The Underappreciated Legacy of Street Fighter III's Music

Content originally posted to Instagram in two parts on December 17, 2020.

Recently, I saw an article on the history of Street Fighter III (part of Polygon’s long-running Street Fighter history series that’ll be compiled in a book). I found it informative as a fan of SF III, but a part of me felt disappointed too. When people talk about the game’s legacy, a number of topics usually come up: its less-than-favorable debut, its re-emergence as a classic 2D fighting game, the sprinkling of oddball characters on the roster, the legendary moment at the end of DAIGO vs. JUSTIN WONG at EVO 2004. They’re all valid to discuss, but I rarely see people bring up the game’s music and the subculture it birthed.

It was around the late 2000s, just before 2010…part of my formative years. YouTube had only been established a few years before so it wasn’t what it is today (to paint the picture: it really felt like social media in that everyone could comment on each other’s channels or personalize them with custom backdrops!). It was on there that I discovered both the music of SF III and a whole community of producers and listeners built around fan-made takes on it, turning up the Drum & Bass, Jungle, Hip-Hop, Jazz, and House tones already present throughout the game’s three iterations (New Generation, 2nd Impact, 3rd Strike).

The creativity of those bedroom producers was dripping in full force, and their approach to music-making even extended to other creations, like SF III-styled remixes of songs from other Street Fighter games and wholly-original character themes. While I can’t provide a ton of deeper insight into the key figures at that time or if the Fighting Game Community was ever aware of this subculture, looking up “jazzy nyc remix” or “ibuki theme remix” on YouTube might bring up some of those old videos and give you a glimpse into history…

At the end of the day, I see Street Fighter III’s official soundtracks and the fan-made creations they inspired in perfect co-existence. A remix of the gentleman boxer Dudley’s theme with the vocals of rapper Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push” laid on top? Welcome to the world of SF III (music)…and yes, that remix exists. 

But what do I think about the actual music in the games themselves? It isn’t for everyone, but the vast majority of it is definitely my cup of tea!

When it comes to picking a personal favorite soundtrack out of Street Fighter III’s three iterations, I have to go with 3rd Strike’s (specifically the arranged version that you can hear in the game’s Dreamcast/PS2 ports). Sure, the music does lack a distinct 90s charm that’s present in New Generation and 2nd Impact’s music. But in place of that, I’ve found 3rd Strike’s music to have moments of "sleekness" and "pulsing intensity". Basically, if New Generation and 2nd Impact’s music feel like “we’re from the 90s”, 3rd Strike’s music sounds like jump-kicking through a door into the new millennium that was 2000 (the game was released in ’99).

Street Fighter III’s music and the resulting subculture were what inspired me to buy 3rd Strike as part of Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition. I admittedly never gave SF II much time of day (the included SF II animated movie was awesome though), so SF III was effectively my very first Street Fighter. Even with no one to play with or teach me, I poured myself into it (although I almost gave up). The way the music tied in with the animation, artwork, sound effects, and voice acting…it made the game such a joy aesthetically. And hearing my favorite songs in-game made the growing pains of learning how to play Street Fighter, of twiddling my thumb on a PS2 controller’s analog stick trying to pull off my first HADOUKEN!, more bearable too.

I never figured out how to do most of the “parries” in the 2nd bonus stage of the arcade mode…but I still love SF III and its music. And I hope to one day find a fighting game whose music gives me the same feeling SF III did, to the point that I can truly lose myself in its world and characters in the pursuit of improving my skills.

BONUS: Here’s an interview I discovered of Canadian rapper Infinite talking about how he ended up contributing to Street Fighter III 3rd Strike.

The interview is pretty recent, as it was posted in October of this year. It also might be one of the first times the man’s publicly talked about how it went down. Check it out — it’s a great story!

If you’ve played 3rd Strike, you know this man played a huge part in it. From his bars laced through the opening theme, character select screen, and ending theme, to his voice being the announcer with his iconic lines (“alright, that’s cool!”), the game wouldn’t be the same without Infinite. That’s a fact. I hope more people in the Fighting Game Community get put onto this interview, and thank you Infinite for helping me get into Street Fighter and hip-hop as a whole 🙏🏼 

First image is a collage of official Street Fighter III albums + albums made by artists who were inspired by the game’s sound. Second image features Infinite alongside Capcom staff at a recording studio, and was taken from shmuplations.com (there are high-quality translations of various Japanese game dev interviews there. It's worth a visit!)