Returning To Round One: The History Of Street Fighter

Introduction

Street Fighter II was a popular arcade game in the 1990’s. If you happened to be there in the right place, chances are you’ll see people gathered around its cabinet. Street Fighter II, one of the most popular arcade games ever made, drew more coins and tokens than it had quarters in its arcade days. Street Fighter II is not limited to that single time. Street Fighter’s history has seen multiple revolutions within its genre.

Arcades aren’t omnipresent the way they once were, but the Street Fighter name has endured the ever-shifting grounds of the games industry. Street Fighter’s fierce fights leapt from the arcade to the home, to the internet and to tournaments that were broadcasted to large, global audiences. As the franchise turns 35 years old, we met with the people involved to understand the series’ origins and how it remains relevant three-and-a-half decades later.

Here Comes A New Challenger

Here Comes A New Challenger

You’d be forgiven if you’ve never played the original Street Fighter. Even by late ’80s standards, it wasn’t particularly remarkable outside of its concept. However, that first game set the foundation for the entire franchise. Bored in a long meeting with Capcom’s sales team, designer Takashi Nishiyama caught himself daydreaming. He was overcome by inspiration as the meeting dragged on for nearly two hours.

He recalled the following: PolygonNishiyama sketched his vision on a piece paper in 2020. Inspired by the one-on-one boss battles in the 1984 beat ‘em up game Kung-Fu Master (which he also worked on), as well as Bruce Lee’s 1972 film, Game of DeathNishiyama took down the concept of two people facing each other in one-on-one fighting. After he was done, Nishiyama drew the basic idea and presented it to Yoshiki OKamoto, who was seated next to him at the meeting. Okamoto found the idea interesting so Nishiyama created an outline of the design and presented it the higher-ups including HiroshiMatsumoto, planner. After Capcom gave the green light, Nishiyama was able to work with Matsumoto on the details.

Matsumoto and Nishiyama drew inspiration from their love of martial arts and began brainstorming ideas about what types of fighters they could create and which moves to use. Although there are many characters in the game, each one has a unique fighting style. However, players were initially limited to Ryu representing Japan and Ken representing the United States. Ryu, Ken, who have the identical attributes, moves and techniques, performed exactly as one another. It allowed for a balanced, one-on-one competition against another player. But, more important, it kept the team on schedule and within budget.

Capcom sent two cabinets when Street Fighter was first released in arcades around the world in 1987. Capcom shipped two cabinets, one with six buttons and the other having a more standard configuration. Each button corresponds to a power level for either a punch or kick. The second, known as the “Deluxe” cabinet, replaced the six buttons with two pressure-sensitive pads: one for punches and another for kicks. Ryu and Ken were able to throw their strikes based upon how many players hit the pads on that arcade machine. As you might imagine, these Deluxe cabinets weren’t long for this world; they essentially encouraged players to damage the machine and were replaced mainly by the more popular six-button alternative.

The first Street Fighter can be enjoyed today as an historical curiosity. But that game’s nascent gameplay style was a great foundation for everything to come. Street Fighter was given the green light by Capcom to create a sequel.

Round Two

Round Two

Following the commercial success of 1989’s Final Fight in the United States, Capcom decided to focus development efforts on games in the fighting genre. Street Fighter 2 was a part of this decision. Capcom was left by Matsumoto Nishiyama and Matsumoto shortly after Street Fighter I launched. Capcom decided to tap Yoshiki Okamoto who had shown Nishiyama the initial idea in the meeting. Street Fighter II will be produced by Capcom. Capcom brought in Final Fight designer Akira Nishitani, and Akira Yasuda as the designers for Street Fighter II.

Because the Street Fighter core development team had previously worked on another series, they were able to pull from more inspirations. “From my perspective, we were making a sequel to Street Fighter I, but a lot of animations and character designs came from Final Fight, and we tried to apply a lot of the content from that for Street Fighter II,” Capcom creative director and Street Fighter II character designer Shoei Okano says. “But in comparison to Final Fight, Street Fighter II has a lot more animation patterns and more characters.”

