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Street Fighter II truly built on its predecessor by letting you select your character from an interesting cast, flying around the world for each challenge. This would populate the arcades of the 90s with titles both good and bad although to the operator, seeing crowds vying to play something was always a good thing. I don’t need to get into a lot of detail there as many of you experienced it – arcades were packed with players looking to become the ‘World Champion’ and show off their skills competitors to Capcom had to scramble to tap into market demand with their own takes on the game. But with Street Fighter II, the landscape of arcade gaming and culture would change forever. It took a few years for a follow-up to find it’s way to arcades, with Capcom remaining busy churning out several new arcade titles a year. But the ideas behind Street Fighter with six button attacks PLUS special hidden moves was innovative at the time and would lead to greater things, such as… Street Fighter II It is worth noting that Street Fighter was not the first 1v1 fighting game to land on the market – titles like Warrior by Vectorbeam (1978) or Karate Champ by Data East (1984) to lay claim to that sort of thing. I remember seeing an original Street Fighter at an FEC back in the 90s Street Fighter II was already out at that point so it was surprising to see how it limited what fighters you could play as (Ryu for player 1, Ken for player 2): As fun as that might be to punch, they wore out quickly, making the standard six-switch button setup far more appealing. This was a distinctive design but a headache for operators as the two giant hit buttons were pneumatic. Arcade Heroes – The Saviors of Coin-op Newsblog August 8, 2017 #ArcadeHistory #DidYouKnow Atari Games designed the dedicated, deluxe "moon" cabinets w/ pneumatic buttons for Capcom's Street Fighter: /luHeOp7Tml While that worked out for them to some degree, they sought for some industry experience in producing the deluxe version of their upcoming Street Fighter game, reaching out to Atari Games to design what would be known as the “Crescent” cabinet. That gravitas came in 1987 with the release of Bionic Commando, Capcom’s first dedicated game. It was a bigger risk to take but it could pay off just as well. This was a more economical way to break into the competitive market but if you wanted ‘gravitas’, you needed to make cabinets too.
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If you take a look at Capcom’s output after they got their start in 1984, many of their titles actually came to arcades in kit form as opposed to dedicated cabinet releases. The most recent Street Fighter creation, Street Fighter V, unfortunately skipped the sector in an official capacity (not going to count console builds running on timers) but there is plenty to look over starting with the initial SF offering from 1987. Since this is a coin-op arcade blog, let’s take a stroll down memory lane in regards to Capcom’s signature fighting series. That game turns 30 as of today so happy birthday Street Fighter! Street Fighter – An Arcade Legacy While each title would hold influence in various ways in the arcade industry and popular culture, few titles would generate the impact that a 1v1 fighting game from Capcom would manage, the legendary Street Fighter series. Many of you grew up with the games in question and hold fond memories of them in your hearts and minds. Earlier this year we showcased games that would be turning 30 during 2017.