History VideoGame / StreetFighterII

[[quoteright:256:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Street_Fighter_2_SNES_1338.jpg]]

* TheComputerIsACheatingBastard: The A.I. in ''Super Turbo''.
** This applies to every game since the computer doesn't need to "charge" moves like players do. For example, the computer loves to have Guile walk up to the opponent and deliver a Flash Kick after only ducking for a split second.

-->''"Round 1, Fight!"''\\

These games (or, at least, series of games) are the most well-known games of the ''StreetFighter'' franchise; when most people talk about ''Street Fighter'', chances are that they really mean is '''''Street Fighter II'''''. ''[=Street Fighter II=]'' is one of the most innovative and popular video games of all time; it also brought the "tournament fighter" genre to the masses, and its influence has not waned in the twenty years since its debut.

In 2008, Capcom released a remake of ''Super Turbo'' on on XboxLive and the [[{{PlayStationNetwork}} PlayStation Network]]. This remake currently holds the longest title name in the series, which is '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'''''. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, with David Sirlin as the lead designer, this remake features rebalanced/tweaked characters, high definition sprites, all new character and stage artwork (courtesy of UDON Comics), online play, widescreen support, and a brand-new soundtrack created by {{OverClocked ReMix}}.

These games (or, at least, series of games) are the most well-known games of the ''Street Fighter'' franchise; when most people talk about ''StreetFighter'', chances are that they really mean is '''''Street Fighter II'''''. ''[=Street Fighter II=]'' is one of the most innovative and popular video games of all time; it also brought the "tournament fighter" genre to the masses, and its influence has not waned in the twenty years since its debut.

** In ''Champion Edition'', the player using a character's standard palette has his name tag displayed in yellow fonts and the one using the alternate palette is displayed in blue. The same thing applies in ''Hyper Fighting'', except all the characters have a new default palette and the original ones are now used as the alternate palette (except for M. Bison).

* ColorCodedMultiplayer: Starting with ''Champion Edition'' and onward, two players could use the same character, with one player having an alternate color scheme assigned for their character.\\
\\
In ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'', the player with the alternate color scheme has their name tag displayed in blue instead of the standard yellow, but this feature was taken out in ''Super'' and onward.\\
\\
In ''Super'', there were eight color palettes for each character (the three palettes from the previous games and five new ones) and in ''Super Turbo'' they all use a new default palette.

* PermaStubble: In the second game, many characters get one.

After the release of the first ''Street Fighter'', the series practically exploded overnight with its 1991 sequel, '''''Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'''''. The list of available player characters was increased to eight: alongside the returning Ryu and Ken, six new characters -- Chinese [[ActionGirl female]] [[TheyFightCrime crime-fighter]] Chun-Li, [[EagleLand American]] soldier Guile, Russian wrestler and hero[[hottip:*:[[CulturalTranslation Except in the American series.]]]] Zangief, Brazilian mutant Blanka, Indian yoga practitioner Dhalsim and Japanese sumo wrestler E. Honda -- with entirely different normal and special attacks were tossed into the mix. The game also had four tough bosses encountered after the other characters were put down for the count: [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Not-Really-Mike-Tyson]] boxer Balrog; [[McNinja Spanish ninja]]/cage fighter Vega; a returning (and now-scarred) Sagat; and the game's final boss, [[BigBad evil]] [[DrugsAreBad druglord]] M. Bison.

In 2008, Capcom released a remake of ''Super Turbo'' on on {{Xbox}} Live and the {{PlayStation}} Network. This remake currently holds the longest title name in the series, which is (*deep breath*) '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'''''. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, with David Sirlin as the lead designer, this remake features rebalanced/tweaked characters, high definition sprites, all new character and stage artwork (courtesy of UDON Comics), online play, widescreen support, and a brand-new soundtrack created by {{OverClocked ReMix}}.

* {{Retcon}}: Dhalsim's fire-breathing abilities were originally attributed to eating lots of curry, but this has later been retconned by Capcom of Japan as a gift from the Hindu fire deity Agni.

* MirrorMatch: A code in the SNES version of ''Street Fighter II'' enabled this when the original arcade version didn't. From ''Champion Edition'' and onward, all future games allowed players to match characters up with themselves. Ken was created so that two people could play Ryu.

