Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
A Japanese brochure for the arcade version of Street Fighter II, featuring the original eight main characters. Clockwise from top: Zangief, Ken, Blanka, Dhalsim, Ryu, Guile and E. Honda. At the center: Chun-Li.
Developer(s)	Capcom
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Producer(s)	Yoshiki Okamoto
Designer(s)	Akira Nishitani Akira Yasuda
Programmer(s)	Shinichi Ueyama Seiji Okada Yoshihiro Matsui Motohide Eshiro
Artist(s)	Eri Nakamura Satoru Yamashita
Composer(s)	Yoko Shimomura Isao Abe
Series	Street Fighter
Platform(s)	Arcade Super NES, Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, DOS, Game Boy, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PlayStation Portable (in Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded), iOS, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Java ME, Wii Virtual Console
Release date(s)	1991 Arcade‹See Tfd› WW: 1991 SNES‹See Tfd› JP: June 10, 1992 NA: July 15, 1992[1] EU: December 17, 1992 Amiga‹See Tfd› EU: 1992 Atari ST‹See Tfd› EU: 1992 Amstrad CPC‹See Tfd› EU: 1992 Commodore 64‹See Tfd› EU: 1992 CPS Changer‹See Tfd› JP: 1994 MS-DOS‹See Tfd› NA: 1993 EU: 1992 Game Boy‹See Tfd› JP: August 11, 1995 NA: September 1995 EU: November 23, 1995 ZX Spectrum‹See Tfd› EU: 1992 Wii Virtual Console‹See Tfd› JP: December 2, 2006 NA: December 25, 2006 PAL: January 19, 2007 Wii U Virtual Console‹See Tfd› JP: June 25, 2014 WW: August 22, 2013
Genre(s)	Fighting
Mode(s)	Up to 2 players simultaneously
Cabinet	Upright
Arcade system	CP System
CPU	68000 @ 10 MHz, Z80 @ 3.579 MHz
Sound	YM2151 @ 3.579 MHz, MSM6295 @ 7.576 MHz
Display	Raster, horizontal orientation, 384×224 resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, 4096 colors on screen, 65,536 color palette[2]

Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (Japanese: ストリートファイターⅡ -The World Warrior-) is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in 1991. It is the second entry in the Street Fighter series and the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in 1987. It is Capcom's fourteenth title that runs on the CP System arcade hardware. Street Fighter II improves upon the many concepts introduced in the first game, including the use of command-based special moves and a six-button configuration, while offering players a selection of multiple playable characters, each with their own unique fighting style, and introducing a combo system and competitive multiplayer combat between two players.

The success of Street Fighter II is credited with starting the fighting-game boom during the 1990s which inspired other game developers to produce their own fighting-game franchises, popularizing the genre, and setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s.^[3] It was then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System platform, for which it became a long-lasting system-seller.^[4] Its success led to a sub-series of updated versions (see below), each offering additional features and characters over previous versions, as well as several home versions.

By 1994, the game had been played by at least 25 million people in North American, at home and in arcades.^[5] By 1995, gross revenues of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition arcade machines had exceeded $2.312 billion^[6] (equivalent to over $4.02 billion in 2016). The video game console ports sold more than 14 million copies;^[7] the Super NES port of the original game sold 6.3 million units,^[8] making it Capcom's best-selling single consumer game software until 2013 (when it was surpassed by Resident Evil 5)^[9] and remaining their best-selling game software on a single platform through to the present day.^[8]

Gameplay

Guile defeats Ken after using his Flash Kick (arcade version shown)

Street Fighter II follows several of the conventions and rules already established by its original 1987 predecessor. The player engages opponents in one-on-one close quarter combat in a series of best-two-out-of-three matches. The objective of each round is to deplete the opponent's vitality before the timer runs out. If both opponents knock each other out at the same time or the timer runs out with both fighters having an equal amount of vitality left, then a "double KO" or "draw game" is declared and additional rounds will be played until sudden death. In the first Street Fighter II, a match could last up to ten rounds if there was no clear winner; this was reduced to four rounds in Champion Edition and onward. If there is no clear winner by the end of the final round, then either the computer-controlled opponent will win by default in a single-player match or both fighters will lose in a 2-player match.

