But it's to these people that we thank for keeping the fire lit for so long. Having been released at perhaps the worst time for a fighting game to come to an arcade, it was unabashedly targeted to the hardest of its hardcore followers. As the fighting game maxim of "easy to learn and impossible to master" goes, the knowledge that 3rd Strike can practically never be fully mastered makes it a cruel teacher, but its followers love it for that reason alone. Now, grown and wise, it's the pinnacle of its form. We used to talk about 3rd Strike as an unloved middle child. It's ironic to talk about Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike in those terms. We want to see a comeback because, on rare occasion, we get to see what hope can look like. We want to believe in comebacks because we want to remember what hope is. It's Daigo swatting away 15 kicks before a small, screaming crowd of true believers. It's Ali stepping back in the ring after government exile. It's the Cavs roaring back from being down 3 games to 1. And then by calm control, sheer will, or dumb ass luck, there is a shift almost tectonic, the tables turned. The other side's domination has only produced a gulf to cross, their continued battering of the underdog almost comical. One competitor is on the losing side, down to a sliver of themselves. It's primal, I think, the rush of witnessing the snatch of victory from the mouth of defeat.
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