One other thing that probably played a factor in the games downfall is that the original Japanese version was rushed so hard, it suffers from horrendous slowdown and makes most of the game almost unplayable. All of this was fixed in the western version.
Yeah, I saw Justin Wong playing the Japanese version and the final stage with the hoard of enemies was unbearable. Yet I don't remember any such issues on my PAL version of the game
I only figured out that Ex3 had a bad reputation a couple years ago. It shocked me since I had so much fun with it as a child. The art, music, stages, and characters were memorable.
The dangerous influence of "viral" community bandwagon opinions in the modern internet (kinda late 2000s). Even before mainstream social media, things went viral in just a smaller scale, the scale compatible for those years.
The fact that the original Fighting Layer can be often overlooked even by very niche communities like the EX players around the world - to the point that, even ARIKA decided to make a game literally called *"Fighting EX Layer"* and then have a roster that ends up consisting of only the previous SFEX characters + somehow Terry - is, honestly, a tragedy. Thanks for highlighting this absolute gem even if just briefly, Mr. WinQuote. :]
A fighting Layer video will happen as soon as I get a real board, cause Arika are real hard on emulation so I wouldn't wanna explore the game in a way that'd make them unhappy publicly!
The game board is rare, and expensive and only officially released in japan. To my knowledge, the EX players didn't overlook Fighting Layer, we just had no access to it.
I think that's because unlike SFEX, Arika did not have any ownership of the Fighting Layer characters, which is a Namco property If they finally got an OK to add the FL characters in, the game will literally be SF x Tekken part 2, since FL characters are target combo heavy, not to mention the Gougi system giving people vietnam flashbacks to SxT's gem system
The tragedy is that FEXL never really took off. It was an awesome game and playing Terry in it was incredibly fun. I long for the day Capcom and ARIKA get together one more time and give us the Street Fighter EX4 the world truly needs. And yes, Terry can be in it too. Shit, maybe get a few more SNK fighters in there. I'd throw in Saisyu Kusanagi. That choice for a guest appearance is out of nowhere and unheard of. But it would work.
@@IToastMySocks The real issue is SFEX3 is lacking in contents. It had more to offer in the multiplayer aspect but not for single player. Something like a World Tour Mode or Story Mode would had definitely made the game a bit worthwhile to get. Heck I play through all the SFEX games and still know nothing about 90% of the new guys in the SFEX games. Only few I do kinda know is that Hokuto is Kairi's sister and Kairi got possess by Akuma somehow after SFEX1 and Garuda is coming after him or something and that's it.
This game suffered a lot because of how obviously rushed it was. However, it’s still a damn fun game I’m glad someone with a big enough platform is finally praising the game
Frankly, I liked the game even back then but man it was ugly! Specially the new "Buddha" super fish animation replacing the super cool "meteor shower" one.
Vulcano Rosso is still one of my overall favorite fighting game characters. I aspire to have his hair. Arika really had a talent for making fun and creative characters, so I hope to see more from them!
I think there was one other detail that hampered this game, Arika did a fantastic tutorial in the last ex games, but didn't do so in this one. Which I think is a large issue considering this is a pretty complicated game. If you're going to tell me to spend hours trying to figure things out, then at least have the arcade version of it out so that I can learn from others and try to find enjoyment
As someone who was already a fan of the EX series, bought EX3 game at launch with my PS2 and didn't really get and understand the more inner workings and such, I still was able to enjoy it and glad that the game is able to be explored with much more neuance and understanding now. Also, have to mention that you were able to level up Ace's moves to have extra properties. Big example was his dragon punch where if you input it precisely ala Tekken EWGF, it could launch for a juggle and I think if you were able to infinite with it over and over if you had the execution down. Sidenote: While a lot of popular game coverage/content is largely cliche, dumb, misinformative and whatever, I'm glad there's been improvement by some to do more and this channel is part of that. Thank you.
Shoutouts to Andy and Hiro Konobu, who between the two of them have the only known match footage of EX3 being played I've seen. With all the classic arcade and fighting game collections Capcom's been putting out, I hope that one day this game will get a re-release, so we can *really* see the scene (if there even is one lol) explode for it
Three's a problem about in this case. Not an invincible problem but it still is notable. Capcom is not fully the responsible for the game. SF EX was a series of games made by Arika, and they still are the formal owners of the original chars for example (as we see in FEXL). So any new release depends on an actual deal and agreement. It's similar to the situation of crossover games like CvS or SFxTK, in the sense it's not all about Capcom's will to rerelease it.
The public opinion of the EX series has been wild to watch because personally? I remember EX1 being HATED! The graphics were bad even for its time and the roster on vanilla was lackluster. However, when SF4 was announced there were a bunch of people hoping it wouldn't be as bad as EX...only for a small faction to begin shouting "Actually EX+alpha is good. It's the only good EX but give it a chance" and no I'm not kidding. It would be years later for EX2 to suddenly get a more active scene leading to only EX3 being "the bad one"...and yeah, that's gonna change one day because EX3 is sick awesome. So yeah, the EX series sorta started from the bottom and gradually got rediscovered. At least from my observations anyway. I also seem to remember a brief blip in time where EX3 was actually liked when it first came out at least among a casual audience leading to a very brief period where EX3 was "the only good one". Yeah, public opinions on fighters is wild, weird, and dumb much of the time. Do NOT get me started on Bloody Roar, a game series I've loved since day 1 and got utterly mauled on fighting game message boards for it...and NOW everyone goes "What happened to Bloody Roar? We need a new Bloody Roar!" where were you guys 20 years ago?!
dude, i totally remember people loving Bloody Roar back in the day. yeah the fighting games get wild public opinions. way before screw attack or whatever was a thing.
I've been wanting a new Bloody Roar for years. Throughout the whole 7th gen era, I've been wondering why Bloody Roar never got released. At the least a remastered collection would have been nice. Nooooo. Not even that.
Thank you. So much. You have no idea how much this means to me. EX2 plus is my favourite Street Fighter too. Its SO MUCH FUN TO PLAY. Its so crispy, fast and responsive. It's so stylish, but the style isn't a sacrifice for fun gameplay; unlike many other 3D street fighters, it doesn't compensate for less fun gameplay with overzealous visuals that neither age well nor look good. Also I have to say this: SF4 onwards take a lot ideas from EX, but people who've never played them would never know that. I love EX1 as well, its a much simpler but still fun game, I recommend ANYONE into fighting games pick these games up and play them. EX1 is a game where a punch and a kick feel like a *hard* punch and kick, and its super addictive. I love these games so much, and I feel so validated and proud that someone like you is praising them. They were a huge part of my childhood, and a huge reason why I look at modern street fighters with a stink eye (except MVC3, if you can call that a street fighter, which was silky and fast, and had its own merits, but nothing like the crispy and responsive EX). I always wanted to play EX3, and from what I saw it looked really fun and inviting, and had that Arika inventiveness... but it just passed me by in the ps2 era, and I don't remember ever seeing it in stores. I would've loved to play this game if I ever found it, and I'm still itching to play it. Thank god for emulation I guess. I can't overstate how much these games mean to me. There's another game called Fighting Layer which from the looks of it has much of the crisp and responsiveness of EX, but with its own fun and unique style. I hope you review it too. I saw the modern "EX" game by Arika, and it looks like Tekken 7 and adopts some of the overzealous visuals I'm putt off by. The new EX doesn't look like a lot of fun, but maybe I'm wrong. Also, apparently Arika worked on Tekken 7 and 8?!??! I just learned this from researching them. Have you played the new EX? What do you think of it?
FEXL is a lot of fun! Recently I got to try the new version during Evo Japan last month too, and that game is legitimately bonkers. Can't wait to play more of it!
Improved emulation and has helped a lot with the modern reassessment of oft-ignored games like EX3. Like WinQuote said this was a launch PS2 exclusive so there probably weren't many physical copies out there. The second hand market for retro games is awful too. Nowadays, emulation for sixth gen consoles and beyond has improved to the point that more people than ever before can pick up and play games like EX3. Great content as always. Have you ever considered covering TMNT Tournament Fighters on the SNES and its modern day revitalization?
EX3 was WAYYYY AHEAD of it's time for mechanics, fun creative modes, and endless replayability for casuals. My favourite EX title honestly. Thanks for a great breakdown. Fun fact in arcade mode, the character you get to recruit is actually the last character you KO.
