed after basically any cancellable normal, the karakusa command grab instills fear in her opponents like no other grab in the game and the axe kick and the overhead offer a unique and varied approach/pressure strategy. For f***s sake, her ex dash punch is a super fast, plus on block, full screen approach tool that leads to juggles in the corner.

Her supers are also best in class, SAI is an insanely damaging and fast versatile super while SAII leads to one of the few TOD combo routes in the game, even though it’s screen position dependent and also hard to do.

While the character dominates the whole match though, she is very unorthodox with her gameplan, focusing more on dash up throws and mixing her air options instead of a more classical, less committal approach. This means that although she is insanely strong, the character plays her own game, which can sometimes lead to problems if the player is not fully in sync with the character. Played right though, she is a menace.

Playstyle

Oppression / Grappler / Explosive

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 4/5                 Super(s): 4/5                 Difficulty: 3.5/5                

Overall:

4.3

Mega strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Makoto - SuperCombo Wiki 

Tominaga | 3rd Strike Film Room

Rudi's 3S Makoto Tutorial

https://www.docdroid.net/Fi9lsoc/makoto-guide-v4-pdf 

Dudley

Intro

Dudley is a lot of fun to use. Being a boxer, his gameplan is based around counter poking a whiff punishing but with an added bonus, unreactable high/low mixups.

The two most notable features of Dudley's kit are his very good buttons and of course, the rose (his taunt). His buttons, while sometimes being committal, are very good for whiff punishing and pressure. Hk and cr.hk lead to huge damage and corner carry and moves like f.mk are insanely plus and lead to almost never ending corner pressure. The character also boasts a huge array of target combos covering a lot of areas, from antiairing to racking up meterless damage from lows.

His specials focus instead on juggles and reads; machine gun blows are incredible juggle and corner carry tools and backswing blow, cross counter and uppercut are all very useful to capitalize on any kind of reads, from throw techs to pokes.

What gives Dudley a competitive advantage though are his corner mixups; by utilizing his taunt Dudley can keep any character in blockstun while applying unreactable high low mixups with either his lightning fast overhead (13f lol) or his cr.lk. Either leads of course to a super knockdown that sets up another rose for another mixup.

While the character is very strong up close, Dudley can struggle to approach long range characters, leading to the player having to commit to jump ins or risky choices in neutral to get in; once you get in though, Dudley is an unstoppable mixup machine.

Playstyle

Whiff punishment / Corner pressure / Mixups

Ratings

Normals:4/5                         Specials:3.5/5                 Super(s): 4/5                 Difficulty: 3/5                 

Overall:

4.25

Very strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Dudley - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd Strike Beginner Dudley Primer 

SF3 3S Beginner Character Guide: Dudley 

Kokujin | 3rd Strike Film Room

Yang

Intro

Being Yun’s twin brother, Yang shares a lot of his moveset with him, while maintaining his own simple but solid playstyle.

While it’s agreed that Yang isn't quite as strong as Yun (because of his lack of Genei Jin and overall worse normals), the character is still one of the best in the game, thanks to his specials and a dominating pressure game.

His normals are very good, especially cr.mk which shines in tandem with Yang’s rekka special and while he has no jab target combo like his brother, the divekicks and the rest of his kit have really good sinergy. The main protagonist is of course his rekka series, a three part slash special that can be used as damage dealer, as a poke, as a blockstring, as a juggle filler and even as a block punisher (ex). Having such a versatile and useful move at his disposal gives Yang an answer for most situations; he’s good in the neutral, good at whiff punishing, good at pressuring the opponent and good at keeping his offense going also thanks to his command dash special.

Being an all rounder with a focus on the ground game Yang is well suited for a fundamental approach at the game and while he has extra tools compared to say, Ken, another all rounder, he also is one of the few characters in the game that almost completely ignores his supers, focusing instead on using ex moves.

