It may not have created the style, however combating video games wouldn’t be anyplace close to as essential or in style with out Street Fighter. This collection launched the concept of combos, a six-button structure, and movement inputs for particular strikes. It additionally helped construct a aggressive scene for combating video games, made the arcade scene rise in the 90s, and revitalized the style in the period of on-line play.
With every predominant entry, Street Fighter tried to create one thing new or focus in a brand new course that will make different iconic combating recreation franchises, corresponding to Mortal Kombat or The King of Fighters, concentrate. The collection surpassed its partitions and have become a cultural phenomenon, with its well-known roster showing in several types of media and even video games exterior of the fights, like Fortnite.
On this article, you’ll discover a chronology of the collection if you happen to’re in taking part in every entry from the begin and following its intricate story.
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How Many Street Fighter Games Are There?
Since the authentic Street Fighter was launched in 1987, Capcom has launched six predominant entries in the collection, with their respective sequels and particular variations and rereleases on a number of platforms and arcade techniques. Most of the time, every model got here with new characters, modes, balances in the complete roster, and different distinctive options.
Whereas the authentic Street Fighter solely has two variations (the authentic arcade one and the one ported to consoles), Street Fighter II spawned seven completely different variations since its debut in 1991, the most up-to-date one being the Swap-exclusive Extremely Street Fighter II: The Ultimate Challengers (2017). The next predominant entry has three releases: Street Fighter III: New Technology, 2nd Influence, and Third Strike. 2008’s Street Fighter IV has appeared in the market three extra instances with Tremendous Street Fighter IV, Tremendous Street Fighter IV: Arcade Version, and Extremely Street Fighter IV. Street Fighter V additionally obtained a few massive updates after its preliminary launch in 2016: Street Fighter V: Arcade Version and Street Fighter V: Champion Version. And the most up-to-date mainline recreation is Street Fighter 6, which launched on June 2, 2023.
Aside from the predominant collection, the Alpha subseries was fairly in style in its time. Three video games had been launched beneath this title: Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors Dream, Street Fighter Alpha 2, and Street Fighter Alpha 3. A second subseries, known as Street Fighter EX, was co-developed by Capcom and Arika. It options one other trilogy of video games, for the first time in 3D.
If we embody the crossovers, spin-offs, and characters’ particular appearances in different collection, the listing retains getting greater. There’s the movie tie-in known as Street Fighter: The Film, the puzzle recreation Tremendous Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, its combating recreation spin-off Tremendous Gem Fighter Mini Combine (additionally known as Pocket Fighters), and the most up-to-date cellular entry, Street Fighter: Duel, accessible on Android.
The Vs. collection has seen quite a few entries in its historical past. From the well-received X-Males Vs. Street Fighter in 1997 to the inclusion of a number of characters of the franchise in each of the “Vs. Capcom” collection, with Marvel Vs. Capcom being the hottest one. Ryu and the World Warriors additionally confronted Tekken’s characters in Street Fighter X Tekken, and there’s an fascinating platformer spin-off that was initially fanmade, known as Street Fighter X Mega Man.
Earlier than going in with the listing of predominant titles, it’s value mentioning that the timeline of the canon Street Fighter titles isn’t very constant. There are incoherences in some particular person character tales between entries, restarting plots or characters being dying after which alive, amongst different issues. Nevertheless, the following is the most accepted timeline in the collection.
Street Fighter Games in Chronological Order
Watch out for spoilers for the tales, characters, and related occasions of every recreation in the listing beneath.
1. Street Fighter (1987)
The sport that began all of it, Street Fighter doesn’t go deep in phrases of presenting a narrative. You’ll be able to solely play as the iconic characters Ryu and Ken, wanting to battle fighters in 5 completely different nations: Japan, England, the United States, China, and Thailand. The latter is the place the closing challengers are, Adon and Sagat.
Sagat, a grasp of Muay Thai, fights Ryu to see who’s the greatest fighter in the world in a event. Our protagonist Ryu wins the battle, leaving Sagat with a outstanding scar on his chest, livid, and trying to find revenge in the future.
2. Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior’s Goals (1995)
In the first entry in the Alpha subseries, Warrior’s Goals, Sagat is again and prepared to take revenge on the man who defeated him. Nevertheless, Alpha presents many extra related characters than the authentic Street Fighter, together with the iconic antagonist M. Bison.
M. Bison is creating an evil group, Shadaloo, whereas different characters from completely different backgrounds, corresponding to Chun-Li, Charlie (Guile’s mate), and Rose strive to cease him. Adon, Sagat’s former apprentice, is wanting to beat his grasp, and the new character Dan Hibiki additionally needs a chunk, since Sagat killed his father. In the meantime, Ryu is searching for Akuma, a devilish warrior that murdered Gouken, Ryu’s and Ken’s mentor.
3. Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996)
Alpha 2 is usually a reimagination of the earlier one. Akuma and M. Bison proceed to be the antagonist, combating Ryu till dying and establishing the felony syndicate Shadaloo, respectively. These tales are extra fleshed-out although, as Ryu’s encounter towards Akuma entails a battle on Akuma’s island, which is destroyed by its proprietor by the energy of a single fist. On his facet, M. Bison retains recruiting individuals for his group, with the intention of acquiring Ryu’s physique.
