Street Fighter 2010: The Final Fight, released in Japan as 2010 Street Fighter (2010 ストリートファイター Nī Maru Ichi Maru: Sutorīto Faitā), is a 1990 action platform game developed and published by Capcom for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game is a futuristic themed action game where the player takes control of a cybernetically enhanced fighter who must fight against a breed of alien and mutant creatures in a series of boss battles.
While not actually related to Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games, the game is notable for its English localization, which changed the main character's identity and backstory from Kevin to Ken to imply that he is the same Ken from the original Street Fighter. The Shadaloo C.R.I. encyclopedia however maintains they are seperate individuals.
Gameplay[]
The player takes control of Ken, a retired martial artist turned scientist who has artificially enhanced his body with cybernetic implants known as "bionics". The objective of each stage is to destroy the designated enemy target shown before the stage begins and obtain the energy required to open a transdimensional portal to the next stage. Some stages require the player to destroy more than one enemy to accumulate the energy needed to open the portal. After the portal is open, Ken only has a limited amount of time to enter it; failure to do so will cause the player to lose a life, forcing the player to restart.
Like most side-scrolling action games, the player uses one button to attack and the other to jump. Ken can also climb walls and poles or pole-like structures, as well as hang onto and climb (or drop down from) certain kinds of ledges. In addition to his regular jump, Ken can also do a backward flip jump by doing a neutral upward jump and then pressing the directional pad on the opposite direction he's facing. Ken's main weapon is an energy projectile which he launches with his fists. Ken can shoot straight at either direction horizontally, as well as upward vertically by holding the d-pad upwards. Ken can launch curved power shots by holding the d-pad left or right and pressing the B button, which have further reach and are more powerful than the regular shots. Ken can also launch his projectiles with his kicks by holding the d-pad downward and pressing B, which will travel upward diagonally. To shoot downwards, Ken must do a flip jump first and then B while still in mid-air.
Ken's projectiles will initially have a short range at the start of the game, but the player can uncover and pick up power-up capsules by destroying item containers scattered throughout each stage. Picking two power-up capsules will increase Ken's shooting level by one, increasing the range of his projectiles and their strength. However, if Ken sustains damage, his power level will decrease by one and if he loses a life, he will revert to his starting power. Ken can increase his power by up to five levels. Other power-ups includes a back-up option for added firepower and a "flip shield capsule" that will allow the player to damage enemies with their flip jumps.
Stages[]
| Planet | Stage | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Planet 1: Earth (地球) A planet full of cyborg criminals. |
1 | Red Sting |
| 2 | Brian | |
| 3 | Androboy | |
| 4 | Electric Tommy | |
| Planet 2: Tatowin (タトウィン) A forest planet that was completely corrupted by the Parasites. |
1 | Apple Rabbit (x5) |
| 2 | Flower Head | |
| 3 | Turtle Eye (x5) | |
| 4 | Unnamed eye target | |
| Planet 3: Dagoba (ダゴバ) (Sanddune in the English version) A planet of sand and rocks. Its magnetism keeps a constant flow of sand. |
1 | Red Sting (x3) |
| 2 | Mummy | |
| 3 | NidoSandMan | |
| 4 | Sanda Worm (x5) | |
| 5 | Unnamed target | |
| Planet 4: Walt (ウォルト) A water planet. It is valued as a source of water, but it became a dangerous Parasite nest. Giant organisms lurk in its depths. |
1 | Froggel (x5) |
| 2 | Sea Cobra | |
| 3 | Unnamed shell target | |
| Planet 5: Masshyni (マッシーニ) A machine planet. This metallic fortress researches the Parasite. |
1 | Turtle Eye (x5) |
| 2 | None (reach the end of the stage) | |
| 3 | Dr. Jose |
Story[]
"Humankind sought a new land to claim. They began emigrating to other worlds. In this society made up of humans and aliens, atrocious crimes were committed. Thus began one of humanity’s darkest times...
