Evo 2024 Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Recap

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was an underrated gem that has burgeoned into something of a FGC cultural paragon and to celebrate 25 years since the game's first release, it was one of the featured titles on Evo 2024's main stage. 

Taking the championship was MOV, a Japanese player that can be considered a legend and has always had a great affinity to 3rd Strike. He defeated Issei, a Japanese player who represents the United States. 

Issei had been able to force a reset with his Yun, but MOV made a switch, ditching Elena, who had brought him that far, for his tried and trusted Chun li. MOV had elevated Elena, a character who is mid-tier and was able to use her to take down some big names in the scene and make Grand Finals. 

TOP 6 Recap

The entire top 6 was an amazing affair featuring Issei, Chi-Rithy, Hayao, MOV, FrankieBFG, and the young Resolve. Issei started well, defeating Chi-Rithy in a nail-biting set that ended 3-2. This was before Hayao, who had knocked MOV out of the Evo Japan 2024 edition of 3rd Strike, suffered a humbling defeat to MOV whose Elena was a perfect counterpick for Hayao's oppressive Hugo. 

Hayao was a highlight of the tournament as even past his 40th birthday, still had the showmanship to keep the crowd entiretained. He battled FrankieBFG's Ken in a set that would be remembered for a lot of things from Hayao's constant showmanship after winning each round, and the end which saw an incredible interaction where after eating Ken's super, Hugo with about a pixel of health left air parried Ken's tatsu, hit him with a jump, low forward, and a clothesline. Then he did another jump kick with Ken activating his super in that moment, but completely whiffing leaving Hugo with a huge opportunity to finish him off. 

It was an incredible moment from an incredible tournament. 

Hayao eventually lost to Chi-Rithy in loser's semi final, but was a complete gentleman, motioning to the crowd to cheer his opponent. Issei who had already lost in Winners Final to MOV, was able to clutch the win against Chi-Rithy and earn the runback against MOV. 

MOV eventually won, but not without great difficulty. But ultimately, his Chun li was too much for Issei to handle. 

The rankings for the tournament go thus:

• 1. MOV
• 2. Issei
• 3. Chi-Rithy
• 4. Hayao
• 5. FrankieBFG
• 5. Resolve