Great video as always. I'll admit I was never that into the EX series myself, but I knew there had to be more to EX3 than everyone let on, especially when Arika are some of the most consistent FG devs that only put out bangers. Ignoring the fact that people never actually gave reasons why EX3 is bad, just "it is." Also THANK YOU for mentioning KOF MIRA at the beginning, that game is crazy underrated and SNK dropped the ball hard with MI2. Edit: Bruh, Ace has a God Press??
EX2 and Alpha 2 are probably the quintesential Street Fighters if you asked me. With EX2 being a free-flowing, 80s aesthetic, game that gets me nostalgic every time I play it, and Alpha 2, with it's balanced roster and mechanics and the perfect 90s capcom visuals, I think that if we we're blessed betweeen a combination of the two, we would get the Perfect Street Fighter game. Much love to Arika for making Capcom games even more fun and zany!
tbh i hold EX2+ at a much higher regard than a2 because of the balance. with A2 while it is much better balanced than many other old SF games. i do run into the issue of struggling to find a reason to play anyone lower than mid tier. the high tiers are just better versions of the low tier characters and quite a few feel non functional. ex2 on the otherhand everyone feels like they have some good sauce and the excel mechanic feels alot less bullshit than a2 cc's. i'd even argue that ST succeeds more in the balance aspect as at least you can have a good reason to pick some of the low tiers.. why would you ever play adon in a2 for example. but honestly the ex games are perfection. if EX+@ is a supped up version of hyper fighting then ex2 would be a supped up version of a2
@@fogblades6811 gen and guy, I started with Adon but honestly the character felt so redundant, no hit confirms, most of his shit is cc punishable on hit and block, and he has a good CC but rolentos is better and does everything else better too. guy and gen are better but gen while having a great CC and pokes generally has worse pokes than Sakura and needs 2 meter to confirm from lights, a feat Sakura does for 0 meter and gets an unblockable after, not to mention gens pokes and anti airs just seem to be an overall downgrade to sak’s pokes and anti airs especially when you factor in that unlike sf4 gens stance changing isn’t instant, guy fairs better but having no good anti airs, anti fireball tools that don’t work and like his tatsu’s and some awful match ups not even due to game plans but due to hitbox issues (guy vs Charlie mainly) makes the character a pain, while the top and high tiers don’t have any of these holes, they feel more complete. Even tried dhalsim for a bit but the character gets invalidated due to how a2 CC works. I like all these characters but if I want to win. I’ll play sak or akuma who despite playing way way less is much more complete so winning with them is much more feasible, it isn’t a case of different game plans like say ST but rather certain characters having similar or the same game plan but has a straight downgrade in terms of tools
@@Shodan130 I get what you mean, SF6 kinda has a similar blessing/curse. It's balanced for the most part aside form 1-2 somewhat problematic characters(s). I think it's balanced for SF standards and I'd rather have A2 balancing than say, 3rd Strike's balancing. You wanna talk about a game that deletes characters from the roster? Sean, Twelve, Q, Remy, Alex, and even Hugo can never crack Top 16 because the Top 5 RULE this game with a diamond fist.
@@fogblades6811 oh yea don't worry i wasn't going to suggest that a2 was any where near as fucked as 3s is for tiers... or as a game i personally think 3s is shite. sf6 i can kind of get it. especially since it feels like the type of game that is so system heavy it just boils down to who uses the drive the best rather than who the best character is. if you don't have a +2 ob normal, OD reversal and lots of ways to set up empty drive rush just re-roll
This was the first fighting game i ever did a motion in I loved this shit it felt really fast and frantic and the arika characters were sick. Garuda is still to this day one of the coolest villains in the franchise
As a huge SFEX fan myself, the only real gripes I have with 3 are Surprise Blow replacing Guard Break and the tedious grind to unlock the roster. But I will take EX1's beautiful polygons over EX3's Chinese Ryu anyday
So I am not the only one who thought that Ryu looks like Chinese in ex3? Like really....he looks like some ong bak character or live action Riki oh with that look
God those ScrewAttack videos were trash. It is easy to forget how terrible most reviewers and critics were even back then. Pretty neat video, I remember loving this game back when I got a PS2, I liked it even more than Alpha 3 which was a game I would play on a daily basis. My only major issue with the game was the graphics (clearly just slightly upgraded versions of the EX graphics) and that it kinda lacked story content like fun to watch endings.
most reviewers and critics are terrible. if they actually had any talent, they would be using it instead bringing others down to make themselves feel better
Hard agree. The EX series are straight up BANGERS. I hope people revisit them to enjoy the mechanics. Canceling into supers feels so damn good in this series.
COMMON GWQ W also KOF MAXIMUM IMPACT REGULATION A MENTIONED also great video as always, dude! I’ve had precious little time with EX3, but it’s definitely an extremely Arika game in all the best ways. Nishitani and Mihara are always trying to make games that appeal to the sensibilities of the older generation of goofy FG enthusiasts, and EX3 certainly seems to do that in Arika’s usual forward-thinking way. oh, and EX2P is my fav SF game, too!
I might be misremembering but I swear fighting games were hated during the ps2/gc/Xbox era. Especially if you were a 2d fighter. I think that’s when the notion of “fighting games are too hard” first popped up too. Plus GTA was huge so a lot of people were playing that.
I remember playing SFEX3 on launch and loving it. The sheer freedom compared to some other games is absolutely terrific. However, there was also SF fatigue that had set in and Tekken has taken the throne of the fighting game everyone knew how to play a bit. The general cultural atmosphere in gaming was already putting SF as passe, with new and better fighting game IPs already exceeding it. Still, I pop in my copy every year just to remind me how good it feels to play unrestrictive fighting games.
Man, I remember back in the day being told Castlevania on the N64 was a terrible game, only to play it recently and find out it's actually pretty good! It's funny the takes like that that were circulating among gamers 10-20 years ago. I've only played a small bit of one of the Street Fighter EX games, but I really enjoyed what I played!
I was there when it came out and its not great. Even people that praise it say the start is awful. It also controls a lot worst than some other games that were already out ECT. People weren't making crap up out of nowhere.. it looked unpolished for what was a premiere series.
Not funny, understandable. It is just as understandable as this video revisiting EX... which is a fair video. Castlevania 64 *is* a bad game, that's the difference: EX looks 3D but it was not SF's jump to 3D mechanics like Castlevania 64 was. The camera is awful, the creativity is lacking, the graphics are dull... that doesn't stop anyone from liking it. The EX series, however, if it was released in 2D, for example, it would've legendary status like Square/Nintendo's Super Mario RPG.
@@DSan-kl2yc sure larper. I was there and every magazine gave it good reviews which you can still check online. SOTN as great as it is only barely managed to outsell 64 by pooling all the sales from psx and sega saturn combined while 64 was in only one platform. I too fell for the idiot youtubers speaking crap about what they new nothing about but after playing through all the Castlevanias several years ago, 64 and Legacy of Darkness are the ones I've played through the most.
Hell yeah, I loved the EX games when they were out! For those who liked these games, Arika has carried the style and gameplay into modern gaming with Fighting EX Layer, which has gotten home ports on PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.
First thank you for going back to play one of my fav SF games, top 3 actually. Second some of the combos you did in this video I just couldn't even imagine. I really appreciate that you went back to play the game. I keep telling people how awesome the game it but they as you said didn't play it or heard the reviews, later in life I learned how bad game reviewers can be and the practices that could lead the wrong reviewer to be on that title and misjudge it. Hell you even covered some of my talking points about SF6 and it's call back to some games like SFA3 and SFEX3. It's true living in that time period we were flushed in fighters and it's like from like '92 ~'02 we had sooooooooo many fighting games and specifically Street Fighter people were looking for something a little different, then some people call it the "Dark Age of Fighters" we had other games holding it down. Back to EX3 I feel that this game if it were made today probably would be a bit different because E-Sports. Ohh did you ever see Zangief / Darun Mister Meteor Tag when they KO someone, if you haven't go check it out. SFEX3 was a good game and a launch title, it was full of personality and should have had more eye on it. Thanks again for brining it up, and because of the SF profiles from SF5 who knows Skullomania the strange break out star from SF could appear somewhere in SF6, but also since Kairi killed Akuma could they both even be in the same game again...or would it be like a Gouken situation?