New characters like Dhalsim, Zangief, and Sakura get launched. Raised in India, Dhalsim turns into the Yoga Grasp, a being able to stretching his limbs in absurd methods, whereas elevating cash for his poor village. The Crimson Cyclone Zangief is a widely known determine in his land, Russia, thanks to his endeavors in displaying the energy of his nation. Sakura is Ryu’s primary fan, and she or he drops out of faculty to begin a journey and meet her idol.
4. Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998)
A few of the storylines offered in this subseries finish in Street Fighter Alpha 3. M. Bison positive aspects management of Ryu, who’s in one other frame of mind with the evil power Satsui no Hado, whereas he additionally has the Psycho Drive, a machine able to erasing full cities.
Sagat confronts Ryu yet another time, Guile, Chun-Li, and Charlie need to end M. Bison, and different characters like Dan Hibiki will get their time to shine.
5. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)
Arguably the hottest recreation in the collection, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (and its a number of variations) revolve round the similar setting: M. Bison is again, and he’s internet hosting a world event that welcomes the greatest fighters from completely different elements of the globe.
His plan continues to be the similar: to elevate Shadaloo and recruit the greatest fighters for his facet. Whereas each character has a distinct purpose to take part in the event and take out M. Bison, Akuma is the one that truly confronts this evil power.
6. Street Fighter IV (2008)
It seems that M. Bison continues to be alive after his dying battle with Akuma. Nevertheless, he isn’t the predominant antagonist in Street Fighter IV. As a substitute, that’s the position of Seth, considered one of the many beings created by M. Bison, and likewise an essential a part of Shadaloo.
Seth needs to develop into the final warrior and to achieve this, he hosts a brand new world event for less than the strongest beings. He needs to copy their energy, as that is considered one of his particular skills.
Exterior of the event, it’s found that Gouken, Ken’s and Ryu’s grasp, is alive, and he’s prepared for a closing combat with Akuma.
7. Street Fighter V (2016)
In Street Fighter V, Shadaloo is way from over. The felony group is about to proceed with a plan known as Operation C.H.A.I.N.S, which consists of seven synthetic satellites (Black Moons) which might be able to launching an EMP on Earth. This time, the newly launched F.A.N.G is considered one of the predominant minds behind Shadaloo, alongside the returning M. Bison.
Totally different groups of returning characters from the collection as Karin (Alpha 3), Birdie (SF II), Rainbow Mika (Alpha 3), and others create an alliance to cease Shadaloo yet another time. New fighters like Rashid are additionally allies, and Charlie returns from the useless.
In the meantime, Necalli is a mythic determine that feeds on the soul of fighters, and he encounters Ryu on his approach.
8. Street Fighter III: New Technology (1997)
Street Fighter III: New Technology and its two sequels are a recent begin in the collection. The seemingly unstoppable Shadaloo is finished for good, however this doesn’t imply there isn’t a brand new group prepared to take its place. The Illuminati, led by the new antagonist Gill, additionally has plans for the complete world.
How does Gill plan to obtain his targets? You guessed it: by internet hosting a brand new world event and searching for the greatest warriors from completely different backgrounds. With a lot of the predominant roster gone, the SF III collection options Alex as its predominant protagonist and many recent faces, corresponding to Ibuki, Yun, Yang, Oro, Dudley, Sean, and Elena. Of the legendary characters, solely Ryu and Ken make their return in New Technology.
9. Street Fighter 6 (2023)
Street Fighter 6 launched in June 2023 and takes place after the occasions of the Street Fighter III collection, that means it is also the most up-to-date entry in phrases of the timeline. It obtained excessive reward from us as properly upon launch, incomes a 9/10 in our evaluation which acknowledged that it is “the most feature-rich a Street Fighter has ever been at launch, however even past that, it is roster of 18 characters is superb, the new mechanics revitalize the one-on-one combating components, and it completely nails all of the little issues that make for a stellar combating recreation.”
How to Play the Street Fighter Games By Launch Date
- Street Fighter
- Street Fighter II
- Street Fighter Alpha
- Street Fighter Alpha 2
- Street Fighter III: New Technology
- Street Fighter III: Second Influence
- Street Fighter Alpha 3
- Street Fighter III: Third Strike
- Street Fighter IV
- Street Fighter V
- Street Fighter 6
Way forward for Street Fighter
The Street Fighter collection is extra alive than ever, with Season 2 characters arriving in Street Fighter 6 over the subsequent couple of months. It’s going to be some time earlier than we hear any phrase of Street Fighter 7, however some traditional Street Fighter crossovers are making their approach to fashionable consoles later this yr. Marvel vs Capcom Combating Assortment: Arcade Classics, which incorporates X-Males vs. Street Fighter and Marvel Tremendous Heroes vs. Street Fighter, is releasing for Nintendo Swap, PlayStation, and PC in some unspecified time in the future in 2024. Capcom’s producer, Shuhei Matsumoto, additionally spoke to IGN about the chance of a brand new Versus combating recreation in the future.
Street Fighter Film in Improvement
Again in 2023, Legendary Leisure introduced it was partnering with Capcom for a live-action movie based mostly on the Street Fighter franchise. The difference has confronted some hurdles throughout growth, however its distributor, Sony Leisure, not too long ago set a 2026 launch date.
Axel Bosso is a contributing freelancer for IGN masking every part associated to video video games.