Capcom’s primary objective was to make Street Fighter gameplay more like the original. Capcom developed a simplified six-button system that allowed for more special moves. It also introduced smoother animations, gameplay and a new combo system.

Interview with Judith in 2002 EdgeNoritaka Funamizu, a producer claims that the combo system was discovered accidentally by him while playtesting. If the timing of strikes was right, he noticed that multiple attacks could be combined in a coherent manner. Funamizu says that the system has become a significant part of the franchise.

Finding another significant innovation took much less research and skill than it required. Street Fighter II’s roster of characters is what you might notice first. Ryu, Ken, and Zangief remained on this roster. But, with the exception of Sagat (the boss), the game introduced a whole new set of characters. Chun-Li, Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, Zangief, and E. Honda joined Ryu and Ken as playable fighters, while the final challenge of Arcade mode featured a gauntlet against nonplayable characters Balrog (known as “Boxer” in international tournaments), Vega (known as “Claw”), Sagat, and M. Bison (known as “Dictator”).

Street Fighter II was a big topic for publishers all over the world, and it became clear to Street Fighter II that they were onto something. “Even the developers from other, non-Street Fighter titles would come to play for fun,” Okano says. “We saw that excitement, and we knew we had something going for us.”

Street Fighter II, The World Warrior was released in arcades early 1991. This happened less than two years after its initial development. While the game featured countless improvements over its predecessor, it didn’t find immediate success. Capcom attributes the failure to succeed to the players’ inability understand the multi-player benefits of the cabinet, and instead focus on single-player Arcade.

“I didn’t really know what to expect,” Okano says. “A lot of stuff came as a surprise, but eventually we were able to run a location test at one of the local arcades where we brought in a test arcade cabinet of Street Fighter II. The sequel to Street Fighter I was seen by many people as soon as it was placed in the arcade. Everyone was super excited to try it out, but even though two players were able to play, most people were expecting only to be able to do one-player battles.”

Capcom immediately shifted their marketing to highlight the two-player battle mode. It was a huge success. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was a slow start. It became the most popular arcade game in 1991, both in Japan and the U.S. Street Fighter II became the top-selling arcade title in 10 years. A new kind of arcade culture formed around Street Fighter II cabinets, as crowds gathered, players put quarters in the little grooves below the screen to claim “next,” and competitive gaming took off in ways never seen before.

This new genre’s runaway success inspired many other developers and publishers to get on board. “Street Fighter II really invigorated things, and that was a big inspiration for us,” Mortal Kombat co-creator Ed Boon says. “To me, the fighting game genre wasn’t even a genre, really. The number of fighting games available in this category is not large. The games were scattered, and one or two would appear every now and again. Street Fighter opened that door. Mortal Kombat smashed the door to the next. The next door was opened by Mortal Kombat. [a genre]Everyone wanted their share. It became a genre based on Mortal Kombat and, before that, Street Fighter’s success.”

Street Fighter II The World Warrior is a popular game, but Capcom wanted to improve the experience and capitalize on millions of dollars being spent in cabinets around the world. Capcom began to release newer versions via all-new cabinets in order to do so. The World Warrior’s first edition was followed by Champion Edition in early 1992. The new version added eight more characters to the game, as well as the Shadaloo boss characters. Mirror matches were also possible, which allowed two people to fight each other with the same character.

Capcom didn’t stop there, though. Street Fighter II Turbo came to arcades in the late 1990s. Turbo introduced a new game mode and added additional balance. Super Street Fighter II, The New Challengers was released in 1993. It added four characters to the roster and rebalanced the roster. Finaly, arcades were given Super Street Fighter II Turbo in 1994. It included super combos, air combos, and Akuma as a playable character. While each of these cabinets represented different versions of Street Fighter II, they all shared in the original’s success; each version reached the number one spot on the arcade charts in both the U.S. and Japan.