The fact that it has more content and better mechanics than Fighting EX Layer is kinda sad, especially since SFEX3 had far less development time. Sure, FEXL isn't a bad game, but considering that the $60 version doesn't even include more than two color options per character, it's definitely a disappointment.
Mechanically, Fighting EX Layer plays like it should be but single player content is the worst part. I know ARIKA isn't big and is even behind the likes of SNK but a proper arcade mode and costumes would improve the game greatly.
This game was my first exposure to Street Fighter as a franchise and one of the first fighting games I ever played. I spent many an hour in front of a CRT and PS2 with my cousin, unlocking all the characters, playing and replaying the arcade mode over and over with different combinations of characters. The move list looked like arcane runes with symbols like stars on it and buttons that weren't on our PS2 controllers. Each special move was a journey to learn and unlock, and we couldn't do them consistently. It was a perfect game to play couch co op, and the tag system let us play co op together or against each other as we wanted. Our uncle was around a little more for the arcade days (as we were late 90s kids they were just going extinct as we came up). He was like our personal final boss. This game let us play handicap matches, so we would play him 2v1 and still struggle to take rounds off him. When he wasn't around we would grind and practice, hoping to beat him the next time and he'd give us pointers here and there. When he taught us how to consistently do the Hadouken it changed the game, and he was like an arcane master doing moves we'd only seen the AI do against us. Those were really magical days, the kind that I feel like don't really happen anymore. Now that I've been part of the fgc proper for over a decade and know all about inputs, tech, frame data, and have even participated in some tournaments here and there, I'm sure I've far surpassed that uncle. But he'll always be one of the greats in my mind because of those days. That's a really nostalgic time for me, and probably a large part of what sparked my love for fighting games. Thanks for the video and for helping me relive a great part of my childhood.
The in-game fighting animations/mocap in the SF EX series for me are some of the best I've ever seen in a fighting game. They're so creative, and there's something extremely satisfying watching the fighters move sets unravel. Graphically the SF EX series are nowhere near as polished as their competition at the time but i personally think EX outdoes them all in style and creativity
The entire Street Fighter EX series is pretty funky. But I’d be lying if I said that EX2 Plus wasn’t my favorite fighting game on the PS1. EX3 was also one of the first games I ever played on the PS2. I liked it despite being super casual with fighting games at the time. I think it’s pretty fun.
I wanna get this one nitpick out the way... I don't know if I would consider any of the EX games a "Street Fighter entry" as they are more of a crossover fighter between Capcom's Street Fighter and Arika's original characters, disguised as Street fighter (Kinda like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle.... Which shouldnt have been named Blazblue). Anyway, firsat I played this game was in 2010. I was turning 14, I was catching up on fighting games I missed out on because by that point I've been an SNK fan for about 2 years. And after opening my mind to playing SNK fighters it led to me being more open to playing other games and not just the popular or well known ones. This game WAS A BLAST. While the in game graphics definitely aged, I regretted not getting it sooner, mainly because I wasn't sure what the EX series was at the time. After researching and seing a gameplay video of SFEX3, I was sold. People need to give this game a chance.
The thing is unlike SFEX, the character roster in that BlazBlue game are taken from established IPs from other series, everyone who bought that game knew who they are and knew that the game was a crossover, the subtitle gave that away already. The EX characters for SFEX was made just for that game series so most who play SFEX didn't know who the new character are and associate them with only the SFEX games meaning the EX characters are not Fighting Layer characters or from any existing IP, they are actually Street Fighter characters but Capcom let Arika get full ownership of them which was a mistake as now those characters feel out of place when not part of the Street Fighter franchise anymore. It's like taking guys like Alex, Dudley, Necro, Urien, Gill, and Oro off of SFIII and giving them away to dev like Arc System Works and say okay these are no longer SF characters, you can add them to your roster for Guilty or Blaze.
@@VOAN From what I heard, Capcom actually never owned them, or the music, which is why we never gotten anything related to the EX series since. Capcom tried to buy the characters from Arika but Arika wouldn't let them. Not to mention when the first EX game was in development it didn't start out as Street Fighter EX, but rather an original project (Featuring the same characters we all know and love from Arika), that also featured originally only Ryu and Ken at the time, because Capcom wanted to test their characters in a 3D environment (whether or not SFEX is 3D I'll let everyone else decide for themselves on that). There is actually a video from ArikaFGC showing the beta footage of Street Fighter EX (before it was called that). Eventually leading up to Arika putting in many of Capcom Characters in the game along with there own an calling it Street Fighter EX. It was more so meant to be its own thing rather than another Street Fighter entry if that makes sense. We only associated them with Street Fighter cuz we thought Capcom owned those characters and everything else in the EX games. Many of us wanted them to come back but there was an issue with that. The issue? Little did we know it was actually Arika that owned those characters and the music and vice versa. Thus why we never get anything from Capcom related to EX like collections, individual fighters. etc. Except the costumes in SFV. Knowing this now we essentially associate the EX fighters to just Arika in general. Similar as to how Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Jam (Yes I know she isn't FROM Fighting Jam but from Fighting All-Stars: Code Holders), who people seldom debate is either a Street fighter character or not. Tho it be more logical to say she's just a Capcom character. And not just in the sense that they own her, just a character FROM Capcom. Also similar to Captain Commando who originally is also from Capcom as he didn't originate from his arcade game yet. Same could be applied to. We consider SFEX a crossover in disguise because Capcom never owned those characters from the EX series to sum it up. EDIT: Although fandom wikis fake things all the time, there is a art piece of Street Fighter EX one literally labeled on the Capcom Database wiki "Arika meets Capcom". I think that also may imply Street Fighter EX was just a crossover labeled Street Fighter.
Fun fact: Street Fighter EX3 is the first fighting game ever released on PS2 beating out Tekken Tag, Dead or Alive 2, and even Ready to Rumble Boxing Round 2 by a matter of weeks and even days!!
EX3 was hilariously my introduction to the series, hell the genre as a whole. I was rather young at the time but I remember loving the credits minigame where you beat up a mob of jobbers and I thought that the Blanka animations were so cool and impressive. Fun memories.
Great video, as always! SF EX3 really doesn't get the respect it deserves. I have some good friends from NY who absolutely love the SF EX games. It was through them that I found out about them originally, in fact! Also, as soon as I saw you mention ScrewAttack, I instantly hit the Like button, ngl! Didn't know you grew up watching SA content! I had an audio-only show on ScrewAttack back in 2007 but I'm not sure if you were on the site at that time or not. Anyway, have a good one, man!
I may come off a bit harsh in this video, but I was watching everything on ScrewAttack and even going to SGC in that era, so I definitely have a lot of love for that era haha. It was a different time and I don't think we should judge too hard on it.
Thank you for keeping all of this footage in 4:3. I would liked it if Akuma could've been there. Characters are way too zoomed in. Maybe I could give a shot.
10:55 Hayate was pretty much the only EX2 character absent. I think they gutted him since he's a swordfighter, and it wouldn't be a good idea to give Ace some of Hayate's moves when Ace doesn't carry a sword at all.
Thanks for this video and the constant stream of great content! I only got to play this one recently, as in over the last 5 years, but it's a great time. I hope someone other folx will find it through this video and fall in love with it!
When i went back to EX3 i thought maybe i had rose tinted nostalgia glasses. I wanted to get it on real hardware for the genuine experience. However playing it again i realized my childhood memories weren’t unfounded and that i loved EX3 for a reason. It’s a very niche SF game, but it has a special place in my heart
EX3 let’s you do some absolutely crazy stuff - it offers so much freedom that it takes a little while to yet used to it. Such a fun game once you get into it.
The Street Fighter EX games (along with SF2 Turbo on SNES) was my first exposure to the series, in terms of actually playing them. Specifically, EX Plus Alpha for PS1. Such a fun game.
I bought this game on a whim a couple years ago (found a copy of it online complete in box for like $10) and I have no idea how anyone thought this game was bad. Even from a causal perspective without any of the games deeper mechanics it’s just fun to mash buttons (especially with moves like Sakura’s finger poke of doom and other moves like that) I’ve spent hours just messing around in training mode (the juggling option is really fun to mess around with) or finding combos in dramatic battle mode, this game is just fun.
Thank you for shining a spotlight on this game. But I won't lie: when I saw Ken and Ryu face off against each other in this game, I inhaled sharply. WOOF.
