Street Fighter 2even respected its own history byreintroducing several familiar faces from the original StreetFighter 1(1987). These martial artists were vividly fleshed out as designsand showed much more personality and life over their 1987 counterparts (which anyfan of the original Street Fighter could immediately notice).Character sprites were bigger, more colorful, and had much smoother animationover characters from many other video games at the time.

SFII's impactful character animation is complimented by amazingly detailedhand-drawn backgrounds based on locations from around the world. These stageswere made complete, and unforgettable thanks to the extremely catchy theme songs...all of which were guaranteed to be stuck in your head afterplaying. That said, SFII's music and sound effects had an incredibly'addictive' element about it... it sounded (and played) like no othervideo game to date.

Perhaps the most important part about Street Fighter II was the fact thatit created the idea of a competitive 1-on-1 fighting game. This new arcadeculture had crowds of people waiting in line to play Street Fighter II,whether it was to play single-player or against other human opponents. Whilesome other video games at the time had no 'skill ceiling'... it seemedlike there was no limit to how good of a SF2 player one could be, and with 8characters to master (soon to be 12), dedicated players were busy with the gamefor a long time. Worth mentioning, there were 8 selectable fighters... but more than 8ways to play the game. It was up to the player themselves to discover the bestway to play each of the characters.

The fact that Capcom eventually released so many 'versions' of StreetFighter 2 kept the series fresh and kept fans coming back to the arcades for more, anxious to spend their hard-earnedquarters and dollars (or money their parents gave them). Capcom knew exactly whatthey were doing, and they were smart to do it. Every year or so, there seemed to be another version of SF2 popping up in arcades (and later released on consoles)... Street Fighter 2: ChampionEdition was the first update to see the light, followed by StreetFighter 2: Turbo, Super Street Fighter 2, and finally SuperStreet Fighter 2 Turbo. Dedicated fans appreciated each and every one of these installments...and little did they know in the early 90's, the lifespan and impact of Street Fighter2 was far from over.
Simply going to arcades and playing video games was one of my favorite things to doas a 90's kid. The level of pure excitement while driving to an arcade...wondering what the competition will be like, today? Irreplaceable. Theexcitement about fighting games has stayed with me for over 30 years now... andfor that, I have to thank Street Fighter 2.

Street Fighter 2 started it all... If it wasn't for SF2 being exactly the way it was, the 'fighting games of today' would be very very different. The 'idea of combos'as they function in SF2 wasn't actually a planned mechanic and was actually more of a 'bug'...which is simply mind-boggling. This combo format would eventually developfurther into a more balanced and fair system in later installments, but everyStreet Fighter game still uses the fundamental combo format seen in SF2.

Page Updated: February 14th, 2021 Developer(s): Capcom Publisher(s): Capcom Designer(s): Akira Nishitani, Akira Yasuda (Akiman) Artwork by: Bengus (CRMK), Akiman, Kinu Nishimura, Shoei, Sensei, Eri Nakamura, Satoru Yamashita, Mick McGinty (U.S. Box Art) Platform(s): Arcade,Super Nintendo, Genesis, PC Engine, Amiga, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, PC,3DO, Sega Master System, Game Boy, Wii Virtual Console, Wii U eShop Release Date(s): February 1991/ Arcade June 10th, 1992 SNES July 15th, 1992 SNES Dec. 25th, 1992 ZXS 1992 Amiga, Commodore 64 1994 PC Sept. 1st, 1995 Gameboy Dec. 2nd, 2006 Wii VC Dec. 25th, 2006 Wii VC Aug. 22nd, 2013Wii U eShop Characters: Ryu,Ken Masters,Chun-Li,Guile,Dhalsim,Blanka,Zangief,E.Honda,Balrog,Vega,Sagat, M.Bison Featured Video: Related Games: StreetFighter, SF2 Champion Edition,SF2 Turbo, Super SF2, Super SF2 Turbo, Super SF2 Turbo Revival,Super SF2T HD Remix, Ultra SF2, SF3: New Generation,SF3: 2nd Impact, SF3: 3rd Strike, SF3: 3rd Strike Online Edition, Street Fighter 4, Super SF4, Super SF4: 3D Edition, Super SF4: Arcade Edition, Ultra SF4, Street Fighter 5, SF5:AE, StreetFighter Alpha, Street Fighter Alpha 2, StreetFighter Alpha 3, SFA3 Upper,SFA3 Max, SFA: Anthology, SFA: Anniversary Collection, Street Fighter EX,SFEX2, SFEX3, StreetFighter: The Movie,Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo,SPF2 Turbo HD Remix, Pocket Fighter, Art of Fighting, World Heroes, Fighter's History, Fatal Fury, Mortal Kombat GameplayEngine 10 / 10 Story/ Theme 9.5 / 10 OverallGraphics 10 / 10 Animation 10 / 10 Music/ Sound Effects 10 / 10 Innovation 10 / 10 Art Direction 9.0 / 10 Intro / Presentation 8.5 / 10 Replayability / Fun 10 / 10 'Ouch' Factor 10 / 10 Characters 9.5 / 10 BOTTOM LINE 10/10 Review based on Arcadeversion Final Words: Street Fighter 2 was certainlya moment in gaming history that could never be replicated or forgotten. Whenspeaking of Street Fighter 2... I can only talk about my childhood andthe impact that the game had on me. I was 8 years old when I first set my eyes on the glimmering new Street Fighter 2 arcadecabinet. I hardly remember becoming completely obsessed with thegame since it happened immediately and quickly changed my outlook on gamesforever. This new idea of a 1-on-1 'competitive' fighting game, with8 different ways to play it... really changedeverything.In SF2, there seemed to be a real reason to keep on playing and improvingmy skills. There was nothing as rewarding in a video game as getting a huge winstreak, and having other people at the arcade wonder what you're doing toachieve such a feat. After getting more practice in after the SNES version released, I lovedtesting my newly found skills against other players fromdifferent arcades, win or lose... but one thing I sharply remember and always loveddoing, was being able to beatteenagers and even adults(twice my size) in this game when I was a wee lad. Regardless of when you entered the fighting game genre... it's important to rememberand respect history and roots of the genre, which started with Street Fighter2. So many other games tried to mimic (and even blatantly copy) SF2'ssuccess, which spawned mixed results - but also paved the way for some amazingother 2D and 3D fighting games to be made down the road. When judging and reviewingother fighting games, my mind always travels back to SF2 for a few moments, just to reflect certain aspects from a traditionalperspective. Just to enjoy my nostalgia trip for a little bit longer... I remember when I was 8 or 9 years old, my first main character in SF2 was Blanka. Against my first opponents at the arcade, I repeatedly used a basic jump-in HK/HP into a sweep. It worked so well... becauseplayers couldn't figure out the most basic technique of 'low blocking' after a jump-in attack. Add in some of Blanka's electricity for opponents to jump into themselves, andI was taking people's money and racking up some ridiculous win streaks. I remember a few opponents got angry and called my style 'cheap'... although I actually thought this dude was saying 'sheep' because of the way he was saying it. (Plus, theway I was beating him wasn't cheap at all, he was just playing poorly... so myyoung brain didn't register that way of thinking.) True story. In closing, be sure to check out TFG's profiles / reviews for all otheriterations of Street Fighter II. The characters, the artwork, the music,and the deep competitive nature of each title in the Street Fighterseries remains a timeless and heavily influential part of fighting game history. Knowyour roots! ~TFG Webmaster | @Fighters_Gen