However, the game didn’t stay exclusively in arcades, as Street Fighter II experienced similar success on home consoles. Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo received the majority of these versions, while Capcom keeps releasing the titles on home consoles. Street Fighter II has been re-released on some consoles long after the original’s lifespan. Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix was available for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2008. It featured modernized graphics with a new style of Street Fighter Comics art, a soundtrack, further balancing and an online version. The Final Challengers was released by Capcom in 2017. This Nintendo Switch-exclusive release added a new first-person mode called “Way of the Hado” and two new playable characters: Evil Ryu and Violent Ken.

Street Fighter II continues to be a favorite video game. The accolades, record profits, community support and love made Street Fighter II one of most loved games. Although it was an unprecedented and difficult act to perform, Capcom exceeded all expectations over the years.

Unfamiliar Streets

Unfamiliar Streets

Capcom chose to go back through the beginning years of Street Fighter II rather than jump straight into Street Fighter II’s numbered sequel. Although the Alpha series takes place after Street Fighter II’s events, it features younger versions many of the fan-favorites. Capcom was able to include characters from Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II in this timeline.

The Alpha trilogy was launched in 1995, 1996, 1998 and featured beloved characters like Sakura and R. Mika as well mechanics like Super Combo. Street Fighter Alpha 3 proved to be the fitting send-off for the subseries, improving the Super Combo system through a selectable “ism” mechanic that gave players a choice on how to engage with their gauges. Alpha 3 featured a huge roster of characters that could range from 28 to 38 depending on the version, as well as a World Tour mode, which allowed for character customization and richer storylines.

Raul Julia-led, and Jean-Claude Van Damme – right on the heels Street FighterCapcom’s Street Fighter: The Movie was released as a theatrical film. While Street Fighter: the Movie was still 2D fighting, its character models were based on digital photos of Van Damme and other actors. The game was largely criticised by both fans and the media despite its star power and fashionable graphical style.

Capcom teamed up with Arika (a studio that was founded by Street Fighter II designer Akira Nishitani) to produce a trio of Street Fighter EX titles. This title ditched the use of sprite-based characters from previous games and instead used polygonal graphic. The EX games play exactly the same way as the 2D ones, despite the 3D visuals. It’s an officially licensed Street Fighter trilogy, but the spin-off series focuses heavily on characters exclusive to the EX games, with only five Street Fighter II characters crossing over.

Though the visuals were revolutionary then, the gameplay and lack of a recognizable cast made for a largely forgotten spin-off series that Capcom hasn’t revisited since EX3 launched in 2000. The EX games did offer one thing that was a gift to the series: the ability to cancel. The ability to cancel out one move, and then into another allowed players to create powerful combinations.

Street Fighter characters started appearing in cross-over titles during this period. Following Capcom’s releases of X-Men: Children of Atom and Marvel Super Heroes, Capcom brought the most popular Street Fighter characters and the era’s most popular Marvel characters together for X-Men vs. Street Fighter. In 1996, this arcade entry adopted Street Fighter’s 2D combat style. However, it accelerated the action and allowed for tag-teams with up to two characters. A year later, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter was released. The list was further expanded by Marvel vs. Capcom Clash of Super Heroes 1998.

The Marvel vs. Capcom franchise spawned four mainline entries and remains one of Capcom’s most popular fighting game franchises, with the Street Fighter characters featuring prominently on the rosters. Street Fighter characters are still able to crossover with many other franchises and companies like Tatsunoko SNK Super Smash Bros. or Power Rangers. While these crossovers were a huge success for Street Fighter fans as well as Capcom, they don’t compare to the excitement around a mainline Street Fighter title.

