Street Fighter (series)

Street Fighter (ストリートファイター Sutorīto Faitā), commonly abbreviated as SF, is a popular series of fighting games in which the players pit combatants from around the world, each with their own special moves, against one another. Street Fighter II is largely credited with setting the standards for all future games to come, and is regarded as a true classic series, (though still not the first game ever released). Capcom released the first game in the series in August 1987.

History and Development

First Series (1987-1990)

Street Fighter

Street Fighter, commonly abbreviated as SF, made its debut at the arcades in 1987 as a 2D fighting game, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi "Finish" Matsumoto.

The game controls consists of an eight-directional joystick and depending on the cabinet: six attack buttons, three punch buttons and three kick buttons of differing speed and strength; or two mechatronic pads for punches and kicks that determined the strength level of the player's attacks. The player uses the joystick to move towards or away from an opponent, as well to jump, crouch and defend against an opponent's attacks. By using the attack buttons/pads in combination with the joystick, the player can perform a variety of attacks from a standing, jumping or crouching positions. There were also three special techniques, performed by inputting a specific directional-based command and button combination. These techniques were the Hadoken, the Shoryuken and the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Unlike the subsequent Street Fighter sequels and other later fighting games, the specific commands for these special moves were not given in the arcade game's instruction card, which instead encouraged the player to discover these techniques on their own.

SF has been noted by fans of the series for the considerable difficulty in executing special moves compared to its sequels. This game used pressure sensitive pads to measure the three strengths of attack used in the game. The harder the player hit the pad, the stronger the attack was. The pads quickly became damaged, and Capcom eventually abandoned them.

Second Series (1992-1997)

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior released in 1994, was the first true sequel to the original Street Fighter. It was one of the earliest arcade games for Capcom's hardware and was designed by the duo of Akira "Nin-Nin" Nishitani and Akira "Akiman" Yasuda, who were previously responsible for Final Fight and Forgotten Worlds. Notably, even when Street Fighter II was released, Capcom had no idea what sort of phenomenon it was about to create. It believed that the game would do somewhat (but an unknown quantity) better than its DPS-based contemporary games, Final Fight and Mercs.

This game was known for its breakthrough graphics. It used Capcom's S-P Model 2B-CRX arcade hardware to run the game at 60 frames per second at a high resolution with no slowdown. It introduced the use of texture-mapped 3D characters and motion capture animation technology.

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting

Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting was the first official update to the series which introduced four new playable characters and also allowed two players to choose the same character with one character drawn in an alternate color pattern. The game also featured slightly improved graphics including differently colored backgrounds and refined gameplay making it more faster.

Street Fighter II Champion Edition

Street Fighter II Champion Edition was the second official update to the series which allowed players to play as the four previously non-playable bosses and added two new characters (Hironori and Kyoko). In addition, after every third match in the single player mode, the player will participate in a "Bonus Game" for additional points. The bonus games included (in order) a car-breaking event, a barrel breaking bonus game where the barrels were dropped off from a conveyor belt above the player and a drum-breaking bonus game where drums were flammable and piled over each other.

Super Street Fighter II

Super Street Fighter II, the fourth verison, gave the game a complete graphical overhaul and introduced eight new playable characters. This game gave previous characters new basic moves, such as giving Vega standing kicks, new special moves, such as Vega's diving claw, and improvements to existing special moves, such as Ryu's Flaming Fireball or Ken's Flaming Dragon Punch.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo

Super Street Fighter II Turbo, the fifth and last version, was the first one released on PlayStation. It added new type of special techniques known as super combos and two hidden characters: Akuma and Garuda.

Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challangers

Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challangers, the newest version in the Street Fighter II series; it is an updated version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo, included new characters: Evil Ryu and Violent Ken.

Third Series (2000-2008)

Street Fighter III

Street Fighter III was the first true sequel to the Second Series and the first entirely new Street Fighter arcade game developed by Capcom since the first iteration of Street Fighter II. In this chapter was been included some characters from Final Fight.

Street Fighter III revamps the Super Combo system introduced in Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challangers by adding a three-level Super Combo gauge. Like in Super Turbo, the Super Combo gauge fills in as the player performs regular and special moves. When the gauge reaches Level 1 or higher, the player can perform one of their character's Super Combo techniques.

Street Fighter III Evolution

Street Fighter III Evolution was the first official update to the series bringing many improvements, such as significantly more detailed graphics and animations and and faster and more fluid gameplay.

Street Fighter III Evolution added emphasis on the third axis, allowing all characters to sidestep in or out of the background by lightly pressing the arcade stick (or tapping the controller button in the following console version) towards the corresponding direction. The improved engine allowed for quick recoveries from knockdowns, more escapes from tackles and stuns, better juggling and extra newly created combo throws.

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend was the second official update to the series.

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend added new features: "Guard Breaks", unique moves which cannot be blocked by an opponent, and "Excel Combos" ("excel" being abbreviation for "extra cancel") allowing player to connect a series of basic and special moves for a limited time. During an Excel Combo, the player begins with a basic move and can follow up with a different basic move or follow-up a basic move with a special move, which can be followed by a different special move. However, the player cannot connect any move with the same move, nor is it possible to cancel special moves into basic moves during an Excel Combo. "Time Attack"

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend Plus Alpha

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend Plus Alpha was the third official update to the series and the first one of this series released on PlayStation.

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend Plus Alpha, further success in "Guard Breaks" added in the previous upgrade, added also "Surprise Blow" system which does not use up energy stored "super bars", and rather than being unblock-able, works as an over head attack that can be blocked, but only when standing. Survival mode, Team Battle mode and Time Attack mode made their return for this console version.

