Retro|Spective 127: Street Fighter

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
1987 - Street Fighter
1990 - Street Fighter 2010
1991 - Street Fighter II
1992 - Street Fighter II: Championship Edition
1992 - Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting
1993 - Super Street Fighter II
1994 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo
1995 - Street Fighter Alpha
1995 - Street Fighter: The Movie
1996 - Street Fighter Alpha 2
1996 - Street Fighter EX
1996 - Street Fighter III
1996 - Pocket Fighter
1997 - Street Fighter III: Second Impact
1997 - Street Fighter EX Plus
1998 - Street Fighter Alpha 3
1998 - Street Fighter EX2
1999 - Street Fighter III: Third Strike
1999 - Street Fighter EX2 Plus
2000 - Street Fighter EX3
2003 - Hyper Street Fighter II: Anniversary Edition
2006 - Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max
2008 - Street Fighter IV
2010 - Super Street Fighter IV
2010 - Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition
2014 - Ultra Street Fighter IV
2016 - Street Fighter V
2017 - Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers
2018 - Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition
2020 - Street Fighter V: Champion Edition

Overview:
Yes, 127 threads in and we have only just now reached the opus of Capcom fighting franchises. The core franchise is now 33 years old and trundling along awaiting the next generation of machines for it to relaunch itself as is typical of the franchise each generation. Famed equally for its iterative updates as it is for its characters, music and gameplay the series is considered by many to be pinnacle fighting series though much debate is had as to what entry marks its finest hour.






What are your favourite memories of Street Fighter and which entry was its finest hour?

[Nu-Eclipse]

There surely cannot possibly be any argument that the golden age of this storied franchise is the SFII era? World Warrior redefined the vs. beat-em-up (to the point of heralding a wave of copycats into the genre) and Super Turbo essentially perfected it.

That said, obviously the majority of everything else that came afterwards bettered it, like the Zero/Alpha and SFIII games.

SFIV heralded a mini-renaissance in the franchise after a long absence post-3rd Strike, but SFV seems to have fizzled out somewhat due to Capcom's greed.

Shout-out to Capcom's crossover work with Marvel. Consistently brilliant back in the day, although not quite as good in more modern times.

[Neon Ignition]

Looking back it's A-Shocking that SF4 is 12 years old now and B-Bizarre that Alpha was that close behind SF2

Somehow Alpha 2 remains my favourite entry of them all

[Dogg Thang]

Yep, Alpha 2 is my favourite too. For me, it just has the right balance of characters and it has great backgrounds and music. Alpha 3 added a load more characters and that was good but, in the process, it got messier with the different play systems and the character spread meant it felt like other characters got demoted. And unlike Alpha and Alpha 2, I feel like the characters pulled in from SF2 were recreated in a more pedestrian way and not as reinvented or as improved as they had been up to that game. Alpha 3 is still great fun but the package of Alpha 2 is my favourite.

I love the early SF games. I played the original in the arcades and, no, it's not a great game at all and doesn't hold up but it had something. SF2 was mind-blowing when it came out and it got better and better from there. And I adored the Alpha series - I love the visual style and the play systems. Even the first Alpha which was pretty bare is a favourite of mine.

I think SF3 is amazing and one of the best animated 2D games there is but I must admit that the characters never clicked with me. I enjoyed playing as Ibuki and Elena was pretty fun too but, overall, I found the characters a bit awkward unless they were just built on a previous character (like the Guile guy in Third Strike). Even now so many years later, characters like Necro don't jump to mind at all when I think of Street Fighter.

The move to 3D didn't work for me at all. I feel SFIV is weaker in just about every single way. I never played V and I have had no desire to.

[fuse]

No doubt that SFII-era was the most impactful; not just on the series, or even fighting games, but on games as a whole. The arcade game was a phenomenon, every magazine I read at the time was utterly bananas over it for months and months on end, and the idea of a home port being able to do it justice was basically the best thing that could've happened to home consoles in the early 90s.

On any given day, I'd tout Third Strike as my favourite game of all time, and I will defend it to my last. Personally I love the roster (not you, Twelve) and find one of my few criticisms being that there's so much of the SF2 roster still present.

It blows my mind that SF4 is now over ten years ago.

[Nu-Eclipse]

29 years after the fact, I love that SFII TWW is such an endearingly unbalanced mess - OP combos, Guile glitches, etc.