After every third match in the single player mode, the player will participate in a bonus stage for additional points. The bonus games includes (in order) a car-breaking event similar to another bonus round featured in Final Fight; a barrel breaking bonus game where the barrels are dropped off from a conveyor belt on the top portion of the screen; and a drum-breaking bonus game where drums are flammable and piled over each other.

Like in the original, the game's controls uses a configuration of an eight-directional joystick and six attack buttons. The player uses the joystick to jump, crouch and move the character towards or away from the opponent, as well as to guard the character from an opponent's attacks. There are three punch buttons and three kick buttons of differing strength and speed (Light, Medium and Heavy). The player can perform a variety of basic moves in any position, including grabbing/throwing attacks, which were not featured in the original Street Fighter. Like in the original, the player can perform special moves by inputting a combination of directional and button-based commands.

Street Fighter II differs from its predecessor due to the selection of multiple playable characters, each with distinct fighting styles and special moves. Combos were also possible. According to IGN, "the concept of combinations, linked attacks that can't be blocked when they're timed correctly, came about more or less by accident. Street Fighter II's designers didn't quite mean for it to happen, but players of the original game eventually found out that certain moves naturally flowed into other ones". This "combo" system was later adopted as a standard feature of fighting games, and was expanded upon in subsequent Street Fighter installments.^[10]

Characters

The original Street Fighter II features a roster of eight playable characters that could be selected by the player. The roster initially included Ryu and Ken—the main characters from the original Street Fighter game—plus six new characters of different nationalities. In the single-player tournament, the player faces off against the other seven main fighters, before proceeding to the final opponents, which are four non-selectable CPU-controlled boss opponents, known as the "Grand Masters."

Playable characters:

• Ryu, a Japanese karateka seeking to hone his skills.
• E. Honda, a sumo wrestler from Japan.
• Blanka, a beast-like mutant from Brazil who was raised in the jungle.
• Guile, a former USAF special forces operative from the United States, seeking to defeat the man who killed his best friend.
• Ken, Ryu's rival and former training partner, from the United States.
• Chun-Li, a Chinese martial artist who works as an Interpol officer, seeking to avenge her deceased father.
• Zangief, a pro wrestler from the USSR.
• Dhalsim, a fire breathing yoga master from India.

CPU-exclusive characters:

• Balrog, an African American boxer, designed with a similar appearance to Mike Tyson.
• Vega, a Spanish torero who wields a claw and uses a unique style of ninjutsu.
• Sagat, a Muay Thai kickboxer and former World Warrior champion from the original Street Fighter, who was scarred by Ryu in the end of the previous tournament.
• M. Bison, the leader of the criminal organization Shadaloo, who uses a mysterious power known as "Psycho Power," and the final opponent of the game.

Regional differences

With the exception of Sagat, the Grand Masters have different names in the Japanese version. The African-American boxer known as Balrog in the international versions was designed as a pastiche of real-life boxer Mike Tyson and was originally named M. Bison (short for "Mike Bison"), while Vega and M. Bison were originally named Balrog and Vega respectively. When Street Fighter II was localized for the overseas market, the names of the bosses were rotated, fearing that the boxer's similarities to Tyson could have led to a likeness infringement lawsuit.^[11] This name change would be carried over to future games in the series. To avoid confusion in Tournament Play, many players refer to each character by a defining characteristic. The names are "Claw" to refer to the character from Spain, "Boxer" to refer to the African American boxer, and "Dictator" to refer to the final boss of the game, who wears an outfit resembling a military dictator.

The characters in the Japanese version also have more than one win quote^[12] and if the player loses a match against the CPU in the Japanese version, a random playing tip will be shown at the bottom of the continue screen. While the ending text for the characters were originally translated literally, a few changes were made due to creative differences from Capcom's U.S. marketing staff. For example, the name of Guile's fallen friend (who would later debut as a playable fighter in Street Fighter Alpha) was changed from Nash to Charlie, since a staff member from Capcom USA felt that Nash was not a natural sounding English name.^[13]