Playstyle

All rounder / Footsies / Rekka

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 4/5                 Super(s): 2.5/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5                

Overall:

4.25

Very strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Yang - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd Strike Beginner Yang Primer 

NicaKO Yang Playlist 

Nica K.O Training: Yang Tutorial from K.O (Japan)

Urien

Intro

Urien is another one of those characters with a busted super, but not for the reasons you might expect. Besides that, he’s a character with good and long pokes and an overall versatile kit combined with one of the highest amounts of damage from punishes.

Normals like st.mk, st.mp, st.hp, cr.mk and cr.hk are good space control tools together with cr.hp, a launcher that unlocks extreme damage for the character, making him one of the best at capitalizing from a well placed parry. His specials are also good for space control, especially since he has one of the few upwards fireballs in the game; what his specials excel as though is juggling, the character is full of juggle points and both his tackle and headbutt are insane juggle tools that cover lots of options. His N°1 trait is however his SAIII, Aegis Reflector but again, not for the reasons you might expect; what the developers thought could be a good corner pressure tool you could summon at a whim turned out to be an amazing setup for unblockables. As we already said, in this game some projectiles have to be blocked in the direction they spawn meaning Urien can easily go over it and setup unblockables. As you can imagine, the super pretty much defines urien’s playstyle; the character builds meter and as soon as he has a bar and a knockdown he summons the mirror, sets up a couple of unblockables or corner mixups and steals the round. Unfortunately this also means that the character is way harder to optimize than others, due to variable wakeup timings and sizes for setups and juggles. If you have the will though, he’s one of the most rewarding and scary characters in the game.

Playstyle

Corner pressure / Explosive / Unblockables

Ratings

Normals: 3/5                         Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 5/5                 Difficulty: 4/5                

Overall:

4.25

Very strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Urien - SuperCombo Wiki 

Urien 101 - A Guide for Beginners | 3rd Strike

Dr. SteelHammer | Leaving Mongolia (Advanced Urien Techniques) - YouTube 

Dr. SteelHammer | X MINUTE MURDER - YouTube 

The "How to Play Urien Like a Mongolian" Guide.pdf 

Ryu

Intro

Ryu in Third Strike is unfortunately relegated to being a “worse” version of ken if you evaluate the character using more standard concepts, but he actually has something very peculiar and strong in this game; he’s a stun monster.

On the normals side he’s very similar to Ken with some small differences, like shorter/safer/faster normals (his cr.mk is for example slower and slightly shorter than ken’s but also safer) and of course the lack of a 3f long range super means no links in the neutral.

If we talk about specials though, he’s very well balanced compared to his blonde rival; while Ken has terrible (tatsus) and incredible (shoryus) specials, Ryu is much less extreme. His tatsus are actually good combo tools and do a good amount of damage and stun, his hadokens are safer (ex is neutral on block) and the shoryus are not as invincible or as juggle friendly as Ken but they’re still good. He also has donkey kick, a unique special move with incredible combo utility.
What really sets Ryu apart from the “worse than Ken” shtick is his SAIII, Denjin Hadouken. It’s a setup/trap based super that’s unblockable and deals insane amounts of stun, making Ryu a character capable of stunning the opponent in one combo + one setup and stealing rounds like candy.

Overall the character is a strong all rounder with few weaknesses and a robbery super, and while not being the hitconfirm or punish monster that Ken is, Ryu is definitely competitive and fun to use.

Playstyle

All rounder / Stun pressure / Setups

Ratings

Normals: 3/5                         Specials: 4/5                 Super(s): 4/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5                

Overall:

4

Strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Ryu - SuperCombo Wiki 

SF3 Bread and Butter Combo Guide and General Notes - Ryu

Vanao | 3rd Strike Film Room

Akuma

Intro

Akuma could be defined as the “setup shoto” and has a very unique approach to the archetype; while the character is often described as a “glass cannon” his main feature in this game is definitely the sheer amount of utility, space control and setups he has.

Normal-wise, he is of course very similar to Ryu and Ken, so good cr.mk, good light confirms and overall good pokes; like Ryu, he has some differences in startup/safety but the main ones are cl.mk, which can be linked into super and the f.mp overhead, which thanks to a developer oversight is throw invincible during startup.

