Street Fighter


is a Japanese media franchise centered on a series of fighting games developed and published by Capcom. The first game in the series was released in 1987, followed by the other six main games in the series, various spin-offs and crossovers, and numerous appearances in other media. Its best-selling 1991 release, Street Fighter II, established many of the conventions of the one-on-one fighting genre.
Street Fighter is one of the highest-grossing video game franchises of all time and one of Capcom's flagship series, with total sales of 56 million units worldwide as of 2025. It is also one of the highest-grossing media franchises and is the longest-running fighting game franchise.

Games

''Street Fighter'' (1987)

Street Fighter, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, was released in the arcades in 1987. The player controls martial artist Ryu to compete in a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning five countries and 10 opponents. A second player can control Ryu's friendly American rival, Ken Masters. The player can perform three punch and kick attacks, each varying in speed and strength, and three special attacks: the Hadōken, Shōryūken, and Tatsumaki Senpūkyaku, performed by executing special joystick and button combinations.
Street Fighter was ported to many popular home computers, including MS-DOS. In 1987, it was released on the TurboGrafx-16 CD add-on console as Fighting Street by Hudson Soft. In 2005, Street Fighter was included in Capcom Classics Collection: Remixed for the PlayStation Portable and Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. It is also available in the 2018 compilation, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows.

''Street Fighter II'' (1991)

Street Fighter II was released in 1991 following an unsuccessful attempt to brand the 1989 beat 'em up game Final Fight as the Street Fighter sequel. It is one of the earliest arcade games for Capcom's CP System hardware and was designed by Akira Nishitani and Akira Yasuda, who also made Final Fight and Forgotten Worlds.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior is the first one-on-one fighting game to give players a choice from a variety of player characters with different moves, allowing for more varied matches. Each player character has a unique fighting style with approximately 30 or more moves, including new grappling moves and throws, and two or three special attacks. In the single-player mode, the player character is pitted sequentially against the seven other main characters before confronting the final four bosses, exclusively CPU-controlled. As in the original, a second player can join anytime for competitive matches.
The original Japanese version of Street Fighter II introduced an African-American boxer boss character that shared the physical characteristics and likeness of real-life boxer Mike Tyson.
Street Fighter II eclipsed its predecessor in popularity, eventually turning Street Fighter into a multimedia franchise. It had an unexpectedly phenomenal impact on gaming. More than $10 billion in inflation-adjusted revenue as of 2017 was grossed from all versions, mostly from arcades. More than 14 million cartridges were sold for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive.
The first official update to the series was Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, pronounced Street Fighter II Dash in Japan, as noted by the prime notation on the logo. The four computer-controlled boss characters are human-playable and two players can choose the same character, leaving one character with an alternate color pattern. It has slightly improved graphics, including differently colored backgrounds and refined gameplay. A second upgrade, Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting, was produced in response to the various bootleg editions of the game. Hyper Fighting offers faster gameplay than its predecessors, different character costume colors and new special techniques. Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, the third revision, gives the game a complete graphical and musical overhaul and introduces four new playable characters. It is also the first game for Capcom's CP System II arcade hardware. The fifth arcade installment, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Super Street Fighter II X in Japan, brings back the faster gameplay of Hyper Fighting, a new type of special techniques known as "Super Combos" and a hidden character, Akuma.
Numerous home versions of the Street Fighter II games have been produced following the release of the original game. The original version, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, was ported to the Super NES in 1992, which is Capcom's best-selling game as of 2008. A Japanese-only port of Street Fighter II Dash for the PC Engine came in 1993. That year, two home versions of Hyper Fighting were released: Street Fighter II Turbo for Super NES and Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition for Genesis. The following game, Super Street Fighter II, was also ported to the Super NES and Genesis in 1994. That year, Super Street Fighter II Turbo was released for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer and for Windows, released by the now-defunct GameTek.
In 1997, Capcom released the Street Fighter Collection for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. This is a compilation including Super and Super Turbo, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold, an updated version of Street Fighter Alpha 2. It was followed by Street Fighter Collection 2, also released for the PlayStation and Saturn, which includes the original Street Fighter II, Champion Edition, and Hyper Fighting. In 2000, Capcom released Super Street Fighter II X for Matching Service exclusively in Japan for the Dreamcast. This version of the game features an online two-player versus mode. In 2003, Capcom released Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition for the arcades in Japan and Asia to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the series. As the final arcade installment, the game is a hybrid version of Super Turbo, which allows players to select between versions of characters from all five previous Street Fighter II games. Hyper was released in North America and the PAL region via its ports for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox, released as part of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection along with Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. In 2005, the three games in Street Fighter Collection 2 were included in Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 1 for PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A version of Super Turbo, along with the original Street Fighter, was later included in the 2007 compilation Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2, also released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II are also available as downloadable games for select cellular phone services.
An updated version of Super Street Fighter II Turbo came to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade services in 2008. The game, Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, has fully redrawn artwork, including HD sprites 4.5x the original size, drawn by artists from UDON. This is the first time the Street Fighter characters have had new sprites, drawn by Capcom, since Capcom vs. SNK 2 in 2001. The game has several changes which address character balancing issues, but also features the original arcade version gameplay so that players can choose between the two.
Ultra Street Fighter II: The Final Challengers is an updated version of 1994's Super Street Fighter II Turbo for the Nintendo Switch. The game features two graphical styles—classic pixel art and updated high-definition art. New gameplay mechanics and modes have been introduced and tweaks have been made to the game's balance. It has two more characters, who are classic alternate evil form of the classic characters Ryu and Ken, Evil Ryu and Violent Ken, and Akuma is now playable.

