Street Fighter: a look at the video game’s 31 years in the arena and the best titles in the series

It all started in 1987 as an arcade game with two fighters and simple controls. We follow the bestselling series – and its spin offs and terrible films – to the present day and its 30th anniversary release

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Ryu in a screen shot from Street Fighter V.

Published: 12:47pm, 30 May 2018Updated: 7:35pm, 31 May 2018

The game Street Fighter is synonymous with the fighting genre, a pop-culture classic familiar to all ages, whether it’s the millennial with multiple consoles or the baby boomer who blames violence on gaming.

The franchise is celebrating 31 years of roundhouse kicks and uppercuts with this week’s release of the 30th Anniversary Collection, which brings together 12 of the best arcade versions of the game. We trace the history of the series produced by Japanese game developer Capcom through its many landmarks, while offering up the best entries in the surprisingly diverse franchise.

A screen grab from the original game: Street Fighter in 1987

The beginnings: 1987

Street Fighter has humble origins – the simplistic first entry in the series was released for arcades to minor acclaim in 1987. Button mashers could only play as the characters Ryu or Ken, battling it out with simple punches and kicks.

Some of the opponents would later become playable characters, including heavyweight boxer Mike and ninja Genki. The debut is a relatively minor entry in the series and its two creators probably had no doubt what they had unleashed.