The specials are very interesting though; by taking a closer look you immediately notice that Akuma has no ex moves at all and that’s because his specials are already as strong as ex specials; all of his dps have invincibility (heavy having the most, as it is fully invincible), his fireball is quick and complemented by a fantastic air version useful for meaty setups and pressure and his tatsus either lead to damaging juggles or are extremely hard to punish on block. He’s also one of the few characters with “secret” supers, namely Raging Demon and KKZ.

What makes Akuma unique though is the huge amount of setups he has. Cross unders, left right mixups, air resets, demon flip mixups, you name it, Akuma has it. The character has very good mobility and movement options that work very well with his knockdowns making him a slippery, setup based monster that also excels at space control and zoning.

And while on paper the character is very strong and technical, he’s held back by a big intended weakness; his defense. Akuma’s defense is the lowest in the game, meaning that he takes the most damage out of every character when being hit; just to give an estimate, he takes around 30% more damage than Hugo, the character with the highest base defense.

Playstyle

Zoning / Mobility / Setups

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 5/5                 Super(s): 4/5                 Difficulty: 3.5/5                

Overall:

4

Strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Akuma - SuperCombo Wiki 

Nica K.O Training: Akuma/Gouki coverage 

Ambiguous crossup writeup for Gouki 

Match | 3rd Strike Film Room

Oro

Intro

Oro is one of the most unique characters in the game and the only one with a double jump.

Gameplay-wise, he could be considered a hit and run poke/space control character with meta defining supers that can change the tide of a match in seconds.

Aside from his unique movement options, Oro has nice mid range pokes and overall good normals, like st.hk and st.mk but also the launching st.mp; though most of his pokes are high parries, they do dish out a considerable amount of stun.

His specials are also very unique, ranging from a classic sonic boom/flash kick combo with a unique twist (ex fireball tracks the opponent cough cough) to a blockable (??) command grab to beat wake up parries to a wonky air approach tool with the stomps.

If you’re playing Oro though, it’s for his supers. The character has two of the best supers in the game; SAII is a slow moving and durable fireball that sets up SELF SUSTAINING (you gain meter while doing them) unblockables vs 90% of the cast while SAIII is a nuke super that can obliterate the opponent’s life bar in just a combo and a reset.

Honestly though, except for his supers the character is pretty flawed; he’s the only character without a throw that doesn’t switch sides, he has some really bad matchups and is very hard to optimize, especially in regards to using his supers. But what supers man, just by existing they propell the character up in the tier lists and completely change his potential.
If you like unique characters with busted ass supers you’re definitely gonna love Oro.

Playstyle

Space control / Setups / Mobility

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 2.5/5                 Super(s): 4.5/5                 Difficulty: 3.5/5                

Overall:

3.75

Strong

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Oro - SuperCombo Wiki 

SFIII: Third Strike - Oro "Man of Gold" Tutorial

A 3rd Strike Guide: Oro

ORO SA2 Setups

Ibuki

Intro

Ibuki is a fast moving mixup character, probably the "purest" tricky character of the game; she focuses on confusing her opponent with dash throughs, air resets, crossups and blockstrings. She’s also very nimble (you’ll notice from her dashes) and fragile to match; she’s however one of those characters you just can’t summarize in a short introduction like this, so you’ll have to go and discover most of the character in practice mode.

As you’ll learn by playing her, she specializes in target combos and has many of them, but her normals overall are made to pressure. Her st.lp has especially short pushback and insane framedata, but normals like b.mp, st.mk, f.hk and sweep target combos will be good starting points. Her confusing gameplan translates very well to her specials, featuring jumping overheads, multi hitting strings and command dashes to include in her air resets. Highlights of her kit are the split kicks, one of the main tools for combos, and of course the air kunai, capable of changing her jump arc and controlling the air.

What keeps her from having total control of the round though is her super game, which is honestly pretty weak. Ibuki is very meter hungry, and SAIII is extremely good but having that limited amount of meter makes SAI a more viable option, able to stock all the meter she needs. She is one of the few characters in the game that doesn’t really rely on her supers that much, especially compared to the others.