This is legit one of the most fun street fighter games ever made. I don’t care lol. Everytime I saw a copy of this game in the past I bought it. Glad I just bought it again 😎
The biggest reason why SFEX3 wasn't popular: It's as lacking in content, cutscenes, single-player modes, and features as the vanilla version of SFV. What made it worse is that only two newcomers made it into the roster, which was both Ace and Evil Ryu, but all they were is just replacements to Cycloid and Gouki. All Capcom & ARIKA needed to do to fix the game, was to make a *Street Fighter EX3 Plus.*
I was REALLY into Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha when I was younger but NEVER seen anyone play or talk about it up till recently. It's a trip to see it now lol. I remember SFEX3 always being on the shelf at GameStop or EB games.
I’m glad you mentioned Tekken Tag. I never played any of the EX games, but I randomly think about EX3 from time to time because of it was part of the Official PlayStation Magazine’s PS2 launch in Japan, my absolute favorite video game article of all time. Their bottom line was “It’s okay, but you’re better off waiting for Tekken Tag Tournament”
On the positive front, it cannot be stressed enough just how hard the EX3 soundtrack slaps. Special shout-out to Doctrine Dark's theme "Under Tube" which is probably my favourite piece of non-Ambient interstitial music ever. Hoping we see some FEXL/SF6 cross-promotion.
I liked the EX games because they gave Ken green hadoukens. I also liked the extra shotos Kairi and Allen and I liked their unique spin on the Ryu/Ken/Akuma toolset. I really hope Capcom collaborates with the EX developers again because they had fantastic character designs. (In most cases? far better than what we've seen in SF5/SF6)
You should try DOA5LR. It has also has a similar Tag mode where you can Tag switch from pretty much any normal attack. It also lets you play 4 players (2v2) online still. (Beware PC version doesn't have lobbies and therefore no active community atm.)
I always loved ex3 since i knew it existed back in 2003, because of that, ir hurts me seeing evryone hating on the Game, so glad almost everyone changing their minds in recent years
When I picked up my PS2 at launch back in 2000 Tekken Tag and Armored Core 2 were sold out so I went home with TimeSplitters and Street Fighter EX3; me and my brother still had a damn good time and still remember both games fondly.
I miss the ex series. Really wish the ex 3 characters could still be in mainline street fighter especially skullo !! . These games were so underrated and so fun . Ex 3 is Goated. Side note raging blast 2 is best dbz 3D fighter or rather had the best potential
This was my first PS2 game followed by Tekken tag 2. I bought SF EX3 before the PS2 released. I always loved all the options to make the gameplay how you wanted it to. My only knock on it ever was no Akuma (but it did have evil Ryu and you could turn a custom character into a Akuma in moves only).
i'm mad excited to see a guilewinquote ex2 video now. you have the most in depth FG videos on forgotten games and EX2+ while not forgotten doesn't get the credit it deserves (as personally the best fighting game ever)
I remember that in those years more attention was also given to Dead or Alive 2, when I was able to play Ex3 I felt a little disappointed because it didn't have the challenges, only the Ace ones and it was something that I liked about the previous 2. I think that in general something more was expected from a ps2 title.
0:59 No, it absolutely STILL is SFTM, I can't remember how long I've seen that game get maliciously slandered, and arguably even now still (Thanks Justin Wong and that other idiot)
Street Fighter EX1 and EX2 are one of my top favourite fighting games of all time like everything about it from the hits, combos and music is absolutely fantastic. I slightly prefer EX1 a bit just because it has Blair Dame which sadly the other games don't have her at all and I think it had the best music out of all of them but both are still absolutely amazing games anyway. I want to give EX3 a try a lot though but my laptop can't emulate PS2 the best but maybe, I'll try to get a second hand PS2 just to play it.
It's crazy how well the graphics of ex1 & 2 have aged, while those of ex3... didn't. Going from (what I feel like) is the best looking 3D Street Fighter to the worst can't have done it any favors 'least the gameplay seems fantasic. As a spectator, it's nice to see crazy combos that don't drag on much, while still keeping everything pretty grounded and steady paced
honestly? sfex3's only crime in my book is just being kinda really ugly. momentary cancels and the tag mechanics are so goddamn cool and now that we're in the future and we can play ps2 games online with arcade sticks i think the game deserves a little bit of a renaissance. honestly speaking of y2k-adjacent fighting games, i'd love to see a video on bloody roar sometime!
The introduction makes a good remark that reminds of the whole big topic about the dangerous influence of "viral" community bandwagon opinions in the modern internet (kinda late 2000s). Even before mainstream social media, things went viral in just a smaller scale, the scale compatible for those years.
I thought this video was about Ryu and talking about he has been misunderstood for years because of the thumbnail!! But my gosh, I'm already interested just watching the video and hearing about a game I've surprisingly never heard about :D
I had EX3 on PS2 back in the day. It was okay at first, but the tag element felt messy to me. Coming from someone who loved EX and EX2, as well as having the privilege of playing an imported Fighting Layer cabinet at my favorite videogame spot back in the late 90's, it pains me to say that I was bored of EX3 after almost a month.
*Street Fighter III 3rd Strike announcer voice* "Yeah, I've been waitin' for this”
"yes that makes sense"
“Well, I get the picture”
"that's what I expected"
Akihiko?
"Alright, that's cool"
One other thing that probably played a factor in the games downfall is that the original Japanese version was rushed so hard, it suffers from horrendous slowdown and makes most of the game almost unplayable. All of this was fixed in the western version.
Yeah, I saw Justin Wong playing the Japanese version and the final stage with the hoard of enemies was unbearable. Yet I don't remember any such issues on my PAL version of the game
I only figured out that Ex3 had a bad reputation a couple years ago. It shocked me since I had so much fun with it as a child. The art, music, stages, and characters were memorable.
The dangerous influence of "viral" community bandwagon opinions in the modern internet (kinda late 2000s). Even before mainstream social media, things went viral in just a smaller scale, the scale compatible for those years.
@@carlosaugusto9821the game sucked
That's my experience with Tekken 4
@@rogaken Tekken 4 is my favorite Tekken!
@@carlosaugusto9821this game is a mess.
Insert here obligatory "Max Gets Exposed on Stream, Faults His Audience and Runs Away"
I LOOOOOVE that video! “I’m gonna need you guys to reconsider your thoughts! I gotta get some water!” 😂😂😂
_ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!_
_Zooms into Max's mind:_ *AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!*
I prefer "max played all kof on level 1 and hid the difficulty with a black square" because it actually happened
@@sorubro2193 Wait, wha-?! When did this happen?
The fact that the original Fighting Layer can be often overlooked even by very niche communities like the EX players around the world - to the point that, even ARIKA decided to make a game literally called *"Fighting EX Layer"* and then have a roster that ends up consisting of only the previous SFEX characters + somehow Terry - is, honestly, a tragedy.
Thanks for highlighting this absolute gem even if just briefly, Mr. WinQuote. :]
A fighting Layer video will happen as soon as I get a real board, cause Arika are real hard on emulation so I wouldn't wanna explore the game in a way that'd make them unhappy publicly!
The game board is rare, and expensive and only officially released in japan. To my knowledge, the EX players didn't overlook Fighting Layer, we just had no access to it.
I think that's because unlike SFEX, Arika did not have any ownership of the Fighting Layer characters, which is a Namco property
If they finally got an OK to add the FL characters in, the game will literally be SF x Tekken part 2, since FL characters are target combo heavy, not to mention the Gougi system giving people vietnam flashbacks to SxT's gem system
The tragedy is that FEXL never really took off. It was an awesome game and playing Terry in it was incredibly fun.
I long for the day Capcom and ARIKA get together one more time and give us the Street Fighter EX4 the world truly needs. And yes, Terry can be in it too. Shit, maybe get a few more SNK fighters in there. I'd throw in Saisyu Kusanagi. That choice for a guest appearance is out of nowhere and unheard of. But it would work.
@@BridgetGX hell, just have Arika make CvS3 or something haha
"The worst Street Fighter game ever".
Street Fighter 1987 was so unknown that EX3 earned such an unfair title.
also street fighter v wasn't out yet to steal this title as well
@@Zontar82 relax it wasn’t that bad, especially towards the end. it just could have been a lot better
@@logandunlap9156 Ken looks better in the SFEX games from 20 years ago than he does SFV lol
Ex3 got shit on so bad, when there was so much good going on for it.
