(sorry for the awful English guys)
I think the conclusion I gave is the most pessimist one and is balanced with the "Fight for the future" subtitle, embodied in the stories you noted. As for Oro and "the survivors" they might work in a sequel but wouldn't that be the beginning of a whole new mythology, one that goes beyond the Street Fighter one and builds something new? (I LOVE how this game asks questions about itself, nice having a chat about this!)
Well. Gouki, Ryu, Honda, Chun, Sagat, Boxer... all of the classic characters are essentially interpretations, some very close to the source, of classic martial arts romance/mythology. Some are based on actual persons (as are some SF3 characters)!
But the more the story went on, it became it's own thing, even though very japanese manga/anime inspired ('sup, Dictator).
As I see it, 3 was kinda of a response to new stuff in pop culture as whole (similar to how you compared GG/BB/Xrd as response to anime trends), distancing itself of older tropes (Shadaloo, Gouken's legacy, international super cops doing stuff (Guile and Chun)) while bringing new stuff to the table. The Illuminati is a big secret organization, but its iconology and inspirations are clearly different from Shadaloo. They aren't even clearly Big Bad Evil Guys, they don't have bullshit anime superscience, having religious influences instead! (Dhalsim has some religious influence, but that is basically reserved to out of the game materials and wasn't on his initial design AFAIK.)
Then we have Twelve, who you already analyzed, Dudley, Alex, Remy, Sean... all more modern interpretations of how to represent martial arts over the world, either on their role in the story, looks or inspiration. I mean, back in '92 Brazil was represented with a green jungle monster, now we have a black youngster who practices karate and travels to USA to get better.
Dudley gets the tired "refined english gentleman" trope and subverts it, being a rich black englishman who keeps such an oldschool lifestyle while being a not bare knuckle boxer with Hajime no Ippo inspired moves. Alex is a blond, strong american... without all the over the top patriotism or smugness. Unlike Ken, he is an underdog and is not a bread and butter character for newbies.
Ibuki and Makoto are reverse Sakuras in a closer to the year 2000 world. Our biggest throwbacks are Q and Oro. Oro is the classic pervert hermit, but even he is pretty new/original for SF lore. A japanese martial arts instructor who migrated to Brazil and learned a completely new art, turning into a yellow skinned guy who loves fast food and movies, so strong that he handicaps himself with fucking magic.
Q is a love letter to simpler times. His design is clearly a rip off/homage of classic 70's character who had nothing to do with martial arts. Robot Detective K was a tech miracle that wanted to find humanity while solved crimes related to his own creator, to the police force disbelief, his story having a very abrupt ending. Well, Q has no face, no story, no dialog lines. He is a relic of the past, clearly out of place, both in space and time. This is shown in his unorthodox and very direct fighting style (wild swings and haymakers, ahoy).
Not a thing about those characters or their visual presentation were done in SF before. 3 could be to SF what movie/book sequels try to be so many times: an evolution, a new age based on something already done. The Evangelion to Mazinger, if you allow me such an awful comparison.
I think that affirms the finality of the game. If you think about it everyone ends on a high note or with unanswered questions. Just because the game doesn't end in an absolute doesn't mean the next game will up the ante. That sort of thinking is what causes those nonstop anime power increases. To have E. Ryu and Oni be canon in SF would be awful and I think the Third Strike team were interested in avoiding that.
Oro pretty much denies this.
I don't know; Ono, in a interview for Eurogamer, I think, said that SF3 was pretty much the result of the best that the SF staff could do. Maybe all the higher themes and aesthetics experimentations were a reflex of what they thought as the peak of what could be done with SF.
Why should you not hit all the directions? How are you even skipping directions?
Didn't VSav and KoF allowed skipping one or two directions in more complex motions?