These games (or, at least, series of games) are the most well-known games of the ''Street Fighter'' franchise; when most people talk about ''StreetFighter'', chances are that they really mean is ''Street Fighter II''. ''[=SFII=]'' is one of the most innovative and popular video games of all time; it also brought the "tournament fighter" genre to the masses, and its influence has not waned in the twenty years since its debut.

After the release of the first ''Street Fighter'', the series practically exploded overnight with its 1991 sequel, '''''Street Fighter II: the World Warrior'''''. The list of available player characters was increased to eight: alongside the returning Ryu and Ken, six new characters -- Chinese [[ActionGirl female]] [[TheyFightCrime crime-fighter]] ''Chun-Li'', [[EagleLand American]] soldier ''Guile'', Russian wrestler and hero[[hottip:*:[[CulturalTranslation Except in the American series]]]] ''Zangief'', Brazilian mutant ''Blanka'', Indian yoga practitioner ''Dhalsim'' and Japanese sumo wrestler ''E. Honda'' -- with entirely different normal and special attacks were tossed into the mix. The game also had four tough bosses encountered after the other characters were put down for the count: [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Not-Really-Mike-Tyson]] boxer ''Balrog''; [[McNinja Spanish ninja]]/cage fighter ''Vega''; a returning (and now-scarred) ''Sagat''; and the game's final boss, [[BigBad evil]] [[DrugsAreBad drug lord]] ''M. Bison''.

While not the first FightingGame by any stretch, ''Street Fighter II'' was basically the breakthrough game which [[TropeCodifier defined the genre]], with many games borrowing concepts introduced by the game. At the time of its release (and the releases of the subsequent {{Updated Rerelease}}s), it was heralded as renovating the arcade scene (particularly in the U.S.) as people began lining up at ''[=SFII=]'' machines to compete against each other. A {{Fight Club}} mentality (not in the "blowing up buildings" sense, mind you) is alleged to have evolved at the time; machines that cost just over $1300 were making that amount back in less than an month.

The second upgrade -- '''''Street Fighter II′: Hyper Fighting''''' (''Street Fighter II Dash Turbo'' in Japan) -- was released a few months after ''Champion Edition'' as a counter-measure to bootleg [[GameMod hacks]] that were created. The hacks which were incredibly unbalanced but featured high speed gameplay and vastly modified the behavior of many moves to the point of eccentricity. ''Hyper Fighting'' introduced brand-new special moves, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution differentiating the move sets]] of Ryu and Ken, adjusted character balance, and increased the game speed for more intense fighting.

The biggest expansion yet came with 1993's '''''Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers''''', which added four entirely new characters -- BruceLeeClone ''Fei Long'', British soldier ''Cammy'', Mexican chief ''Thunder Hawk'' and Jamaican DanceBattler and music star ''Dee Jay'' -- as well as more new attacks for the existing characters, upgraded sound quality, and even some new animations for existing characters (thanks to the switch to the newer and better CP System II hardware). The game speed was reduced to the same level as in the original game and ''Champion Edition''. Even though the speed increase was well received in many parts of the world, countries flooded with bootleg hacks assumed ''Hyper Fighting'' was another hack. Thus the speed was dropped for ''Super'', which caused backlash from fans of Hyper Fighting, and didn't really acquire its intended audience either.

The next upgrade in this series was '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo: The Ultimate Championship''''' (also known as ''Super Street Fighter II X: Grand Master Challenge'' in Japan). This game introduced Super Combos, heralded the debut of the ferocious ''Akuma'' as the TrueFinalBoss, and returned the faster game speed of ''Hyper Fighting'' (this time with adjustable settings). ''Super Turbo'' is a ''bona fide'' classic that is considered to be one of the strongest fighting games of all time; it's still a common sight at [[TournamentPlay tournaments]] even today, especially in Japan.

In 2008, Capcom released a remake of ''Super Turbo'' on on {{Xbox}} Live and the {{PlayStation}} Network. This remake currently holds the longest title name in the series, which is (*deep breath*) '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'''''. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, with David Sirlin as the lead designer, this remake features rebalanced/tweaked characters, high-definition sprites, all new character and stage artwork (courtesy of UDON Comics), online play, widescreen support, and a brand-new soundtrack created by {{OverClocked ReMix}}.

In 2008, Capcom released a remake of ''Super Turbo'' on on {{Xbox}} Live and the {{PlayStation}} Network. This remake currently holds the longest title name in the series, which is (*deep breath*) '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'''''. Developed by Backbone Entertainment, with David Sirlin as the lead designer, this remake features rebalanced/tweaked characters, high-definition sprites, all new character and stage artwork (courtesy of UDON Comics), online play, widescreen support, and a brand-new soundtrack created by the fine musicians of {{OverClocked ReMix}}.

