Street Fighter III was developed by Capcom specifically for its proprietary CP System III (CPS-3) arcade hardware, which was designed to display rich, detailed 2D graphics and was the company’s final dedicated arcade board. All three versions of the game were released on this platform. 

Set several years after the fall of M. Bison and the Shadaloo criminal empire, the 

Street Fighter III series shifts the focus to a “New Generation” of warriors. 

The Plot: The Illuminati’s Rise

The story centers on a mysterious, ancient secret society known as the Illuminati, which has manipulated world events for over 2,000 years. 

• The Leader: Gill, the self-proclaimed emperor of the Illuminati, seeks to achieve world peace by fulfilling a prophecy. He uses the Third World Warrior Tournament to scout for exceptional fighters to populate his envisioned utopia.
• The Protagonist: Alex, a military-trained grappler from Manhattan, is the central hero of the series. He enters the tournament to avenge his mentor, Tom, who was brutally defeated by Gill. 

Key Narrative Beats

Unlike previous games, the story of Street Fighter III is spread across three distinct iterations: 

• The Tournament Victor: Canonically, Alex wins the tournament and defeats Gill. However, Gill is not truly killed; he simply allows himself to be defeated, confident that his “G-Project” is already succeeding.
• The Return of Veterans:
  • Ryu continues his solitary journey for self-improvement and eventually meets and defeats Alex in 3rd Strike, inspiring Alex to become a better fighter.
  • Ken enters to test himself against Ryu once more but eventually drops out to focus on his family and his apprentice, Sean.
  • Chun-Li returns in 3rd Strike to rescue Li-Fen, an orphan girl kidnapped by the Illuminati (specifically Urien) for experimentation.
• Internal Rivalry: Gill’s brother, Urien, resents Gill’s promotion to Emperor and seeks to overthrow him while conducting his own cruel experiments, such as creating the shapeshifter Twelve.