Street Fighter (universe)

Street Fighter (universe)
	;
Developer(s)	Capcom; Dimps; Various others
Publisher(s)	Capcom
Designer(s)	Takashi Nishiyama (Piston Takahashi) ; Hiroshi Matsumoto (Finish Hiroshi) ; Akira Yasuda (Akiman) ; Akira Nishitani (Nin Nin) ; Yoshinori Ono
Genre(s)	Fighting
Console/platform of origin	Arcade
First installment	Street Fighter (1987)
Latest installment	Street Fighter 6 (2023)
Article on Wikipedia	Street Fighter (universe)

The Street Fighter universe (ストリートファイター, Street Fighter) refers to the Super Smash Bros. series' collection of characters and properties that hail from the famous fighting game franchise created by Capcom. Originating in 1987 for arcades, the release of Street Fighter II in 1991 was a landmark moment for the genre, its influence and popularity transforming the series into one of Capcom's longest-running and most lucrative.

Franchise description[edit]

Street Fighter is primarily a series of 2D one-on-one fighting games. The series is famous for having pioneered many elements that are now hallmarks of the genre, including combos, command-input moves, a six-button control scheme where each button corresponds to different attack strengths, and a cast of fighters from countries across the globe. Its storyline primarily centres Ryu, a roaming martial artist on a quest for self-improvement, seeking challenges from strong fighters worldwide. The series boasts a large ensemble cast, each with their own individual journeys and storylines, many of which intersect as part of the series's tournaments and events inbetween.

The first Street Fighter game was conceived by programmer Takashi Nishiyama, whose work on Irem beat-em-up Kung-Fu Master inspired him to make a game exclusively about fighting bosses.^[1] He achieved this during his time at Capcom, developing it together with planner Hiroshi Matsumoto and character designer Keiji Inafune. The game saw players control Ryu through a series of linear, single-player fights against computer-controlled opponents. Its rudimentary two-player mode allowed a second player to challenge him as Ken, a moveset clone of Ryu; whoever won the match would continue through the rest of the game. The game was a modest success, but faced critique for the crudeness of its gameplay. A variant of its arcade machine, using pressure-sensitive buttons to determine attack strength, was particularly unpopular for being easily-damaged by players.

Street Fighter's true breakthrough was the 1991 release of Street Fighter II. The game greatly expanded on its predecessor with a robust multiplayer focus, streamlined gameplay, and a larger cast of 8 unique characters with their own fighting styles and ending sequences.^[2] The game was met with meteoric commercial and critical success, and is credited for setting off both an early 1990s arcade industry renaissance, and an influx of new fighting game franchises from Capcom and competing developers. Its Super NES port in particular was Capcom's single best-selling console game for over 20 years. Street Fighter II was followed by a number of updated versions that provided balance changes and additional characters and features, culminating in the 1994 release of the tournament-standard Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Street Fighter II was followed not by Street Fighter III, but by the Street Fighter Alpha series, a midquel set inbetween the first game and Street Fighter II.^[3] Inspired by the popular Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, the Alpha series greatly expanded the series's storytelling and characters, and progressively iterated on its core gameplay with additional Super Combos, custom combos, and variable "Isms", creating options for different playstyles. Though not a phenomenon to the extent of II, the Alpha series remains a fan favourite trilogy. Contemporaneously, the Arika-developed Street Fighter EX side series combined traditional 2D gameplay with polygonal 3D graphics, responding to emerging competitors such as Tekken. Pairing its pre-existing cast with several original characters created by Arika, EX did not repeat the success of either Street Fighter II or the Alpha series.

Street Fighter's popularity declined throughout the 90s due to the rise of competing franchises, arcade marketshare declining in favour of consoles, and a perceived stagnancy from the absence of Street Fighter III. In 1997, Street Fighter III: New Generation finally saw release for Capcom's new CPS-3 arcade board. The game sparked backlash for replacing most of the series's established characters, all but Ryu and Ken, with a brand new cast.^[4] Its initial release, while praised for its lush animation and graphics, was financially unsuccessful. Along with several newcomers, fan favourites Akuma and Chun-Li respectively returned in a pair of updates: Second Impact later in 1997, and Third Strike in 1999. While both failed to reverse its commercial fortunes, the latter's sharp gameplay, precision-based Parry mechanic, and overall presentation have brought it great esteem and influence with the series's competitive audience, where it remains a cult favourite. Between these releases, Capcom momentarily stalled the series's decline by returning to the CPS-2 board for Street Fighter Alpha 3 in 1998, becoming the series's most popular game since its heights. The release of Street Fighter EX3, as a Playstation 2 launch game in 2000, marked the final new Street Fighter game for nearly a decade.

