Category: Wrestling Musings

All posts related to pro rasslin’ that isn’t covering specific shows or events.

Revisiting THREE: A New Generation of Street Fighters

I remember going to the local arcade by the shopping mall, looking to see if there was anybody occupying the popular fighters during the day. And there it sat: THREE.

Why they went with THREE on the arcade banner and not Street Fighter III baffled me at the time, but looking back, I realized that the banner was a joke that Capcom went along with.

For years, people have been clamoring for a Street Fighter III and for years, we got anything and everything BUT that elusive game. In that time, there have been many countless jokes made about Capcom being unable to count to three when it comes to its Street Fighter games. The funny thing is that nobody at Capcom had a problem counting up to and beyond 3 when it comes to its Mega Man series. Maybe the problem is with Capcom’s arcade side of things, as now we seem to have a problem counting to 4.

Or maybe this is the last Street Fighter game for a good while… not counting the updates, of course.

I remember popping in a token into the machine, which had seen only a couple people play at most. I’d pick Ryu and then was astounded by the option to choose one of three Super Arts. Prior Street Fighter games and spin-offs gave fighters more than one super that were available at all times, so to restrict players to one out of three seemed like a step backwards, but then again, this was a “new” take on the property.

Other than Ryu and Ken, you have a cast of eight new characters. In a way, I was annoyed because that meant you had no old favorites to fall back on other than Ryu or Ken… but in a way, it actually makes sense. Street Fighter II had only three fighters making a return from Street Fighter I and this third game is supposed to denote a new generation. Shouldn’t there be more new faces to introduce to the pack?

So I play this new game and in a way, it’s familiar territory almost back to basics. Moves works as well as they did in past games, air blocking is gone, air hurricane kick is gone, only one level of super energy, and… wait a minute, why does that girl have three levels of energy and a much smaller meter? What’s going on here? Hold on, they’ve got a meter that shows me how many hits it takes to stun someone? Why would… HOLY SHIT! DID THAT SUPER SHORYUKEN JUST EAT UP HALF THAT GUY’S HEALTH?! WHAT THE FUCK?!

Street Fighter III was the same old Street Fighter game with a new cast of characters, a somewhat more fluid artstyle that was rougher looking and carried more grit than the anime-esque Alpha visuals,  and a new parrying mechanic that takes a while to master, but changes the dynamics of the game greatly. And I’ll be honest; I enjoyed the game quite a bit. It was nice to see a different looking Street Fighter game that didn’t just recycle the same Alpha sprites over again and there was a vibe to this one that I kinda dug.

The typical single-player experience gave you six random opponents for you to conquer before facing off against the final boss, Gill; a tall dude with blue and red skin wearing nothing but a loin cloth. This fucker was tough; his moves hit fast and hard, his reaction times were quick, and if he had a full super meter after getting KO’ed, he’d spring right back to life.  Clearly, this guy was an asshole that was hard as nails… but eventually, he was conquered and a high score was achieved… back when we cared for such things.

And then a year or so later, that SF3 machine was replaced with something else. I don’t remember what, but the game didn’t last long. I never did get to play the 2nd Impact upgrade in arcades, but I did play the Third Strike iteration during my wilderness years. A drastically different experience that no doubt felt like a considerable upgrade… but I’ve always had a fondness for the OG Street Fighter III. It might not have gotten the warmest reception at first glance, but I was just thrilled to get a different Street Fighter that actually felt somewhat different.

The Three Fails Of Foley

On February 2, the man of many faces wrestled the last match of his career… or so we thought.

It was a failing effort.

And then a couple weeks later, it was announced that what was supposed to be a triple threat match for the title would now be a four-corners elimination match between champion HHH, Big Show, Rock, and the returning Mick Foley

Yep, that’s right. Mrs. Foley’s baby boy was coming out of his barely month long retirement and is finally getting his Wrestlemania main event… and I honestly could not care less.

Don’t misunderstand me; I tip my hat off to the Foley; he was one of the craziest – maybe even wreckless – wrestlers that I’ve seen in my short time following this show. The risks he takes to give audiences a good show and the costs he pays to maintain that level of believability and commitment is something that I don’t believe anyone would go far to take. What he brings to the table is something that can’t be contained with a sock puppet. And when he won his first World title, I don’t think I’m alone in saying that he deserved… no, scratch that. He earned the right to be on top of the mountain, even for the briefest periods.

Whether it’d be the sadistic hardcore legend or the funny man with the sock, whether it’d be laying it all on the canvas or in the written word, I tip my hat to Foley and all he has given.

But with that out of the way, was I really looking forward to his coming out of retirement to do this one Wrestlemania main event?

His last two matches were where he had awesome main event battles with champion HHH, both of which he had lost. His last PPV match, taking place weeks ago within the Hell In A Cell, was perhaps the best note he could end a career on. His last chance, his final bow, his going down fighting and in a blaze of glory. All capped with a standing ovation from an audience who not only admired this man, but respected him for his accomplishments and his sacrifices.

Is it really worth killing that moment for a one-off Wrestlemania main event for Foley? A main event that he will no doubt lose yet again?

The more I think about it, the more it makes my head hurt… because at some point, it dawned on me that this match isn’t about the four guys in the ring. It’s about the people outside. It’s about the stupid McMahon.

What was that tagline again? “A McMahon In Every Corner?”

Why would I care about that? Why can’t I just have a regular one-on-one match between Rock and HHH for the title and be done with it? Why do we need Big Show in there? Why do we need Foley in there? What’s the point of all this?

So here we are. A few days away from 2000 and a four-way that I should be excited about, but not really. All of a sudden, this feels like it’s going to suck hard. And that’s not a good feeling.

An Honest To God Reaction To Russo Nitro

So I got to bare witness to Vince Russo’s bold new vision for WCW… and it struck me as oddly familiar.

For those who don’t know, Vince Russo was the former head writer of WWF television. He also wrote some stuff in the WWF Magazines and his articles had the odd habit of GOING BONKO WONKO WITH THE CAPS whenever he FELT LIKE IT!

COME on, BRO!

Anyway, news broke that Vince Russo left WWF and decided to make the jump to WCW. When I first heard this, I already had an idea on what to expect, which was basically to turn WCW into a pale imitation of the WWF Attitude. Now let’s be fair. If you’re going to rip off Attitude, who better than the man who helped to create Attitude?

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a stalwart WWF fan and could care less about Wheel Chair Wrestling with its old guys as main event guys. That has been the big divide between the two companies. WWF had guys like Austin, Rock, HHH, and others banging out hot main events while WCW continues to shove old man Hogan and pals into the World title picture whether we’d want it or not. So a guy like Russo going into WCW, promising to focus on the younger stock is something I was looking forward to. Finally, less old guys and more focus on younger guys… finally, someone like Benoit will get a chance to shine.

Both Russo and the other guy started earlier this month. I sampled one of their shows and a lot of it is stuff that I’ve seen before when it was WWF, but with less known stars and… honestly, I think this shit is even worse than before.