Development

Although the original Street Fighter had not been very popular, Capcom began to make fighting games a priority after Final Fight was commercially successful in the United States.^[14] Yoshiki Okamoto recounted, "The basic idea at Capcom was to revive Street Fighter, a good game concept, to make it a better-playing arcade game."^[15] About 35 to 40 people worked on Street Fighter II, with Noritaka Funamizu as a producer, and Akira Nishitani and Akira Yasuda in charge of the game and character design respectively.^[13][14] Funamizu notes that the developers did not particularly prioritise Street Fighter II's balance; he primarily ascribes the game's success to its appealing animation patterns.^[14] The quality of animation benefited from the developers' use of the CPS-1 hardware, the advantages of which included the ability for different characters to occupy different amounts of memory; for example, Ryu could take up 8Mbit and Zangief 12Mbit.^[14] The game's development took two years.^[14]

The game's combo system came about by accident:

"While I was making a bug check during the car bonus stage… I noticed something strange, curious. I taped the sequence and we saw that during the punch timing, it was possible to add a second hit and so on. I thought this was something impossible to make useful inside a game, as the timing balance was so hard to catch. So we decided to leave the feature as a hidden one. The most interesting thing is that this became the base for future titles. Later we were able to make the timing more comfortable and the combo into a real feature. In SFII we thought if you got the perfect timing you could place several hits, up to four I think. Then we managed to place eight! A bug? Maybe."

— Noritaka Funamizu, ^[14]

The vast majority of the in-game music was composed by Yoko Shimomura. While Shimomura initially had reservations about doing the music for a fighting game, a genre of which she was not particularly fond, she soon came to enjoy working on the project and stated that while Breath of Fire was her personal favorite of the games she worked on while at Capcom, Street Fighter II was the most memorable. This was ultimately the only game in the series on which Shimomura worked, as she subsequently left the company for Square two years later. Isao Abe, a Capcom newcomer, handled a few additional tracks for this game and subsequently became the main composer on the remaining Street Fighter II games. The sound programming and sound effects were overseen by Yoshihiro Sakaguchi, who had been the composer on the original Street Fighter.

Ports

Super NES

Street Fighter II was released for the Super Famicom on June 10, 1992 in Japan, which was followed by a North American release for the SNES in August of the same year and a European release in December. It was the first game released on a 16-Megabit cartridge for the SNES. Many aspects from the arcade versions were either changed or simplified in order to fit into the smaller memory capacity. This version also featured a secret code which would allow both players to control the same character in a match, which was not possible in the original arcade version. The second player uses the same alternate color palette introduced in Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition. The four Grand Masters are still non-playable, but they use their Champion Edition color palette if the code is entered.

Other changes are as follows:

• The attract sequence which featured two generic fighters fighting was removed (it was missing in Street Fighter II′ Turbo, but it was restored for the Genesis version Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition albeit with the appearance of one of the fighters altered and blood removed).
• Some of the voice samples played when characters perform certain techniques or special moves were removed.
• The pitch of a character's voice when they perform a special move differs depending on the strength level. The higher the strength level, the higher the pitch.
• The bonus stage in which the player must destroy stacks of flammable oil drums was replaced by a stage in which the player must destroy a pile of bricks (this same bonus stage also featured in subsequent SNES versions, as well as in both Genesis installments although the bricks were red instead of gray). The barrel breaking bonus stage was also removed (it was restored for the two subsequent SNES versions, as well as both Genesis installments) and as a result, the bonus stages are now played after every four matches (rather than every three).
• The tunes of the soundtrack were not only arranged, the music that plays when a character is losing a match is arranged differently from the arcade version, since the same music is played but with the tempo raised (later SNES and Genesis installments also featured similar changes). Tatsuya Nishimura, who had recently joined Capcom from TOSE, arranged the soundtrack for the SNES version, with assistance from Shimomura, Abe, and Sakaguchi.
• Some attacks were removed, such as Chun-Li's close standing medium punch.
• The walking animation of the characters when retreating from an opponent is the same when advancing, only played in reverse (the subsequent SNES and Genesis versions also featured this change).
• The voiced countdown during the continue screen, as well as the reading of each country's name, were removed. Moreover, the font used during the continue screen is different as well (a noticeably larger number font).
• Two of the elephants were removed from Dhalsim's stage, leaving a total of four.
• The two guitar players and other background characters were removed from Vega's stage.
• The palm tree in the foreground of Sagat's stage was removed (it was removed in the arcade version of Champion Edition).
• The blood splatter behind the "VS." text before each match was removed. The effect was added back in later console ports, and its color was changed to purple in Super Street Fighter II.
• The victory quotes for certain characters (such as Balrog and M. Bison) were altered.
• The visuals and script in some of the endings are a bit different from the arcade version.
• The upper and lower portions of the screen are covered by black bars, shortening the vertical length of the screen (the PC Engine and Genesis ports also added black bars). This was done to compensate for the reduced size of the character sprites and make the change less noticeable to players.
• A "VS" mode was added for two players to play a series of matches (wins/losses/draws), having the option each time to change their character, stage, and handicap between matches.

