The original World Warrior has developed a legacy far greater than a mere genre.
At this year’s Tokyo Games Show, Capcom revealed more details regarding the hotly anticipated Street Fighter 6, coming in 2023. Classic characters, such as Blanka and E. Honda, make their return. We saw wacky new modes where players set different win conditions or customize their character in an open-world, single-player adventure. Plus, we learned that Ken isn’t divorced, he’s just trying to clear his good name. We’re pumped.
Fighting games are more numerous than ever, from niche anime fighters to crowd-pleasing platform fighters. Yet Street Fighter still commands the most respect, even when it stumbles. Why? The past decades have proven that Street Fighter is more than just the grandfather of its genre; it’s a cultural juggernaut wholly unto itself. Street Fighter is bigger than fighting games.
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Here’s a crash course history lesson on how it all went down. Although the first Street Fighter and even older games featured intriguing combat ideas, the fighting game genre didn’t truly come into being until 1991’s Street Fighter II. The cast of international characters, varied special attacks, innovative combo moves, and emphasis on head-to-head multiplayer felt like nothing anyone in the arcade had ever played before. It made Capcom’s game the king of fighters (not to be confused with King of Fighters).
Throughout the 1990s, Street Fighter’s iconic status was cemented by the fact that basically every fighting game was a reaction to it: Here’s Street Fighter, but it’s a silly comic book crossover (Marvel vs. Capcom). Street Fighter, but in 3D (Virtua Fighter). Street Fighter, but with vampires (Darkstalkers). Those imitators enjoyed various degrees of success, but they weren’t Street Fighter. Even Street Fighter III, a gorgeous game with brilliant mechanics, initially turned people off because it ditched many characters fans grew to love via games, cartoons, toys, and the Jean-Claude Van Damme/Raul Julia movie.
Street Fighter is so powerful that it also single-handedly revived the fighting game genre in the new millennium following the death of arcades. No genre truly goes away, but only Street Fighter IV, with its mix of modern presentation and throwback Street Fighter II sensibilities, could revive mass interest and bring back lapsed players.
