Ready? FIGht!

Street Fighter was released in Japan in 1987. It was created by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto who were heavily influenced by martial arts. For everyone that’s been living under a rock up until this point, this game series became a canvas for fighting games today. Up until 1992, five years after its first release, the game was only available in arcades. Instead of gaming controllers, there were “fight pads” (mentioned in the EVO 2016 article) with a toggle stick and an array of round buttons to pound aggressively at because everyone knows the harder the buttons are hit, the more powerful the damage the moves and combos execute once landed. (Gaming Logic 101)

Every good story comes with a hero. Ryu was the Goku (shout out to any Dragonball Z fans out there) of the franchise, good-natured warrior who respects those that can prove a challenge in his underlying pursuit to become the strongest. With every hero comes his lancer, his deuteragonist, his Han Solo. His Vegeta bears less anger management issues (until his change to the dark side for a brief moment, SPOILERS!) and holds an insurmountable respect for his longtime rival, one of the most broken* characters in the game series: Ken Masters. Ken, the red-wearing American fighter notorious for the special technique Rising Dragon Fist, otherwise known as the the Shoryuken. The first Street Fighter follows Ryu as he travels all over the world fighting the strongest fighters if the region until he reaches the Big Bad in the final stage. This became the premise for most, if not all, beat-em up games that follows.

The archetype of villains as far as any good plot goes, nicely dressed Nazi set for world domination only without the prejudice as all fighters are welcome! You just need a dose of mind-controlling evil is the only requirement upon applying. Jokes aside, M. Bison had a different name in Japan. In Japan, M. Bison was named Vega. Vega, the claw-wielding Spaniard with the mask, great hair, and goes without a shirt less than 15% of the time? Bison, Vega, and Balrog underwent name switches to avoid a lawsuit from famous boxer Mike Tyson so Bison was originally Vega, Vega was Balrog, and Balrog was Bison.

Back to the gameplay, players were only able to control Ryu. The sequel: Street Fighter II (like it would name anything else) steps up exponentially by allowing players to control different characters with their own set of moves as well as fight each other as opposed to AI-controlled opponents. The most popular of the new characters being Chun Li. The beautiful Chinese Interpol agent that can deliver some mean kicks with some mighty thighs to match. Her legacy would inspire other games and franchises to exemplify the raw strength and resolve women carry that matches that of any male which is impressively portrayed in the animated movie Street Fighter II (no one speaks about the theatrical-release of the live-action movies – this is a good thing). The legit live-action movie feature real-life martial artists Gaku Space (casted as Akuma) and Christian Howard (casted as Ken Masters) in Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist.

In the first games, you have the standard punch, kick, and jump mechanics of varying styles that is unique to each character. Combining specific character movement along with an action triggers unique “moves”. Successfully setting off a combo will unleash a special move, the most popular of the specials being Hadouken (“wave-motion fist”) and Shoryuken (“rising dragon fist). Landing one of those back in the day was an instant one-kit K.O. One can only imagine how frustrating it is to dodge a spirit ball flying towards their character when said energy ball takes up practically half the screen let alone a flying uppercut that can’t be stopped or hopped over once backed into an invisible wall. “Trying to get away from your opponent? It would be a shame if something blocked your path,” says game stages everywhere (Every single one of them). Still the series never falls short in providing heart-accelerating, pound-pounding excitement and in its success has evolved in both aesthetic and gameplay while maintaining the original mechanics. In Street Fighter III (1997), they add on to the fighting system with the “parry” mechanic which now allows players to counter attacks. In Street Fighter IV (2007), the games appearance maintains its robust 2D sprite artwork and is implemented to 3D models to satisfy modern standards. On top of its special moves, they introduce ultra-combos, more commonly known as the scenematic “finishers”.

Street Fighter did not come into console until Street Fighter II for the Super NES and did not hit the big screen in eSports until Street Fighter IV in 2014 which will then be succeeded by its sequel Street Fighter V (all released in the Xbox and PS consoles) in the biggest fighting game competition in the world EVO (Evolution Championship Series – find out more about the tournament in the links below). In its reign as one of the top tier games in the world, Capcom collaborated with other franchises to create crossover games such as Marvel vs. Capcom and Street Fighter x Tekken.

Considering having gone to EVO 2016, attended Anime Impulse and met with real-life martial artists, AND Geeks of the Galaxy's most recent podcast recording which including zealous proclamations of the phrase “Sonic Deuce” – how has the Gamer Geek not cover Street Fighter yet? Too many Lightning Kicks to the head apparently. Luckily she managed to pull her Hadouken out of her butt.

To close this article and stay true to the topic at hand, anyone wonders what “Sonic Deuce” means in the beginning? It’s a term coined to portray the cross over between tennis and Street Fighter. Quite literally, it is the moment in game where two opponents are literally throwing energy projectiles at one another and the attacks negating once the energies meet. It is as epic as it sounds. Give it a shot if it hasn’t been tried already. Thanks for reading and remember to stay…KindaGeeky!

Sources:

History of Street Fighter

- http://m.ign.com/articles/2009/02/16/ign-presents-the-history-of-street-fighter

- https://youtu.be/GtPuCpe3LGk

Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist

- http://www.streetfighteraf.com

Geeks of the Galaxy podcast: Sonic Deuce!

- http://www.soundcloud.com/geeksofthegalaxy/sonic-deuce

EVO (Evolution Championship Series)

- http://evo.shoryuken.com/

Fun Facts about Street Fighter

- http://arcadesushi.com/obscure-street-fighter-facts/