An Ode To The Beauty of Street Fighter III New Generation & 2nd Impact's Stages [IMAGE HEAVY]

[Deleted member 1102]

So I've been thinking of making this thread for a couple of days now due to the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection finally adding these games to a console other than the Dreamcast, but after Capcom put out their final retrospective video on the Street Fighter III series I decided to go through with it.

Street Fighter III: New Generation and Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact are now just over 20 years old (both games released in 1997), but the use of Capcom's CPS3 hardware resulted in one of the most beautiful and staggeringly good looking games of the 2D era, if not all time. People often talk about how Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is the pinnacle of 2D fighting games in terms of its graphics, but if you ask me that honour still goes to, and always will go to, its two predecessors. The aim of this thread is not to argue about which ___ is better than ___, it's to admire these gorgeous games and appreciate the good old days of 2D fighting games. That being said, let's start off by looking at the stages themselves. At this point I'm going to let the pictures do the talking, so sit back and enjoy some 90s fighting game goodness:

Gill's 2nd Impact Stage

Elena's 2nd Impact Stage

Ryu and Ken's New Generation Stage

Alex's New Generation Stage

Alex's 2nd Impact Stage

Yun and Yang's New Generation and 2nd Impact Stage

Hugo's 2nd Impact Stage

Ken's 2nd Impact Stage

Gill's New Generation Stage

Necro's 2nd Impact Stage

Ibuki's New Generation and 2nd Impact Stage

Urien's 2nd Impact Stage

Sean's New Generation Stage

There are even more stages from these games, but now that we've seen some of these stages from a distance, let's look at a couple of the awesome intros and transitions that some of these stages have:

Yun's intro in New Generation

Akuma's intro in 2nd Impact

Elena's stage transition in New Generation (and 2nd Impact)

Now let's look at the details in the backgrounds of some of these stages:

Some Thugs in Dudley's New Generation and 2nd Impact Stage

Some Drunkards in Hugo's 2nd Impact Stage

Some Spectators in Elena's New Generation Stage

Some Spectators in Ryu and Ken's New Generation Stage

A Pedestrian that can be sometimes seen in Alex's New Generation Stage

The Christmas lights in Sean's New Generation Stage

An confused man in Yun's New Generation Stage...

...who becomes angry and sobs when items are broken during the fight!

Some Pedestrians that cower over the might of Sean Matsuda in his 2nd Impact Stage

That's all I can find for now but if anyone has anymore examples to post from these awesome games then by all means feel free to post them! I really think New Generation and 2nd Impact deserve more love and with the 30th Anniversary Collection it has the chance to be appreciated more!

 

[rude]

Imagine if Capcom stopped trying to appeal to SF2 nostalgia and remade some of these stages

 

[No Depth]

Always loved the aesthetics of the first two games as well. Far more than 3rd Strike, though I believe that game had memory issues with all the new stuff which led to the backdrops feeling muted and a bit lacking.

Even the UI and general HUD information was fantastic.

 

[Uncle Sensei]

Man, what happened with 3rd Strike's stages

 

[lucebuce]

As much as I loathe Sean and all that he stands for, I can't help but admit that his New Generation stage is probably one of the best stages from any SF.

The sense of being in a small neighborhood in the middle of a huge city is just impeccably transmitted via that stage.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Yuri's intro _blew me away_ when I first saw it in the arcades.

I don't like some of the SFIII backgrounds due to some of the more obvious computer rendered assets and (I think) too few parallax/animations.

 

[Rhaknar]

I very much aprove of this thread.

 

[Sou Da]

Man, what happened with 3rd Strike's stages

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They're good too

 

[Jaded Alyx]

I have no reason to play either of these versions because no Chunbun, but....3rd Strike stages look like shit in comparison :/

 

[Deleted member 1102]

I might do a part 2 on how great the UI and victory screens are as well.

As much as I loathe Sean and all that he stands for

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I can't help but admit that his New Generation stage is probably one of the best stages from any SF.