1992's '''''Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition''''' (or ''Street Fighter II Dash'' in Japan) was the first in [[CapcomSequelStagnation a long line]] of {{Updated Rerelease}}s of ''Street Fighter II'', though at the time was intended to be the [[HilariousInHindsight last release]]. This installment allowed players to play as the four bosses ''and'' offered [[PaletteSwap an alternate color scheme]] for each character, allowing players to [[MirrorMatch fight against each other using the same character]] (neither ''Street Fighter'' or the original ''Street Fighter II'' had this feature, which is why Ryu and Ken were functionally identical in those two games).

All five previous versions of ''Street Fighter II'' were later re-compiled into '''''Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition'''''; this version of the game enabled players to fight as any version of any character of their choice (for example: if a player had ever dreamed of [[FakeBalance fighting a Super Turbo Ken with the Original Ryu]], they were now free to do so).

In 2008, Capcom released a remake of ''Super Turbo'' on on {{Xbox}} Live and the {{PlayStation}} Network. This remake currently holds the longest title name in the series, which is (*deep breath*) '''''Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix'''''. Co-developed with Backbone Entertainment, David Sirlin, and the makers of the GGPO netcode engine, this remake features rebalanced/tweaked characters, high-definition sprites, all new character and stage artwork (courtesy of UDON Comics), online play, widescreen support, and a brand-new soundtrack created by the fine musicians of {{OverClocked ReMix}}.

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: In the original, Chun-Li was the only woman in the game's roster of twelve fighters. The male to female ratio increased to 14:2 with the addition of Cammy among the four new fighters in ''Super'' and then 15:2 in ''Super Turbo''.

While not the first FightingGame by any stretch, ''Street Fighter II'' was basically the breakthrough game which [[TropeMaker defined the genre]], with many games borrowing concepts introduced by the game. At the time of its release (and the releases of the subsequent {{Updated Rerelease}}s), it was heralded as renovating the arcade scene (particularly in the U.S.) as people began lining up at ''[=SFII=]'' machines to compete against each other. A {{Fight Club}} mentality (not in the "blowing up buildings" sense, mind you) is alleged to have evolved at the time; machines that cost just over $1300 were making that amount back in less than an month.

While not the first FightingGame by any stretch, Street Fighter II was basically the breakthrough game which [[TropeMaker defined the genre]], with many games borrowing concepts introduced by the game. At the time of its release (and the releases of the subsequent {{Updated Rerelease}}s), it was heralded as renovating the arcade scene (particularly in the US) as people began lining up at ''[=SFII=]'' machines to compete against each other. A {{Fight Club}} mentality (not in the "blowing up buildings" sense, mind you) is alleged to have evolved at the time; machines that cost just over $1300 were making that amount back in less than an month.

1992's '''''Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition''''' (or ''Street Fighter II Dash'' in Japan) was the first in [[CapcomSequelStagnation a long line]] of {{Updated Rerelease}}s of ''Street Fighter II'', though at the time was intended to be the [[HilariousInHindsight last release]]. This installment allowed players to play as the four bosses ''and'' offered [[PaletteSwap an alternate color scheme]] for each character, allowing players to [[MirrorMatch fight against each other using the same character]]. (Neither ''Street Fighter'' or the original ''Street Fighter II'' had this feature, which is why Ryu and Ken were functionally identical in those two games.)

The second upgrade -- '''''Street Fighter II′: Hyper Fighting''''' (''Street Fighter II Dash Turbo'' in Japan) -- was released a few months after ''Champion Edition'' as a counter-measure to bootleg [[GameMod hacks]] that were created. The hacks which were incredibly unbalanced but featured high speed gameplay and vastly modified the behavior of many moves to the point of eccentricity. Hyper Fighting introduced brand-new special moves, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution differentiating the move sets]] of Ryu and Ken, adjusted character balance, and increased the game speed for more intense fighting.

''Street Fighter II'' was ported over to the Super NES, where it quickly became one of the system's best-sellers. Versions of ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'' were also ported to the Sega Genesis and Super NES. While the Super NES version was dubbed ''Street Fighter II Turbo'' and the Genesis version was dubbed ''Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition'', both ports included both the ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'' versions of the game; the differing names were used only to satisfy contractual terms with Nintendo (who demanded exclusivity).

