Introduction

The third installment in the Street Fighter Zero series from Capcom. Released in arcades in 1998 and taking place in the story one year after the end of Street Fighter Zero 2, SFA3 features a new combo system, a mode-based Super Combo system, and a massive roster of characters (along with minor tweaks such as Air Recovery and a new way to throw). Faces such as Blanka and Vega returned along with 3 new characters (Karin, Cody, and R. Mika). Bison once takes his place at the top of the ladder as the game's final boss.

The game made its way to home consoles in 1999 (first on the Sony Playstation then to Sega's Saturn and Dreamcast thereafter) where Capcom enhanced the game with more characters (bringing in Fei-Long, Dee-Jay, T. Hawk, and Guile as well as an "Evil" version of Ryu with some extra moves; which made a complete roster of characters from both the Street Fighter Zero series and the Street Fighter II series (circa Super Street Fighter II Turbo)). In addition, Capcom also devised a mode called "World Tour" which could be described as a "Quest" mode of sorts. The player could take a character and compete in various challenges while they built up their stats (the mode was modified for the Dreamcast). Another mode of interest was Dramatic Battle, in which two characters could fight against one opponent.

In 2002, Capcom released the game on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance as "Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper". This version is the first of two portable releases for this game so far. The Game Boy Advance version took out the World Tour mode but retained the other modes. It also took out many stages and music but in exchange, introduced 3 characters from "Capcom VS SNK 2" (Yun, Maki, and Eagle). Then, in 2006, Capcom released "Street Fighter Zero 3 MAX" for the Sony Playstation Portable. This 2nd portable release brought back the World Tour mode as well as introduced one new character in addition to the 3 added for the "Upper" version (Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Evolution). By and far, the most complete version, the PSP version of the game features everything from all the console versions before it (including the Dreamcast-modified World Tour mode) and includes wireless play for local matches.

In June of 2006, Capcom will release the "Street Fighter Zero Anthology" for the Sony Playstation 2 which will feature Street Fighter Zero, Zero 2, Zero 2 Gold (a Japan-only game that was released on the Saturn and Playstation as part of the Street Fighter Collection), and Zero 3. This PS2 release will mark the seventh release of the game.

*Information thanks to Shoryuken Wiki