See also:
- Cant Unhear It: This game saw the debut of Norio Wakamoto as the voice of M. Bison. He's retained the role ever since, and for many Street Fighter fans he is THE definitive voice of the character.
- Fridge Logic: Morrigan's stage uses a remix of Demitri's theme despite Demitri not being playable or otherwise present in any form.
- Game-Breaker: Nakoruru, who became the most dominant character thanks to the ratio system. At the time, she was only the second character in any Capcom-made fighting game (after Akuma) to be banned from tournaments.
- Hilarious in Hindsight: Fans weren't too happy with the lack of IP variety for both sides of the roster. At the very least, the SNK side had characters from different IPs, such as Fatal Fury and Art of Fighting before they all became combatants for the King of Fighters series. Nakoruru was the only character officially outside of KOF... that is, until she joined 2016's KOF XIV as a playable character. note To twist the knife further, Nakoruru ended up terrorizing the developing metagame of XIV and was actually banned from a few tournaments... not unlike her CvS1 incarnation.
- Memetic Mutation: Geese is Ratio 6. Explanation
- Porting Disaster: The PS1 version; nearly all of the presentation of the original was stripped down (since the PS1 didn't have the tech power for the high-end graphics), losing stage intros and other animations. It had Loads and Loads of Loading heaped onto it as well. It still plays pretty well, but feels so bland as a result.
- Scrappy Mechanic: The Ratio system, wherein each character was assigned a specific "Ratio" denoting that character's overall strength and durability on a 1-4 scale. Teams of up to four characters can be assembled, but their total ratio value can't exceed 4. CvS2, which additionally balanced out and expanded upon the Grooves from CvS1, would do away with this and implement a "free" ratio system, allowing players to create teams of up to three characters and give each character ratios (up to 4 in total) as desired, making the system less limited and cumbersome. The option for basic 1-on-1 and 3-on-3 matches without any ratios involved was also included.
- Visual Effects of Awesome: The stages have flashy little introduction scenes that play before a match, a feature that many fans lament not returning in the sequel.
