Ultra Street Fighter 4 Omega Mode rekindles memories of Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike

The upcoming Omega Edition of Ultra Street Fighter 4 adds a number of new abilities to the fighting game's gargantuan 44 character roster - and a few of them rekindle memories of Capcom's much-loved Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike.

In a post on Capcom Unity, producer Tomoaki Ayano talks about the changes Omega Edition, which will be available as a free update, will bring.

The headline addition is to Street Fighter favourite Ryu, who gets the Hanagashi move (forward + HP + HK to activate damage-nullifying armour). Based on the screenshot below, we see Hanagashi is clearly inspired by the parry system from 3rd Strike.

3rd Strike's parry system was at the centre of what many consider to be the greatest moment ever seen in a competitive fighting game match: Daigo "The Beast" Umehara's full parry of Justin Wong's Chun-Li in the EVO 2004 3rd Strike semi-final. Re-watch it in the video below.

In Ultra Street Fighter 4's Omega Edition, Ryu can use Hanagashi to absorb an attack and from there use EX meter to deliver a follow-up strike.

"My inspiration," Ayano wrote, "I guess you could say we wanted a showcase of Ryu's moves from all of the SF games that have been released up until now."

There's more Street Fighter 3 love in Omega Mode: Chun-Li's Houyoku-Sen, her second Super Art from 3rd Strike, returns, using two bars of EX meter for a multi-hit move.

Information on the changes to characters such as Ken, Zangief, Dhalsim, Honda, Blanka and Guile is over at Capcom Unity.

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