Since its ‘birth’ in August of 1987, the Street Fighter games have taken the globe by a ‘violent’ storm! Gaming fans, both young and mature, flooded to the arcades to partake in this groundbreaking one-on-one fighting game. With a great challenge level to begin with, I am sure there was mixed emotions of energized rush, to complete discontent at the “Game Over” screen when players ‘lost’ in a match. It seemed that Capcom hit the nail on the head when they released this game.
The story, as every fan and fanatic is more than fully aware of, starts with a young Ryu Hoshi getting into heated challenge after challenge to match quick wits and heavy hits with different world fighters ranging from Kung-Fu experts to professional boxers. Of course, you do not start out with any special attacks like Ryu’s legendary ShoRyuKen (Rising Dragon Punch). I had only played the original game, once, myself, and it seemed that you earned these special techniques with a certain number of complete victories you gained during gameplay.
Sequel after sequel have spawned since then, such as the popular Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II. By this time, popular home-based gaming consoles had taken the world by storm with Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, and more rare consoles such as the Neo-Geo system. This Capcom title, though, was given a new breath of life with the release of Street Fighter III: The New Generation, and the addition of newer, more challenging characters such as the new Brazilian brawler Sean, the quick and deadly twins from Hong Kong (and alleged grandsons of Kung-Fu master, Gen) Yun and Yang, and one of a few new bosses to appear during the entire saga like Gill.
It started out under the name “Fighting Streets” and consisted of a nicely-done rendering of Ryu as a youth (if you ask me, though, he looks more like Bruce Lee in a karate gi). From there, it spawned several roughly-translated renditions, some seemingly separate from the original such as Street Fighter 2010, which I believe was later renamed when it was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System back in 1990, but I may be mistaken. Under development, it was initially not associated with the Street Fighter franchise, but to draw a wider audience, they renamed the main character Ken.
If I am not mistaken, I recall the karate master, who trained Ken Master and Ryu Hoshi, was under two different names. When I had originally played Street Fighter II on my Super Nintendo system, Ryu had mentioned a sensei named “Sheng Long”. According to Wikipedia.com, Sheng Long was a hoax character introduced by E.G.M. magazine for April Fool’s Day, 1992. His true identity was not fully defined until 1997.
He’s known, now, as Gouken, and he’s become a playable character as of Super Street Fighter IV. The hoax was attributed to the conception of two other Street Fighter characters, one being Gouken, and the other is the devilish and deadly Akuma, who later brings darkness upon Ryu.
With the inclusion of Super Street Fighter IV, we also have some additions from other Capcom fighter games. Cody Travers, the big city brawler and former hero of Metro City, had been included, prison garbs and all. Plus, his former sparring partner and constantly-training Bushin-style Ninjitsu practitioner, Guy, from Japan. One, an open-book, and the other, a stoic mysterious traditionalist, and both equally as dangerous in the street fighter world. Originally introduced in the 1989 coin-op co-op 2-player arcade game Final Fight, from Capcom, that involved 3 characters who set out to save the girl and save the city from an evil and dangerous gang known as the Mad Gear. It breathed extra life into the slowly-dying genre of side-scrolling games.
Now with these characters, and more, in the Street Fighter saga, you were given more choices than ever! The fun never seems to end, nor does it seem to get old.
Street Fighter has also seen its fair share of various platforms and styles of gaming. Super Puzzle Fighter is one title. I know there are others, but the titles, presently, escape my memory.
What also makes Street Fighter enjoyable were the different backgrounds stories with each character. Each had a significant story that always ended with the final battle with the one boss. For the longest time, it was (in the USA) M. Bison, or, in Japan, Vega. This was/is a man/monster cloaked in mystery, as his true age is unknown. Then, along came Gill, an outrageously designed character with Ice and Fire powers combined with his unusual fighting style that seems similar to Muy Thai, but it’s a composite style taught by the Illuminati.
This character seems more challenging to fight than M. Bison in a few ways. This guy seems to have a very interesting back-story, as well. Needless to say, the more advance our gaming consoles become, the more detailed and elaborate the Street Fighter games become. Additionally, with each character story ending with an Anime-styled mini-video, it sure adds to the fun of playing these games! On a scale of 1 to 10, I’d have to give this game a 10.5, as you are also able to challenge other players from around the world with the advent of online capabilities.
This amazing fighting franchise has seen its share of up’s and down’s, but it doesn’t look like it’s going to loose steam, again, anytime soon. With specialized 3-D rendering and new technology allowing for extremely talented voice-casting for the characters, there will never be another fighting game quite like this. With gaming-style variations, cross-overs, and inter-logo additions, and even animated features and comics being made, the Street Fighter saga, apparently, is going to be with us for a long time.
Street Fighter, Street Fighter II, and all related pictures, names, characters, etc., are property and Copyright © CAPCOM ENTERTAINMENT, INC. 2011 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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