Apart from that though, she’s a menace; an unfamiliar opponent won’t know what hit him and that’s what she wants. Being able to confuse, reset and mix your opponent like a ninja in the dark will be your key to victory.

Playstyle

Mixups / Setups / Pressure

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 2.5/5                 Difficulty: 3/5                

Overall:

3.25

Average

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Ibuki - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd Strike Beginner Ibuki Primer LIVE

Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Ibuki Guide

Higa | 3rd Strike Film Room

Necro

Intro

Aaah, Necro; this character oozes personality from everywhere, including his game design. He might seem like a weird Blanka/Dhalsim mix on the surface, but he’s not.

Of course the big thing you notice first is the long normals and floaty jump but there’s a catch; by inputting back + the normal you’ll get a quick short version of the same normal, giving Necro basically two different sets of buttons and honestly, too many to mention here. Some highlights include cr.lp and cr.lk, st.mp, b.mp and cr.mk, but you’ll need to explore.

By looking at his specials you start to notice a trend in playstyle, more focused on mixups and pressure; he has plenty of overhead specials, plus on block specials, very combo friendly specials, repositioning specials, way too much to mention even here. If I had to (wrongly) summarize the character in three moves I’d say throw, drills, and spinning hook.

His mainly used super today is SAIII, which perfectly complements his strategy revolving around him being one of the few characters in the game to get a juggle off of a corner throw; the character shines when cornering opponents and pestering them with a barrage of throws, resets and mixups resulting in the inevitable stun (in which SAIII greatly helps). Necro is also one of the best characters in the game at capitalizing off stunned opponents, with highly optimized stun juggles to extract every single drop of damage from the victims.

Unfortunately, Necro is another one of those characters you really have to watch with your own eyes to understand how he plays and works, but trust me; he’s one of the most interesting and weirdest characters in the game. If you like un-orthodox, you’ll love him.

Playstyle

Corner pressure / Stun pressure / Long range

Ratings

Normals: 3.5/5                         Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 3/5                 Difficulty: 3.5/5                

Overall:

3.25

Average

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Necro - SuperCombo Wiki 

The Necro Tutorial - Street Fighter III 3rd strike | [Third Strike Necro Guide]

3rd Strike Beginner Necro Primer

The Necro Stun Juggle Video - Street Fighter III 3rd Strike

Elena

Intro

Elena is an annoyingly fun mix between a solid ground game character and an explosive juggle aficionado. Her huge bag of normals and specials all have a specific use, but she’s not overall as dominant as a similar Chun Li. She’s way more interesting though.

Being a Capoeira fighter all of her normals are kicks, and while not as oppressive as someone else’s normals (cough cough), moves like cr.mp and b.hk tend to be most used in the neutral, either as a counterpoke into damage (cr.mp) or as an airborne meaty (b.hk); other notable normals are st.mp, her two different overheads and her huge karathrow.

She also has a lot of special moves, and though they can all be pretty uniquely useful in specific situations, you’re generally gonna use the dps and the scythes for juggles and mallet smash and rhino horn as unorthodox surprise tools. You’re free to explore based on your experience though, Elena is a character full of things to learn. Keep in mind though, she’s generally meter hungry, so picking the right super for your playstyle is going to be also very important.

Luckily though, her supers are overall well balanced to suit 3 different playstyles (aggressive, space control, defensive) and the character is very well placed to be an interesting jack of all trades with emphasis on juggles so if you want to use a solid character but need a little spice in your Third Strike life she’ll definitely fit right into your needs.

Highly recommended especially if you’re struggling with the boring top tier lady.

Playstyle

All rounder / Poking / Juggle oriented

Ratings

Normals: 3/5             Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 3/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5

Overall:

3.25

Average

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Elena - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd Strike Beginner Elena Primer

Kuroda Elena DVD

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike | Elena Combos

Hugo

Intro

Hugo looks on the surface just like your typicall slow moving dumb grappler, but he has much more to offer. The man has fineSSe.

