is a 1991 fighting game developed and published by Capcom for arcades. It is the second installment in the Street Fighter series and the sequel to 1987's Street Fighter. Designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and Akira Yasuda, who had previously worked on the game Final Fight, it is the fourteenth game to use Capcom's CP System arcade system board. Street Fighter II vastly improved many of the concepts introduced in the first game, including the use of special command-based moves, a combo system, a six-button configuration, and a wider selection of playable characters, each with a unique fighting style.
Street Fighter II became the best-selling game since the golden age of arcade video games. By 1994, it had been played by an estimated 25 million people in the United States alone. More than 200,000 arcade cabinets and 15million software units of every version of Street Fighter II have been sold worldwide, earning an estimated in revenue, making it one of the top three highest-grossing video games of all time and the best-selling fighting game until 2019; estimated to be approximately £260(~$350) million in arcades in the UK alone. More than 6.3 million SNES cartridges of Street Fighter II were sold, making it Capcom's best-selling single software game for the next 20 years, its best-selling game on a single platform, and the highest-selling third-party game on the SNES.
Unlike its predecessor, Street Fighter II became a pop culture phenomenon, and is frequently regarded as one of the greatest video games ever made. It is also cited as the most important and influential fighting game ever, with its launch being credited to popularizing the genre during the 1990s and inspiring other producers to create their own fighting series. Additionally, it prolonged the survival of the declining video game arcade business market by stimulating business and driving the fighting game genre. It features a popular two-player mode that obligates human-to-human competitive play, inspiring grassroots tournament events, culminating in the Evolution Championship Series (EVO). Street Fighter II shifted the arcade competitive dynamic from achieving personal-best high scores to head-to-head competition, including large groups. Due to its major success, a series of updated versions were released with additional features and characters, starting with 1992's Street Fighter II: Champion Edition; its major successor was Street Fighter III in 1997.
Gameplay
Street Fighter II follows several conventions and rules established by its 1987 predecessor Street Fighter. The player engages opponents in a series of timed one-on-one, close-quarters combat matches. In order to win a round, the player must either completely drain the opponent's health bar by landing attacks, or have more health remaining when the timer runs out. Neither fighter wins the round if they have equal health when time expires or if they simultaneously knock each other out. The first fighter to win two rounds is declared the victor.
During a single-player game, a second player may join, starting a head-to-head match. The victor continues in single-player mode.
The original Street Fighter II allowed up to 10 rounds per match; this maximum is reduced to four rounds starting with the Champion Edition. If there is no clear winner by the end of the final round, either the computer-controlled opponent will win by default in a single-player match or both fighters will lose in a two-player match. After every third match in the single-player mode, a bonus stage gives a chance to earn additional points by smashing a car, wooden barrels, or metal oil drums. After each match, the location for the next one is selected on a world map.
Like in Street Fighter, the controls are an eight-directional joystick and six attack buttons. The joystick can jump, crouch, walk left and right, and block. A tradeoff of strength and speed are given by three punch buttons and three kick buttons, each of light, medium, and heavy. The player can perform a variety of basic moves in any position, including new grabbing and throwing attacks. Special moves are performed by combinations of directional and button-based commands.
Street Fighter II differs from its predecessor due to the selection of multiple playable characters, each with distinct fighting styles and special moves including combos. According to IGN, "the concept of combinations, linked attacks that can't be blocked when they're timed correctly, came about more or less by accident. Street Fighter IIs designers didn't quite mean for it to happen, but players of the original game eventually found out that certain moves naturally flowed into other ones." This combo system was later adopted as a standard feature of fighting games and was expanded upon in this series.*
Plot
According to the timeline, the story was set two years after the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and three years before the events of Street Fighter IV.
Sometime after gaining a new body, M. Bison uses his Shadaloo organization to establish a base in a temple in Thailand. Bison also subjugated a nearby village to establish his criminal empire, but still provided the village with essential supplies. To lure out Ryu once more, Bison takes inspiration from his bodyguard Sagat to announce the Second World Fighting Tournament (Sagat was both the sponsor and final challenger of the First World Fighting Tournament four years prior) organized by Shadaloo.
The fighters have entered the tournament for different reasons: Ryu competes to test and prove his own fighting skill, while Ken, Zangief, and E. Honda each entered to prove to the entire world that they are the greatest fighting champions in history. Some other challengers entered for personal reasons, such as Blanka wanting to uncover his unknown past origin, and Dhalsim trying to raise money for his home village that was invaded and impoverished by Shadaloo. Guile and Chun-Li entered because of their own vendettas against M. Bison for murdering their respective loved ones, with both officers also vowing to bring Shadaloo to justice.