It’s hot to strike while the iron is hot

It’s hot to strike while the iron is hot

All these pseudo-sequels and spinoffs were released to commercial and critical acclaim. However, Street Fighter II was missed by the Street Fighter II community. Capcom developed a new entry into the series’ mainline in 1995 as a result of the release of the Alpha and EX trilogies. Street Fighter III: New Generation was launched in 1997.

Capcom dropped Street Fighter II: Alpha and its iconic characters, and only Ryu and Ken were left. Capcom’s Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact was released in the same year. It introduced new characters to the roster and brought back fan favorite Akuma. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike was released in 1999. It introduced more characters, Chun Li, and an evaluation system that would show the winner how street-fighting they did.

Street Fighter III was also notable for its introduction of parrying. It rewards players for taking the risks of pushing forward to an incoming attack rather than the traditional retreating blocks many are used to. It was created by combining the Alpha-inspired gauge-based Super Arts with EX-inspired canceling, to produce the fastest and most precision-based fighting system.

“While highly flawed in the first game, New Generations, [the parry system] was perfected by Third Strike, the third iteration of SFIII,” esports commentator James Chen says. “And honestly, its story of going from basically a flop in the U.S. to becoming one of the most beloved fighting games of all time here in the States is a long, long journey. […] The parry mechanic remains as one of the most beloved and player-satisfying mechanics ever created.”

Though Street Fighter III didn’t revolutionize fighting games like its numbered predecessor, it perfected the formula. But it was a gem fans didn’t fully appreciate in its time. However, even as competing fighting game franchises flourished under the new trend of 3D visuals and fight planes, the Street Fighter franchise entered the largest lull of its history, and fans didn’t receive a new Street Fighter game for eight years.

The Return to Form

The Return to Form

Street Fighter gave up its claim to be the King in the beginning of the next millennium. When more people wanted to experience a 3D gaming experience, brands like Tekken and Soulcalibur stepped up. Even Street Fighter’s closest rival, Mortal Kombat, transitioned to 3D fighters. Despite the EX spin-off series’ use of 3D graphics, Street Fighter always remained steadfast in its 2D action. Street Fighter III and II were re-released on the PlayStation 2 by EX in 2000.

“People basically had forgotten about the genre,” Chen says. “While some franchises like Tekken and Guilty Gear continued to create quality games, other franchises like Street Fighter disappeared and Mortal Kombat had its notorious run of awful games during that period. Basically, in the U.S., fighting games were a thing of the past.”

However, as all its rivals trailblazed 3D frontiers, Yoshinori Ono, whose work with Capcom stretched back to the early ’90s, noticed how many people clamored for a new mainline entry. Based on the reception to Street Fighter II on Xbox Live Arcade, he petitioned Capcom’s Keiji Inafune to allow the team to create a new mainline game inspired by Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Ono had been a sound producer in the Alpha games. He was trying to restore the series’ roots. Street Fighter IV emerged as a modern game with 3D characters and enhanced visuals using ink-based embellishments instead of sprites. Street Fighter IV maintained its 2D combat action, which was tight and responsive. They also used 2D hitboxes to replace the 3D models.

Street Fighter IV arrived in arcades in 2008. Home releases came less than one year later. It was both a huge success among fans and critics. Street Fighter IV was a combination of classic gameplay, characters and beautiful visuals that introduced new conventions. It quickly made Street Fighter IV a classic game and ushered in an era for fighting. Though 3D games dominated the 2000s, the subsequent decade proved the importance of Street Fighter IV’s demonstration that enthusiasm still existed for the 2D segment. In the following years, several franchises – both new and old – embraced the 2D style once more, kicking off a renaissance for the genre.

Street Fighter IV kept growing, and new versions were released until 2014. This increased the number of fighters on offer to 44. Ultra Street Fighter IV quickly became the gold standard for fighting game gaming due to its extensive roster, rich content and precise gameplay. The franchise had bounced back from its biggest gap in compelling fashion, delivering one of the greatest games in the genre’s history. Street Fighter IV was a great game that incorporated modern gameplay and showed fans they still wanted classic gameplay. But it was time for Street Fighter IV to change.

