Its hard to believe that its been 25 years since Street Fighter EX 3 came out on the PlayStation 2. Street Fighter EX 3 was released during the year 2000 and its a game that has a polarizing legacy. While Street Fighter EX 3 probably had the best graphics out of the spin-off trilogy between ’97-’00 it almost killed Street Fighter series in the early 2000’s. Street Fighter EX 3 ended being a massive commercial disappointment despite how much potential the game had before its release. There were many complaints about the game because it felt uninspiring and repetitive. Capcom had the chance to introduce a campaign mode to add more life and excitement to the game but chose not to. However, Capcom did everything they could to make Street Fighter EX 3 exciting in terms of gameplay. The Original Mode in Street Fighter EX 3 was kinda cool because it allowed players to recruit certain opponents after defeating them in battle for later fights.

The Original Mode felt like an improvement over the traditional Arcade Mode in previous Street Fighter games because it was something different. Street Fighter EX 3 also had Arena Mode which consisted of dramatic and tag team battles. The cool thing about Arena Mode was that it allowed up to four players for those who owned multi tap for the PS2. Street Fighter EX 3 also had a Training Mode and saw the return of some of the most iconic names within the franchise. In Street Fighter EX 3 names like Ken, Ryu, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Blanka , Sakura Kasugano and Guile returned. There were also several unlockable characters in EX3 including Sagat and M. Bision and Karai. Other names from previous EX titles like Doctrine Dark, Skullomania and Cracker Jack made a return in Street Fighter EX 3 but Akuma was omitted for some reason.

There were no new characters added to Street Fighter EX 3 which was huge letdown but there was a customizable character named “Ace”. There are many who act like Street Fighter EX 3 was one of the worst fighting games to come out of the 2000’s decade but its not even close. If anything the Street Fighter franchise was starting to decline in popularity by the late 90’s and Capcom lost its passion for the series by then. Also, Street Fighter games always seem to shine more with 2D gameplay regardless if the graphics are 3D or not. While Street Fighter EX 3 could have been been there was no way it would have been on the same level as other 3D fighting games from that era like Tekken Tag Tournament or Project Justice. It would be nice to see Capcom remaster the Street Fighter EX series but its highly unlikely to happen.