9 Reasons Everybody Loves Street Fighter
"You did quite well, but you need more training to defeat me!"
Debuting in arcades in 1987, the original Street Fighter saw players take control of the now legendary Ryu, as they fought and competed in a global martial arts competition against 10 opponents across 5 different countries. Driven primarily as a single player game, an additional player could be added at any one time albeit having the option of playing as the equally kickass Ken. The mass appeal of the title saw it ported to home gaming systems, most notably the PC, but its popularity would prove to still only be in its infancy.
1991 saw the launch of the first official sequel to the original game, and the subsequently universally revered Street Fighter 2. Unthinkable now, but at the time this offering gave players the first opportunity in any one on one fighting game the option to choose form various different characters. Characters that are now instantly recognisable and have since gained iconic status, including Chinese starlet Chun Li, American hunk Guile, and electrifying Blanka.
Street Fighter 2 played no small part in launching the format of one on one fighting games to astronomical heights. In the first 2 years of release sales of the game had exceeded $1.5billion, with more than 14 million copies sold across the console heavyweights of the time; The SNES and Sega Megadrive. Remarkably, although updates and limited editions were later released, the original version of Street Fighter 2 on the SNES is still Capcom's best selling game.
Over the years that followed, evolution of next gen consoles saw Street Fighter undergo a number of re-imaginings and revamps. This included multiple crossovers with characters from other licensed franchises, most notably Marvel and SNK. The series also took forays in to 3D gameplay, although it has never felt more at home than when sticking to it traditional 2D roots. The game has also spawned in to a whole expansive universe, inspiring countless on screen adaptations, card games, board games, comics, and cartoons.
The Street Fighter name is one that is known not only to gamers, but throughout the generation of people who grew up during the video gaming revolution of the late 80s and 90s. For many it brings back fond memories of spirited rivalry in friends€™ bedroom and arcades. With the awesome news that Street Fighter V is to drop this Spring, the guys over at Vice have taken a look at just how much Street Fighter succeeded in not only paving a way for the fighting genre, but also impacted heavily with that golden generation. Watch the video above to see how SF stretches across youth cross-culture, and is still entrenched in the gaming society with amateur leagues still meeting to face off in class SF style.
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