Street Fighter Games

The Street Fighter series from Capcom began in arcades way back in 1987. The game featured characters competing in hand-to-hand combat from different countries around the world. The series quietly set standards in fighting games and eventually grew into a large and highly successful franchise that continues to this day. Many fighting games claim inspiration from the Street Fighter series.

Street Fighter Arcade

The original Street Fighter game was released in the late 80's for arcade machines. The stand featured a joystick and a pressure-sensitive button that allowed players to execute light, medium or hard attacks to pummel opponents. However, due to arcade players' habit of pounding the console, the unit was redesigned to use six buttons as it is still found today.

The first Street Fighter had a slightly different layout than the games following it. Depending on which control set gamers took, Ryu or Ken would fight against a dozen opponents from around the world. The characteristic moves Hadoken (Surge Fist, or Fireball), Shoryuken (Dragon Fist/Punch), and Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku (Hurricane Kick, or Whirling Leg Kick) were all present as they still are to this day.

A Sequel is Spawned

Street Fighter in the arcades made only small splashes with gamers. It caught on well enough to urge Capcom to create a sequel aptly titled Street Fighter II.

The sequel took many of the best aspects of the original and improved them. Street Fighter II featured extremely well-tuned game mechanics and timing mechanisms. Combo moves could be executed by stringing together light attacks (which stunned an opponent only momentarily) that gave time to pull off more complex and damaging moves.

Special moves using complex quarter or half-circle rotations of the joystick also made their debut in Street Fighter II. These in combination with the wide variety of jumping, crouching and standing punches and kicks gave gamers a huge variety of moves and strategies in which to pound their opponents.

The Super Nintendo release of Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat at nearly the same time is widely regarded as the foundation for the rich fighting genre games on the market today.

Updates

A joke amongst gamers centers around Capcom's continual "upgrading" of the Street Fighter II game without releasing a full sequel. Street Fighter II: Champion Edition followed and included the four bosses as playable characters. Also new were same-character matches with different costumes.

Capcom added four new playable characters and released Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. Along with more special moves for nearly every character, Capcom upgraded the graphics and tweaked old moves to balance gameplay.

Another update, Super Street Fighter II Turbo followed in 1994 with a new character, added moves for some characters and a remixed soundtrack. As the name implies, Street Fighter II Turbo featured selectable speed levels that could make for hectic battles.

Sequels And Prequels

In 1995, a prequel to Street Fighter II was released. Street Fighter Alpha had improved graphics, a super combo gauge and enhanced character background stories. Street Fighter Alpha itself produced two sequels.

A 3D version of the Street Fighter series, known as Street Fighter EX, received an arcade release in 1996. It was followed by two sequels.

Finally, in 1997, Capcom released a sequel to Street Fighter II. Fans could finally shell out a few bucks for a bona fide Street Fighter III. Graphics in the sequel were upgraded yet again and nine new characters were introduced. Street Fighter III followed the footsteps of its predecessor and spawned two upgrades itself: Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact - Giant Attack and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Fight For The Future.

Street Fighter Elsewhere

The Street Fighter series hasn't only appeared in video games. An anime series, several animated movies and a live-action movie have all been based on the Street Fighter world. Street Fighter was released starring Jean Claude Van Damme as Guile and Raul Julia as M. Bison. The movie was largely ignored. A Street Fighter game was released featuring digitized characters from the movie, creating the irony of a "video game based on a movie that was based on a video game".

The Street Fighter franchise continues to mature as Capcom keeps it updated with the latest trends in fighting games. The founder of the modern-day fighting game is showing no signs of vanishing any time soon.

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