Street Fighter (game)

This article is about the first game in the series. For the series as a whole, see Street Fighter series.

Street Fighter (also more commonly known as Street Fighter I) is a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first fighting game produced by the company and the very first game in the Street Fighter series.

While it did not achieve the same popularity as its sequels when it was first released, the original Street Fighter introduced some of the conventions made standard in later games, such as attack buttons and special command-based techniques. A port for the TurboGrafx-CD was released under the title Fighting Street in 1988.

Summary

"After years of training in multiple styles since childhood, two young martial arts prodigies have at long last established fighting styles entirely their own. Friends and rivals, the two warriors set out on a journey across the globe as they seek to stand at the apex of the martial arts world. Which of the two will conquer the street fighters of world-class strength and ability and claim the title of Strongest Man Alive?"

—Game Center description in Street Fighter 6

Gameplay

The player competes in a series of one-on-one matches against a series of computer-controlled opponents or in a single match against another player. Each match is a series of rounds in which the player must defeat their opponent within 100 seconds. If a match ends before a fighter is knocked out, then the fighter with the greater amount of hit points left will be declared the round's winner. The player must win two rounds in order to defeat their 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 player can continue after losing and fight against the opponent they lost the match with. Likewise, a second player can interrupt a single-player match and challenge the other player to a match.

The game controls consist of an eight-directional joystick and, depending on the cabinet; six attack buttons, three punch buttons and three kick buttons of differing speed and strength; or two mechatronic pads for punches and kicks that determined the strength level of the player's attacks. The player uses the joystick to move towards or away from an opponent, as well as to jump, crouch and defend against an opponent's attacks. By using the attack buttons/pads in combination with the joystick, the player can perform a variety of attacks from standing, jumping or crouching positions. There were also three special techniques, performed by inputting a specific directional-based command and button combination. These techniques were the Hadoken, the Shoryuken, and the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Unlike the subsequent Street Fighter sequels and other later fighting games, the specific commands for these special moves were not given in the arcade game's instruction card, which instead encouraged the player to discover these techniques on their own.

Characters

Playable Characters

The player takes control of a Japanese martial artist named Ryu, who goes on a journey to prove his strength.^[1][2] The second player takes control of Ryu's former training partner and rival Ken Masters, who challenges Ryu in the game's 2-player matches. Normally the player takes control of Ryu in the single-player mode, but if the player controlling Ken defeats Ryu in a 2-player match, then the winning player will play the remainder of the game as Ken. The differences between the characters are mainly aesthetic, as both of them have the same moves and techniques.

"I wish you good luck!"

—Ryu or Ken after being defeated in a 2-player match

Name	Country	Appearance	Notes
Ryu	Japan[3]		A Japanese martial artist who travels the world to prove his strength.[1][2] He can use the Hadoken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.
Ken Masters	U.S.A.[3]		Ken also travels the world to prove his strength.[1][2] While Ryu goes to Thailand, Ken departs to fight in and eventually win the US Martial Arts tournament. Due to having the same Sensei as Ryu, he uses the same three moves as his friend and rival.

Opponent Characters

"What strength!! But don't forget there are many guys like you all over the world."

—The player's defeated opponent

"You've got a lot to learn before you beat me. Try again, kiddo!"

—The player's winning opponent

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 the country where their first match will take place, with available choices of Japan or the United States, as well as China or England, depending on the DIP switch setting. The player will then proceed to fight against the nation's two representing opponents before proceeding to the next country. In addition to the regular battles, there also two types of bonus games in which players can compete for additional points, including table-breaking and brick-breaking bonus games. After defeating the initial eight, the player will travel to Thailand to fight against the final two opponents.