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend MAX

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend MAX was the fourth and last official update to the series and the first one of all the saga released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend MAX continued the fighting mechanics from Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend Plus Alpha making them a bit faster.Along with Survival mode, Team Battle mode, and Time Attack mode were introduced two new modes. "Iron Ball" mode, a bowling minigame where each character has different attributes. "Shadaloo Force" mode, a beat 'em up mini-game where the player with an over-the-shoulder perspective as they fight wave upon wave of M. Bison's Shadaloo Force through four stages, eventually facing M. Bison himself. The player can pick up health and power-ups while they fight waves of enemies.

Fourth Series (2010-2013)

Street Fighter IV: Fight for the Future

Street Fighter IV: Fight for the Future was the true sequel to the Third Series. Series game discarded the character roster from previous games, except very few characters.

Street Fighter IV; Fight for the Future introduced the Super Arts selection system and the ability to parry an opponent's attack. significant new gameplay changes had been introduced from the previous games in the series. For the first time, it allowed players to maneuver around an arena interacting with walls and other obstacles for extra damage. These "environmental hazards" in turn allowed players to juggle opponents for consecutive combos and allowed the designers to implement a "switch maneuver", which let players escape from cornering and throw the tide in their favor. The game engine had been tweaked to be more focused on the environment, causing the characters to move more slowly and fluidly than in Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend MAX. Finally, the game introduced a brand new graphics system, that featured increased lighting, dynamic physics, and smoother surfaces.

Street Fighter IV: Giant Attack

Street Fighter IV: Giant Attack was the first official update to the series bringing some adjustments to the gameplay and added some new characters. It was the first one of the Fourth Series released on PlayStation 3.

Street Fighter IV: Giant Attack introduced a comprehensive training mode. The mode consisted of an encyclopedia of fighting game terms, complete character command list walkthroughs, tips on all of the game's mechanics, recommended character combos, alternative options for failed combos, detailed command input timings, slow motion for frame counting and timing, and other useful training tips.

In this update was introduced also "Impeccability Challenge" , a beat 'em up mini-game, very similar to "Shadaloo Force" mode from Street Fighter III: Eternal Legend MAX, where the player with an over-the-shoulder perspective as they fight wave upon wave of Illuminati's Army through six stages, eventually facing Urien.

Street Fighter IV: 3rd Strike

Street Fighter IV: 3rd Strike was the second and and last official update to the series. It was released on PlayStation 2 too.

Street Fighter IV: 3rd Strike brought just some improvements in the graphics system and a slight speeding on the characters' movement.

The Fourth Series received in general a mediocre review, highlighting the game's experimental and pretty nature, and that overall it is a more solid and thoughtful proposition than its predecessor, but also that the game feels "over-familiar and curiously uninspired".

Street Fighter IV: 4th Carnage

Street Fighter IV: 4th Carnage, a new entry in the Street Fighter series. It was created by ATK and Crunch and published by Capcom. The game features the series largest roster yet and features the return of many well loved characters and the introduction of some new faces.

Fifth Series (2016-2022)

Street Fighter V was the true sequel to the Fourth Series. The arcade game was released for Japan and North America. Home versions were released for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Dreamcast 2 and Gameslayer for Japan, North America, Europe and Australia.

Street Fighter V features bigger stages and use a graphic engine running at 60 frames per second as well as a dynamic physics engine which allows water to behave accordingly to how characters move. The graphics engine has been designed with focus on character-animation to make movements look more smooth and realistic which led to many animations being remade to either reflect the impact and damage caused or to create new possibilities in gameplay. The developers considered animation specifically important for a fighting game and wanted to make the game "look good in motion" whereas previous installments had been designed to "look good on still-shots".

Ultra Street Fighter V

Ultra Street Fighter V was the first official update to the series.

Ultra Street Fighter V improved character tweaks based on community feedback, and an improved online mode.

Bonus Stages made their return where the player races against the clock to destroy a car, or attempts to destroy falling barrels. The player can choose to skip these by turning them off in options; they can also challenge them outside of Arcade Mode.

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate Fury

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate Fury was the second official update to the series.

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate introduced new mechanics, Ultra Combo Double (allowing players to choose both of their character's Ultra Combos at the cost of doing less damage, this gives players more options in their tactics and play styles) and Red Focus Attack (Focus Attack that absorbs multiple hits, it is still subject to the same weaknesses as the former with Armor Breaking moves and throws).

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate Fury Omega

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate Omega third official update to the series.

Ultra Street Fighter V Ultimate Omega introduced new "rage" system who gives characters more damage per hit when their vitality is below a certain point. Once activated, a reddish energy aura appears around the character, and their health bar starts to flicker in red.

Gameplay

This game leaves 2D mechanics introdiucing a more realistic moveset for each character like other 3D-based fighting games, but characters can shoot the traditional fireballs (for example the legendary Hadoken) or perform specific moves less realistic on which the game has always based on (like Shoryuken, Psycho Crusher).

The traditional six-button control scheme has been retained, with Focus Attack and Ultra Combo and has been introduced the Apocalypse Combo, very similar to Street Fighter EX3 Meteor Combo, executable when the player has only 5% of health.

Being the game 3D-based, fighters can move sideways, to do it must hold down back, then back and up or down (depending on the direction), finally hold down up or down.

Some characters wield a weapon but unlike Street Fighter, Final Fight and Darkstalkers series, they don't lose it during the fight.

Characters

Main article: List of Street Fighter characters

The main games have introduced a varied cast of around characters into videogame lore, plus around another characters in other games.