How an experiment spawned a whole new genre of video games – The Federal

It’s tough for Generation Z to imagine a time during which video games were a battle solely between the player and the CPU. We’re talking about the late 1970s and early 1980s, when companies like Nintendo, Sega, and Atari, all of which were still in the 8-bit gaming space, were selling home gaming consoles by the dozen. Arcades—sporting a dim, neon lighting and big, flashy machines boasting a range of games—along with a lingering smell of stale cigarette smoke, became the place to hang out if you were one of the cool kids.

The multiplayer concept hadn’t kicked in yet, especially a “versus” mode wherein two players could compete with each other. But all of that changed in 1987 when Japanese game developer Capcom released ‘Street Fighter’—a video game that would go on to be known as the pioneer of fighting games and establish the template for thousands of similar games that would follow suit.

There have been numerous crossovers and spin-offs of the game ever since, as well as animated movies, toys, collective figurines, handbooks, and even magazines that dedicated themselves to Street Fighter art and gameplay. Hollywood actor Jean-Claude Van Damme starred in the now-cult classic Street Fighter film in 1994.

It is safe to say that when the game debuted in arcades in 1987, it was touted as being “cutting edge”. The game itself was fairly straightforward. In a nutshell, Street Fighter is a competitive fighting game designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. A player controls a Japanese martial artist called Ryu, who competes in a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning multiple countries, with the aim of being the best martial artist in the world. A second player can control Ryu’s American friend and rival, the jovial and blonde Ken Masters. Each player can perform three kicks, three punches, and three special attacks that can be activated by special joystick and button combinations. Each fight comprises best-of-three rounds, with each round lasting a maximum of 30 seconds.