Home computers

U.S. Gold released versions of Street Fighter II for various home computer platforms in Europe, namely the Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, PC (DOS), and ZX Spectrum. These versions of the game were all developed by Creative Materials, except for the ZX Spectrum version which was developed by Tiertex Design Studios. These versions were not released in any other region, except for the PC version, which also saw a release in North America (where it was published by Hi-Tech Expressions).^[21] These versions suffered from numerous inaccuracies, such as missing graphical assets and music tracks, miscolored palettes, and lack of six-button controls (due to these platforms having only one or two-button joysticks as standard at the time). As a result, these versions are filled with unusual peculiarities such as Ryu and Ken's Hadouken (Fireball) sprite being a recolored Yoga Fire and the title theme being used as background music for matches, while move properties are completely different. In the DOS version in particular, Dhalsim ends up being the strongest fighter in the game due to his basic attacks having high priority over other characters. The DOS version also saw a bootleg version and was actually considered by many, while mediocre, to be still quite superior to the official DOS version.^[25][26]

Game Boy

The Game Boy version of Street Fighter II was released on August 11, 1995 in Japan, and in September 1995 internationally. It is missing three of the original characters (Dhalsim, E. Honda, and Vega), although the remaining nine are playable. The graphics, character portraits, and stages are based on Super Street Fighter II, although some moves (such as Blanka's Amazon River Run) from Super Street Fighter II′ Turbo are included as well. Since the Game Boy only features two buttons, the strength of a player's punches and kicks are determined by how long the player hold either button (an input method similar to the one used in Fighting Street, the TurboGrafx CD version of the original Street Fighter). Same character matches are allowed, but because of the game's lack of color, distinguishing between two characters is not possible even on a Super Game Boy.

Compilations

The original Street Fighter II was included along with Champion Edition and Hyper Fighting in the compilation Capcom Generation 5 for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, which was released in North America and Europe under the title of Street Fighter Collection 2. All three games were also included in Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, as well as Capcom Classics Collection Reloaded for the PlayStation Portable.

Updated versions

Street Fighter II was followed by a series of updated versions, each refining the play mechanics, graphics, character roster, and other aspects of the game. The first was Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition, released for the arcades in March 1992, which allowed players to control the four Grand Masters and same character matches. Following the release of Champion Edition, a wave of bootleg ROM chip upgrades for its arcade cabinets added new gameplay, prompting Capcom's official response with Street Fighter II′ Turbo: Hyper Fighting during December the same year, increasing the playing speed and giving some of the characters new special moves. Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was released in September 1993, which marked the change to the more advanced CP System II, allowing for updated graphics and audio, while introducing four new characters. Super Street Fighter II Turbo was released in February 1994 and was the last of the Street Fighter II releases for the arcades (until Hyper Street Fighter II), which introduced powered-up special moves called Super Combos and added a new hidden character.

All five Street Fighter II games have ported to various platforms, both in individual releases and in compilations. There have also been exclusive home versions such as Hyper Street Fighter II (which was retroactively ported to the arcade) and Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.

Other media and merchandise

• The characters from the Street Fighter II video game became part of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line up in 1993, as Hasbro bought the toy rights to the characters.^[27]
• An unofficial South Korean animation titled Street Fighter was produced by Daiwon Animation in 1992 and features the cast of Street Fighter II. The Hong Kong movie Future Cops also featured a (renamed) cast of Street Fighter characters.
• Street Fighter II was adapted into two different film adaptations in 1994, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (a Japanese anime film produced by Group TAC) and an American produced live-action film, simply titled Street Fighter. Starring Jean-Claude Van Damme as Guile, Kylie Minogue as Cammy and Raúl Juliá as M. Bison, the live-action film incorporated the main cast of the video game and wrapped them into an action adventure. Director Steven E. de Souza's take on the premise: "I especially loved films like The Longest Day, The Great Escape and The Guns of Navarone. What made those films great wasn't the random violence. It was the clear-cut struggle between forces of good and evil, leading to an ultimate showdown."
• There was also a U.S. Street Fighter cartoon, which followed a combined Van Damme movie and game series plot, and an unrelated anime titled Street Fighter II V, mostly thought as being a prequel to the event in the original game (like the Street Fighter Alpha series), featuring younger characters; a similar approach drove the script of the movie The Legend of Chun-Li.

