Street Fighter EX3 Notes
Original Mode is a dynamic Arcade Mode. It changes depending on the choices you make before and after battles, mainly whether or not you choose to add a partner to your entourage. There are also medals to collect by completing missions which is one of the ways you can unlock the secrets of the game. There are missions for whether or not you have a partner on the stage you’re currently on and what difficulty you select. Bronze & Silver Medal Missions can only be attempted on Normal and Gold & Platinum on Hard.
Collecting all the Bronze Medals unlocks Sakura as the Announcer. The Silver Medals unlock the hidden boss Bison 2 as a playable character only in Original Mode. The Gold Medals unlock the returning Evil Ryu from EX+α in all modes. Bison 2 & Evil Ryu can be selected by highlighting either Bison or Ryu and holding Select while choosing them. And the Platinum Medals unlock the VS Bison 2 & Shin Bison modes in Arena Mode.
Each of these unlocks can also be unlocked by beating Original Mode 8 times with Sakura, Bison & Ryu. Beating Bison 2 or Shin Bison 4 times in Original Mode unlocks that mode in Arena Mode.
You also unlock 8 of the 10 hidden characters in this mode. They’re unlocked in this order, Sagat, Bison, Garuda, Shadow Geist, Kairi, Pullum Purna, Area, Darun Mister & Vulcano Rosso. You get a character per completion continues or not.
And as usual there are hidden bosses in Original Mode. Hokuto & Nanase can fight Kairi at Stage 5. Skullomania & Sharon can fight Shadow Geist at Stage 5. Ken, Sakura, Sagat, Bison or Bison 2 can fight Evil Ryu on Stage 5. Bison 2 is the hidden final boss of Normal Difficulty and Shin Bison for Hard Difficulty.
There are also special endings as well depending on the character you select and who ends up in your party once the game ends.
Arena Mode is this game’s VS mode. There are a lot of options including Dramatic Battle from the Street Fighter Alpha series and Multi Play mode for up to 4 human players with an alternate version of Dramatic Battle that function like X Tekken’s Scramble Mode or Melty Blood’s Team Battle Mode.
Character Edit Mode is this game’s Trial Mode with a twist and stars the only new character in the game Ace. Because Ace is the final version of the Cycloid project he can adapt and learn new moves instead of being programmed with them. Ace starts out with a throw, 2 command normals and his Surprise Blow attack. You earn EXP Points by completing missions in which in turn give you the opportunity to buy moves for Ace. You can then take Ace into Original Mode and power up those moves by simply performing them. You can whiff moves to power them up with the exception being throws which have to connect. This is in turn the key to completing some of the Hard & Maniac trials.
Just for the record it takes 170 uses of a Super Move, 57 uses of a Super Combo & 29 uses of a Meteor Combo in Original Mode to power it up to a 3 Star Move. You’ll hear Ace say something when a move has been powered up a level.
Gameplay Changes
Throws are now done with LP+LK similar to 3rd Strike.
The Guard Blow has been renamed to the Surprise Blow (MP + MK) and with it an alteration to the mechanic itself. The Surprise Blow is now a move that can be done at anytime for no use of meter. It does lose the Guard Break & Cancel Effects effect it once had with the exception of most normal and command normals. It still does cause a stagger state if hitting a crouching opponent when used as an overhead.
The 1st new mechanic the game introduces is the Momentary Combo. Momentary Combos allow you to cancel Special Moves into each other for no extra cost. The timing on them is very strict but learning your character’s options when it comes to this mechanic is very important. Once you start to use them you’ll start to gain the feel of when you can use one. The timing for going from one move from the next is usually the instant when the move hits (on hit or block). A great way to practice the timing is to go to Training Mode and concentrate on the hit counter. And press the button in question as soon as the hit number changes. You can also use a Surprise Blow in place of an actual attack. Not usually the best option unless the recovery of the Surprise Blow is safer than the move actually hitting. Because of how Surprise Blows work you can’t cause a stagger using it as an overhead in any case. Moves on hit canceled into a Surprise Blow won’t stagger and you can’t cause stagger on a blocking opponent.