@@IToastMySocks The real issue is SFEX3 is lacking in contents. It had more to offer in the multiplayer aspect but not for single player. Something like a World Tour Mode or Story Mode would had definitely made the game a bit worthwhile to get. Heck I play through all the SFEX games and still know nothing about 90% of the new guys in the SFEX games. Only few I do kinda know is that Hokuto is Kairi's sister and Kairi got possess by Akuma somehow after SFEX1 and Garuda is coming after him or something and that's it.
And sometimes, a bad game really isn't a bad game at all.
This game suffered a lot because of how obviously rushed it was. However, it’s still a damn fun game I’m glad someone with a big enough platform is finally praising the game
Frankly, I liked the game even back then but man it was ugly! Specially the new "Buddha" super fish animation replacing the super cool "meteor shower" one.
Street fighter ex3 has the most underrated character select theme in the series.
Vulcano Rosso is still one of my overall favorite fighting game characters. I aspire to have his hair. Arika really had a talent for making fun and creative characters, so I hope to see more from them!
He also has the best level 3 super ever.
Of course, Arika is made by the creator of SF2. He still had a very good sense of fg making after leaving Capcom.
For real, skellomania is probably one of my favorite fighting game characters of all time
Quattro Panorama!!
I think there was one other detail that hampered this game, Arika did a fantastic tutorial in the last ex games, but didn't do so in this one. Which I think is a large issue considering this is a pretty complicated game. If you're going to tell me to spend hours trying to figure things out, then at least have the arcade version of it out so that I can learn from others and try to find enjoyment
defeated characters in original mode getting dizzy and then just falling to the ground if you choose not to recruit them is so funny to me
As someone who was already a fan of the EX series, bought EX3 game at launch with my PS2 and didn't really get and understand the more inner workings and such, I still was able to enjoy it and glad that the game is able to be explored with much more neuance and understanding now.
Also, have to mention that you were able to level up Ace's moves to have extra properties. Big example was his dragon punch where if you input it precisely ala Tekken EWGF, it could launch for a juggle and I think if you were able to infinite with it over and over if you had the execution down.
Sidenote: While a lot of popular game coverage/content is largely cliche, dumb, misinformative and whatever, I'm glad there's been improvement by some to do more and this channel is part of that. Thank you.
Shoutouts to Andy and Hiro Konobu, who between the two of them have the only known match footage of EX3 being played I've seen.
With all the classic arcade and fighting game collections Capcom's been putting out, I hope that one day this game will get a re-release, so we can *really* see the scene (if there even is one lol) explode for it
Being locked on the PS2 is definitely not in its favor for being accessible, especially to modern audiences.
Three's a problem about in this case. Not an invincible problem but it still is notable. Capcom is not fully the responsible for the game. SF EX was a series of games made by Arika, and they still are the formal owners of the original chars for example (as we see in FEXL). So any new release depends on an actual deal and agreement. It's similar to the situation of crossover games like CvS or SFxTK, in the sense it's not all about Capcom's will to rerelease it.
The public opinion of the EX series has been wild to watch because personally? I remember EX1 being HATED! The graphics were bad even for its time and the roster on vanilla was lackluster. However, when SF4 was announced there were a bunch of people hoping it wouldn't be as bad as EX...only for a small faction to begin shouting "Actually EX+alpha is good. It's the only good EX but give it a chance" and no I'm not kidding. It would be years later for EX2 to suddenly get a more active scene leading to only EX3 being "the bad one"...and yeah, that's gonna change one day because EX3 is sick awesome.
So yeah, the EX series sorta started from the bottom and gradually got rediscovered. At least from my observations anyway.
I also seem to remember a brief blip in time where EX3 was actually liked when it first came out at least among a casual audience leading to a very brief period where EX3 was "the only good one". Yeah, public opinions on fighters is wild, weird, and dumb much of the time. Do NOT get me started on Bloody Roar, a game series I've loved since day 1 and got utterly mauled on fighting game message boards for it...and NOW everyone goes "What happened to Bloody Roar? We need a new Bloody Roar!" where were you guys 20 years ago?!
dude, i totally remember people loving Bloody Roar back in the day. yeah the fighting games get wild public opinions. way before screw attack or whatever was a thing.
I've been wanting a new Bloody Roar for years. Throughout the whole 7th gen era, I've been wondering why Bloody Roar never got released. At the least a remastered collection would have been nice. Nooooo. Not even that.
Thank you. So much. You have no idea how much this means to me. EX2 plus is my favourite Street Fighter too. Its SO MUCH FUN TO PLAY. Its so crispy, fast and responsive. It's so stylish, but the style isn't a sacrifice for fun gameplay; unlike many other 3D street fighters, it doesn't compensate for less fun gameplay with overzealous visuals that neither age well nor look good. Also I have to say this: SF4 onwards take a lot ideas from EX, but people who've never played them would never know that.
I love EX1 as well, its a much simpler but still fun game, I recommend ANYONE into fighting games pick these games up and play them. EX1 is a game where a punch and a kick feel like a *hard* punch and kick, and its super addictive. I love these games so much, and I feel so validated and proud that someone like you is praising them. They were a huge part of my childhood, and a huge reason why I look at modern street fighters with a stink eye (except MVC3, if you can call that a street fighter, which was silky and fast, and had its own merits, but nothing like the crispy and responsive EX).
I always wanted to play EX3, and from what I saw it looked really fun and inviting, and had that Arika inventiveness... but it just passed me by in the ps2 era, and I don't remember ever seeing it in stores. I would've loved to play this game if I ever found it, and I'm still itching to play it. Thank god for emulation I guess.
I can't overstate how much these games mean to me. There's another game called Fighting Layer which from the looks of it has much of the crisp and responsiveness of EX, but with its own fun and unique style. I hope you review it too.
I saw the modern "EX" game by Arika, and it looks like Tekken 7 and adopts some of the overzealous visuals I'm putt off by. The new EX doesn't look like a lot of fun, but maybe I'm wrong. Also, apparently Arika worked on Tekken 7 and 8?!??! I just learned this from researching them. Have you played the new EX? What do you think of it?
FEXL is a lot of fun! Recently I got to try the new version during Evo Japan last month too, and that game is legitimately bonkers. Can't wait to play more of it!
Improved emulation and has helped a lot with the modern reassessment of oft-ignored games like EX3. Like WinQuote said this was a launch PS2 exclusive so there probably weren't many physical copies out there. The second hand market for retro games is awful too.
Nowadays, emulation for sixth gen consoles and beyond has improved to the point that more people than ever before can pick up and play games like EX3.
Great content as always. Have you ever considered covering TMNT Tournament Fighters on the SNES and its modern day revitalization?
EX3 was WAYYYY AHEAD of it's time for mechanics, fun creative modes, and endless replayability for casuals. My favourite EX title honestly. Thanks for a great breakdown. Fun fact in arcade mode, the character you get to recruit is actually the last character you KO.
Great video as always. I'll admit I was never that into the EX series myself, but I knew there had to be more to EX3 than everyone let on, especially when Arika are some of the most consistent FG devs that only put out bangers. Ignoring the fact that people never actually gave reasons why EX3 is bad, just "it is."
Also THANK YOU for mentioning KOF MIRA at the beginning, that game is crazy underrated and SNK dropped the ball hard with MI2. Edit: Bruh, Ace has a God Press??
EX2 and Alpha 2 are probably the quintesential Street Fighters if you asked me. With EX2 being a free-flowing, 80s aesthetic, game that gets me nostalgic every time I play it, and Alpha 2, with it's balanced roster and mechanics and the perfect 90s capcom visuals, I think that if we we're blessed betweeen a combination of the two, we would get the Perfect Street Fighter game. Much love to Arika for making Capcom games even more fun and zany!
tbh i hold EX2+ at a much higher regard than a2 because of the balance. with A2 while it is much better balanced than many other old SF games. i do run into the issue of struggling to find a reason to play anyone lower than mid tier. the high tiers are just better versions of the low tier characters and quite a few feel non functional. ex2 on the otherhand everyone feels like they have some good sauce and the excel mechanic feels alot less bullshit than a2 cc's. i'd even argue that ST succeeds more in the balance aspect as at least you can have a good reason to pick some of the low tiers.. why would you ever play adon in a2 for example. but honestly the ex games are perfection. if EX+@ is a supped up version of hyper fighting then ex2 would be a supped up version of a2
@@Shodan130 interesting. Who do you play in A2?