Reception

Critical reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Scores
	Arcade	SNES	AMI	PC	C64	ST	ZX	Game Boy	Wii	Wii U
Defunct Games		93%[28]
GameRankings		90%[29]
Review scores
Publication	Scores
	Arcade	SNES	AMI	PC	C64	ST	ZX	Game Boy	Wii	Wii U
AllGame	[30]	[31]		[32]				[33]	[34]	[35]
Bad Influence!		96%[36]
CU Amiga			90%[37]
CVG	93%[38]
Edge		9/10[39]
EGM		38/40[1]						29/40[40]
Electronic Games		94%[41]
Famitsu		35/40[42]						21/40[43]
GamePro		5/5[28]
GameSpot									7.2/10[44]
IGN									7/10[45]
Jeuxvideo									18/20[46]
Mean Machines		98%[47]
Mega Zone		95%[48]	84%[49]
Nintendo Power		4.075/5[29]
Sinclair User	84%[50]						89%[51]
ST Format						91%[52]
Super Play		94%[29]
Your Sinclair							62%[53]
Awards
Publication(s)					Award(s)
Gamest Grand Prize (1991 & 1992), EGM (1992), Golden Joystick Awards (1992), Game Informer (1992)					Game of the Year
Electronic Gaming Awards (1992)					Video Game of the Year (Nominee)
Electronic Gaming Monthly (1992 & 1993)					Best Game of the Year (Super Nintendo)
Gamest Grand Prize (1991 & 1992)					Best Action Game, Best Album
Gamest Grand Prize (1991)					Best VGM, Best Direction, Best Characters, Best Graphics (Runner-Up)
Electronic Gaming Monthly (1992)					Best Video Game Ending, Hottest Video Game Babe (Chun-Li)
Game Informer (1992)					Best Playability in a Video Game
MegaTech (1993)					Hyper Game
Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition					First Fighting Game to Use Combos, Most Cloned Fighting Game, Biggest-Selling Coin-Operated Fighting Game
BuzzFeed, Edge, EGM, Empire, Famitsu, FHM, G4, GameFAQs, Game Informer, GameSpot, GamingBolt, Guinness, IGN, Next Generation, NowGamer, Retro Gamer, Stuff, Time, Yahoo!					Best Games of All Time

Japan

In the February 1992 issue of Gamest magazine in Japan, it was revealed that due to low stock the games were selling for seven times the cost (¥15,000 in Japan, equivalent to about $119.19 and £65 at the time, or $201 and £110 in 2016). The original arcade version of Street Fighter II was awarded Best Game of 1991 in their Fifth Annual Grand Prize, which also won in the genre of Best Action Game (the award for fighting games was not established yet). Street Fighter II also placed No. 1 in Best VGM, Best Direction, and Best Album, and was second place in Best Graphics (below the 3D Namco System 21 game Starblade). All the characters, with the exception of M. Bison (the character known internationally as Balrog), were featured in the list of Best Characters of 1991, with Chun-Li at No. 1, Ryu at No. 3, Guile at No. 4, Dhalsim at No. 5, Zangief at No. 6, Edmond Honda at No. 8, Ken and Blanka sharing the No. 9 spot, Vega (M. Bison outside Japan) at No. 13, Balrog (Vega outside Japan) at No. 16, and Sagat at No. 22.^[54]

In the following year, Street Fighter II Dash was also awarded Best Game of 1992 in the Sixth Annual Grand Prize, as published in the February 1993 issue of Gamest, winning once again in the category of Best Action Game. Dash placed No. 3 in Best VGM, No. 6 in Best Graphics, No. 5 in Best Direction. The Street Fighter II Image Album was the No. 1 Best Album in the same issue, with the Drama CD version of Street Fighter II tied for No. 7 with the soundtrack for Star Blade. The List of Best Characters was not dominated by Street Fighter II characters this time, with the only character at the Top Ten being Chun-Li at No. 3.^[55]

