Here is the latest info on the game EVERYONE is waiting for or playing now at their local arcade.

Capcom had gone all out on this game. Not only is this a complete overhaul of the Street Fighter system (rather than a simple upgrade), it's also one of the prettiest games ever to grace an arcade. OK, so it's no Virtua Fighter 3, but then that's not really the point. Street Fighter 3 is designed to look like a Japanese anime cartoon rather than a realistic portrayal of human figures.

Virtually every aspect of the Street Fighter series has been changed and improved for number three. The biggest change is the character line-up. Of the ten characters available, eight are brand new. six are presumably there are also hidden or boss characters.

The first new guy is Alex, a Guile-style soldier with great throwing ability. Brought up in the tough streets of New York, he has a cocky attitude similar to Ken's. And he is a big fellow.

Ryu is of course back, with a new arsenal of kicks and punches and a dramatically changed fighting style. His old moves are there intact, but his new moves look and feel like nothing he's used before. Again, he's more refined, but not as strong as Ken.

Ken on the other hand is happily married with a three year old kid, but this fact has little bearing on his fighting prowess. Again, he has all his old moves, but with new combos and new specials to help him along.

Yun and Yan are twin brothers from Hong Kong, similar, but not identical to Fei Long. Their Kung Fu style is fast and furious, but lacking the raw power of some other characters. Use these guys to overwhelm and confuse opponents.

Dudley is a dude. A British-born boxer with a very straightforward and very powerful Marquis of Queensberry style. Left, left, left right left. Jabbing, uppercutting and a lot more sophisticated than his predecessor (in boxing terms) Balrog.

Ibuki is a babe. Just like her predecessor Sakura, she's a high-school princess by day, killer Ninja by night. She apparently uses Ninja-like traits of stealth and cunning to trick her opponents.

The new CPS III board (32 bit with loads of RAM) is pretty and powerful for this kind of 2D animation, with very crisp, high-resolution backdrops and characters. What is especially noticeable is the quality of the animation. Every move, every character is silky smooth - something that couldn't be said of the previous SF games.

The game features an all new system of special moves, replacing the Alpha counter and Super moves of the previous games. "Super Arts" is the new system, a three-level super move selection process, requiring various levels of "charging". It makes the super move selection more complex and adds a much-needed level of strategy to the game. These moves also help balance out the strengths and weaknesses of standard characters. We'll have some movies soon, so watch the site.