The sense of being in a small neighborhood in the middle of a huge city is just impeccably transmitted via that stage.

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I agree. I feel it's about as 'fighting in the street' as Street Fighter can get.

 

[2shd]

They really do have some great stages. I think 2nd Impact has the best of the three SF3 games. It's a shame how poor the 3rd strike ones looked by comparison.

 

[Sou Da]

That moody ass theme for the rainy london stage

 

[DealWithIt]

Quality post. Thanks for this.

Some really cool designs here. This was all new to me but I enjoyed it anyway.

 

[Deleted member 34949]

2nd Impact is pretty much the peak of Street Fighter from an aesthetic standpoint, IMO. Sean and Hugo's stages are tops.

Gill's 2I stage works way better than it should, considering the juxtaposition of the CG elements against the hand drawn background sprites.

 

[giancarlo123x]

While third strike is the best package I learned with this collection the other sf3 stages are much better.

 

[asd202]

Why didn't they just put those stages in 3rd Strike?

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Why didn't they just put those stages in 3rd Strike?

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I imagine it was done to make the games stand out more from each other, just like how the Alpha games had different stages between them.

 

[CharlesAznable]

Yeah the first 2 SF3 games had amazing presentation. I remember playing it as a kid and being blown away by how cool they looked. The when I played 3rd strike I remember being shocked by how much worse it looked.

 

[Deleted member 1102]

I'll do a follow up post tomorrow of the victory screens and endings from New Gen and 2nd Impact, so keep an eye out for this thread.

 

[vatstep]

Stages in SF games used to be something I actually cared about, even if they didn't affect gameplay. But now, well, it's amazing how bland almost all of them are in SFV. I think they just look better rendered in 2D.

 

[Selerulf]

2nd Impact presentation is the best in the series IMO.
I hate 3rd Strike presentation, everything is a step back and the stages feels so dead.

I love the NG character select screen

2nd Impact victory screen are awesome.

 

[Dice]

Ken.... what on earth.

 

[RedSwirl]

Late 90's 2D fighter stages in general were dope.

 

[Mengetsu]

The scope of the stages alone are amazing. I'll always love 2nd Impact and 3rd strike as the peak of the series. From stages to music.

 

[StreamedHams]

Just witness the beauty of Second Impact in 16:9. The game is absolutely gorgeous.

 

[StreamedHams]

2nd Impact presentation is the best in the series IMO.
I hate 3rd Strike presentation, everything is a step back and the stages feels so dead.

I love the NG character select screen

2nd Impact victory screen are awesome.

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I really feel that character select music of 3rd Strike is the best of the III series.

 

[Sakujou]

not sure, but when i first saw sf3, i was not blown away. i was in the middle of being in awe by all the 3d fighting games.
tekken, vf, bloody roar, battle arena toshinden, those dragonball games, the first 3d-street fighter games...
so many shitty games or series which were drained in stupid features... i came across 3rd strike around 2004 after seeing daigos video on a videogameforum and thought: well, i didnt know 2d-fighting games can look this good, lets give it a try. and here i am: 3rd strike being the best 2d fighter ever created in terms of style, music and gameplay.

the first 2 sf3-games are soooo different. music, style and even the voice actors are different.
i never liked them, although i tried to(back then the double impact combo of sf3)

 

[Gitaroo]

Im surprised 3rd strike didn't get widescreen support.

 

[Kirblar]

I definitely prefer the NG/2I aesthetic to 3S.

 

[SaltyGeneralTso]

Yeah I absolutely hate the Third Strike stages. These are great.

 

[TheRightDeal]

Going through 2I Arcade Mode the other day in widescreen mode was something pretty special, just wonderful presentation in that game. Thanks for making this thread!

 

[mikehaggar]

Awesome thread! Have been admiring of every version of SFIII since the Anniversary Collection came out!