In the February 1994 issue of Gamest, both Street Fighter II Dash Turbo (Hyper Fighting) and Super Street Fighter II were nominated for Best Game of 1993, but neither won (the first place was given to Samurai Spirits). Super ranked third place, with Turbo at No. 6. In the category of Best Fighting Games, Super ranked third place again, while Turbo placed fifth. Super also won third place in the categories of Best Graphics and Best VGM. Cammy, who was introduced in Super, placed fifth place in the list of Best Characters of 1993, with Dee Jay and T. Hawk at 36 and 37.^[56] In the January 30, 1995 issue of Gamest, Super Street Fighter II X (known as Super Turbo internationally) placed fourth place in the award for Best Game of 1994 and Best Fighting Game, but did not rank in any of the other awards.^[57]

The Super Famicom (SNES) version was also critically acclaimed. Famitsu's panel of four reviewers gave it scores of 9, 9, 9, and 8, adding up to 35 out of 40. This made it one of their five highest-rated games of 1992, along with Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Shin Megami Tensei, World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and Mario Paint. They later gave the Turbo update a score of 36 out of 40. This made Street Fighter II′ Turbo their highest-rated game of 1993, and the twelfth game to have received a Famitsu score of 36/40 or above.^[42]

Overseas

The arcade game was well received by English-language critics upon release. The June 1991 issue of Computer and Video Games (CVG) gave it ratings of 94% for graphics, 93% for sound, 95% for playability, and 92% for lastability, with a 93% score overall. The reviewer Julian Rignall criticized the original Street Fighter for being a "run-of-the-mill beat 'em up with little in the way of thrills and spills," but praised this sequel for being "absolutely packed with new ideas and special moves." He noted the "six buttons combining with 8 joystick directions to provide more moves than I've ever seen in a beat 'em up" and praised the "massive, beautifully drawn and animated sprites, tons of speech and the most exciting, action-packed head-to-head conflict yet seen in an arcade game," concluding that it is "one of the best fighting games yet seen in the arcades" and "a brilliant coin-op."^[58] The June 1991 issue of Sinclair User gave the arcade game an "addict factor" of 84%. The reviewer John Cook criticized the controls, stating, "You might find the control system a bit daunting at first," noting "a joystick plus six (count 'em!) fire buttons," but said "it's not that bad really" and praised the gameplay as well as "excellent" animation and sound effects, concluding "this is bound to appeal to you if you like the beat 'em up style of game."^[50]

The SNES version of Street Fighter II was also very well received. It has an average aggregate score of 93% from Defunct Games based on ten reviews from the early 1990s.^[28] In Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM), its panel of four reviewers gave it scores of 10, 9, 10, and 9, adding up to 38 out of 40.^[1] Sushi X (Ken Williams), who gave it a 10, stated that it is the "Best! Street Fighter II is the only game I have ever seen that really deserves a 10!" Martin Alessi, who gave it a 9, described it as "the best cart available anywhere! Incredible game play!" GamePro printed two reviews of the game in its August 1992 issue, both giving it a full score of 5 out of 5; Doctor Dave described it as "Capcom's best arcade conversion yet" while Slasher Quan stated that almost "everything's perfect in the Super NES version" and that it is "a nearly flawless conversion of the arcade original that's made even more enjoyable by new options and the convenience of home fighting." Super Play gave it a 94% score, stating that with "the inclusion of Champion Edition's Character vs. Character select and the extra options, I would even go so far to say that this is actually better than the coin-op."^[28] Electronic Games gave it scores of 95% for graphics, 92% for sound, and 93% for playability, with a 94% overall, concluding that it is the best fighting game to date.^[41] Nintendo Power gave it 4.075 out of 5,^[29] stating that the "hottest arcade game around has been faithfully reproduced for this Super NES conversion" and that it "is just like having the arcade game at home!"^[28]

