is a 1987 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the first installment in the Street Fighter series. It was a commercial success in arcades and introduced special attacks and some of the conventions made standard in later fighting games, such as the six-button controls and the use of command-based special moves.
Street Fighter was directed by Takashi Nishiyama, who conceived it by adapting the boss battles of his earlier beat 'em up game Kung-Fu Master (1984), for a one-on-one fighting game, and by drawing influence from popular Japanese shōnen manga. A port for the TurboGrafx-CD was released as in 1988, and was re-released via emulation for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2009.
Its sequel, Street Fighter II (1991), evolved its gameplay with phenomenal worldwide success. Street Fighter also spawned two spiritual successors: Capcom's beat 'em up Final Fight (working title Street Fighter '89) and SNK's fighting game Fatal Fury: King of Fighters (1991), the latter designed by Nishiyama.
Gameplay
The player competes in one-on-one matches against a series of computer-controlled opponents or in a single match against another player. Each match consists of three rounds in which the player must knock out an opponent in less than 30 seconds. If a match ends before a fighter is knocked out, the fighter with the greater amount of energy left is the round's winner. The player must win two rounds in order to defeat the opponent and proceed to the next battle. If the third round ends in a tie, then the computer-controlled opponent will win by default or both players will lose. During the single-player mode, the losing player can continue against the same opponent. Likewise, a second player can interrupt a single-player match and challenge the first player to a new match.
For the deluxe version of the arcade game, designed by Ken Hata from Atari Games"Ken Hata/Atari | Courtesy of The Strong Museum of Play, Rochester, New York. When designing the original Street Fighter cabinet, Capcom partnered with Atari to create something that would stand out in arcades. At Atari, Ken Hata drew various mock-ups for what the cabinet could look like[...] The thing is, though, Capcom didn't know what it was doing — it didn't specialize in mechatronics or know how to build those sorts of cabinets. So Capcom thought, maybe we could make a simpler cabinet that we could sell. That's why we came up with the pneumatic buttons, and the idea tied directly into how we designed Street Fighter [...] But it was very difficult to develop a pressure-sensitive sensor, and that was a technological issue that Capcom never quite ended up overcoming. So we ended up working with Atari, and we worked together to develop the sensor, since they're the ones who had the knowhow to make that happen (Takashi Nishiyama interview)" https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/7/21270906/street-fighter-1-oral-history-takashi-nishiyama/Mortal Kombat: Games of Death by David Church, 2022, pages 13-15 (speaking of Street Fighter 1987 Deluxe cabinet) " the cabinet’s original incarnation sported a kinetic interface (designed by Atari) with a joystick and two pressure-sensitive pads—one each for the avatar’s punches and kicks—that would respond accordingly to light, medium, and heavy contact (fig. 1). After overzealous players began damaging either the pads or the cabinet, however, a revised version of the cabinet replaced the two pads with a six-button array corresponding to each set of three punch and kick commands[...] Fig. 1. Atari’s concept art for Capcom’s original Street Fighter arcade cabinet, with pressure-sensitive pads to register the strength of the player’s blows." DOI:10.3998/mpub.11477677 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/357487546_Mortal_Kombat_Games_of_Death in a joint venture requested personally by Takashi Nishiyama from Capcom, the player's controls consist of a standard eight-way joystick (made by Atari) and two large, unique mechatronic pneumatic pads (also designed by Atari, rubber covered pads housed inside pneumatic pistons made by SMC Pneumatics in California, USA), 1 for punches and 1 for kicks, each returning 3 values (light medium or heavy) depending on how hard the player actuated the control. The pneumatic control design revealed to be complicated to service, its durability being reduced as players often abruptly punched the pads, sometimes injuring themselves, so according to Nishiyama, in fear the players would tire prematurely and not continue to add coins to the "deluxe" arcade cabinet,"Takashi Nishisyama[...] : The problem was, during location tests, we realized that it was very tiring to hit the sensor over and over. It was basically like exercising. The whole point of monetizing this business was to get people to become repeat customers, where they would put in 100 yen coins over and over again so we could make money. And when you're getting tired from playing the game, that's not going to happen." https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/7/21270906/street-fighter-1-oral-history-takashi-nishiyama/ an alternate "regular" version was released that replaces the two relatively stiffly pressurized pads with an array of six regular snap-action microswitch arcade buttons for the attacks. It consisted in dividing the 3 distinct input levels for speed and strength (light, medium, and heavy) detected for each rubber pad in the deluxe pneumatic version and attributing these values to three punch buttons and three kick buttons for the regular 6-button version (see below for exact "Regular" button layout & naming).