Of course, being a more traditional grappler, his strong points tend to gravitate towards grab mixups, but don’t let that fool you, we’ll see in a bit. His normals are overall good, st.mp is quick and goes far, cr.mk is a way safer sweep than normal and his crouching jabs and cr.lk offer quick and cancellable pokes. St.hp is a nice overhead, but please avoid all other heavies. The character shines in his special moves however; SPD is just your typical 360 command grab but then you explore and see much more. Hugo has the claps, huge plus on block specials to instill fear in your opponents, back breaker (an anti-air grab), ultra throw (a launching command grab), meatsquasher (a running command grab) and monster lariat (a horizontal moving special used in combos). And they’re all very varied, especially for a grappler kit, letting you play around your offense the way YOU want. His supers are also good;  SAI is probably the best and hardest to use nuke super in the game (also one of the few 1f supers btw) and SAIII is your vanilla quick super for combo conversions.

Strangely enough for the “big dumb grappler” of the game, Hugo offers a variety of playstyles capable of enabling player identity to a level you rarely see in grapplers, so if you like the old archetype but with a twist of free flow pressure, give Hugo a spin, and also learn to parry, he really needs it.

Playstyle

Grappler / Pressure

Ratings

Normals: 3/5                         Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 3/5                 Difficulty: 3/5                

Overall:

3

A little weak

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Hugo - SuperCombo Wiki 

3rd STRIKE Hugo - The Backbreaker | Street Fighter Third Strike Guide

3rd Strike Beginner Hugo Primer

Y.S.B | 3rd Strike Film Room

Q

Intro

Q is a very fascinating character and could be defined as a moving wall of nothing, I highly recommend watching Kuroda play with him. He’s, though, far away from the third strike meta and plays along his unique gameplan, which is a hybrid between a zoner and a grappler.

His pokes are mediocre at best (st.mk and cr.mk being the only decent ones), he has basically no combos from lows or lights, most of the times his only decent punish is throw, almost any move he has is negative even on hit and his specials are decent (especially the dash punches) but death if they’re parried.

What he has on his side however is a super slow but very damaging and long command grab, good antiairs, a taunt that raises his defense and the longest kara throw in the game. He also has 2 good supers and very good jumping buttons. The taunt in particular is the cornerstone of the character; stacking up to three times, a single taunt increases Q’s defense by 12.5%, meaning that a three taunt Q is around 40% harder to bring down and has almost double the defense stat of Akuma.

You can kinda guess his playstyle around his traits; he’s a slow moving wall that has to base his gameplan around defensive parrying and throwing, trying to setup taunts and the command grab when possible to cash out the damage. While generally being discarded as a low tier, the character has his own niche playstyle and can be a lot of fun if you’re into what he brings to the table.

Playstyle

Defensive / Pseudo-grappler

Ratings

Normals: 1.5/5                         Specials: 3/5                 Super(s): 3/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5                

Overall:

2.5

Mediocre

Resources

Neonetik's Q stuff 

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Q - SuperCombo Wiki 

Smooth Qriminal  - Q guide

Q - Clawstrophobia

TM | 3rd Strike Film Room

Alex

Intro

Alex is a different kind of grappler, one that is not only focused on getting in and has no problem moving around the screen and providing a high stun output through pressure.

His normals, while not amazing, have a couple of stand outs; st.hp is a relatively quick overhead that deals absurd amounts of stun, f.mp is a quick poke and b.hp is a good parry bait that also stuns like crazy. His specials on the other hand, are all mostly focused on mobility; both elbow and the stomp let Alex move around the screen and punish over committal whiffs or approaches. Flash chop and powerbomb are instead used for combos and command grab pressure.

While his normals and specials are not awesome, what really brings the character down is his supers; the only usable one is SAII and even that has problems. The super is actually very fast but has a bad habit of falling off long range combos, making it risky at times. It’s not thrash though, and gives Alex plenty of meter to use.