It was named by Electronic Gaming Monthly as the Game of the Year for 1992.^[1] EGM awarded the follow-up title Street Fighter II′ Turbo with Best Super NES Game in the year after.^[59] Street Fighter II also won the Golden Joystick Award for Game of the Year in 1992.^[60] Game Informer gave it the "Best Game of the Year" and "Best Playability in a Video Game" awards.^[61] It was also one of the three games nominated by Electronic Games magazine's Electronic Gaming Awards for the Video Game of the Year category, along with NHLPA Hockey '93 and Sonic the Hedgehog 2.^[62]

The Mega Drive version of Street Fighter II received 10 out of 10 for both graphics and addiction from Mega, who described it as "a candidate for best game ever and without a doubt the best beat-'em-up of all time" and gave it an overall 92% score.^[63] MegaTech scored it 95%, and commented "the greatest coin-op hits the Megadrive in perfect form".^[64] Edge gave the PC Engine version of Champion Edition a score of 8 out of 10.^[65] The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly, while remarking that the control is difficult and the game speed "lethargically slow" on the Game Boy version, agreed it to be an excellent conversion by Game Boy standards. However, they commented on the fact that Street Fighter II was a very old game by this time.^[40] The Axe Grinder of GamePro agreed, praising the graphics and Game Boy exclusive Survival mode, but criticizing the slow controls and concluding that "The real problem here is that the game's just plain old."^[66] GameSpot gave the PlayStation 3 version of HD Remix a score of 8.5 out of 10.^[67]

Street Fighter II has been listed among the best games of all time. Game Informer ranked it as the 22nd best game ever made in 2001. The staff praised it for popularizing the one-on-one fighting game genre and noted that its Super NES ports were "near-perfect."^[68] They later ranked it the 25th best game ever made in 2009.^[69] Other publications that listed it among the best games of all time include BuzzFeed,^[70] Electronic Gaming Monthly,^[71][72][73] IGN,^[74][75][76] Edge,^[77] Empire,^[78][79] Famitsu,^[80] FHM,^[81] G4,^[82] GameFAQs,^{[83][84][85][86]} GameSpot,^[87] GamingBolt,^[88] Guinness World Records,^[89] Next Generation,^[90] NowGamer,^[91] Retro Gamer,^[92] Stuff,^[93][94] Time,^[95] and Yahoo!^[96] Guinness World Records awarded Street Fighter II three world records in the Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition 2008. These records are "First Fighting Game to Use Combos", "Most Cloned Fighting Game", and "Biggest-Selling Coin-Operated Fighting Game."

Commercial reception

Arcade versions

The company sold more than 60,000 video game arcade cabinets of the original version of Street Fighter II.^[97] It was followed by Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition, of which 140,000 cabinets were sold in Japan alone, where it cost ¥160,000 ($1300) for each cabinet, amounting to ¥22.4 billion ($182 million) revenue generated from cabinet sales of Champion Edition in Japan,^[14][98] which is equivalent to $317 million in 2016.^[99]

The sales for the arcade versions of Street Fighter II in the Western world were similarly successful.^[98] In 1992, Street Fighter II captured 60% of the UK coin-op market, with individual machines taking up to £1000 per week, for an estimated total of £260 million per year^[100] (equivalent to £485 million or $740.97 million in 2014). In North America, it was at the top of RePlay's May 1992 coin-op earnings charts, on both the upright cabinets chart and the coin-op software chart^[101] (for ROM cartridges and/or upgrade conversion kits). On the July 1992 charts, Champion Edition was number-one on the upright cabinets chart (above Midway's Mortal Kombat) while the original Street Fighter II was number-two on the coin-op software chart (below SNK's World Heroes).^[102] On RePlay's April 1993 charts, Champion Edition was number-four on the upright cabinets chart and Street Fighter II′ Turbo was number-one on the coin-op software chart,^[103] while in May 1993, Champion Edition remained number-four on the uprights cabinet chart and Turbo dropped to number-two on the coin-op software chart (overtaken by SNK's 3 Count Bout).^[104]

The October 1992 issue of Electronic Games noted, "Not since the early 1980s has an arcade game received so much attention and all out fanatical popularity."^[41] According to the March 1995 issue of GameFan magazine, the game had earned "billions of dollars in profit".^[105] By 1995, gross revenues of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition arcade machines had exceeded $2.312 billion (9.25 billion quarters),^[6] equivalent to over $4.02 billion in 2016.^[106]

