Street Fighter

Street Fighter is the title shared by a popular series of beat 'em ups that pit contestants from around the world against one another. Each fighter has his or her own special moves.

Street Fighter made little impact when it was released at the end of the eighties, despite a novel control system which involved the player actually punching the machine, rather than using a more conventional joystick and button setup.

Street Fighter II was one of the most popular games of the early nineties. 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 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 Flash 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 SF II was Mortal Kombat.

After the release of the upgrade to Street Fighter II: Street Fighter 2 Championship Edition, many modified bootlegged versions of the game were released by certain distributors. In an almost unprecedented move, most Arcades (even large corporate owned ones) embraced the bootlegs. They were widely distributed untill Capcom released its answer to the bootlegs: Street Fighter 2 Hyper fighting. In 1993 and 1994, Capcom released another version of the game, Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers. As the subtitle implies, four new characters were added. They are Fei Long, Cammy, Dee Jay, and Thunderhawk.

The game franchise inspired several films. Street Fighter (with Jean Claude van Damme), Street Fighter II The Movie (Japan, Animated) and Street Fighter Alpha (Japan, Animated). There are also a Street Fighter animated series (USA), and Street Fighter II V (a japanese animated series, considered by fans to be superior to other spin-offs, except, perhaps, Alpha).

Games in the series

• Street Fighter
• Street Fighter II
• Street Fighter II: Champion Edition
• Street Fighter II: Turbo
• Super Street Fighter II
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Street Fighter Alpha (Street Fighter Zero in Japan)
• Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Street Fighter Zero 2 in Japan)
• Street Fighter Alpha 3 (Street Fighter Zero 3 in Japan)
• Street Fighter Zero 3 ' (the ' is pronounced "dash") (Japan release only)
• Street Fighter III: The New Generation
• Street Fighter III: Second Impact
• Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Spin-offs

• Street Fighter EX
• Street Fighter EX +
• Street Fighter EX + α
• Street Fighter EX 2
• Street Fighter EX 3
• Pocket Fighter

Cross-over games involving Street Fighter characters

• X-Men vs Street Fighter
• Marvel Super Heroes vs Street Fighter
• Marvel vs Capcom
• Marvel vs Capcom 2
• Capcom vs SNK
• Capcom vs SNK 2

External Link

• The Killer List of Video Games entry on Street Fighter