Vintage Games

17

STREET FIGHTER II (1991): WOULD YOU LIKE THE COMBO?

Ryu, Ken, E. Honda, Guile, Chun-Li, Zangief, Dhalsim, Sagat and M. Bison—do they really need an introduction? If so, you're overdue for a serious Shoryuken.¹ The game: Capcom's Street Fighter II, probably the single most important arcade title of the 1990s.

Street Fighter II’s cast of characters.

Although there had been several competitive fighting games before it, Street Fighter II trumped them all with its spectacular graphics and sophisticated—even artistic—gameplay. If the graphics were the bait, the gameplay was the hook. A seemingly endless line of teenagers lined up in front of these ...