
Arcades were always breeding grounds for competition. It didn’t take a release of Street Fighter 2 on Super Nintendo to plant the seed of fighting game esports. Such names as Blanka, M Bison, Guile and Ching-Li will being back memories for many of our readers who had a SNES in the 90s, and many of these characters endure in the Streetfighter Universe to this day. The iconic character selection didn’t come until 4 years later in 1991 when Street Fighter 2 made its arcade debut. By joining in for some head-to-head battles, player 2 assumed the role of Ken. In the game, player 1 only had access to Ryu who had 10 non-playable opponents to defeat, including his eternal rival Sagat. The familiar 6-button layout and special move motions were both first introduced in the original. Despite being a crude image of its more successful younger sibling, Street Fighter brought a lot to the beat-’em-up genre.
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It was later released on a variety of devices, including PC and TurboGrafx-CD, under the title Fighting Street. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, the original Street Fighter made its arcade debut in 1987. Many know Street Fighter 2 as the title that started a gaming revolution but far fewer experienced its humble beginnings. The Capcom developed and published title opened up a world of possibilities for competitive play at an international scale and gaming as a way to make a living.Īnd it all began with one paradigm-shifting release: Street Fighter 2 on Super Nintendo, which at the time would go on to become Capcom’s best selling game ever. While for many Street Fighter 2 was the title that defined a whole game genre, it’s influence on gaming history is far grander. This legendary game about a worldwide martial arts tournament featuring stereotypical characters was so popular, you knew about it even if you lived under a rock.

Such a captivating setting could describe a lot of titles emblazoned above the flickering cabinets but there was one that drew in the bigger crowds: Street Fighter 2.

This was the atmosphere you’d find yourself in from the moment you set foot in a 90s arcade. How Streetfighter 2 went from a Pound To Play, to Pounds For Playing - Street Fighter 2 and the growth of fighting games in esports