Dormant for most of the 2000s beyond rereleases, the nostalgia-driven success of 2006's online-enabled Xbox Live release of Street Fighter II Turbo paved the way for Street Fighter IV in 2008. Building on the classic gameplay and roster of Street Fighter II, alongside full 3D models, new characters, and mechanics such as the Focus Attack and Ultra Combo, Street Fighter IV revitalized the series and signalled a rebirth for 2D fighting games. Several updated releases further expanded its content, introduced newcomers and returning veterans from Street Fighter Alpha and III, and brought balance changes culminating in 2014's Ultra Street Fighter IV.

Street Fighter V was developed with financial support from Sony, as a PS4 console exclusive. Its launch in 2016 was controversial for its barebones content and modes, leading to critiques of prioritizing the purely-competitive audience above all else. Over the next five years, Street Fighter V received extensive post-launch support that progressively added new content and addressed its criticisms, slowly improving its respect among audiences. V was followed by the far more unanimously-successful Street Fighter 6 in 2023. Developed in Capcom's RE Engine, 6 prominently features a story-based, open-ended World Tour mode starring a customized player character. As the series's currently-ongoing game, it is supported extensively through post-launch DLC, including the mainline series's first crossover guest fighters. Year 2 introduced Terry Bogard and Mai Shiranui from SNK's Fatal Fury, a series with a long history with Street Fighter, having been created by original creators Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto following their departure from Capcom. Year 3 introduced Tifa Lockheart, a first-time collaboration for both Street Fighter and Final Fantasy.

Beyond the mainline entries, Street Fighter has crossed over with many other games, beginning with 1996's X-Men vs. Street Fighter that paved the way for the likes of Marvel Vs. Capcom, Capcom Vs. SNK, and Street Fighter X Tekken. Capcom's side-scrolling beat-em-up Final Fight was initially conceived as a sequel to the original Street Fighter, and permanently integrated into the series canon in Street Fighter Alpha. Many of Capcom's other fighting games, including Rival Schools and Saturday Night Slam Masters have retroactively or otherwise become sister series to Street Fighter, with varying degrees of canonicity and separation.

In Super Smash Bros. 4[edit]

Street Fighter became the first fighter-based universe introduced to Smash Bros. as downloadable content. All of the following content was released on June 14th, 2015, as part of version 1.0.6.

Fighter[edit]

Ryu (DLC): The iconic wandering world warrior from Capcom makes his Super Smash Bros. debut as a downloadable fighter. He is armed with his trademark Hadoken & Shoryuken attacks, his traditional Street Fighter button commands, and two Final Smashes: Shinku Hadoken and Shin Shoryuken.

Stage[edit]

Suzaku Castle (DLC): This stage, available for both versions, is a re-imagining of Ryu's original stage from Street Fighter II.

Music[edit]

Main article: List of SSB4 Music (Street Fighter series)

Original Tracks[edit]

Arrangements and remixes unique to SSB4.

Ryu Stage (DLC): A string-heavy remix of Ryu's stage theme from Street Fighter II, arranged by the song's original composer, Yoko Shimomura.
Ken Stage (DLC): A rock remix of Ken's stage theme from Street Fighter II, arranged by Rio Hamamoto. It plays on Suzaku Castle^{(Wii U)}.

Source Tracks[edit]

Ryu Stage Type A (DLC): the original version of Ryu's stage theme from Street Fighter II.
Ken Stage Type A (DLC): the original version of Ken's stage theme from Street Fighter II. It plays on Suzaku Castle^{(Wii U)}.
Ryu Stage Type B (DLC): the updated version of Ryu's stage theme from Super Street Fighter II. It plays on Suzaku Castle^{(Wii U)}.
Ken Stage Type B (DLC): the updated version of Ken's stage theme from Super Street Fighter II. It plays on Suzaku Castle^{(Wii U)}.

Victory Theme[edit]

Victory! Ryu (DLC): A remix of the victory theme from Street Fighter II.

Trophies[edit]

Main article: List of SSB4 trophies (Street Fighter series)

In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]

Now a part of the base game, the Street Fighter series saw a sizable boost in representation. All of its content from the previous game was preserved and greatly expanded upon, including dozens of additional music tracks both sourced and rearranged, many more character references via Spirits, a new Assist Trophy, and even a new fighter.