@@fogblades6811 gen and guy, I started with Adon but honestly the character felt so redundant, no hit confirms, most of his shit is cc punishable on hit and block, and he has a good CC but rolentos is better and does everything else better too. guy and gen are better but gen while having a great CC and pokes generally has worse pokes than Sakura and needs 2 meter to confirm from lights, a feat Sakura does for 0 meter and gets an unblockable after, not to mention gens pokes and anti airs just seem to be an overall downgrade to sak’s pokes and anti airs especially when you factor in that unlike sf4 gens stance changing isn’t instant, guy fairs better but having no good anti airs, anti fireball tools that don’t work and like his tatsu’s and some awful match ups not even due to game plans but due to hitbox issues (guy vs Charlie mainly) makes the character a pain, while the top and high tiers don’t have any of these holes, they feel more complete. Even tried dhalsim for a bit but the character gets invalidated due to how a2 CC works. I like all these characters but if I want to win. I’ll play sak or akuma who despite playing way way less is much more complete so winning with them is much more feasible, it isn’t a case of different game plans like say ST but rather certain characters having similar or the same game plan but has a straight downgrade in terms of tools
@@Shodan130 I get what you mean, SF6 kinda has a similar blessing/curse. It's balanced for the most part aside form 1-2 somewhat problematic characters(s). I think it's balanced for SF standards and I'd rather have A2 balancing than say, 3rd Strike's balancing.
You wanna talk about a game that deletes characters from the roster? Sean, Twelve, Q, Remy, Alex, and even Hugo can never crack Top 16 because the Top 5 RULE this game with a diamond fist.
@@fogblades6811 oh yea don't worry i wasn't going to suggest that a2 was any where near as fucked as 3s is for tiers... or as a game i personally think 3s is shite. sf6 i can kind of get it. especially since it feels like the type of game that is so system heavy it just boils down to who uses the drive the best rather than who the best character is. if you don't have a +2 ob normal, OD reversal and lots of ways to set up empty drive rush just re-roll
This was the first fighting game i ever did a motion in
I loved this shit it felt really fast and frantic and the arika characters were sick. Garuda is still to this day one of the coolest villains in the franchise
i love your videos, they give off such a warm old youtube gaming video feel with the whole resolution and other stuff, keep up the great work!
Thank you for watching 🙇🏼
@@GuileWinQuote my pleasure :]
ex3 evangelist here! I been spreading the good word about this game since the early 2000s when I rented this from blockbuster (im old)
As a huge SFEX fan myself, the only real gripes I have with 3 are Surprise Blow replacing Guard Break and the tedious grind to unlock the roster.
But I will take EX1's beautiful polygons over EX3's Chinese Ryu anyday
I always loved the roster grind. Best versions of character unlock. Just keep beating the game
So I am not the only one who thought that Ryu looks like Chinese in ex3? Like really....he looks like some ong bak character or live action Riki oh with that look
God those ScrewAttack videos were trash.
It is easy to forget how terrible most reviewers and critics were even back then.
Pretty neat video, I remember loving this game back when I got a PS2, I liked it even more than Alpha 3 which was a game I would play on a daily basis. My only major issue with the game was the graphics (clearly just slightly upgraded versions of the EX graphics) and that it kinda lacked story content like fun to watch endings.
most reviewers and critics are terrible. if they actually had any talent, they would be using it instead bringing others down to make themselves feel better
Hard agree. The EX series are straight up BANGERS. I hope people revisit them to enjoy the mechanics. Canceling into supers feels so damn good in this series.
Amazing video!
Definitely had early internet make me believe the EX games were hot garbage so thanks for rectifying and making me see the light!
COMMON GWQ W
also
KOF MAXIMUM IMPACT REGULATION A MENTIONED
also
great video as always, dude! I’ve had precious little time with EX3, but it’s definitely an extremely Arika game in all the best ways. Nishitani and Mihara are always trying to make games that appeal to the sensibilities of the older generation of goofy FG enthusiasts, and EX3 certainly seems to do that in Arika’s usual forward-thinking way. oh, and EX2P is my fav SF game, too!
I never once thought any of the SFEX series was bad at all. It's just "different".
I might be misremembering but I swear fighting games were hated during the ps2/gc/Xbox era. Especially if you were a 2d fighter. I think that’s when the notion of “fighting games are too hard” first popped up too. Plus GTA was huge so a lot of people were playing that.
I remember playing SFEX3 on launch and loving it. The sheer freedom compared to some other games is absolutely terrific. However, there was also SF fatigue that had set in and Tekken has taken the throne of the fighting game everyone knew how to play a bit. The general cultural atmosphere in gaming was already putting SF as passe, with new and better fighting game IPs already exceeding it. Still, I pop in my copy every year just to remind me how good it feels to play unrestrictive fighting games.
Every time I see a "GuileWinQuote" video I get so excited. Your videos never disappoint!
Man, I remember back in the day being told Castlevania on the N64 was a terrible game, only to play it recently and find out it's actually pretty good! It's funny the takes like that that were circulating among gamers 10-20 years ago. I've only played a small bit of one of the Street Fighter EX games, but I really enjoyed what I played!
i havent played it yet but i already love that game for its intro alone
I was there when it came out and its not great. Even people that praise it say the start is awful.
It also controls a lot worst than some other games that were already out ECT.
People weren't making crap up out of nowhere.. it looked unpolished for what was a premiere series.
Not funny, understandable. It is just as understandable as this video revisiting EX... which is a fair video.
Castlevania 64 *is* a bad game, that's the difference: EX looks 3D but it was not SF's jump to 3D mechanics like Castlevania 64 was. The camera is awful, the creativity is lacking, the graphics are dull... that doesn't stop anyone from liking it.
The EX series, however, if it was released in 2D, for example, it would've legendary status like Square/Nintendo's Super Mario RPG.
@@DSan-kl2yc sure larper. I was there and every magazine gave it good reviews which you can still check online.
SOTN as great as it is only barely managed to outsell 64 by pooling all the sales from psx and sega saturn combined while 64 was in only one platform.
I too fell for the idiot youtubers speaking crap about what they new nothing about but after playing through all the Castlevanias several years ago, 64 and Legacy of Darkness are the ones I've played through the most.
@@redacted2275 the casualest take lol.
I'm watching this after work. Fuck yes, I love the hell out of arika and their fighting games. I cannot wait to see your take on ex3.
Hell yeah, I loved the EX games when they were out! For those who liked these games, Arika has carried the style and gameplay into modern gaming with Fighting EX Layer, which has gotten home ports on PC, PS4, and Nintendo Switch.
First thank you for going back to play one of my fav SF games, top 3 actually. Second some of the combos you did in this video I just couldn't even imagine.
I really appreciate that you went back to play the game. I keep telling people how awesome the game it but they as you said didn't play it or heard the reviews, later in life I learned how bad game reviewers can be and the practices that could lead the wrong reviewer to be on that title and misjudge it. Hell you even covered some of my talking points about SF6 and it's call back to some games like SFA3 and SFEX3. It's true living in that time period we were flushed in fighters and it's like from like '92 ~'02 we had sooooooooo many fighting games and specifically Street Fighter people were looking for something a little different, then some people call it the "Dark Age of Fighters" we had other games holding it down. Back to EX3 I feel that this game if it were made today probably would be a bit different because E-Sports. Ohh did you ever see Zangief / Darun Mister Meteor Tag when they KO someone, if you haven't go check it out.
SFEX3 was a good game and a launch title, it was full of personality and should have had more eye on it. Thanks again for brining it up, and because of the SF profiles from SF5 who knows Skullomania the strange break out star from SF could appear somewhere in SF6, but also since Kairi killed Akuma could they both even be in the same game again...or would it be like a Gouken situation?
The fact that it has more content and better mechanics than Fighting EX Layer is kinda sad, especially since SFEX3 had far less development time. Sure, FEXL isn't a bad game, but considering that the $60 version doesn't even include more than two color options per character, it's definitely a disappointment.
also FEXL has no proper single player mode, like not even the bare minimum of arcade mode
Mechanically, Fighting EX Layer plays like it should be but single player content is the worst part.
I know ARIKA isn't big and is even behind the likes of SNK but a proper arcade mode and costumes would improve the game greatly.
@@Zontar82 Technically it does have an arcade mode, but all you get from playing it is a page of text for each ending.