Bison's main intent is to retrieve Ryu's body and exact revenge on the fighters who had hindered his criminal organization's efforts by luring them into Shadaloo's Temple Hideout for Bison, Sagat, Vega, and Balrog to beat each one of them into submission so that no one can prevent him from global domination.
At the end of the Second World Fighting Tournament, Ryu becomes the two-time champion and earns the title of The World Warrior. At the award ceremony, Sagat has taken third place, and M. Bison second. However, the first place champion's spot is empty, much to the wonder of the crowd. As it turns out, Ryu has no need for ceremony, and is already on his way to seek out a new challenge, starting by training his Shoryukens under a waterfall.
Characters The original Street Fighter II features a roster of eight playable fighters. This includes Ryu and Ken—the main protagonists from Street Fighter—plus six new international newcomers. In the single-player tournament, the player fights the other seven main fighters, then the final opponentsa group of four CPU-only opponents known as the Grand Masters, which includes Sagat from Street Fighter.
Playable characters:
, a Japanese martial artist seeking no fame or even the crown of "champion", but only to hone his Ansatsuken Karate skills with the inner power of Chi. He dedicates his life to perfect his own potential while abandoning everything else, leading to having no family and few friends; his only bond is with Ken. He was the winner of the previous tournament but is not convinced that he is the greatest fighter in the world. He comes to this tournament in search of fresh competition. E. Honda, a sumo wrestler from Japan. He aims to improve the negative reputation of sumo wrestling by proving to competitors that he is a legitimate athlete. Blanka, a beast-like mutant from Brazil who was raised in the jungle. He enters the tournament to uncover more origins about his forgotten past. Guile, a former United States Air Force special forces operative seeking to defeat M. Bison, who killed his best friend Charlie. Ken, Ryu's best friend, greatest rival and former training partner, from the United States. Ryu's personal challenge rekindled Ken's fighting spirit and persuaded him to enter the World Warrior tournament, after feeling unenthusiastic about his fighting potential due to spending too much time with his fiancée. Chun-Li, a Chinese martial artist who works as an Interpol officer. Much like Guile, she does not enter the World Warrior tournament for any personal glory except proving that she can defeat any man who challenges her. Chun-Li's ambition in the past was tracking down the movements of the smuggling operation known as Shadaloo. Her trail led to the tournament where she seeks to avenge her deceased father by holding the Grand Master's leader of the crime syndicate responsible. Zangief, a professional wrestler and sambo fighter from the Soviet Union. He aims to prove "Soviet Strength" is the strongest form of strength, particularly by defeating American opponents with his bare hands. Dhalsim, a fire-breathing yoga master from India. He fights despite being a pacifist, with the goal of using the money to lift people out of poverty.
CPU-exclusive characters, in the order of appearance:
Balrog, an American boxer with a similar appearance to Mike Tyson. Called M. Bison in Japan. Once one of the world's greatest heavyweight boxers, he began working for Shadaloo for easy money. Vega, a Spanish bullfighter who wields a claw and uses a unique style of ninjutsu. Called Balrog in Japan. He is vain and wishes to eliminate ugly people from the world. Sagat, a Muay Thai kickboxer from Thailand and former World Warrior champion from the original Street Fighter. He was once known as The King of Street Fighters until he got demoted toThe King of Muai Thai in his own tournament due to a narrow defeat at the hands of Ryu's shoryuken (rising dragon punch) which left a deep gash across his chest. Ever since that moment, he has felt disgrace and will do anything to have a grudge match with Ryu to get his title back, even if it takes joining forces with Shadaloo. M. Bison, the leader of the criminal organization Shadaloo, who uses a mysterious power called Psycho Power, and the final opponent of the game. Called Vega in Japan.
Takayuki Nakayama stated in an interview that many character design ideas were trialed and dropped during the development process. Rejected character designs for Street Fighter II included another bullfighter and an American amateur wrestler.
Regional differences With the exception of Sagat, the Shadaloo Bosses have different names in the Japanese version. The boxer known as Balrog in the international versions was designed as a pastiche of real-life boxer Mike Tyson and was originally named M. Bison (short for "Mike Bison", with "Mike" being one of the American opponents faced in Street Fighter). Vega and M. Bison were originally named Balrog and Vega, respectively. When Street Fighter II was localized for the overseas market, the names of the bosses were rotated, out of concern that the boxer's similarities to Tyson could have led to a likeness infringement lawsuit. In international tournaments, the characters are often referred to as "Boxer", "Claw", and "Dictator", after their defining traits in order to avoid confusion.