Street Fighter (universe): Difference between revisions

The game itself is a primarily single-player affair in which the only character that can be played is the martial artist [[Ryu]], who must defeat a linear series of computer-controlled opponents at martial arts venues across the world. In the game's limited 2-player mode, the second player takes control of [[Ken Masters]], Ryu's friendly rival who is otherwise a functionally identical [[clone]] of Ryu in-game, and whichever player wins a multiplayer match between the two will proceed with the rest of the single-player game as that character. The game received praise for its presentation and inventive game design, but also receive heavy criticism for its poor-feeling gameplay, unfair difficulty spikes, and underbaked multiplayer mode. The game only sold modestly and primarily derives its public appeal from being a historical curiosity in the wake of far more successful endeavors by the series. That being said, the game was subsequently ported it to the TurboGrafx-CD console under the title "''Fighting Street''" in 1988. An NES version was also prototyped, but was canceled for unknown reasons.

Capcom had intended to lift ''Street Fighter'''s concept and improve on it with a sequel, but some hurdles got in the way at first. Firstly, Nishiyama and Matsumodo left Capcom and joined [[SNK]], where they went on to develop the {{uv|Fatal Fury}} series. A new team was then formed from the remnants of the old one. Their first attempt at a follow-up was a side-scrolling beat-em-up, but Capcom got cold feet about making such a different title the direct sequel, so it was repurposed and released as ''Final Fight'' in 1989. In response to the high praise of that game, it became a series unto itself with many sequels. Meanwhile, Capcom tasked the team to make a straightforward sequel focused on fighting, which released as ''Street Fighter II'' in 1991 for the CP System arcade board.<ref>[https://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history Street Fighter 2: An Oral History]</ref> While functionally identical to its predecessor, gameplay feel was generally improved and its roster was expanded to include eight unique fighters with different fighting styles. To stick to the concept of story and world-bulding, every character received a unique ending for beating arcade mode to flesh out their characters. The game was met with meteoric commercial and critical success and is credited with both setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s and giving rise to an influx of fighting game franchises by other developers, popularizing the genre and influencing many future games,  including the ''{{b|Super Smash Bros.|series}}'' series itself to an extent. The game also received many ports to home and handheld consoles, with the Super NES port of ''Street Fighter II'' - the first 16-Megabit cartridge for the console - becoming Capcom's best-selling single-consumer game software until 2013, when it was surpassed by ''Resident Evil 5''.

While all of this is happening, Capcom was considering a new mainline entry in the series, but talent was spread so thin that doing so was simply not feasible. Also, many teams were vying for this coveted position. ''Street Fighter: The Movie: The Game'' was pitched as the third in the series initially. In 1994, a small team led by Tomoshi Sadamoto was tasked to make a fantasy themed fighting game that utilized the new CPS-III arcade board, tentatively titled ''New Generation''. However, the team had trouble finding a vision and was understaffed in general. He was then promoted to producer per advice from Capcom, which only exasperated their issues. As a hail mary attempt to stay afloat, the team decided to shift into being a ''Street Fighter'' game, and eventually became the third mainline entry. An an effort to stand out, the initial roster was made entirely of new characters based off their fantasy based origins, a decision the team backtracked on due to fears of alienating fans and added Ryu, and later Ken. The game eventually released as ''Street Fighter III: New Generation'' in 1997.<ref>[https://www.polygon.com/2020/12/8/22151873/street-fighter-3-an-oral-history Street Fighter 3: An Oral History]</ref> While praise was given to its presentation, criticism was given towards its haphazard feeling gameplay design and feeling dated compared to its 3D based competition, a contentious talking point to this day. The game was a disastrous financial failure for Capcom and greatly damaged its reputation in the arcade space for years to come. Less than a year later, the team made an updated version titled ''Street Figher III Second Impact: Giant Attack''. This version introduced new characters, revamped many gameplay systms and attempted to address as many criticisms as possible. While generally seen as an improvement, this version was also met with apathy by critics and fans. In 1999, both versions were bundled together for [[Sega]] Dreamcast as ''Street Fighter III Double Impact''. A third version was then made in 1999 titled ''Street Fighter III Third Strike: Fight For the Future''. This version introduced more new characters, further tweeked its presentation and gameplay systems, and further addressed criticisms. This version was much better received and sold better than its predecessors, but the series in general was still seen as a failure. However, ''Third Strike'' would steadily grow a following over the years with its technical gameplay and tendency to create exciting moments, with the rise of the internet allowing players to show what is possible in the game. The game was ported to many home consoles like Dreamcast, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. A special version released in 2011 titled ''Street Fighter III Third Strike: Online Edition'', which included remastered game elements and a host of new content.

''Street Fighter'' and Capcom fighting games in general slowed to a crawl around this time, mostly due to oversaturation and cannibalization of sales leading to the fall of the arcade industry in the 2000s. Characters would appear in other games, but a proper ''Street Fighter'' game would not be made for many years. There were many attempts to make one, but they all fell through, though the unprecedented success of ''Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting'' on Xbox Live Arcade renewed interest in the franchise. Yoshinori Ono pitched a new entry that was approved. Development studio Dimps was contracted as primary developer, and studio founder Takashi Nishiyama returned as a major designer for the series for the first time since 1987. This game released as ''Street Fighter IV'' for the Taito Type X2 arcade board in 2008, as well as Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in 2009. The game now used 3D models while sticking to a 2D plane, which was dubbed a 2.5D fighting game. To not appear jarring, the artstyle was meant to look like a painting with bright colors and brush strokes. The game was praised as a return to form for not just the series, but Capcom in general, and this game invigorated the fighting genre once again with other companies coming back after their own hiatuses.

During these updates, Capcom also worked alongside [[Bandai Namco]] to create the title ''Street Fighter X Tekken'' in 2012. Capcom was the primary developer, with the {{uv|Tekken}} development team only overseeing production. This entry was mired in controversy, such as unrealistic sales expectations, spending a great deal of development on purchasable gems that alter how a character plays that very few players invested in, intentionally delaying the release date of downloadable content that was already on game discs at launch, and other confusing and offputting decisions that caused the game to fail on the market. The Tekken team were supposed to make a companion release titled ''Tekken X Street Fighter'' but that project was shelved indefinitely after the negative reception of the previous game. Not wanting assets to go to waste, characters and stages made specifically for this game were repurposed into ''Ultra Street Fighter IV'' when it released a year later.