Single Player

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1. Get an arcade emulator. GGPO's built in emulator (ggpofba.exe) is recommended.
2. You must first let the emulator know that you have 3rd Strike. This means that you must first already have (and played once) the original 3rd Strike with your emulator.
3. Now that the emulator remembers that you have 3rd Strike, get the edited version of the 3rd Strike ROM from Here or Here. Backup all your original ROMs first.
4. Place the ROM in your roms folder, along with the unedited ROMs.
5. Remove sfiii3.zip from your roms folder if you have it in there. Otherwise the changes won't be loaded.
6. Open ggpofba.exe.
7. Click on Game > Load game... DO NOT click on 'Scan ROMs' or you will not be able to load the edited ROM.
8. Make sure that 'Show Available Only' is un-checked. Make sure 'Also show clones' is checked.
9. Scroll down the list of games and find 'Street Fighter III 3rd Strike: Fight for the Future'. There should be 3 games with this name. Choose the one labeled 'Japan 990608' and ROM name 'sfiii3an'. It may have red 'error' icon next to it.
10. Double click it. There will be a warning message. Click OK to let it start loading.

 

Tips & Further Information

It is important that you double backup your old existing ROMs before adding the edited sfiii3an.zip into the group.

 

Save a lot of time when looking for sfiii3an.zip in the Games List. Simply un-check all the Filters and only have 'CPS-3' ticked. This way, the Games List will only show CPS-3 games and you won't have to scroll down every time. Save your Filter options in ggpofba.exe by clicking Game > Exit emulator.

 

The ROM 'sfiii3an.zip' is actually an original (unedited) version of the 3rd Strike rom. It is the clone ROM for the Japan region. The other versions are sfiii3.zip (not needed) and sfiii3n.zip (most people use this to play 3rd Strike).
Not many people have 'sfiii3an.zip', so we can conveniently use this as the '4th Strike ROM'.

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Remember NOT to click on SCAN ROMs in ggpofba.exe. This is because SCAN ROMs will do a quick check on your ROMs. When it detects that your sfiii3an.zip ROM is edited, the emulator remembers this and will not let you load sfiii3an. If you accidently click it, you will have to clear out your roms folder. Then let the emulator detect that you have an original sfiii3an.zip ROM. This way it will unlock sfiii3an.zip.'

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You have to tick 'Also show clones' because sfiii3an.zip is a clone of sfiii3n.zip. You have to un-tick 'Show available only' because the edited sfiii3an.zip is not the full original sfiii3an.zip and is therefore 'unavailable'.

Because the edit (sfiii3an.zip) and the original (sfiii3n.zip) use different ROMS, your normal 3rd Strike activity will NOT be affected.

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For general help on the ggpofba emulator, visit the GGPO website and forums.

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Please note that is illegal to keep ROMS on your computer unless you have the original copy of the game and rip the ROM for backup purposes.

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Playing Online with GGPO

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1. First make sure that you can play the edited version offline by following the above steps.
2. Get GGPO and log-in. You can get a GGPO account by registering an account on the GGPO forum.
3. The 'Magical Drop III' room in GGPO will be used to play '4th Strike'. Get the dummy version of the Magical Drop III ROM from Here or Here. Place it in your GGPO roms folder.
4. You will need a special save-state to make '4th Strike' load in the Magical Drop III room. Get this save-state Here or Here. Place it in your GGPO savestates folder.
4. Go on GGPO and enter the Magical Drop III room. Only people who have the same save-state and the dummy ROM can connect with you.
5. Challenge someone who also has these files and play.

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Tips & Further Information

If you cannot connect to other players, try to play games in other rooms and see if you can connect for those games. Check that you have the correct files. Check that the person you are challenging also has the correct files.

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To play any game on GGPO, a player needs to first open their ports. Visit the GGPO website and forums for more information on this.

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Apparently a lot of Karnov's Revenge players are also keen 3rd Strike players, they may be able to give you some help if you run into problems.

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'4th Strike' is not supposed to be a replacement or improvement from the original 3rd Strike, which will always be the real deal. Instead, it offers a fun and refreshing spin-off for old 3rd Strike players.