The 2nd new mechanic is the Change (HP + HK). The Change allows you to switch to your partner if they’re available. You’ll know this if it says STAND BY right next to the Super Combo Gauge.
Most moves outside of Supers & Meteors can be canceled into a Change. When a Change Cancel happens it eliminates any recovery time on the move whether on hit or block. This is the key for not only continuing offensive pressure but a safe way to get your partner into the battle for defensive purposes as well. Most moves are lenient on when they can be used in a Change Cancel but some do require some strict timing however.
Meter Management regardless of the change in battle format is still the key because of the additional ways meter can be used.
Along with Super & Meteors there are 3 new additional ways to use your Super Combo Gauge with the Change mechanic.
1st is the Meteor Tag Combo (Varying commands that depend on the character in question). This is a special combination move only certain teams in the correct order can perform. Those teams are Pullum Purna (L) + Darun Mister, Bison (L) + Vega, Hokuto (Trance + L) & Kairi, Cracker Jack (L) + Vulcano Rosso, Zangief + Darun (Either as L), Ken (L) or Sakura (L) + Ryu, Nanase (L) + Hokuto (Normal), Guile (L) + Chun-Li & Blanka (L) + Dhalsim.
MTC’s cost 3 SCG’s of the (L) & STAND BY has to be active in order to attempt it. The thing with MTC’s are the question of using them and in most cases using your tag opportunity in collusion with the 3 SCG’s is worthwhile because the MTC is usually a bit more powerful than just a normal Meteor Combo.
The 2nd is the Critical Parade (QCF + HP + HK). It functions very similar to the Duo Team Attack in Marvel vs. Capcom 1. For 4 meters (2 for each character) the lead character will start it with a predetermined Super Move and until the meter runs out you have use of any L1 Super Combo in your arsenal. The Critical Parade can be Super Canceled into by any other super that isn’t the one that starts the Critical Parade.
There’s a loophole to technically do a Super Cancel from a predetermined move. The character in question has to have a super move that is done with (QCF, QCF + P/K). You would then do the cancel as (QCF, QCF + P + K) and if done correctly the character will start a Super Combo and go right into the Critical Parade. Note: It doesn’t matter if the motion is done in the air. The cancel will still happen the moment the character touches the ground again. YMMV on how characters who can do this can take advantage of this extra mechanic.
The 3rd is actually a take on KoF’s Advantage System or more closely related to the Rage of the Dragons Surrender mechanic is Emotional Flow. When your partner dies in a Tag Battle is that their super meter gets added to yours which gives you 6 Super Combo Gauges to use to do things you couldn’t do normally like Super Cancel 5 additional times or Super Cancel into a Meteor.
The issue with having that power is that in the grand scheme of things because of how damage scaling in the case with Super Combos and how Meteor Combos drop drastically in damage when comboed into in any situation makes it in most cases not worth it unless you’re going for a stylish finish.
Story Related Items & Fun Facts
There isn’t an honest way to tell whether or not this game is actually canon to the EX series.
It does acknowledge Hayate’s death by not including him in the game’s roster even after bringing him back as a hidden boss & character in EX2 Plus (PSX).
With all the given tag parings is that there is a Capcom/Arika crossover team in Sakura & Nanase. What does bring the whole canonosity into question because Nanase was allegedly rejected as Hokuto’s partner for Kairi who can’t be around because she’ll kill him according to the story.
In Original Mode it’s possible for Sharon to fight Shadow Geist as a special boss. I have no idea if there is a story thread there but it does bring into question why that is the case?
All the characters added in EX2 got new music tracks except for Shadow Geist who got Battle of the Flame (Version 1) which was Bison’s theme in EX2.
In the Japanese Version there’s an alternate version of Kairi that can be selected by pressing Down-Left while highlighting Zangief. As far as I can tell there are no actual gameplay differences between this Kairi and his normal version.
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