2nd Impact presentation is the best in the series IMO.
I hate 3rd Strike presentation, everything is a step back and the stages feels so dead.

I love the NG character select screen

2nd Impact victory screen are awesome.

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I think I agree with you on 2nd Impact's presentation. And I *love* the victory screens! These 3 games have some of the best art and animation in all of video games.

 

[Shadoken]

Stages add so much more personality to the character , one of the reasons I hate SF4 and 5 shifting to "General" stages instead of having one for each character.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

Yeah 2I has the nicest presentation of the series. 3S has the best music though.

 

[Pixel Grotto]

I have always preferred the presentation of New Generation and 2nd Impact as well. It seems to me that Third Stroke doubled down on the fighting mechanics at the expense of a lot of other things - the gameplay is undoubtedly fantastic and the game kicks ass in the music department, but man does it feel bland when it comes to stages, transitions, the LACK of those killer victory screens, etc. Capcom did the same thing with the Alpha series too IMO - Alpha 2 seems to have great presentation with stages and arcade mode art while 3 gets funkier with the music and gameplay but strips back a lot of the stages to their bare essentials and makes everyone's story end with fighting Bison, which is kinda dumb.

I remember first playing New Generation in an arcade in some amusement park when I was a scrubby 10 year old; some older guy kicked my ass and we were playing on Elena's stage. I remember when the transition hit and the bridge fell to take us to stage 2...my jaw dropped. Years later when I was older and finally had a Dreamcast, I quickly hurried to fight Elena wanting to relive that memory. Except it wasn't there and all I got was a dull grassland with animal silhouettes in the background. Ugh.

 

[Remapped88]

Definitely prefer NG and 2I stages/overall presentation in comparison to 3S and I love their use of perspective in the stages to make everything look crazier. Sad that we never got a lot of CPS3 games since 3D started taking over at that time.....:(.

 

[BrunOz]

fun facts: you can see nipples on 2nd Impact Ryu stage and also this...

 

[DrFunk]

I wish I could marry this thread. One contribution: in New Generation, Elena's stage, if you KO your opponent on the opposite side of the stage, the camera will zoom out completely before the ropes snap and the bridge falls. It's a neat detail, imo

 

[CaptainUnderpants]

fun facts: you can see nipples on 2nd Impact Ryu stage and also this...

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Dammit Oro, stop flashing yer junk.

 

[Wood Man]

The punks in Dudley's level with give you the middle finger if you fight near them. I'm trying to find a gif or pic of it.

 

[Fancolours]

Makes me wish we had a definitive SF3 release that allowed us to to choose *all* stages and choose which character version you want to play as

 

[itwasTuesday]

Would have been a perfect addition to the 30th edition. All stage select.

 

[Deleted member 42]

As much as I loathe Sean and all that he stands for

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swish

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Can't believe how much shit 3rd Strike is getting. I think 3S is one of the absolute best looking games of all time. Peak pixel art and animations, and just oozes "cool."

Don't get me wrong - other games look good. But they just lack the style of 3S.

***

That said, OP asked for something more constructive. So I'll ask this: who has some really good iPhone wallpapers that are SF related?

 

[DrFunk]

swish

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I love that this is random from the beginning of round to round

 

[Dreamboum]

2nd Impact presentation is the best in the series IMO.
I hate 3rd Strike presentation, everything is a step back and the stages feels so dead.

I love the NG character select screen

2nd Impact victory screen are awesome.

Click to shrink...

Not Elena's, lol

 

[olubode]

I really feel that character select music of 3rd Strike is the best of the III series.

Click to shrink...

I wonder if Infinite gets residuals for this...

 

[lucebuce]

swish

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 1102]

Click to shrink...

 

[Deleted member 13155]

Third Strike looks worse for sure. I do prefer the music of 3S though, and the character select screen.

But the first 2 SF3 games had more detail and atmosphere in the stages. It was already on Dreamcast that Double Impact looked decidedly better than Third Strike so doesn't come as a surprise to me.