Before The Beloved Street Fighter 4: There Was Street Fighter EX!

Besides being in 3D, the gameplay of the title is otherwise very familiar to those who played the previous entries of the series. Still using the primary formula of six punches and six kicks, though new mechanics like canceling out of supers into other supers and guard breaking were adding to at least change it up a little. Though these would be innovations not unlike when Street Fighter Alpha previously added air blocking and custom combos into the mix.

Why is Street Fighter EX not fondly remembered?

What would seem a bit odd to those familiar with other contemporary 3D fighters in the generation was its lack of taking advantage of the new dimension. Beyond the models of the characters themselves, most everything else the player is looking at is in 2D. The characters do not receive the ability to shift block, akin to TEKKEN, which ultimately creates an underwhelming experience.

Not helped by the fact that fighting games, after a while, were beginning to become repetitive in the scene. Street Fighter, in particular, is very comfortable releasing virtually similar titles mere years–even months after one another. With Street Fighter III: New Generation and Street Fighter Alpha 3 releasing after EX in 1997 to 1998, respectively, continuing the series back to 2D.

Is Street Fighter EX good?

Despite what can be said about the initial game’s lackluster presentation compared to the competition, it was still a solid game! The franchise is not very known for outright horrible entries, unless we want to talk about the first game that has otherwise been completely ignored–with good reason. There is also a game released based on the Street Fighter II live-action film, which had questionable balance and seemingly appeared as a Mortal Kombat rip-off.

Street Fighter EX would instead be most notable for the addition of its unique combatants to the roster. With Skullomania, Pullum Puma, and Doctorine Dark being newcomers brought into the fray from across the world. Being created largely by ARIKA too, they were even given the ability to retain the rights to these characters–allowing them to appear past their life with the street fighters, with the release of the more recent Fighting EX Layer bringing them back to the scene.

There would also be two sequels that came out after the first EX installment, with EX2 being the last to release in arcades and EX3 being the last in the sub-series. Ending in 2000 with the even more underwhelming PlayStation 2 launch on March 4th. Effectively marking the end as well as new titles in the series to be released. Not returning until the fourth mainline title years later, and thankfully reviving the series then with two more mainline games, with the newest being Street Fighter 6.

While we could never see Ryu meet up with the likes of Skullomania, there has been mutual respect between the two companies–as Street Fighter 5 released cosmetics for some of the original cast from Street Fighter EX to cross-promote with Fighting EX Layer. In the future, maybe they could join the fight in the latest title of Street Fighter, or at the very least, a collection of the EX series brought back much the same as has been done with the Marvel vs. Capcom and Capcom vs. SNK titles!