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Street Fighter II (ストリートファイターⅡ, Sutorīto Faitā Tsū?) is a 1991 competitive fighting game by Capcom. It is widely credited with launching the fighting game genre into the mainstream and extending the life of the worldwide arcade scene for several years with its unique six button "combo" controls and revolutionary "loser pays" competitive gameplay. Its popularity far eclipsed that of its comparatively obscure predecessor, thanks in part to its inclusion of eight selectable characters (a number which would increase in subsequent updates) with their unique playing style and refinement of the unique play controls featured in the first game, setting the template for future fighting games. Its success also led to the production of several updates of the game (including home versions), as well as merchandising and cross-media adaptations (including two separately produced theatrical films).

Street Fighter II was followed by a prequel titled Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and a sequel titled Street Fighter III: New Generation. Both games also inspired their own series of updates.

Overview

As one of the most popular games of the early 1990s, Street Fighter II, released on Capcom's CPS-1 arcade board in March 1991, shaped the direction of arcade games for nearly a decade to follow. It is widely acknowledged as the premier fighting game of its era, due to its game balance with regard to the timing of attacks and blocks, which was unparalleled at the time; and due to "Special Moves" in which experienced players could execute complex fighting moves by moving the joystick and tapping the buttons in certain combinations. The game featured a six button layout, with punch buttons consisting of 'jab', 'strong', and 'fierce' and kick buttons consisting of 'short', 'forward', and 'roundhouse', in ascending order of strength. This was not new or exclusive to fighting games, but the way in which the game relied on them was. These complicated fighting moves were given names, such as the Shoryuken (the Rising Dragon Punch), the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku (the Tornado Whirlwind Kick) and the Hadouken (Surge Fist or Wave Motion Fist)[1], which provided a framework for players to have conversations about their games. It also introduced the convention of "cancelling" or "interrupting" moves into other moves, which enabled a player to create sequences of continuous hits. This was the game which introduced the concept of the combo, a sequence of attacks which, when executed with proper timing, did not allow the opponent to interrupt the combination. Mastery of these techniques led almost directly to the high-level competition which has been a cornerstone of this type of game ever since.
Versus screen that appears before a match.
Versus screen that appears before a match.

The game features eight fighters that players can choose from: Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim, Guile, E. Honda, and Chun-Li, plus four bosses (Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and M. Bison). The character known as M. Bison in the original Japanese version was considered a legal liability by Capcom USA, because his name, backstory and appearance were very similar to that of professional boxer Mike Tyson. In order to pre-empt any lawsuits on the part of Tyson, the names of all the bosses except Sagat (who was carried over from the original Street Fighter), were re-arranged, something which has since caused no shortage of confusion when attempting description. For the sake of reference, the characters known as M. Bison, Balrog, and Vega in Japan became Balrog, Vega, and M. Bison in overseas versions respectively.

Characters

The original version of Street Fighter II featured a roster of eight playable characters that could be selected by the player. Out of the eight character in the roster, only Ryu and Ken were taken from the original Street Fighter. The others were created specifically for this game.

The single player tournament mode also features four CPU-controlled opponents whom the player face after defeating the other main characters. The bosses in the Japanese version were: M. Bison, a American boxer; Balrog, a Spanish clawman; Sagat, the former champion from the original Street Fighter; and Vega, a mysterious crime lord. When Street Fighter II was released overseas, the names of the bosses were rotated, fearing that the character of M. Bison resembled Mike Tyson (whom Bison was modeled after) too closely, but also because Capcom USA's marketing team believed that "Vega" was a "weak-sounding name" for the final boss.[1] As a result, the boxer became Balrog, the clawman became Vega and the final boss became M. Bison in the localization. The initial in M. Bison originally stood for "Mike", but its meaning was lost to western players. From Champion Edition and onward, the boss characters became playable, expanding the selectable roster to twelve.

Super Street Fighter II introduced four new characters from previously unrepresented nationalities to the pre-existing roster: Fei Long, Cammy, T. Hawk and Dee Jay. The new characters were designed by Capcom's internal artists in Japan except for Dee Jay, whose original design was contributed to the game by American designer James Goddard. The character roster was now increased to sixteen.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo featured another new character whom the player faced (upon meeting the required conditions) in the game's final match instead of M. Bison. This character, who was unnamed within the actual game, was officially referred as Gouki in Japan and as Akuma in the English version and the different names were stuck in those territories. Akuma becomes selectable only by entering a special cheat code in the character selection screen.