Country	Name	Appearance	Notes
Japan	Retsu		Retsu is a Shorinji Kempo instructor who was excommunicated for using forbidden moves while getting into street fights.
	Geki		Geki is an anonymous ninja who fights with a talon, shurikens and ninjutsu illusions.
U.S.A.	Joe		Joe was formerly an underground martial art champion before his time as an outlaw forced him on the run.
	Mike		Mike is a former heavyweight pugilist who once killed an opponent in the ring and did time in jail for robbery, where he learned the art of boxing.
China	Lee		Lee is a mysterious Bajiquan expert who enters the bout to put Chinese Kung-Fu back on the mainstream.
	Gen		Gen is an elderly professional assassin who has developed his own murderous Kung-Fu style and sets out to find worthy challengers.
England	Birdie		Birdie is a giant bouncer who uses a combination of wrestling and boxing techniques, this punker is dangerous when jumping in mid-air.
	Eagle		Eagle is a boujutsu expert who is the hired bodyguard of a wealthy family who is rivals with Sagat but was previously defeated by the latter. His weapon of choice is fighting with two Escrima/Kali sticks, and his signature move is the spinning lariat/clothslone attack called the Manchester Black.
Thailand	Adon		Adon is the semi-final challenger, he became the number one disciple of Sagat because of his fighting potential, bravery of a warrior, and martial skill prowess. Adon takes joy in terrorizing his opponents with his Jaguar Kick.
	Sagat		Sagat is the "Emperor of Muay Thai”, the greatest Muay Thai fighter there is. But that isn't enough for him. He wants to be the greatest fighter in the world! He fires Tiger Shots and also uses the hopping Tiger Knee.

Development

Unlike later games, Street Fighter's credit had their developers go under combat-themed pseudonyms in the credit section, so even today, it's hard to figure out who actually worked under the game.

Street Fighter was directed by 'Piston' Takashi Nishiyama and planned by 'Finish' Hiroshi Matsumoto, who both previously worked on the overhead beat 'em up Avenger. The two men would leave Capcom after the production of the game and be employed by SNK, developing most of their fighting games. The duo would later return to work for Dimps and work on Street Fighter IV with Capcom.

Keiji Inafune, best known for his artwork in Capcom's Mega Man franchise, got his start at the company by designing and illustrating the character portraits in Street Fighter. Nishiyama drew several inspirations for developing the original gameplay of Street Fighter from martial art styles he was practicing at the time. Manabu Takemura was also an artist during the development.

Other people that have worked on the game include the programmer 'FZ 2151' (Hiroshi Koike) and hard planning by 'Punch' Kubozo. Character design had artists under the names 'Crusher' Ichi, 'Dabada' Atshushi, 'Bonsoir' Yuko, 'Ogan' Miyuki, 'Bravo' Oyu and 'Innocent' Saicho. Sound and Music was composed by Yuukichyans Papa (Yoshihiro Sakaguchi). Mechatronics (most likely for the arcade cabinets) had 'Strong' Take and 'Radish' Kamin, and even names like 'Short Arm' Seigo, 'Melanin' Kazu, 'Puttun' Midori, 'James' Nyama and 'Seinto Sinn' were featured in the special thanks section.

Looking for inspirations, Capcom has taken many inspirations from video games like Karate Champ and Yie Ar Kung-Fu (for gameplay).

Arcade versions

There were two different arcade cabinet versions of the game. The Regular version was sold as a tabletop cabinet in Japan and as an upright overseas and featured the same six-button configuration later used in Street Fighter II. There was also a Deluxe cabinet that featured two-pressure sensitive pads. The pressure-sensitive pads determined the strength and speed of the player's attacks based on how hard they were pressed. This version was also both expensive and hard to maintain for arcade owners and the concept of pressurized pads even encouraged abuse and injury for players, with some resorting to stomping on them. These flaws would ultimately make the six-button configuration standard for future fighting game arcade ports.

In the international versions of the game, Ryu and Ken's voices were dubbed so that they called their attack names in English (i.e. "Fireball", "Dragon Punch", "Hurricane Kick", etc.). Subsequent sequels up until Street Fighter IV left the Japanese voices intact; starting from Street Fighter IV going forward, subsequent games in the series now contain English voice acting, although characters from Asia still use Japanese names for certain Special Moves and Super Combos amidst otherwise English dialogue.

