Street Fighter (video game)

"What strength! But don't forget there are many guys like you all over the world!"

—Voiceover after finishing a stage

Although not many people know this, there was a Street Fighter game before Street Fighter II.

This game, the original Street Fighter, was released in arcades in 1987. The game featured two martial artists, Ryu and Ken, who traveled around the world taking on some of the best fighters in the world, culminating with a match against the massive Thai kickboxer Sagat.

It was nothing to write home about, frankly, but it did feature many of the staples of the series: a six-button control setup, the best-out-of-three match structure, Ryu and Ken, naturally, and even many of the now-common motions for special attacks. Alternate arcade cabinets could be found that were also the first to use a two button, pressure sensitive, layout rather than the standard cherry switch six button layout, one for punches and one for kicks, to control the strength of the attack. It was confusing to use and more expensive to maintain than most standard cabinets, so a version that featured the more familiar six-button configuration seen in all the follow ups was offered as a cheaper alternative.

A port of the game, Fighting Street, was released for the TurboGrafx-CD (and, later, the Wii Virtual Console) as well as more properly named ports on PC.

Tropes used in Street Fighter include:

Big "All right!": Every time you win.
Credits Gag: Many of the developers' names were partially replaced with combat terms.
Dual Tonfas: Eagle fights with these.
Early Installment Weirdness: No playable characters other than Ryu and Ken, no female fighters, no combos, no grappling moves, hard-to-pull-off special moves, the same quotes for every CPU opponent and Ryu wears red slippers for some reason. While it was the first fighting game to use Capcom's now-standard six-button configuration, the six-button version was actually sold as a cheaper alternative to arcade owners who couldn't afford the more expensive (and harder to maintain) deluxe version with the two large mechatronic pads that determined the strength level of your punches and kicks.
- The pressure-sensitive buttons were also problematic because they tended to encourage abuse. There are tales of players stomping on them.
Hurricane Kick: Except here, as with the two other special moves, it takes patience and effort to make it happen, but it's worth the effort.
Kamehame Hadoken: Maybe they thought you deserved a prize for the effort of pulling it off. And it is a humongous chunk of damage from your opponent's health bar.
Long Bus Trip: Only Ryu, Ken and Sagat would return in Street Fighter II, although Birdie, Adon and Gen later showed up in the Street Fighter Alpha series along with Eagle in Capcom vs. SNK 2 Mark of the Millennium. Geki, Retsu, Joe, Mike and Lee have yet to make a return appearance as fighters in any further game.
Ninja: Geki.
Retcon
- If you're expecting the game to end with Ryu defeating Sagat with his Dragon Punch, leaving Sagat with his iconic chest scar that served as the foundation of his heated rivalry with Ryu for sequels to come, then you'll be disappointed to learn that there's no such ending in this game. That was purely a retcon from Street Fighter II. Not only is there no scar, Sagat takes his defeat quite well.
- Ken was originally Japanese in this game (as evident by the fact that his name is spelled in kanji in the game's Japanese brochure and other promotional materials). Street Fighter II turned him into a native-born American with a Japanese heritage.
Ryu and Ken: The Trope, as well as the characters.
Shoryuken: Good luck pulling off this too, but when you do, it's worth the effort. With perfect positioning and/or some luck, landing it will score a One-Hit Kill on the opponent.
Surprisingly Good English: Considering the time the game was made...
What the Fu Are You Doing?: Two bonus rounds involve Ryu/Ken trying to break brick pieces. It's possible to break all or some of those pieces...or fail altogether. The latter part will causes the character to look like this with booing sounds in the background to match.
A Winner Is You:

"What strength! But don't forget there are many guys like you all over the world!"

- And when you beat Sagat:

"You've outlasted the best. You are now the strongest street fighter in the world!"