Introduction

Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack; (2I, 2nd Impact)
Version	Japan 970930
Developers	Capcom
Publishers	Capcom
Systems	CPS3 & derived home ports
	SF 30th Anniversary Collection
Official Websites	SF 30th Site
	Fightcade 2I Portal
Online Play	Rollback via emulation
Community Channels	2nd Impact Unofficial Discord

Street Fighter III 2nd Impact: Giant Attack is the version of Street Fighter III released between New Generation and 3rd Strike. Released in 1997, less than a year after New Generation was released, 2nd Impact: Giant Attack is a much needed update that added new and fresh content and several quality of life improvements while also fixing balance issues New Generation might've had. Compared from the previous version, new mechanics such as EX Moves and Personal Actions have been added, as well as 3 new exciting characters: the brutish Hugo, the terrifying Urien, and the legendary Akuma. With these changes to the base roster comes some smaller additions such as the new Parry minigame, and the chance to face a secret opponent if you do very well in the arcade mode. Included in this game is an actual built-in widescreen mode that was properly utilized in this game and this game only.

Home releases of 2nd Impact: Giant Attack are very scarce, the only ports being for the Sega Dreamcast and the SF 30th Anniversary Collection. In 1999, the Dreamcast version was released in a bundle known as Street Fighter III: Double Impact. It included both ports of New Generation and 2nd Impact: Giant Attack. In 2nd Impact: Giant Attack's case, the game was slightly changed in this version to account for some infinites that are possible in the original arcade version. Sadly, the second and last port of the game so far is in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, in which there are slight changes for quality of life purposes.

The game itself is very different to 3rd Strike and should be treated as such. It's a simpler, more explosive game than the game that came after it and you'll find certain mechanics/normals/etc. completely missing or changed.

Game Mechanics

Dashing - Double tapping forward/back will allow you to dash either forwards or back

Super Jump - Jumping after tapping down/downforward/downback will give you a higher jump.

Blocking - You hold back and downback to block, simple enough.

Parrying - Tapping forward as a move is about to hit you grants you a parry, which gives you a significant advantage over the opponent while also allowing you to punish certain moves that cannot be punished on block otherwise. You can parry lows by tapping down (not downforward).

Air Parrying - Yes, They Work In This Game! You can air parry a move by tapping forward or down in the air. There is a major difference between them as well, with forward parrying in the air leaving you far away from the opponent and parrying with down in the air leaving you extremely close to the opponent.

Universal Overhead - Doing down twice and then punch/kick will allow you to do your universal overhead. These are typically better in this game so learn how to use these. If you do them with two punches/kicks you will spend your own bar for no additional benefit.

Throws - They're proximity throws in this game, with some throws being character specific, the general idea is that you do forward or back and either MP/MK/HP/HK depending on the character,

Grap Defense (Throw Teching) - You can tech throws in this game by throwing at about the same time as your opponent.

EX Moves - Doing a special with two punches/kicks will give you a more powerful/enhanced version of the move you wanna do with some exceptions (Akuma/Gouki doesn't have EX moves as an example)

Quick Rise - Down as you're knocked down, certain moves cause hard knockdowns which disallow you from doing this.

Personal Action/Taunt - HP+HK at the same time, the benefit of a taunt is per character, but much like 3rd Strike they have a benefit in this game.

2022 Renovation Project

Work is underway to renovate the format of the 2nd Impact wiki to adopt a mobile-friendly format and improve legibility.

Tier List

OLD TIER LIST

(Keep in mind that this tier list doesn't reflect the opinions of people who currently play this game, this being left up here with slight reformatting for posterity)

This is a tier list that is generally agreed upon among the 2I players on the SRK forums. Keep in mind that this game no longer has a competitive scene.

Top Tier: Ibuki, Gouki, Sean

Upper Tier: Yang, Ryu, Dudley

Middle Tier: Ken, Yun, Necro, Elena

Low Tier: Alex, Urien

Bottom Tier: Hugo

2022 Tier List (Non-JP)

This is probably a more accurate tier list at the moment, it's ultimately not too different to the older tier list in the grand scheme of things but I do feel like there's been a fair bit of progress when it comes to how people play this game.

The opinions taken into consideration during the making of this tier list are: A.D.H.D, Hokuto, LordBBH, SabreAZ, Anti-Shoto

S: Gouki

A: Ibuki, Sean, Yang, Yun

B+: Ryu, Urien, Dudley

B: Ken

C: Elena

C-: Alex, Necro, Oro

D: Hugo

A.D.H.D / EXDSPRTS Tier List (2024)

During the point of time since the creation of the average Non-JP tier list and this one; my opinion on the tier list has changed a fair bit. This is completely ordered and takes into account that at this current moment (in my opinion), the gap between Akuma and the other top tiers is not as wide as initially suspected.

This is because Yun's versatility and usage of SA3 has improved tenfold, as he can deal upwards to 70% off of 123 xx SA3. SA1 remains an amazing super and for some players (Like Justin Wong) is their preferred super just because of how easy it is to use. With techniques from 3rd Strike being applicable to 2nd Impact and the game becoming more opened up, this tier list reflects this change.

Urien moving up to A tier is due to his aegis utility being ridiculous, and the reward and setplay he gets off anything is absurd. EX Headbutt being an overhead and being able to jail into it, creating F-Shikis in the process that lead into death.

Ryu moving up to A tier is due to his stronger than average neutral and denjin setups, they're really strong in the grand scheme of things.

I think any character above C can win and do well.

2024 UPDATE: With even more tech into consideration and a clearer view of how the game is played. The pre-existing tier list will be replaced, and with that comes a change log.

Change Log (2022-2024):

- Urien and Ryu bumped up To A, Sean is top 4 instead of top 5.

- Alex And Oro Bumped Up To C, Elena reordered to be below Alex.

S: Akuma, Yun, Ibuki

A: Sean, Yang, Ryu, Urien

B: Dudley, Ken

C: Alex, Elena, Oro

D: Necro, Hugo

JP Tier List (2021)

This tier list is admittedly very condensed (even in comparison to the tier list above, I'm keeping the original tier list formatting for posterity)

SS: Gouki

S: Yun