''Street Fighter Alpha'' (1995)

Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams, was released in 1995. It uses the same character designs Capcom previously employed in Darkstalkers and X-Men: Children of the Atom, with settings and character designs heavily influenced by Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie. Alpha expands on the Super Combo system from Super Turbo by extending Super Combo meter into three levels, allowing for super combos to be stored up and introducing Alpha Counters and Chain Combos, also from Darkstalkers. The plot of Alpha is set between the first two Street Fighter games and fleshes out the backstories and grudges held by many of the classic Street Fighter II characters. It has a playable roster of ten immediately playable characters and three unlockable fighters, comprising not only younger versions of established characters, but also characters from the original Street Fighter and Final Fight, such as Adon and Guy.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 has all-new stages, music, and endings for some characters, some of which overlap with those from the original Alpha. It also discards the Chain Combo system in favor of Custom Combos, which requires a portion of the Super Combo meter to be used. Alpha 2 retains all 13 characters from the original and adds five new characters to the roster along with hidden versions of returning characters. Alpha 2 is followed by a slightly enhanced arcade release, Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha, released in Japan and Brazil, ported to home consoles as Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold and Zero 2′ Dash in Japan.
The third and final Alpha game, Street Fighter Alpha 3, was released in 1998 following the release of the original Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and Street Fighter EX. Alpha 3 introduces three selectable fighting styles and further expands the playable roster to 28 characters. Console versions of the three games, including the original Alpha 2 and Alpha 2 Gold, were released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, although versions of specific games in the series were also released for the Game Boy Color, Super NES, Dreamcast, and Windows. The home console versions of Alpha 3 further expands the character roster by adding the remaining "New Challengers" from Super Street Fighter II. The Dreamcast version of the game was backported to the arcades in Japan as Street Fighter Zero 3 Upper. A version of Upper, titled Alpha 3 outside Japan, was released for the Game Boy Advance and added three characters from Capcom vs. SNK 2. A PlayStation Portable version, Alpha 3 MAX, or Zero 3 Double Upper in Japan, contains the added characters from the GBA version and Ingrid from Capcom Fighting Jam.