Is it the best SFII? No, cleary that title belongs to SSFIIX. But it is probably the SFII that a generation played more than any other and the craze surrounding it in arcades all over will always be a cornerstone of gaming history.

I also love that it pushed Capcom to continually refine the formula as well as inspiring them to pay some kind of homage to it by way of including new moves in later games (Dhalsim's invisibility, Ken/Ryu differentiation, the introduction of Akuma, etc.).

[monel]

I'll be brief. Skipping the first game, Hyper / Turbo was the closest to perfection they ever got. The design, music (never sounds old), and gameplay. World Warrior seemed slow after the bootlegs, remember them... Walked into shop one day and saw Champion Edition, before any media coverage, was very surprising at the time. This series was an arcade phenomenon. You had the games in video shops, furniture shops, chippies, who knows where else.

Super was too different, stopped playing games after that, the new characters never appealed. Alpha / Zero, never liked them much but they are good, like a Final Fight crossover, 3 is a mess but my favourite of them.

The third game, most of the new characters were WTF in art design. Capcom, this is a mainstream series, it's like David Lynch making characters for Pixar. There's even rapping on the soundtrack, what are you thinking? I know it has a fanbase that love it and it looks good but I never played it enough. The fourth and fifth, was excited then disappointed. Good for brief plays but just look at ryu now, he has a hedgehog hair transplant.

[samanosuke]

For SF2 I have much the same memories as many of you, I suppose. From my first play of World Warrior at the local swimming pool and think WTF 6-buttons, how do I play this? Then skipping school to play Champion Edition outside a newsagent next to our school, being wowed by the ability to play as the bosses and even loving the new colours (purple CE Ken will always be the best version). Then an offy about a mile away from me got Hyper Fighting and - get this - was charging only 10p per play. My mates and I would make a pilgrimage to that offy with just a couple of quid each and be playing on it all day.

I remember my mate getting a SNES with the SF2 pack and a bunch of us from school were barricaded in his front room until late at night, playing game after game without having to put any money in. Ahhh, there never was and never will be such a seminal moment in gaming history.

As for the later titles, for me it is all about Third Strike. Yes, the new characters take a bit of getting used to, but there are plenty of memorable ones such as Urien, Yun/Yang, Ibuki, Makoto and Hugo. Plenty to like there if you give it a few hundred hours to learn their move sets. And the parrying mechanic - never bettered in any other fighter. I played IV for a bit and thought it was a bit meh - probably what the EX series should have been but not a true follow up to III. Never played V in my life but presumably it’s more of IV. Oh how I wish IV/V had retained the parrying from III, added in the old characters, and gave it a hires facelift a la BlazBlue. Now that would be worth playing!

[speedlolita]

On any given day, I'd tout Third Strike as my favourite game of all time, and I will defend it to my last. Personally I love the roster (not you, Twelve) and find one of my few criticisms being that there's so much of the SF2 roster still present.

Big same. Third Strike is an incredible game that I never tire of. Only managed to catch the tail end of the London arcade scene but really enjoyed the game all the same at a time when SF4 wasn't clicking with me.

I was too young to experience SF2 properly but going back it's evident to me how important these games were. Must have been awesome living through all the incremental updates since WW.

While I did enjoy SF4 (after Super was released at least), I've not felt the same about SFV. I never thought a game would make me want to go back to SF4... Funny how things work out like that.

Got the Darksoft CPS3 so really happy to be able to play Third Strike properly at home and would love to pick up a WW and SSF2X board down the line. Definitely my favourite series of games. Little mention of Zero from me though, can't say I'm a fan of those games.

[samanosuke]

Any of you Third Strikers play on Fightcade? Would be great to set up a Bordersdown tourney whilst the country is in lockdown!

[endo]

No, but I’ll take a look. I currently play it on PS4 as part of the anniversary collection.

[samanosuke]

No, but I’ll take a look. I currently play it on PS4 as part of the anniversary collection.

It probably won’t play as well as 25th but it’s free and therefore easy for us to all use on a single platform.

[Nu-Eclipse]

(Navy Blue CE Ken will always be the best version).

Corrected.

Purple Ken was in SFII Turbo.

[Hirst]

I always remember an episode of either The Bill or Casualty where some "bad kids" were crowded around a Street Fighter 2 cabinet, apparently playing the intro screen where that guy punches some other guy.

[samanosuke]

Christ you’re taking me back. I remember Mitch reprimanding Hoby for sneaking out to play SF2 in Baywatch.