The character is a fun mix of mobility options and big hits, together with a command grab, and while the base idea seems fun and interesting, the character feels sometimes incomplete. He has no threats from lows, his combo potential is very limited, he’s a big target and his supers are underwhelming. When you get your game on though, man, there’s a reason Alex mains in SF5 are known for their twitter clips, and it’s the same here.

Playstyle

Mobile grappler / Stun focused / Brawler

Ratings

Normals: 2.5/5                         Specials: 2.5/5                 Super(s): 2/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5                

Overall:

2.25

Kinda bad

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Alex - SuperCombo Wiki 

SF3 Bread and Butter Combo Guide and General Notes - Alex

5G Alex Tech - Information for the New Generation | Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Addendum #1 - 5G Alex Tech | Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike

Remy

Intro

Remy is referred to as one of the worst characters in the game, but not often for the correct reasons. He’s a charge zoner, much like Guile, but offers his own spin to it.

His normals though, unlike Guile, don't move him around the screen that much, and are probably the least decent part of the character. Moves like cr.hp and st.hp are nice, same with cl.mp and cl.mk, but overall his normals have either bad hitboxes or bad framedata.

His specials though, those are actually nice; he has two charge projectiles much in line with Sagat, but those two can coexist on the screen together, meaning that thanks to charge buffering Remy can actually create a barrage of projectiles to dominate the neutral and dash up sonic boom is actually a viable offensive strategy; Cold Blue Kick is his own version of Tiger Knee mixed with a divekick, very useful to go over pokes and move around the screen while spacing it to be safer on block. He also has a flash kick, but that’s pretty standard. His supers are nice (except for SAIII) and can be used for either zoning pressure (SAI) or damage and hit confirmability (SAII).

The character however still struggles, and that’s not because opponents can parry his offense but because he cannot do the same to them; being a charge character means that after a parry Remy loses all charge and basically any kind of combo retaliation with a special move. That, coupled with low stun and his meh normals kinda tanks the character; but if you manage to turn him around and use him as a corner pressure machine with perfect cold blue kick spacing, charge management and you can implement his very strong kara throw, well, you might just be what he needs to shine.

Playstyle

Zoner / Corner pressure

Ratings

Normals: 2/5                         Specials: 2.5/5                 Super(s): 2.5/5                 Difficulty: 3/5                

Overall:

2

Kinda bad

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Remy - SuperCombo Wiki  

Remy Starter Guide - PART 1: 'Strengths & Weaknesses' | 3rd Strike Guide

SFIII: 3rd Strike - Remy Advanced Tutorial

Lucifer aka Pierrot | 3rd Strike Film Room

Twelve

Intro

Twelve was obviously inspired from the Darkstalkers series since he has an air dash,  weird animations and even an invisibility taunt. All very unique aspects in a Street Fighter game.

His normals are decent; moves like st.mp and st.lp are decent pokes but he especially dominates the air game with huge buttons like j.hp and j.hk that cover a large horizontal or vertical range. His specials are very good at annoying opponents, N.D.L. is a good long range poke (especially the ex version) and A.X.E. and D.R.G. can be troublesome to deal with. If you look at the character without having lifebars on screen you might not necessarily notice what makes twelve bad; his normals are generally long and his specials seem annoying to deal with, right?. And then you notice, everything he does inflicts no damage, the character does what feels like 40% less than he should be doing, probably on purpose since the developers were afraid that his kit could be a problem. He also has basically no combos, no useful cancels and for some reason his only light chain is a 2 frame link.

Of course his supers are all gimmicky except for SAI, which is the only decent one in a competitive setting. The character is basically a huge bag of tricks and gimmicks but unlike good gimmicky characters he does no damage at all and more than that, he has lower defense than most characters, so he even gets killed easier than most, meaning he generally has to hit opponents 5 or 6 times more than they hit him.

The character is weird, fun and flies around, sure, but that’s unfortunately not enough to compensate for all of his shortcomings. If you like to be annoying though, give him a chance.

