The fourth main installment of the Street Fighter franchise, released in 1997 as a direct sequel to Street Fighter II (as opposed to the earlier Zero/Alpha series that acts as a prequel to SFII).
Intended to introduce a "new generation" of fighters, Street Fighter III discarded the character roster from previous games, with only Ryu and Ken returned, introducing several new characters in their place, most notably the female ninja Ibuki, twin brothers Yun and Yang, and grappler Alex. Street Fighter III introduced the Super Arts selection system and the ability to parry an opponent's attack.
Capcom would later introduce two updates to the game - Second Impact in 1998, which introduced two new characters as well as bringing back Akuma, and 3rd Strike in 1999, which introduced 4 new characters and brought back Chun-Li.
The series was initially marked as the latest chronologically in the Street Fighter timeline for 26 years (as Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V were set between SFII and III) until the release of Street Fighter 6 in 2023.
