let's try something new for this review. i've been doing a lot of games lately, and i wanna try out a different, more focused examiniation this time. so let's take a very close look at an environment! i think that the locales of a game are often overlooked, and should be appreciated more. so let's start off strong with one of the most visually stunning games of all time, Street Fighter III. (specifically its third version, 3rd Strike.) now, there were a lot of locations for me to choose from here. 3rd Strike has so many iconic and beautiful stages, but i think my favorite has to go to Yun & Yang's stage, the Crowded Street.

now, there's actually two different variations of this location, depending on who you're playing as. if you choose Yang, you'll go to the rainy version seen above. if you choose Yun, however, you'll go to this yellow, non-rainy variant instead. i think both of these are great, no doubt, but if i had to choose one i'd say my favorite is the non-rainy version. i dunno, i think i just like the yellow a little more, it feels more evocative of a nighttime city to me. now if you take a close look at the ground, you'll see we're not actually standing on the street itself. instead, our fighters are on top of what appears to be either a stage or some sort of building, and this is further reinforced by the circular figures in the background, which are most likely supposed to be the heads of onlooking passerbys. i think the idea of fighting in front of a huge crowd like this makes for a sick backdrop for a game like Street Fighter, and especially 3rd Strike. the game was made near the end of Capcom's run making sprite-based arcade games and was the last mainline Street Fighter before they moves to fully 3D environments. and you can really tell they had mastered the craft by this point, because every single animation in this game is absolutely gorgeous. not only that, but for certain things. they actually took the Donkey Kong Country route and digitized images of 3D models, and it makes for a super cool effect. sure, plenty of other games have done this, but in 3rd Strike's case it could display way more frames of animation, and it sells the effect a lot better because of that. Crowded Street utilizes this technique heavily for the parts that are further in the background, and it looks gorgeous. it almost reminds me of Myst's more industrial, mechanical areas, (which is a game i'm absolutely gonna talk about the locales of at some point) while also utilizing hand-drawn spritework for certain things such as the ground.

but the visuals aren't everything. we may be talking about a location, but there's more factors at play here than just them grafix.

and like... dude, this track perfectly encapsulates the entire vibe of this stage. in the first round it sounds shady, has this sense of tension and danger, which not only fits for the ensuing ruckus that's about to be caused, but also fits gameplay wise, since you're most likely trying to figure out your opponent's playstyle and find an opening. then, the percussion kicks in for the second round, and this is where it gets going. you've seen how your opponent plays, and the game is on. finally, in the third round, the two parts of the song mix together in the culmination of everything the round has lead up to, and both you and your foe are fighting for your life. tension is at an alltime high, and you both know it's winner takes all. 3rd Strike's soundtrack does this all the time, but i think this is by far my favorite implementation of it. Crowded Street rocks, and it's definitely my favorite stage in the game.