Street Fighter (universe)

The Street Fighter universe () refers to the series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from the famous and revolutionary fighting game franchise created by Capcom. Originating on the arcade in 1987, the series became world-renowned as one of Capcom's most lucrative franchises, alongside . It stars a multitude of characters whose sights are set on their life goals and to be crowned the greatest warrior on Earth.
== Franchise description ==
In 1987, Capcom developed and released its first competitive fighting game, , for arcade machines, and subsequently ported it to the TurboGrafx-CD console under the title "Fighting Street" in 1988. Though the one-on-one fighting game genre had already been first popularized years earlier by in 1984, Street Fighter is credited with introducing hidden, command-based special techniques to the budding genre's formula. The game itself is a primarily single-player affair in which the only character that can be played as is the martial artist Ryu, who must defeat a linear series of computer-controlled opponents at martial arts venues across the world. In the game's limited 2-player mode, the second player takes control of Ken Masters, Ryu's friendly rival who is otherwise a functionally identical clone of Ryu in-game, and whichever player wins a multiplayer match between the two will proceed with the rest of the single-player game as that character. The game received fair critical reception for relevantly innovating on its genre, but failed to garner lasting popularity, and would primarily derive its public appeal from being a historical curiosity in the wake of far more successful endeavors by the series.
Capcom had intended to lift Street Fighter's concept and improve on it with a sequel, but repurposed their follow-up project as a side-scrolling beat-em-up titled in response to the popularity of Technōs Japan's . Despite this change in direction, Capcom decided to make fighting games a priority after Final Fight was commercially successful in the United States, and went ahead with , which saw release in 1991. It was met with meteoric commercial and critical success, and is credited with both setting off a renaissance for the arcade game industry in the early 1990s and giving rise to an influx of fighting game franchises by other developers, popularizing the genre. The SNES port of Street Fighter II - the first 16-Megabit cartridge for the console - became Capcom's best-selling single-consumer game software until 2013, when it was surpassed by .
Street Fighter II added the concept of a roster of selectable playable characters, each with their own distinct fighting style and special moves, to the formula of the first game, as well competitive multiplayer combat between two players and a combo system - the first fighting game ever to use one, despite coming about as a bug initially. Many of the innovations brought about by Street Fighter II were incorporated into later fighting games. Following this, Capcom enacted a long series of updated re-releases of the game over the course of several years, adding various improvements and new features in response to a wave of bootleg ROM chip upgrades that emerged for its arcade cabinets. made four previously boss-exclusive characters playable and added "mirror matches" (the capacity for two players to fight as the same character with differing color palettes); featured faster playing speeds; reverted the speed change, added more characters, and featured a new scoring system which kept track of combos, as well as an eight-player single-elimination tournament mode; and allowed the gameplay speed to be adjusted, featured combos that could be performed in the air, and introduced more powerful "Super Combos" that could only be performed under certain conditions.
Street Fighter had become Capcom's second best-selling franchise behind , with Street Fighter II being among the most successful and highest-grossing video games of all time when considering both its arcade and home versions. Capcom proceeded to release appropriately-iterative sequels in the decades to follow, each of which made more significant changes and expansions to the prototypical formula and each of which spawned their own subseries. In addition to a variety of game spinoffs and television and film adaptations, the Street Fighter IP has also been involved in a fairly regular stream of crossover productions, such as Street Fighter X TEKKEN, which pits Street Fighter's iconic cast against that of NAMCO's TEKKEN series (one of the more prolific fighting game series that Street Fighter has been credited with spawning in the wake of its own success). Street Fighter characters have also been regulars in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, where a large roster of the most popular characters from Capcom's overall stable of franchises fight alongside an equally large selection of Marvel Comics superheroes and supervillains. In a nonetheless unexpected turn, Ryu was included as a post-launch downloadable content character in , the second Capcom-originating character to be included in the game's roster. He has since become a mainstay of the series ever since.
The Street Fighter series prioritizes gameplay over plotting throughout its chronology, with a vague scenario serving as a backdrop for otherwise context-free competition between members of the series' long-established recurrent cast. Ryu and Ken are two among many recurring combatants that have since become some of the video game industry's most iconic character designs, each with an international backstory and a set of relationships with any number of the other fighters. Among the more significant series mainstays are Chun-Li, widely regarded as a trailblazer for heroines in gaming media; Blanka, a mutated former human with green skin and a bestial combat style; and Guile, an affectionate All-American stereotype. Earlier games set their proceedings within "World Warrior Tournaments", in which aspiring martial artists from all corners of the globe compete for glory and personal advancement, but later games take place at tournaments organized for reasons more closely tied into ongoing storylines, such as a tournament hosted by the criminal organization of Shadaloo, led by M. Bison - another icon of video game character personification, embodying an over-the-top stereotype of a would-be world dictator.
== In the Super Smash Flash series ==
=== In Super Smash Flash 2 ===
The Street Fighter universe appears in Super Smash Flash 2, where it is currently represented only with a character and a stage.
==== Character ====
*: A veteran from the official games, stated to debut in Beta version 1.2, along with , , , , and . Ryu's moveset is directly taken from , being able to perform weak and strong versions of his tilt attacks and perform amplified versions of his special moves by inputting them like how the move was performed in the Street Fighter games.
==== Stage ====
*Suzaku Castle: Ryu's home stage in Street Fighter II, which is based on the version seen in the SNES version of the game with the twilight setting and breakable signs. The stage has two platforms, one hard and one soft, with the soft platform having signs that can be destroyed using attacks.
== Media with elements appearing in the Super Smash Flash series ==
The following list consists of media from the Street Fighter universe that appears in Super Smash Flash 2.
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*Ryu, who debuted in this game as its main protagonist, is an unlockable character in SSF2.
*Ryu's mechanic of having both weak and strong versions of attacks in SSF2 originates from this game.
*Ryu's up smash in SSF2 originates from his crouching heavy punch in this game.
*Ryu's down throw in SSF2 originates from the brick-breaking bonus game in this game.
*Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, and Shoryuken, Ryu's neutral special move, side special move, and up special move in SSF2, respectively, originate as special moves in this game.
*Ryu's sixth costume in SSF2 is based on Ken Masters, who debuted in this game.
*Ryu's eleventh costume in SSF2 is based on his appearance in both this game and Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams.
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*Ryu's mechanic of canceling special moves in SSF2 originates from this game.
*Ryu's weak up tilt, weak and strong down tilt, down smash, neutral aerial, forward aerial, back aerial, down aerial, forward throw, back throw, and up throw in SSF2 all originate as moves he performs in this game.
*The stage Suzaku Castle in SSF2 originates as a stage in this game, with its design being based on this game.
*Ryu's Theme, an orchestral rock remix of the theme that plays on Suzaku Castle in this game, plays as Suzaku Castle's main music track in SSF2.
*Ken's Theme, a techno rock remix of the theme that plays on Battle Harbor in this game, plays as one of Suzaku Castle's alternate music tracks in SSF2.
*Guile's Theme, techno rock remix of the theme that plays on the Air Force Base in this game, plays as one of Suzaku Castle's alternate music tracks in SSF2.
*The victory theme of Ryu in SSF2 is a remix of the theme that plays whenever a match is about to start in this game.
*The series symbol for Street Fighter in SSF2 originates as the initials in the logo for this game.
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*Ryu's third costume in SSF2 is partially based on his alternate color in this game.
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*Ryu's third costume in SSF2 is partially based on his default color in this game.
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*Shakunetsu Hadoken, a variant of Ryu's neutral special move in SSF2, originates as a special move in this game.
*Ryu's second and eighth costumes in SSF2 are based on his "Light Kick" and "Heavy Kick" colors, respectively, from this game.
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*Shinku Hadoken, one of Ryu's Final Smashes in SSF2, originates as a special move in this game.
*Ryu's tenth costume in SSF2 is based on his "Light Kick" color from this game.
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*Ryu's dash attack in SSF2 originates as his jumping medium and heavy kicks from this game.
*Ryu's seventh costume in SSF2 is based on Dan Hibiki, who debuted in this game.
*Ryu's eleventh costume in SSF2 is based on his appearance in both this game and Street Fighter.
=== Street Fighter Alpha (manga) ===
*Ryu's twelfth costume in SSF2 is based on Evil Ryu, who debuted in this manga.
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*Ryu's neutral attack, weak forward tilt, strong up tilt, and forward smash in SSF2 all originate as moves he performs in this game.
*The animations for Ryu's up smash and grab in SSF2 are based on their animations from this game.
*Shin Shoryuken, one of Ryu's Final Smashes in SSF2, originates as a Super Art in this game.
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*Ryu's design in SSF2 is based on his appearance in this game.
*Several of Ryu's voice clips in SSF2 are taken from this game.
*Focus Attack, Ryu's down special move in SSF2, originates as a move in this game.
*Ryu's neutral and side taunts in SSF2 originate as taunts in this game.
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*Ryu's ninth costume in SSF2 is based on his tenth color in this game.
Category:Super Smash Flash 2
Category:Super Smash Flash series
Category:Capcom