The biggest expansion yet came with 1993's '''''Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers''''', which added four entirely new characters -- BruceLeeClone ''Fei Long'', British soldier ''Cammy'', Mexican chief ''Thunder Hawk'' and Jamaican DanceBattler and music star ''Dee Jay'' -- as well as more new attacks for the existing characters, upgraded sound quality, and even some new animations for existing characters (thanks to the switch to the newer and better CP System II hardware). The game speed was reduced to the same level as in the original game and ''Champion Edition''. Even though the speed increase was well received in many parts of the world, countries flooded with bootleg hacks assumed Hyper Fighting was another hack. Thus the speed was dropped for Super, which caused backlash from fans of Hyper Fighting, and didn't really acquire its intended audience either.

All five previous versions of ''Street Fighter II'' were later re-compiled into '''''Hyper Street Fighter II: The Anniversary Edition'''''; this version of the game enabled players to fight as any version of any character of their choice. (For example: if a skilled player had ever dreamed of [[FakeBalance fighting a Super Turbo Ken with the Original Ryu]], they were now free to do so.)

* DubInducedPlotHole: Most of the endings in the ''Street Fighter II'' series were translated almost accurately with a few exceptions. The characters' back-stories were also embellished for the instruction manuals of the SNES and Genesis versions.

After the release of the first ''Street Fighter'', the series practically exploded overnight with its 1991 sequel, '''''Street Fighter II: the World Warrior'''''. The list of available player characters was increased to eight: alongside the returning Ryu and Ken, six new characters -- Chinese [[ActionGirl female]] [[TheyFightCrime crime-fighter]] ''Chun-Li'', [[EagleLand American]] soldier ''Guile'', Russian wrestler and hero[[hottip:*:[[{{Americanitis}} Except in the American series]]]] ''Zangief'', Brazilian mutant ''Blanka'', Indian yoga practitioner ''Dhalsim'' and Japanese sumo wrestler ''E. Honda'' -- with entirely different normal and special attacks were tossed into the mix. The game also had four tough bosses encountered after the other characters were put down for the count: [[LawyerFriendlyCameo Not-Really-Mike-Tyson]] boxer ''Balrog''; [[McNinja Spanish ninja]]/cage fighter ''Vega''; a returning (and now-scarred) ''Sagat''; and the game's final boss, [[BigBad evil]] [[DrugsAreBad drug lord]] ''M. Bison''.

The second upgrade -- '''''Street Fighter II′: Hyper Fighting''''' (''Street Fighter II Dash Turbo'' in Japan, or simply ''Street Fighter II Turbo'') -- was released a few months after ''Champion Edition'' as a counter-measure to bootleg [[GameMod hacks]] that were created. The hacks which were incredibly unbalanced but featured high speed gameplay and vastly modified the behavior of many moves to the point of eccentricity. Hyper Fighting introduced brand-new special moves, [[DivergentCharacterEvolution differentiating the move sets]] of Ryu and Ken, adjusted character balance, and increased the game speed for more intense fighting.

''Street Fighter II'' was ported over to the Super NES, where it quickly became one of the system's best-sellers. Versions of ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'' were also ported to the Sega Genesis and Super NES. While the Super NES version (which came first) was dubbed ''Street Fighter II Turbo'' and the Genesis version was dubbed ''Street Fighter II′: Special Champion Edition'', both ports included both the ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'' versions of the game; the differing names were used only to satisfy contractual terms with Nintendo (who demanded exclusivity).

* [[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Ryu Is About To Hadouken You:]] In the Super Street Fighter II intro. And in several other games.
* TheSmurfettePrinciple: In the original, 7 male fighters and just one female. From ''HF''/''CE'' until ''Super'', this was boosted to 11:1. In ''Super'', the ratio went to 14:2, with ''Turbo'' and later editions going 15:2.

[[SeanConneryIsAboutToShootYou Ryu Is About To Hadouken You:]] In the Super Street Fighter II intro. And in several other games.