9:06 is that Rugal's Gigantic Pressure super?
Yes!
It's called Giga Gladiator in game, but we all know it's the Gigantic Pressure super.
The SF EX series can be summarized in two words:
SONIC KA-BOOM!
And also: floaty fighter
This game was my first exposure to Street Fighter as a franchise and one of the first fighting games I ever played. I spent many an hour in front of a CRT and PS2 with my cousin, unlocking all the characters, playing and replaying the arcade mode over and over with different combinations of characters.
The move list looked like arcane runes with symbols like stars on it and buttons that weren't on our PS2 controllers. Each special move was a journey to learn and unlock, and we couldn't do them consistently. It was a perfect game to play couch co op, and the tag system let us play co op together or against each other as we wanted.
Our uncle was around a little more for the arcade days (as we were late 90s kids they were just going extinct as we came up). He was like our personal final boss. This game let us play handicap matches, so we would play him 2v1 and still struggle to take rounds off him. When he wasn't around we would grind and practice, hoping to beat him the next time and he'd give us pointers here and there. When he taught us how to consistently do the Hadouken it changed the game, and he was like an arcane master doing moves we'd only seen the AI do against us.
Those were really magical days, the kind that I feel like don't really happen anymore. Now that I've been part of the fgc proper for over a decade and know all about inputs, tech, frame data, and have even participated in some tournaments here and there, I'm sure I've far surpassed that uncle. But he'll always be one of the greats in my mind because of those days. That's a really nostalgic time for me, and probably a large part of what sparked my love for fighting games. Thanks for the video and for helping me relive a great part of my childhood.
The in-game fighting animations/mocap in the SF EX series for me are some of the best I've ever seen in a fighting game. They're so creative, and there's something extremely satisfying watching the fighters move sets unravel. Graphically the SF EX series are nowhere near as polished as their competition at the time but i personally think EX outdoes them all in style and creativity
The entire Street Fighter EX series is pretty funky. But I’d be lying if I said that EX2 Plus wasn’t my favorite fighting game on the PS1.
EX3 was also one of the first games I ever played on the PS2. I liked it despite being super casual with fighting games at the time. I think it’s pretty fun.
The entire EX series is my favourite SF series, only SF6 might be able to match them and be as great
Bro EX3 is my favorite one, & my first experience w SF ever. I want a Sharon & Nanase back. Area too. Maybe even Hokuto and the beautiful black Gypsy
Working in a gameshop: the casuals couldn't button-bash like they could in Tekken and SoulCalibur.
I wanna get this one nitpick out the way... I don't know if I would consider any of the EX games a "Street Fighter entry" as they are more of a crossover fighter between Capcom's Street Fighter and Arika's original characters, disguised as Street fighter (Kinda like BlazBlue Cross Tag Battle.... Which shouldnt have been named Blazblue). Anyway, firsat I played this game was in 2010. I was turning 14, I was catching up on fighting games I missed out on because by that point I've been an SNK fan for about 2 years. And after opening my mind to playing SNK fighters it led to me being more open to playing other games and not just the popular or well known ones. This game WAS A BLAST. While the in game graphics definitely aged, I regretted not getting it sooner, mainly because I wasn't sure what the EX series was at the time. After researching and seing a gameplay video of SFEX3, I was sold. People need to give this game a chance.
The thing is unlike SFEX, the character roster in that BlazBlue game are taken from established IPs from other series, everyone who bought that game knew who they are and knew that the game was a crossover, the subtitle gave that away already. The EX characters for SFEX was made just for that game series so most who play SFEX didn't know who the new character are and associate them with only the SFEX games meaning the EX characters are not Fighting Layer characters or from any existing IP, they are actually Street Fighter characters but Capcom let Arika get full ownership of them which was a mistake as now those characters feel out of place when not part of the Street Fighter franchise anymore. It's like taking guys like Alex, Dudley, Necro, Urien, Gill, and Oro off of SFIII and giving them away to dev like Arc System Works and say okay these are no longer SF characters, you can add them to your roster for Guilty or Blaze.
@@VOAN From what I heard, Capcom actually never owned them, or the music, which is why we never gotten anything related to the EX series since. Capcom tried to buy the characters from Arika but Arika wouldn't let them. Not to mention when the first EX game was in development it didn't start out as Street Fighter EX, but rather an original project (Featuring the same characters we all know and love from Arika), that also featured originally only Ryu and Ken at the time, because Capcom wanted to test their characters in a 3D environment (whether or not SFEX is 3D I'll let everyone else decide for themselves on that). There is actually a video from ArikaFGC showing the beta footage of Street Fighter EX (before it was called that). Eventually leading up to Arika putting in many of Capcom Characters in the game along with there own an calling it Street Fighter EX. It was more so meant to be its own thing rather than another Street Fighter entry if that makes sense.
We only associated them with Street Fighter cuz we thought Capcom owned those characters and everything else in the EX games. Many of us wanted them to come back but there was an issue with that. The issue? Little did we know it was actually Arika that owned those characters and the music and vice versa. Thus why we never get anything from Capcom related to EX like collections, individual fighters. etc. Except the costumes in SFV. Knowing this now we essentially associate the EX fighters to just Arika in general. Similar as to how Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Jam (Yes I know she isn't FROM Fighting Jam but from Fighting All-Stars: Code Holders), who people seldom debate is either a Street fighter character or not. Tho it be more logical to say she's just a Capcom character. And not just in the sense that they own her, just a character FROM Capcom. Also similar to Captain Commando who originally is also from Capcom as he didn't originate from his arcade game yet. Same could be applied to. We consider SFEX a crossover in disguise because Capcom never owned those characters from the EX series to sum it up.
EDIT: Although fandom wikis fake things all the time, there is a art piece of Street Fighter EX one literally labeled on the Capcom Database wiki "Arika meets Capcom". I think that also may imply Street Fighter EX was just a crossover labeled Street Fighter.
Respect for including evil zone to the opening sequence
I bought EX3 used, and while i didn't think it was one of the GOATs, I remember playing it and going, "wait, what's so bad about this?"
Street Fighter EX3 was my childhood! So glad you covered it; the music and gameplay was amazing.
Fun fact: Street Fighter EX3 is the first fighting game ever released on PS2 beating out Tekken Tag, Dead or Alive 2, and even Ready to Rumble Boxing Round 2 by a matter of weeks and even days!!
EX3 was hilariously my introduction to the series, hell the genre as a whole. I was rather young at the time but I remember loving the credits minigame where you beat up a mob of jobbers and I thought that the Blanka animations were so cool and impressive. Fun memories.
Great video, as always! SF EX3 really doesn't get the respect it deserves. I have some good friends from NY who absolutely love the SF EX games. It was through them that I found out about them originally, in fact!
Also, as soon as I saw you mention ScrewAttack, I instantly hit the Like button, ngl! Didn't know you grew up watching SA content! I had an audio-only show on ScrewAttack back in 2007 but I'm not sure if you were on the site at that time or not. Anyway, have a good one, man!
I may come off a bit harsh in this video, but I was watching everything on ScrewAttack and even going to SGC in that era, so I definitely have a lot of love for that era haha.
It was a different time and I don't think we should judge too hard on it.
Thank you for keeping all of this footage in 4:3.
I would liked it if Akuma could've been there. Characters are way too zoomed in. Maybe I could give a shot.
I played this a ton as a kid, it was actually the only sf I had until like sf4
Ace was my boy
you have inspired me to try out ex2 and 3 thank you so much!
LET'S GOOOO
I've always had a good time with the EX series.
I've always loved the EX-clusive characters, especially the legend that is Skullomania.
10:55 Hayate was pretty much the only EX2 character absent. I think they gutted him since he's a swordfighter, and it wouldn't be a good idea to give Ace some of Hayate's moves when Ace doesn't carry a sword at all.
akuma and the cycloids too were absent
And let's not forget about both Allen and Blair.
@@KJBlueAvengerHowever, it is possible to teach moves of Fighting Layer characters to Ace, specifically from Allen, Blair and Tetsuo.
@@NewGabeOrder I'm aware of that. Even then, I still wish they were in the game.
I hope Arika and capcom make an ex collection one day, maybe with the 3rd version of FEXL they can do it befire the game comes out.
Thanks for this video and the constant stream of great content!
I only got to play this one recently, as in over the last 5 years, but it's a great time. I hope someone other folx will find it through this video and fall in love with it!