Ports

Street Fighter was ported under the changed title Fighting Street for the TurboGrafx-CD and released in 1988 with an arranged soundtrack. This version was developed by Alfa System and published by NEC Avenue in North America and Hudson Soft in Japan; it is now available on the Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console. Due to the lack of a six-button controller available for the TurboGrafx-16 at the time this version was released, the strength level of the attacks were determined by how long either of the action buttons were held down, akin to the Deluxe cabinet.

Versions of Street Fighter for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, DOS, Amiga, and Atari ST were developed by Tiertex; these ports were published by U.S. Gold in 1988 in Europe.

An emulation of the original arcade version is featured in Capcom Arcade Hits Volume 1 for Windows PC, Capcom Classics Collection Remixed for the PlayStation Portable, and Capcom Classics Collection Vol. 2 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. This game is also included in the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection.

Gallery

Promotional Art and Packaging

Ryu and Ken flyer.

USA flyer for the computer ports.

The cover art of Fighting Street (Street Fighter) for TurboGrafx-CD.

Cover art for Street Fighter [home computer versions].

Promotional artwork by Kiyoshi Utata.

Official Art

Official SFI Artwork

Street Fighter I Character Cast

Original release artwork

Ryu Ken Gen Retsu Mike Joe Birdie Eagle Lee Geki Adon Sagat Hadoken Shoryuken Tatsumaki

Capcom Classic Collection artwork

Ryu Ken Retsu Geki Joe Mike Lee Gen Birdie Eagle Adon Sagat

Screenshots

PC Engine CD-ROM² System port

Videos

(Demo) ストリートファイター Street Fighter (C)Capcom 1987

販促ビデオ PCE-CD ファイティング・ストリート FIGHTING STREET TG16 PV

Let's Compare ( Street Fighter )

Amiga 500 Longplay 131 Street Fighter

SF 1 ending

Ending of the original Street Fighter

SF1 intro

Trivia

• Whenever a character wins a round or the match, the victory messages would say "[Character name] won the [round number] round" and "[Character name] won the fight over enemy," regardless if the game was played in single-player mode or 2-player mode. Starting in Street Fighter II, the victory messages and the Game Announcer would only say "[Character name] wins" in 2-player games; in single-player games, the Game Announcer would say "You Win" if the player won the battle, or "You Lose" if the battle was lost.

• Although normally unplayable, the ten CPU-controlled characters can actually be selected by the player if a proper hack is performed on the game.

• This is the only mainline Street Fighter game where world domination was not the plan of the final boss.

• There is an error in the game's intro screen, where the shape of the wall's hole does not visually match the bricks that have been punched out. This is because the shape used to be more rectangular in the Beta version and the developers forgot to update animation to fit into the new circular shape.

• In the 2019 film It Chapter Two, two children are shown playing this game. However, it is shown that Ryu is battling Birdie, which shouldn't be possible considering Ken is the only character available for Player 2. Later on in the movie, Pennywise figuratively asks one of the main characters if they would like to play Street Fighter.

• According to the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection, a prototype port for the NES was developed with existing screenshots but was scrapped for unknown reasons. It's also unknown if the prototype still exists even today, something Capcom themselves highly doubted.

• This is the only mainline Street Fighter game to not receive any kind of remake or new version after the intial release of the game.

• The TurboGrafx-CD port, Fighting Street, is the only game in the series to not carry the Street Fighter name.

• In an interview, designer Hiroshi "Finish" Matsumoto mentioned the Caucasian man who wore a leather jacket during the game's opening sequence and punched the hole in the wall. Ryu had already been selected as the main character, but developers wanted to include him in the next game if given the opportunity. The mysterious man ended up being the model for Terry Bogard, as both Matsumoto and director Takashi "Piston" Nishiyama joined SNK from Capcom after the release of SFI. The original Fatal Fury game, Fatal Fury: King of Fighters, was released in 1991, and both Nishiyama and Matsumuto returned to work for Dimps and work on Street Fighter IV before Terry himself was announced as a guest DLC character in Street Fighter 6.^[4]

References

External links

• Wikipedia article

• Capcom Database article

• Title at Moby Games

• Title at Gamefaqs