The arcade flyers for Street Fighter advise graphically the players to use a closed fist to bash the pneumatic pads with a "Bang!" noiseCAPCOM flyer for Street Fighter (1987), showing a closed fist striking a pneumatic pad action button from a distance https://flyers.arcade-museum.com/videogames/show/1037#gallery-2 on the Deluxe upright cabs, but both Capcom officials and editors from gaming magazines in Japan explained the correct method was to avoid using a closed fist striking high above said pads, but instead to favor an open palm hovering directly above the pads, with a controlled and much softer touch to actuate the rubber covered pistons."Joe Morici (senior vice president, Capcom USA) : I remember when I first saw it — it had those big rubber [pads] that you punch with your fists. That had to come off the market because everybody was getting injured [...]Zenji Ishii (editor-in-chief, Gamest magazine[Japan]) : There's a way you have to press the buttons. You shouldn't slam down on them from high. You have to use your palms to press them gently." https://www.polygon.com/2020/7/7/21270906/street-fighter-1-oral-history-takashi-nishiyama/
The player uses the joystick to move left or right, and to jump, crouch, and block. By using the attack buttons and pads in combination with the joystick, the player can perform a variety of attacks from standing, jumping, or crouching positions. Three special techniques require a specific series of joystick and button inputs:
Quarter-Circle Forward + Punch
Forward, Down, Down-Forward + Punch . Quarter-Circle Back + Kick
This is the first game to use such a concept. Unlike its sequels and other fighting games, the specific commands for these special moves are not given in the arcade game's instruction card; this encourages the player to discover these techniques on their own.
The single-player mode consists of a series of battles against ten opponents from five different nations. At the beginning of the game, the player can choose Japan or the United States, and China or England depending on the game's configuration. The player fights two fighters from the chosen country and proceeds to the next country. Two types of bonus games give additional points: brick breaking and table breaking. After defeating the initial eight characters, the player travels to Thailand for the last two opponents.
Plot Japanese martial artist Ryu enters the World Fighting Tournament to test his skills against the globe’s strongest warriors. Traveling across five countries-Japan, the United States, China, England, and Thailand. He defeats eight regional fighters, including rogue monks, assassins, and underground bouncers. Ryu’s American rival and friend, Ken Masters enters the tournament uninvited to have a match with Ryu, who defeats Ken. Despite losing, Ken wishes Ryu good luck and Ryu moves on to the next match.
After clearing out the bracket and defeating Adon, a Muay Thai fighter, Ryu earns to right to challenge Sagat, the undefeated Muay Thai master and the tournament’s host. During the brutal match, Sagat throughly dominates the fight and pushes Ryu to the brink of defeat. Consumed by a desperate desire to win, Ryu unintentionally taps into the Satsui no Hado (“surge of murderous intent”), a dark murderous energy. Embracing this power, Ryu catches the overconfident Sagat off guard with a devastating Shoryuken (Dragon Punch). The attack tears open Sagat’s chest, leaving him with a massive scar. Ryu wins the tournament but leaves due to being unsettled by the Satsui no Hado. Sagat vows for a lifelong quest for vengeance.
Sagat ends up saying that Ryu had outlasted the best and that Ryu is the best Street Fighter in the world as a large text appears scrolling down talking about other fighters that will knock him from the top.
Characters The player takes control of a young Japanese martial artist named Ryu, who participates in the World Fighting Tournament to prove his strength, and the second player takes control of Ryu's former partner and current rival Ken, who also enters the tournament to challenge Ryu in two-player matches. Normally, the player takes control of Ryu in the single-player mode; however, if the player controlling Ken defeats Ryu in a two-player match, the winning player will play the remainder of the game as Ken. The differences between the two characters are aesthetic, with the same basic moves and special techniques.
The first eight computer-controlled opponents are:
from Japan:
Retsu, an expelled Shorinji Kempo instructor Geki, a tekkō kagi–wielding ninja
from the United States:
Joe, an underground full-contact karate champion Mike, a former heavyweight boxer who once killed an opponent in the ring
from China:
Lee, an expert in Chinese boxing Gen, an elderly professional killer who has developed his own assassination art
from Great Britain:
Birdie, a tall bouncer who uses a combination of wrestling and boxing techniques Eagle, a well-dressed bodyguard of a wealthy family who uses Kali sticks
After the first eight challengers are defeated, the player is taken to Thailand for the last two adversaries:
Adon, a deadly Muay Thai master his mentor Sagat, the reputed "Emperor of Muay Thai" and the game's final opponent
Development Takashi Nishiyama conceived Street Fighter after working on Irem's 1984 beat 'em up game Kung-Fu Master (called Spartan X in Japan), which has a number of boss fights; Nishiyama considered making a game centered around them. In turn, the boss fights were inspired by the Bruce Lee's martial arts film Game of Death (1972). Following the success of Kung-Fu Master, Nishiyama was hired by Capcom. He designed an arcade successor for Capcom, Trojan (1986), a brawler which evolved the basic gameplay concepts of Kung-Fu Master; the NES port has a one-on-one fighting mode, for the first time in a Capcom game. Nishiyama later designed Street Fighter. The game was also influenced by the earlier fighting games from 1984 – Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung-Fu. The gameplay of Karate Champ, Kung-Fu Master and Yie Ar Kung Fu provided a basic template for Street Fighter. Nishiyama wanted the game to have a story similar to a film.