The History of Street Fighter
We take a look at over 20 years of the classic fighting game.
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By Paul Furfari April 21, 2010 |
Street Fighter - 1987
Street Fighter is the game most people say they’ve played, but actually haven’t. The ideas and characters that are the bedrock of the franchise didn’t take root until Street Fighter II, but the original sowed the seeds that would eventually extract quarters from pockets
Street Fighter isn’t the head-to-head fest people know and love, but more of a single player affair. You control Ryu as he battles across the globe and pummels a rather forgotten cast of bosses that have only sporadically re-appeared in the franchise (mostly the Alpha series).
Best known for:
Introducing Ryu and Ken
Street Fighter II – 1991-1994
The king of the early 90s arcades and one of the most influential and beloved fighting games of all time. It would be silly to explain Street Fighter II to people, because most everyone in the world has seen it and played it.
Capcom iterated on the original Street Fighter II over a period of years, speeding it up for Street Fighter II Turbo and adding super bars and additional characters in Super Street Fighter II, then doubling down on those additions for Super Street Fighter II Turbo.
This is the series of games that gave us unforgettable characters: Blanka, Chun Li, Sagat, M. Bison, Zangief, Dhalsim, Vega, Balrog, E. Honda, Guile, Cammy, Dee Jay, Fei Long and T. Hawk.
It's best to not over think or over explain Street Fighter II, it's appropriate to just say its legacy will reverberate in games for a very long time.
Best known for:
Creating a legion of fighting game fans.
Cementing fighters as a legitimate video game genre.
Making the version of Street Fighter II you purchased obsolete.
Street Fighter: The Movie - 1995
Once upon a time, Capcom decided to make a Street Fighter movie and it was terrible. But 15 years before The Legend of Chun Li, Capcom made another terrible Street Fighter movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. That movie spawned a game that has ever since been a punch line.
Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game is more or less a ripoff of Mortal Kombat. The actors from the film were filmed and digitized for the game, (like in MK) and the fighting focuses on juggling your opponent and fighting in the air (like in MK).
Luckily everyone realized this was basically a mistake and we haven't seen a repeat performance for this series offshoot.
Best known for:
Being a sad example of what not to do.
Aping Mortal Kombat
Jean Claude Van Damme
Street Fighter Alpha – 1995-1998
Instead of the obvious third proper game in the series, Capcom diverged from the path and created the Alpha series, a Street Fighter II prequel that took every character players loved from Street Fighter II, made them younger and filled in a back story and world.
Alpha is the first time in the series that Street Fighter took its story seriously and gave characters greater motivations and conflict than in previous incarnations. It’s not Shakespeare, but the game’s story filled out ideas that were only partially explored in the previous games. Alpha let players learn a bit more about Ken and Ryu and their brotherhood/rivalry, Sagat’s spurious apprentice and Guile’s mentor and friend Charlie among others.
Best known for:
Being the first big crossover game with characters from around the Capcom Universe making an appearance.
Introducing fan-favorite, Dan.
The modern multi-stage super meter.
A large cast of characters.