Street Fighter V is the latest evolution of Street Fighter IV, which was first released on PlayStation 4 in 2016, and now available exclusively on PC. Street Fighter V was a tight game, based on Street Fighter IV’s mechanics and adding moves such as Critical Arts or V-Gauge. Capcom also laid out ambitious DLC plans including characters, stages, costumes, and more, but many criticized the game’s launch.

Capcom had announced early in the marketing that all characters could be earned through gameplay. However, this was not possible after launch. It would have required hours of playing. The launch modes were lacking in content, including a Training mode and Arcade, as well as meaningful single-player stories. Street Fighter V’s executive producer, Ono, as well as Capcom CEO Kenzo Takimoto, admitted the lackluster content and polish that was available at launch.

“There were a lot of things that they wanted to get done around the launch of the game, but they weren’t able to succeed in delivering all the elements and the features that they originally wanted,” director Takayuki Nakayama, who joined the project midway through development, says.

Capcom began to address the critics. Before launch, it announced a post-launch update called “A Shadow Falls,” providing a cinematic story mode. In June 2016, the update was made available for free. Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition was released in June 2016. It included the much-awaited Arcade mode, Extra Battle modes, and V-Trigger moves. Arcade Edition was included as an update for all original purchasers. Street Fighter V: Champion Edition was released in 2020. It included sweeping balance adjustments, V-Skill moves, and many other features. Street Fighter V’s owners could also get the Champion Edition free of charge.

Street Fighter V was redesigned in several areas, but Capcom decided not to continue development until the original content plan had been fully implemented. “Street Fighter V was originally planned to have six seasons, but then plans ended up changing, and we were told we could only make up to season four,” Nakayama says.

However, the community received Champion Edition so well that Capcom changed course again and announced a fifth and final season of content, which would serve as an endcap to the Street Fighter V saga and set the stage for what’s to come. Capcom’s decades-long relationship was ended by Ono leaving the company before any of its content could be released.

Street Fighter V closed the book on its final season in November 2021, giving fans a glimmer of hope for what’s next. Although it was initially criticized, Street Fighter V ended its existence with an impressive suite of modes and a strong competitive community. It also had more Street Fighter characters than ever before.

While Nakayama and producer Shuhei Matsumoto weren’t a part of the initial Street Fighter V development, they took various lessons from the launch and vowed to implement them in the next game. “Starting with Season 5, we changed the structure of the team,” Nakayama says. “And we learned that we wanted to take on a more direct communication style with the audience and players of the game. This was a positive change that we received lots of feedback on. We realized that is very important for our audience.”

Street Fighter V served as a solid lesson for Capcom about what fans do and don’t like, and it showed that the publisher is willing to deliver on that fan feedback. The Street Fighter franchise reached a turning point when it was without the fighter who helped bring Street Fighter back from the roots.

Capcom started developing the next installment of the series in 2018

Future Fighting

Future Fighting

The last of Street Fighter V’s many DLC characters, Luke Sullivan, represented the road ahead for the series.

“Street Fighter 6 was in development during the tail end of Street Fighter V and rather than Luke being the final new character of Street Fighter V, we saw him more as kind of a guest character coming from the future,” Nakayama says. “At the time, we didn’t announce Street Fighter 6 yet, so we didn’t have the clear context behind who Luke is. This was nerve-wracking. We wanted to make sure that we presented him under the correct light and were really excited but very cautious about that.”

Luke uses tactics he has learned from the military in order to use a specialized MMA style. He is also the protagonist of the next major title game. Street Fighter 6 is the next mainline game. It introduces many improvements to the gameplay, including new characters and mechanics. The next major step of the series, which will be launched in 2023 seven years after Street Fighter V was first released, is a revolutionary one.

The original version of this article appeared in Game Informer Issue 351