This article is about the video game. For the Motorcycle, see Street Fighter (motorcycle)
Street Fighter (abbreviated SF) is a popular series of fighting games where the players pit combatants from around the world, each with his or her own special moves, against one another. The first game in the series was released by Capcom in 1987.
Series Synopsis
Street Fighter made little impact when it was first released. However, it had a novel control system which involved a joystick and two large hydraulic buttons, which the strength of the button press determined the strength of the punch or kick, with three varying strengths of both punches and kicks. Many of these machines, because of players' tendencies to hit the buttons too hard and damage the controls, were retooled to using more traditional buttons, thus giving way to the six-button layout that would be the standard for Street Fighter games to come.
Street Fighter II was one of the most popular games of the early 1990s. It is widely acknowledged as the premier fighting game of its era, and perhaps to date, due to its game balance with regard to the timing of attacks and blocks, which was unparalleled at the time; and due to its interesting (and subsequently widely copied) "combo" system in which experienced players could execute complex fighting moves (now known as special moves) by moving the joystick and tapping the buttons in certain combinations. These complicated fighting moves were given names, such as the Dragon Punch and the Hurricane Kick, which provided a framework for players to have conversations about their games. The game features eight fighters that players can choose from (Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim, Guile, E. Honda, and Chun-Li), plus four bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison). It was followed by a slew of other games of similar design, some by Capcom, some by other companies. One of the most well-known early competitors to Street Fighter II was Mortal Kombat, followed shortly afterwards by Virtua Fighter. SNK also created a few series that borrowed, to varying degrees, from Street Fighter II, but enabled them to develop a reputation for fighting games similar to Capcom's; Art of Fighting, King of Fighters, and Fatal Fury are the three most notable examples.
Capcom created an update to Street Fighter II called Street Fighter II': Champion Edition. In this update, the four bosses were playable. It also was the first fighting game to have same character matches.
After Street Fighter II': Champion Edition, many modified bootlegged versions of the game were released by certain distributors. Many arcades (even large corporate owned ones) embraced these bootlegs. The bootlegs were widely distributed until Capcom released its answer to the bootlegs: Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting.
Among the notable features of the bootleg versions were:
- The added ability for players to change characters partway through a match
- The ability for characters to perform special moves in the air as if the character was on the ground
- Simplification of certain special moves
- Faster game pace
- Adding new moves to certain characters, some of which were incorporated into Turbo.
In 1993, Capcom released another version of the game, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. As the subtitle implies, four new characters were added; Fei Long, Cammy, Dee Jay, and T. Hawk.
In 1994 came Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which was originally released in the arcade & later on the 3DO (but wasn't released for either the SNES or Sega Genesis), featured enhanced speed & difficulty. It also featured a new character, Akuma, who had not only inherited all of Ryu and Ken's special moves, but could also produce a fireball in the air, and could perform a very powerful super move called the Shun Goku Satsu (literally means Instant Hell Murder a.k.a. The Raging Demon). It was also the first game in the series to have super combos. The game was released in the Street Fighter Collection sets for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation. It was released later for the Sega Dreamcast with an online matching service feature, but only in Japan. In 2001, a graphically simplified version of the game was released for the Game Boy Advance under the title Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Revival.
In 1995, a prequel of Street Fighter II was introduced called Street Fighter Alpha. It was followed by two sequels, Street Fighter Alpha 2 in 1996 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1998. Street Fighter Alpha had improved graphics compare to the Street Fighter II series and introduced a super combo gauge similar to the fighting game series, Darkstalkers.
The long-waited sequel Street Fighter III was released in 1997. The game introduced a high number of animation frames meaning the graphics had smoother animation compare to the previous Street Fighter games. In addition, the game had the total of eight playable characters with six new characters and two returning characters, Ryu and Ken. The Street Fighter III game also received two more updates called, Street Fighter III 2nd Impact - Giant Attack and Street Fighter III 3rd Strike - Fight For The Future which expanded the character roster and added new gameplay elements such as new fighting moves.
Adaptations for Other Media
The series has inspired several films. Street Fighter (with Jean Claude Van Damme), Street Fighter II: The Movie (Japan, Animated ) and Street Fighter Alpha (Japan, Animated). There is also Street Fighter (a USA animated series), and Street Fighter II V , (a Japanese animated series). A Hong Kong film version was also released in 1993.
In terms of literature, there have been various Street Fighter books and comics produced. In 2005, Udon produced Street Fighter: Eternal Challenge. This was the first SF history and art book written in English. Udon is currently producing a Street Fighter comic as well.
This game has been ported illegally to the Famicom in Asia. It has appeared in several multicarts in China.
One of the versions of this game that appeared on a multicart had Mario in it.
See also
External links
Last updated: 08-17-2005 03:28:43
