Xbox 360
Down, down-right, right then punch. It's a series of button presses synonymous with the greatest fighting series ever made, and has found its way into plenty of other wannabes and copycats. This is the button combination for the legendary 'hadoken' fireball, first seen in the original Street Fighter arcade game back in 1987. Of course, we first heard that now infamous word in the 1991 sequel, Street Fighter II, but you would be forgiven for never having played the original. It was a bit pap.
Regardless, history was made that year as the the sequel currently holds three Guiness World Records for "First fighting game to use combos", "Most Cloned Fighting Game" and "Biggest-Selling Coin-Operated Fighting Game". With Street Fighter II alone selling over 14 million units acros several platforms, it's safe to say Capcom created a brilliant monster, with the third true sequel, Street Fighter IV making its way to 360 and PS3 soon.
CAPCOM really pulled out the stops with the arcade version of Street Fighter II. For the time, it was a masterpiece in design, as each fighter was perfectly balanced, removing the frustration of characters who were way too powerful and, therefore, a favourite for cheesy, one-move wonders.
All right, that's true except for Sagat, a lumbering Thai kickboxer who has fireballs in both high and low variaties. These traits make him a nightmare opponent--so much so, that players in Street Fighter tournaments refrain from using him as an unwritten rule to keep things fair. Anyone who has slogged their way through the unforgiving SNES version will know the pain of meeting him toe-to-toe.
With god knows how many ace versions of Street Fighter II under their belts (we've certainly lost count), Capcom needed to do something new with the series. Enter the 'Alpha offshoots; these would go on to set the direction of the franchise for years to come. The ace Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior's Dreams hit the arcade scene in 1995 and the one-on-one format was instantly familiar, going down a storm with fans.
The character sprites were stylised, with a neat hand drawn animé feel them. The actual animation was brilliant too and the backgrounds bled colour, which was definitely refreshing in a sea of murky games such as Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct. This title also introduced the gaming world to the character Dan Hibiki. Donning a ridiculous pink garb and barking some truly awful victory cries, Hibiki was something of an in-joke for Capcom.
His inclusion in Alpha was a reaction to rival 2D beat-em-up maestros SNK, who had recently released the awesome, but still inferior Art of Fighting. The game featured a rather suspect character called Ryo Sakazaki, who was similar to Capcom's Ryu in name and Ken in appearance. Smelling a rat, the utterly weak and pathetic Dan was slotted into the roster as a hidden character and his banter after every round was full of subtle digs at both Art of Fighting and King of Fighters. The trend continues to this day - now, now lads...play nice.
Visuals and truly awful characters aside, there were subtle changes here that really had an impact on 2D fighters everywhere. The turbo edition of Street Fighter II included a 'special' bar that allowed fighters to unleash devastating super attacks. This was revamped for Alpha, which featured a three-tiered super gague that filled up gradually as you blocked attacks or dished out moves. Some players didn't enjoy this new addition however as some felt it rewarded cowardice, letting players low-block in the corner and soak up attacks in order to fill their gauge. The real masterstroke came in the form of 'alpha counters', allowing nimble players to parry blows and dish out some punishment following a well-timed block.
Street Fighter Alphas 2 and 3 came out in 1996 and 1998 respectively and went on to sell shedloads. Alpha 3 even introduced a neat world tour mode, where you went from country to country, gaining experience points for kicking shades out of the massive roster of around 30 fighters. You could then customise your character as you saw fit. The Alpha series was all well and good and Street Fighter fever was still rampant across the globe as crossovers such as the infinitely amazing Marvel Vs. Capcom series and Capcom Vs. SNK were fun, but not what the Street Fighter players grew up with.
In particular, Marvel VS. Capcom 2 deserves mention for it's ludicrous 3 vs 3 format as players from both franchises unleashed 50-hit combos and screen filling super attacks. It was truly mental, but people loved the crossover element. Imagine a dream team of Mega Man, Ryu and Jill from Resident Evil versus Wolverine, Spider-Man and Iron Man. Truly epic and currently selling for crazy money on eBay.
Nice, but the world was definitely ready for the next full sequel, that all-important evolution the series needed. Did it get it? You bet your ass it did! Find out how in part two of the history of Street Fighter, coming to Square-Go next week.