* AerithAndBob: Blanka, Ryu, Dhalsim, Zangief, Balrog, Chun-Li, Guile, Sagat, Vega... and Ken.
** And in the ''Super'' games: Fei Long, T. Hawk, Dee Jay, Akuma... and Cammy. (Diminutive of Camilla)
** Also keep in mind that "Ken" is a proper Japanese name here, not a nickname for "Kenneth"... (Ken is 3/4 Japanese and dyes his hair blond... [[BigOlEyebrows he forgets his eyebrows though...]])
** Justified in the sense that the fighters all come from different parts of the world, which would naturally result in a variety of types of names.

* ColorCodedMultiplayer: Starting with ''Champion Edition'' and onward, two players could use the same character, with one player having an alternate color scheme assigned for their character. In ''Champion Edition'' and ''Hyper Fighting'', the player with the alternate color scheme has their name tag displayed in blue instead of the standard yellow, but this feature was taken out in ''Super'' and onward. In ''Super'', there were actually eight color palettes for each character (the three palettes from the previous games and five new ones) and in ''Super Turbo'' they all use a new default palette.
* {{Combos}}: [[TropeMaker Created them]], [[AscendedGlitch by accident]]!

* DivergentCharacterEvolution: Ryu and Ken from ''Champion Edition'' and onward.
* DubInducedPlotHole: Most of the endings in the ''Street Fighter II'' series were translated almost accurately with a few exceptions (namely Fei-Long's and Cammy's, while Guile's was embellished a bit). The characters' back-stories were also embellished for the instruction manuals of the SNES and Genesis versions.
** Ryu and Ken's fighting style was identified as "Shotokan Karate" in their profiles, when their school has no real defined name in the Japanese canon (resulting in the [[TropeNamer identification]] of every Ryu/Ken-type as a "{{Shotoclone}}" to English speaking players).
* DubNameChange:
** In Japan, Balrog is known as Mike Bison (aka M. Bison), but in order to avoid any legal trouble with Mike Tyson (the actual boxer Balrog was modeled after), the localization staff switched the names of three of the four Grand Masters for the overseas versions. Therefore, the names are switched from M. Bison to Balrog, Balrog to Vega, and Vega to M. Bison. The reason why Capcom switched the names instead of coming up with a new one for just one character was because the name tags for the health gauges and character select portraits used solid graphics instead of editable text (thus, it was easier to switch the names instead of coming up with new name tags for just one character).
** Akuma is known as Gouki in Japan, although his name is never actually displayed in any version of the arcade games, as the names "Akuma" and "Gouki" were only used in supplemental texts.
** Some of the non-player characters also had their names changed. Nash (Guile's dead friend) became Charlie (who went on to become a player character in ''StreetFighterAlpha''), Julia (Guile's wife) became Jane, and Chris (Guile's daughter) became Amy. "Sheng Long" at one point was also considered to be the name of Ryu and Ken's sensei in American ''Street Fighter'' literature before the name "Gouken" was officially adapted everywhere.
* DynamicEntry: Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu in ''Super Turbo''. M. Bison never saw it coming.

* ForDoomTheBellTolls: Some versions of M. Bison's theme. Mostly anything before the [=CPS2=] compositions.

* LeotardofPower: Cammy. Oh Cammy...
* MirrorMatch: A code in the SNES version of ''Street Fighter II'' enabled this when the original arcade version didn't. From ''Champion Edition'' and onward, all future games allowed players to match characters up with themselves. Ken was created so that two people could play Ryu. We all know how that went...
** This gameplay feature is never actually played upon in the plots of the games (aside for Gouki confronting his own "shadow" in ''Super X'', the Japanese version of ''Super Turbo'') until ''Street Fighter IV'' in which [[spoiler:Seth, being a SuperSoldier engineered by [=BLEECE=], has dozens of clones of himself.]]

* TheSmurfettePrinciple: Play straight at first with Chun-Li and then gradually averted with the introduction of Cammy in ''Super'', and more ladies in the following sub-series.

* EffeminateMisogynisticGuy: Vega is a narcissistic effeminine matodor who seemingly regards women with contempt and disdain. He wears purple eyeliner, nail polish, and what appears to be lip gloss. In the subs, he tends to speak in a soft somewhat feminine tone. For years, gamers thought Vega was gay, until Capcom stepped forward and stated Vega was not gay, but a narcissist. They even had him take an interest in Cammy (so to speak) as a way of showing this.
** In the Animated Movie, he became jealous when Bison appeared to [[BuxomIsBetter take an interest in Chun Li's "talents."]] And, when tasked with eliminating her, Vega's method was saddistic; delighting in Chun Li's suffering until she [[BerserkButton stepped on his face]].