Arguably the greatest video game of all time, and certainly the game that set a precedent for all of the ‘Player V’s Player’ fighting games that followed in its wake, the ‘Street Fighter’ series of video games has more than earned its place amongst the likes of ‘Bubble Bobble’, and ‘Pac-Man’, as a bona fide classic; of video gaming history.
While the original Street Fighter game achieved a certain level of popularity, it was the games sequel ‘Street Fighter II: A World Warrior’, that really blew arcade goers the world over away. Pitting different opponents with varying fighting styles and individual special moves against each other, Street Fighter 2, unleashed a level of game play depth unseen in any fighting game prior to it, that redesigned the genre, spawning not just an endless array of later Street Fighter releases, but also a myriad of copy-cat Street Fighter clones, that would transform the fighting video game genre, into what is still one of the most popular video game types today.
The original Street Fighter II video game placed players in a tournament to decide the ultimate fighting champion of the world, with powerful warriors skilled in a variety of fighting techniques challenging and defeating each other, in a bid to go on to the next round. And while for the player the ultimate goal was to fight their way through each of the standard characters, and then on to defeat the four final bosses, the characters themselves all had their own individual reasons for being there, often in the form of a vendetta, laid out in each world warriors back-story.
While the original Street Fighter featured characters such as ‘Birdie’ the English punk-rocker, and ‘Joe’, an American kickboxing champion, only three characters from the first game returned for the sequel: Ryu, Ken, and Sagat. Appearing amongst what is without doubt the most iconic line-up of Street Fighter Characters ever, also featuring: Chun-Li, Blanka, E. Honda, Guile, Dhalsim, Zangief, Balrog, Vega, and M.Bison.
However, with the numerous and varied later releases, such as ‘Champion’, ‘Turbo’, ‘Alpha’, etc. all the way through to the current (at time of writing) ‘Street Fighter IV’, the Street Fighter family of fighters has continued to grow, both in number, and in eclectic variety. to now include over eighty unique characters, of which everybody will have their own particular favorite(s), with which to whoop friends and family alike. Effortlessly pulling ‘dragon punches’ and ‘flash kicks’ with practised ease, until the true warrior is rewarded with either the word “K.O.”, as your opponent smashes down hard into the floor, or with the even more sought after; “PERFECT!”
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI love the street fighter series, been playing the game since I was 7. Very cool write up.
ReplyDelete