The criminals were able to harness the incredible power of many cyborgs... but in 2010 AD, creatures called "parasites" with much more destructive power appeared. These parasites would merge with a body, causing it to grow a beetle-like shell of armor, and so bring forth considerably more power.
To confront this situation, the galaxy police sent the cyborg officer Kevin Straker. His orders are to destroy the parasites and gather their power, which would open a dimensional gate to the next area, though the gate would only remain open for 10 seconds, after which it'd close and Kevin would die. With this in mind, he sets out on his mission."
The U.S. manual states that the parasites (called in it a virus) was actually created by a society of scientists to make humans stronger and resistant to any climate, but it had gotten out of control. This fits with the Japanese version's introduction.
Development[]
Localization Issues[]
Street Fighter 2010 was released in August 1990 in Japan and in the United States the following month, but due to changes between versions much confusion surrounds the game's transition from Japan to the U.S. It has been widely reported that Street Fighter 2010 was not a Street Fighter game upon its original release and that Capcom USA added the Street Fighter name when it came out in the U.S. to capitalize on the franchise's growing popularity. This account is not true: The game carried the same title in both countries for the most part. The subtitle "The Final Fight", however, was added by Capcom USA.
To cash in on the Street Fighter name some more, Capcom USA went out of their way to change the story, and change Kevin's name to Ken. According to the US game's intro, Ken turned himself into a cyborg to make up for the gap between his time as "king of the street fighter circuit" to now (a gap of exactly 25 years given by the game, which would have meant Ken had won the first World Warrior tournament, when it was actually Ryu that had done so according to the later Street Fighter II storyline). The character's story was further altered to have him as the creator of the "cyboplasm" responsible for the mutants in the game, and a dead partner named Troy. The story from the U.S. version is shown below for comparison's sake:
"Ken had no interest in the Frontier, until his partner Troy was killed. Someone had broken into their lab, stolen their invention, and left Troy as a mere puddle of jelly on the floor. Even though it's been 25 years since Ken was king of the street fighting circuit, it's nothing a few good bionics can't fix."
"Fortunately for him, the killer's path is very easy to trace. Every Frontier world the killer visited became quickly infested by the "cyboplasm" Ken and Troy had developed. In small doses, it gave people the strength they needed to remain alive, but an overdose and the cyboplasm would come alive, taking over the host's mind and body, turning them into mindless, violent mutants."
After the game's release, no other game in the Street Fighter series referenced any element of Street Fighter 2010 so far leading to the belief that the game has been retconned out of the official canon lore entirely. The rewrite by Capcom USA resulted in a lot of confusion over the years, with many people believing that Kevin Straker was indeed Ken. It wasn't until Kevin and Jose, despite only being indirectly connected to the Street Fighter series, were given official profiles and updated character artwork in the official Shadaloo C.R.I. site in 2016 that the former was confirmed to be a seperate individual from Ken.
Trivia[]
- The names of planets 2 and 3 appear to be a reference to the planets from the Star Wars franchise: Tatooine and Dagobah. The two planets are also similar, but with inversed names, Tatowin being a forest planet and Dagoba a desert planet.
- UDON's Street Fighter Unlimited comic series has a variant cover for issue 9 based on Street Fighter 2010. Additionaly, the game had a small comic adaptation in Street Fighter Unlimited issue 10 based on its North American story. After defeating a Mech-Zangief, Ken goes to the planet Zero-Alpha-Three (a reference to Street Fighter Alpha 3) to face Cyber-Akuma and avenge the deaths of Ryu, Gouken, and Goutetsu. After a short battle, Ken uses a Cybo-ryuken on Cyber-Akuma that causes him to fall a cliff, but he reappears with Zero Akuma and they start their final battle. The end shows Mel playing Street Fighter 2010 and Ken explaining to Eliza about how he sold his likeness for the game in exchange for a percentage of its profits, but the game was very delayed, resulting in the not-so-distant "2010" being "the distant future" in the game.
Gallery[]