I've recently stopped caring about what others say about the game and instead watch ur videos since you show appreciation these games deserve
I wish those old reviewers could have seen this.
YES! My favorite Street Fighter sub-series game of all time! Thank you so much, GuileWinQuote.
When i went back to EX3 i thought maybe i had rose tinted nostalgia glasses. I wanted to get it on real hardware for the genuine experience. However playing it again i realized my childhood memories weren’t unfounded and that i loved EX3 for a reason. It’s a very niche SF game, but it has a special place in my heart
Everyone treated me like I was insane for liking this game
i want another EX series from the SF franchise
SF EX was made by Arika. And now Arika is in a (more) struggling phase and busy with their own stuff.
Kairi is my favorite shoto to this day, and I'm saying it when I normally only play Akuma on every sf he's in.
EX3 let’s you do some absolutely crazy stuff - it offers so much freedom that it takes a little while to yet used to it. Such a fun game once you get into it.
The Street Fighter EX games (along with SF2 Turbo on SNES) was my first exposure to the series, in terms of actually playing them. Specifically, EX Plus Alpha for PS1. Such a fun game.
I bought this game on a whim a couple years ago (found a copy of it online complete in box for like $10) and I have no idea how anyone thought this game was bad. Even from a causal perspective without any of the games deeper mechanics it’s just fun to mash buttons (especially with moves like Sakura’s finger poke of doom and other moves like that) I’ve spent hours just messing around in training mode (the juggling option is really fun to mess around with) or finding combos in dramatic battle mode, this game is just fun.
Thank you for shining a spotlight on this game. But I won't lie: when I saw Ken and Ryu face off against each other in this game, I inhaled sharply. WOOF.
Street Fighter EX 3 was the first game I bought with my new PS2 back in 2000. I really enjoyed it. Street Fighter is my all time favorite game series.
This is legit one of the most fun street fighter games ever made. I don’t care lol. Everytime I saw a copy of this game in the past I bought it. Glad I just bought it again 😎
The biggest reason why SFEX3 wasn't popular:
It's as lacking in content, cutscenes, single-player modes, and features as the vanilla version of SFV.
What made it worse is that only two newcomers made it into the roster, which was both Ace and Evil Ryu, but all they were is just replacements to Cycloid and Gouki.
All Capcom & ARIKA needed to do to fix the game, was to make a *Street Fighter EX3 Plus.*
I was REALLY into Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha when I was younger but NEVER seen anyone play or talk about it up till recently. It's a trip to see it now lol. I remember SFEX3 always being on the shelf at GameStop or EB games.
I’m glad you mentioned Tekken Tag. I never played any of the EX games, but I randomly think about EX3 from time to time because of it was part of the Official PlayStation Magazine’s PS2 launch in Japan, my absolute favorite video game article of all time. Their bottom line was “It’s okay, but you’re better off waiting for Tekken Tag Tournament”
On the positive front, it cannot be stressed enough just how hard the EX3 soundtrack slaps. Special shout-out to Doctrine Dark's theme "Under Tube" which is probably my favourite piece of non-Ambient interstitial music ever.
Hoping we see some FEXL/SF6 cross-promotion.
I liked the EX games because they gave Ken green hadoukens. I also liked the extra shotos Kairi and Allen and I liked their unique spin on the Ryu/Ken/Akuma toolset. I really hope Capcom collaborates with the EX developers again because they had fantastic character designs. (In most cases? far better than what we've seen in SF5/SF6)
Yeah I'm glad Kairi wasn't just a shoto palette swap in SFEX2 & 3, to me he looks like another Capcom character: Dante from Devil May Cry.
You should try DOA5LR. It has also has a similar Tag mode where you can Tag switch from pretty much any normal attack. It also lets you play 4 players (2v2) online still. (Beware PC version doesn't have lobbies and therefore no active community atm.)
I know people that play EX2 the most of any SF because they used Arika characters more. No Hayate in EX3 saw some sticking with EX2.
I always loved ex3 since i knew it existed back in 2003, because of that, ir hurts me seeing evryone hating on the Game, so glad almost everyone changing their minds in recent years
I remember playing this game. I always thought it was cool.
When I picked up my PS2 at launch back in 2000 Tekken Tag and Armored Core 2 were sold out so I went home with TimeSplitters and Street Fighter EX3; me and my brother still had a damn good time and still remember both games fondly.
One of my first all-nighters was playing the EX games and unlocking all the characters.
As far as I'm aware the EX2 game was never released in Europe. Remember really looking for it in every store and never finding it. It looks fun
I miss the ex series. Really wish the ex 3 characters could still be in mainline street fighter especially skullo !! . These games were so underrated and so fun . Ex 3 is Goated. Side note raging blast 2 is best dbz 3D fighter or rather had the best potential
This was my first PS2 game followed by Tekken tag 2. I bought SF EX3 before the PS2 released. I always loved all the options to make the gameplay how you wanted it to. My only knock on it ever was no Akuma (but it did have evil Ryu and you could turn a custom character into a Akuma in moves only).
i'm mad excited to see a guilewinquote ex2 video now. you have the most in depth FG videos on forgotten games and EX2+ while not forgotten doesn't get the credit it deserves (as personally the best fighting game ever)
I never trusted gaming "journalists" of the time because, MUCH LIKE NOW, their reviews and opinions are entirely biased.
Imagine thinking there's such a thing as un unbiased opinion in the context of entertainment products.
@@mechadeka right? They did Rooflemonger wrong with that, haha!
And also lots of clickbait and controversial opinions just to create engagement with their content.
BRING GARUDA"S GOOFY AHH BACK!
Glad I didn’t read enough gaming mags to convince me that EX3 sucks, because me and my friends played the crap out of this game, and loved it!!
I remember that in those years more attention was also given to Dead or Alive 2, when I was able to play Ex3 I felt a little disappointed because it didn't have the challenges, only the Ace ones and it was something that I liked about the previous 2. I think that in general something more was expected from a ps2 title.
I remember playing street fighter ex at my friend's house; I fell in love with the game. I could never understand the hate it received.
Misleading title, video isn't about SFTM Arcade.
0:59 No, it absolutely STILL is SFTM, I can't remember how long I've seen that game get maliciously slandered, and arguably even now still (Thanks Justin Wong and that other idiot)
Street Fighter EX1 and EX2 are one of my top favourite fighting games of all time like everything about it from the hits, combos and music is absolutely fantastic.
I slightly prefer EX1 a bit just because it has Blair Dame which sadly the other games don't have her at all and I think it had the best music out of all of them but both are still absolutely amazing games anyway.
I want to give EX3 a try a lot though but my laptop can't emulate PS2 the best but maybe, I'll try to get a second hand PS2 just to play it.
It's crazy how well the graphics of ex1 & 2 have aged, while those of ex3... didn't. Going from (what I feel like) is the best looking 3D Street Fighter to the worst can't have done it any favors
'least the gameplay seems fantasic. As a spectator, it's nice to see crazy combos that don't drag on much, while still keeping everything pretty grounded and steady paced
honestly? sfex3's only crime in my book is just being kinda really ugly. momentary cancels and the tag mechanics are so goddamn cool and now that we're in the future and we can play ps2 games online with arcade sticks i think the game deserves a little bit of a renaissance.
honestly speaking of y2k-adjacent fighting games, i'd love to see a video on bloody roar sometime!
12:20 I didn't know D. Dark had a Chirico Cuvie-inspired color scheme! Pretty cool and very fitting.
Glad I'm not the only one who noticed.
The introduction makes a good remark that reminds of the whole big topic about the dangerous influence of "viral" community bandwagon opinions in the modern internet (kinda late 2000s). Even before mainstream social media, things went viral in just a smaller scale, the scale compatible for those years.
I thought this video was about Ryu and talking about he has been misunderstood for years because of the thumbnail!! But my gosh, I'm already interested just watching the video and hearing about a game I've surprisingly never heard about :D
I had EX3 on PS2 back in the day. It was okay at first, but the tag element felt messy to me. Coming from someone who loved EX and EX2, as well as having the privilege of playing an imported Fighting Layer cabinet at my favorite videogame spot back in the late 90's, it pains me to say that I was bored of EX3 after almost a month.
I felt bad for avoiding it because I kept hearing it was like tekken and street fighter mix. Turns out it's just 2.5 street fighter