Life Meter
As with most fighting games, each character has a Life Meter. The Life Meter is displayed as a green or yellow bar at the top of the screen. Player 1's Life Meter is on the left, and Player 2's Life Meter is on the right. As a character takes damage, the Life Meter will drain. Once the Life Meter is empty, the character cannot take any more damage without being K.O.ed. A player loses the round if his character is K.O.ed.
Although the Life Meters are always the same length, characters in 3rd Strike can withstand different amounts of damage before being K.O.ed. Some characters can even increase their defense by Taunting. Here is a list of the amount of damage each character can take, from highest to lowest:
| Character | Stamina |
| Q (after 3 taunts) | 2050 |
| Hugo (after 4 taunts) | 1870 |
| Q (after 2 taunts) | 1705 |
| Hugo(after 3 taunts) | 1670 |
| Hugo (after 2 taunts) | 1535 |
| Chun-Li (after 1 stretch or shoulder taunt) | 1400 |
| Hugo (after 1 taunt) | 1400 |
| Q (after 1 taunt) | 1400 |
| Hugo | 1385 |
| Gill | 1300 |
| Urien | 1285 |
| Alex | 1200 |
| Dudley | 1200 |
| Ken | 1200 |
| Makoto | 1200 |
| Q | 1200 |
| Ryu | 1200 |
| Chun-Li | 1120 |
| Elena | 1120 |
| Necro | 1120 |
| Oro | 1120 |
| Remy | 1120 |
| Sean | 1120 |
| Twelve | 1050 |
| Ibuki | 1035 |
| Yang | 1020 |
| Yun | 1020 |
| Akuma | 985 |