Home versions

The numerous home versions of Street Fighter II are listed among Capcom's Platinum-class titles (games of which the company has sold more than 1 million units worldwide). The SNES version of the original Street Fighter II was the company's best-selling single consumer game software, with more than 6.3 million units sold, and it remains their best-selling game software on a single platform through to the present day.^[7][107] 1 million of those sales came in June 1992 within the first two weeks of its release in Japan,^[108] where it retailed for ¥10,290^[109] (equivalent to $88 in 2016). Another 750,000 units were sold in the United States between July 15 and September 30, 1992,^[1] with a retail price of $74.99^[110] (equivalent to $127 in 2016); according to Electronic Gaming Monthly, "Never has a game taken the country" by "storm as this one has." By the end of 1992, it had sold 4 million cartridges worldwide.^[1] In 1993, sales of Street Fighter II exceeded $1.5 billion in gross revenues^[111] (equivalent to over $2.61 billion in 2016).

The SNES versions of Street Fighter II′ Turbo and Super Street Fighter II saw 4.1 million and 2 million units sold, respectively, followed by the Mega Drive/Genesis version of Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition with 1.65 million sales. In total, more than 14 million copies were sold for the SNES and Mega Drive/Genesis consoles.^[7] The game had also been played by at least 25 million Americans in homes and arcades.^[5]

• The game broke both first-day and first-week sales for a download-only title.

Legacy

Impact

Street Fighter II is regarded as one of the most influential video games of all time,^{[4][114][115]} and the most important fighting game in particular.^{[115][116][117]} The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 is often considered a revolutionary moment in the fighting game genre. It featured the most accurate joystick and button scanning routine in the genre thus far, allowed players to reliably execute multi-button special moves (which had previously required an element of luck), and its graphics took advantage of Capcom's CPS arcade chipset, with highly detailed characters and stages. Whereas previous games allowed players to combat a variety of computer-controlled fighters, Street Fighter II allowed players to play against each other. The popularity of Street Fighter II surprised the gaming industry, as arcade owners bought more machines to keep up with demand.^[118] Street Fighter II was also responsible for introducing the combo mechanic, which came about when skilled players learned that they could combine several attacks that left no time for the opponent to recover if they timed them correctly.^{[14][114][119]} Its success inspired a wave of other fighting games, which were initially often labelled as "clones",^[4] including popular franchises such as Mortal Kombat & ^[120] Killer Instinct.

Street Fighter II was also responsible for revitalizing the arcade video game industry in the early 1990s,^[4][114] to a level of popularity not seen since the days of Pac-Man in the early 1980s;^[114][117] it was the best-selling arcade video game by far since the golden age of arcade video games,^[114][117] setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s.^[3] Its impact on home video games was equally important, with its release being a major event that boosted sales of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and became a long-lasting system-seller for the platform.^[4] Since then, numerous best-selling home video games have been arcade ports.^[121]

The game was also responsible for popularizing the concept of direct, tournament-level competition between two players.^[4] Previously, video games most often relied on high scores to determine the best player, but this changed with Street Fighter II, where players would instead challenge each other directly, "face-to-face," to determine the best player,^[4] paving the way for the competitive multiplayer and deathmatch modes found in modern action games.^[115] Another impact it had on the gaming industry was the concept of revisions, with Capcom continuously upgrading and expanding the arcade game instead of simply releasing a sequel, paving the way for the patches and downloadable content found in modern video games.^[4] It was revealed by Capcom that the two characters from the intro are named Scott and Max.^{[122][123][124][125]}

Sequels

The Street Fighter II games were followed by several sub-series of Street Fighter games and spinoffs which includes Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter EX, Street Fighter III, Pocket Fighter, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo and Capcom's Vs. series (which combined Capcom's characters with properties from other companies such as Marvel, SNK and Tatsunoko). Capcom released Street Fighter IV for the arcades in July 2008, followed by the release for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles in February 2009 and for Microsoft Windows in July 2009. Most recently, Street Fighter V was released for the PlayStation 4 and PC in 2016.

References

Further reading

• Studio Bent Stuff (Sep 2000). All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Games 1987-2000. A.A. Game History Series (Vol. 1) (in Japanese). Dempa Publications, Inc. ISBN 4-88554-676-1. 

External links

• Street Fighter II entry at Arcade-History
• Street Fighter II: The World Warrior at MobyGames
• Street Fighter II can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive