STREET FIGHTER II CHARACTERS

Street Fighter II is the 1991 Capcom arcade release that detonated the fighting game scene and set the template the entire genre still follows. Eight selectable world warriors, each with a distinct moveset, six attack buttons split between punches and kicks, and command-based specials you input through quarter-circles and dragon-punch motions. Best-of-three rounds, a vitality bar, and the now-standard countdown timer all crystallized here.

This is where the combo system was born, almost by accident, when players discovered they could cancel normals into specials mid-animation. Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Guile, Blanka, Zangief, Dhalsim, and E. Honda anchor the original cast, with the four bosses unlocked in later revisions. Bonus rounds smashing cars and barrels break up the single-player ladder. Decades and dozens of updates later, Street Fighter II remains the lingua franca of arcade fighting.