Playstyle

Air mobility / Gimmicks / Tricky

Ratings

Normals: 2.5/5                         Specials: 1.5/5                 Super(s): 2/5                 Difficulty: 3/5                

Overall:

1.5

Incredibad

Resources

Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike/Twelve - SuperCombo Wiki 

SFIII: 3rd Strike - 'Thong of Rage' A Twelve Tutorial

Bad Balance: SF3 Twelve

Hugo-Kun (Twelve) Beasting

3rd Strike Twelve Bnb Combos

Sean

Intro

Sean sits in a very weird place in Third Strike since he was, by developer admission, designed to be a worse version of Ryu and Ken to pick when playing with friends to try and even up the chances. He’s very interesting design-wise though, being a sort of “new age” shoto without a fireball and a passion for basketball.

His normals are very similar to the standard shoto normals but generally worse in every way, being frame data, range, or speed. St.hp and f.hk might seem cool, until you realize they’re punishable even on hit sometimes, so just stick to the classic shoto normals (and his cl.hk, probably the only stand out normal in his kit). His specials are unfortunately even worse; his dps have no range, his tatsus are punishable even on hit, the roll and slide (which can be used to confuse and open up an opponent) are very risky and the overhead kick is parry reactable. A highlight of his kit, however, is his taunt, a basketball you can setup (and also fake), which can definitely throw out less savvy opponents out of their rhythm.

His supers are also strangely well thought out and balanced; SAI is a weaker ryu SAI that you pick for meter, SAII is the juggle/fast super and SAIII is the classic nuke 1 bar super that melts lifebars.

Overall the character is bad, and while some would say he’s arguably NOT the worst character in the game, the fact that Ken is just a better Sean makes him competitively redundant. He’s very fun to learn though, and fulfills his role of a handicap very well.

Playstyle

Tricky rushdown / Gimmicks / Handicap

Ratings

Normals: 2/5                         Specials: 1/5                 Super(s): 2.5/5                 Difficulty: 2.5/5                

Overall:

1.5

Competitively redundant

Resources

https://wiki.supercombo.gg/w/Street_Fighter_3:_3rd_Strike/Sean 

3rd STRIKE Sean - Master of Balls  | Third Strike Guide

3rd Strike Beginner Sean Primer

Advanced techniques

Pianoing

When inputting special or super moves the game accepts all buttons and negative edge releases. Pianoing is a technique to ease input leniency by quickly pressing and releasing all three strength buttons in quick succession and is mainly used to link supers after normals.

By quickly pressing all 3 punches/kicks in succession you get 3 inputs + 3 releases totalling 6 attempts at nailing the right timing for the button press.

Kara cancelling

Technique used to extend moves (usually specials, supers, throws and uoh) by canceling the first frames of whiffed normals.

The most common example you’ll see in game is kara-throwing; using the forward momentum of the first frame of a normal to increase the range of your throw. There are however many more cases of kara canceling, like ken’s kara-dps, yun’s kara palms and lunge punches, Q’s kara command grab and many more.

Just as an extra, here’s the top 10 kara-throws in the game.

Q; Chun-li; Oro; Remy; Elena; Alex; Akuma; Twelve; Hugo; Ryu

Last cancel

A mix between a technique and a mechanic; for some random reason some normal moves have normal/special-cancelable recovery frames at the end. A famous example is Alex’s st.lp, enabling the also famous Kazuya Bomb (last canceling st.lp into f.hp and then kara canceling that one into Power Bomb).

The same thing happens with Makoto’s st.lk, which can be whiff cancelled into specials during the last frames.

Charge partitioning and charge buffering

In third strike charge times are 43 frames long but unlike other fighting games the charge system is very unique; It doesn’t check if you are storing charge every frame but only once every x amount of frames (100 to be precise) .

So, technically, you can manage your charge and split it (partitioning) however you want as long as when the game checks for charge you are holding back. This creates a lot of unique approaches to the input method such as dash charging (charge, dash up, charge, release move) or any kind of charging while not holding a direction. Keep in mind that you must not charge all the way before you partition your charge or the game will start checking if you’re holding a direction; you can also split the charge how many times you want while totalling at 43 frames in the end. All charge characters benefit from charge partitioning but especially Urien for his unblockables and TTH and Remy for his dash up sonic booms.

