Street Fighter, the Video Game by Capcom Co., Ltd. [Japan]

DESCRIPTION

KEYWORDS :

Fighting

Versus

Ninjas

Selectable Stages

Type of the machine : Video Game
Street Fighter © 1987 Capcom.

Martial arts masters Ryu and Ken enter a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning 5 nations as they faces 10 of the world's greatest fighters. The game can be played alone or with 2 players competing, with Player 1 taking the role of Ryu and Player 2 as Ken. The predecessor to the ultra-popular "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior".

TECHNICAL

CABINET :

Main CPU : 68000 (@ 8 Mhz)
Sound CPU : (2x) Z80 (@ 3.579545 Mhz)
Sound Chips : YM2151 (@ 3.579545 Mhz), (2x) MSM5205 (@ 384 Khz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 384 x 224 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 1024

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 6
= > [1] LP (Jab), [2] MP (Strong), [3] HP (Fierce)
= > [4] LK (Short), [5] MK (Forward), [6] HK (Roundhouse)

TRIVIA

Released in August 1987.

Capcom's first head-to-head fighting game, Street Fighter is also the first fighting game to feature :
- 6 buttons (or 2 pressure pads) and 8 way joystick.
- 2 playable characters and ten CPU-controlled opponents .
- Special moves.

Two versions of the game's cabinet were produced. A standard version with the 6-button configuration later used by its sequels ("Street Fighter II - The World Warrior") and a deluxe cabinet that featured 2 pressure sensitive pads for punches and kicks that determine the strength and speed of the player's attacks based on hard they were pressed.

Ryu, Ken and Sagat were the only characters to return in the immediate sequel "Street Fighter II - The World Warrior". Birdie and Adon would later return in "Street Fighter Alpha - Warriors' Dreams", followed by Gen in "Street Fighter Alpha 2" and Eagle in "Capcom Vs. SNK 2 - Mark of the Millennium 2001 ". The character of Mike is believed to a precursor to Balrog from Street Fighter II, whose name in Japan is M. Bison (with the M standing for Mike).

Ryu and Sagat were mostly based on 'Yoshiji Soeno', a 'Kyokushin Karate legend' and 'Reiba', the 'Dark Lord of Muaythai' from an old Japanese martial art comics called 'Karate Baka Ichidai'.

In the England (Birdie) stage a poster for 'The Velvet Underground' (a cult 1960's rock band) is clearly visible alongside another poster for 'Ian Dury and the Blockheads'. The Blockheads were a popular British pub-rock band who disbanded in 1982 but reformed in 1987 for a tour of Japan, two months before the release of this game. A third poster advertises 'Ristorante Donnaloia' an expensive Italian restaurant in Kobe, which still exists to this day. Also on this stage the name and likeness of at that time Capcom USA Vice President of Sales and Marketing 'Bill Cravens' is grafittied on the shutter in front of the 'Block Heads' pub.

The title screen has several Capcom games listed on the brick wall : "Avengers", "Commando", Wings ("Legendary Wings"), and "Trojan".

Alfa Records released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Capcom Game Music Vol.2 - 28XA-203) on 25/03/1988.

A Street Fighter unit can be seen in the 1992 film 'Juice' starring Omar Epps and the late Tupac Shakur.

UPDATES

The Japanese version :
* Has different words spoken for Ryu and Ken during their special moves than the other versions. Ryu and Ken shout 'hadoken!', 'shoryuken!' and 'tatsu-maki-senpuu-kyaku!' during respective special moves in the Japanese version, while they shout 'hellfire!', 'dragon punch!' and 'hurricane!' on all other versions.

The prototype version :
* Has no demo mode.
* Different colors on highscore table.
* Different hole on in the wall during the title screen.
* Is highly bugged.
* No digitized voice samples.
* Characters share stage music.
* Ryu's victory pose is visually different.
* Different sound effects for everything.
* Different intro/outro music.
* Must win three rounds to win the match.
* Typo in victory quote screen, 'Rut Don't Forget...' instead of 'But Don't Forget...'.
* No stage select when you start the game.
* The Hurricane Kick does not seem to be in the game.

TIPS AND TRICKS

Performing special moves : Unlike pretty much every other fighting game, this game requires the player to "release" the buttons instead of pressing them to attack. This applies to special moves as well. A tip to do them easily is to hold the attack button as soon as you start the motion and release it as soon as you finish it.

Turtling with Mike : When fighting Mike, you can turtle-up in the corner and he will just repeatedly throw low punches at you (which you can block). You can use this to your advantage by letting time run out if you have more energy than he does.

Single-Move Victory with Birdie : When fighting Birdie, if you do a hurricane kick right at the start of the round, you can 'sometimes' get him will all of the kicks (he will not be knocked back) and defeat him with that one move alone.