Charge buffering on the other end is a different technique that doesn’t involve the charge process but the move release; in third strike when doing a charge move you can input first the opposite direction then the punch/kick and the game will still give you the charge move; this means that by doing opposite direction > go back to the charge direction > punch/kick you are able to optimize charging times to the max and not lose a single instant of possible charging. This technique is essential for combos like Urien’s TTH and Q’s double dash punches after command grab and also for Remy’s multiple boom pressure in neutral.

Lightning legs partitioning

Similarly to the charge timer, the game uses a similar timer for mash moves (the only one being Chun’s lightning legs); every 100 frames the game resets the mash counter to 0. To get the legs to come out you have to press a kick button 5 times in that time frame and also similarly to the charge partition technique, you can also split and distribute the inputs for the mash moves however you want in that 100 frame window.

It doesn’t matter which kick you use in between but only the last one is going to determine the strength of the special; also, the timer resets to 100 in these specific occasions:

• When it reaches 0
• When a lightning legs is performed
• When blocking
• After a super
• At the end of the round

Common setups involve mashing kicks during air resets or moves as Chun and then walking up inputting the final kick to get the move to come out.

Guard jump OS

One of the strongest option selects in the game, the Guard Jump OS allows the player to abuse the throw invincibility window on wake up to get a safe-ish defensive option against throws and meaties.

You can block for the first 6 frames of your wake up (which are throw invincible) to block any incoming meaties and then jump after the throw invincibility ends to avoid delayed grabs.

This of course loses to meaties with a lot of active frames, delayed meaties and reads but it generally helps a lot versus characters with a strong strike/throw mixup such as Makoto.

Parry buffering

If a parry is inputted just before doing a normal, this OS will parry and counter any incoming hits but also just attack if nothing happened and the opponent decided to stand still.

DED

DED is a simple technique based around the fact that moves build more meter on hit that on block; if you’re good at eyeing the amount of meter necessary to build a super bar and you are sure that only an hit (and not a block) will give you enough meter to super; you can safely buffer a super cancel and the option select will cover both a hit (super will come out)  and a block (super won’t come out).

SGGK

SGGK, or Slide Grab Gyaku-nitaku Kick (don’t ask me what that means), is a powerful OS based around a sequence of inputs that covers throws and parries incoming attacks, the input is:

either high or low parry > do a normal > kara throw the normal into a parry

What this does is if they attack, you’ll parry and then do the normal you’ve inputted but if they do nothing or throw you’ll either throw them or tech the throw; it’s a quick way to cover both strikes and throws, but the move you have to use also depends on the character.

Standing 720

Since Hugo has the longest super jump startup in the game (8 frames) you’ve got extra leniency to work on a standing 720 since the startup frames are indeed cancellable; just gotta be very fast and remember to start from the down direction.

Other ways to get a standing 720 are buffering the motion inside other actions (dashes, recoveries, whiffed grabs, jumps, etc…) or, splitting the motion into two sections (one 360 while recovering from something and the other after recovering).

Parry antiair OS

Similar to the parry buffer OS the same concept can be applied to antiairing; you can buffer a parry while doing a normal aa and if the opponent attacks while jumping you’ll parry and counter but if they end up not doing anything, the attack will still come out and hit them out of the air.

Hado walk

Starting a walk in this game triggers the forward parry window, locking you out of performing another one for a brief amount of time after the initial walk; however, if the walk gets started from a crouching position with a quarter circle movement to forward, the input will not trigger the parry window, letting the user parry instantly after the walk started.

Conclusions

The document is and always will be under work in progress, as I (and many other people) are constantly discovering new things, new glitches and new techniques. Should I add a “Glitch” section documenting all the known ones?

Also if you need to contact me or want to help compiling this doc just @me on twitter, my handle is @klaww__ or just ask for permission to add comments to the doc.

A huge thanks to everybody that helped me compile this beast of a document:

Fugo; fact checking everything and helping with very important sections of the document