Best Ever
Fighting Game?

Before Street Fighter II, fighting games were curiosities. After it, they were a genre, a culture, a professional sport. Capcom didn’t just make a good game in 1991; they created a framework that every fighting game since has either followed or reacted against. The character select screen, the special move inputs, the concept of combos — all of it starts here, in a game that was designed to eat quarters and accidentally built a community.

The roster is eight characters, and each one plays completely differently. Ryu and Ken share a moveset but have subtle variations in speed and damage. Guile is a charge character, requiring defensive positioning before offense. Zangief is a grappler who needs to get close. Dhalsim fights from across the screen with extending limbs. Blanka uses electricity and biting. E. Honda has the hundred-hand slap. Chun-Li has speed and the first female fighter anyone took seriously. Eight characters, eight completely different games to learn.

The special move inputs created the genre’s language. Quarter-circle forward plus punch for a fireball. Dragon punch motion — forward, down, down-forward — for an anti-air. Charge back, then forward for a sonic boom. These inputs weren’t intuitive; they were discoveries, secrets passed between players, knowledge that separated those who knew from those who didn’t. The arcade was a classroom where the curriculum was violence.

Combos weren’t designed — they were a bug that became a feature. Players discovered that certain moves, if timed precisely, would connect without allowing the opponent to block. Capcom saw this happening and leaned into it for subsequent versions. The combo system that defines all fighting games emerged from players pushing Street Fighter II past what its creators intended. The game taught its developers what it wanted to be.

The competitive scene built itself around arcade cabinets. Two players, one quarter each, winner stays. The stakes were real: lose and you’re out of money, waiting in line for another chance. This created a pressure that console gaming couldn’t replicate — the crowd watching, the reputation on the line, the ritual of placing your quarter on the cabinet to claim next game. Esports didn’t start with streaming. It started with spectators gathered around a Street Fighter II machine.

The balance, by modern standards, is broken. Some characters are dramatically stronger than others. Certain strategies dominate. But the imbalance created its own metagame — players chose weaker characters to prove their skill, or exploited the strong ones to win at any cost. The game’s flaws became part of its identity, arguments that continue decades later about whether tier lists matter or whether player skill can overcome character disadvantage.

The iterations that followed — Champion Edition, Hyper Fighting, Super, Super Turbo — refined the formula without abandoning it. Each version tweaked balance, added characters, sped up gameplay. But the core remained: two players, two joysticks, a shared language of inputs and punishes and reads. Street Fighter II didn’t need to be replaced. It needed to be updated.

Hadouken.

Capcom: The Best Ever is competition as culture. Is Street Fighter II the Best Ever Fighting Game? You tell us.

Decide for Yourself:

• Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection includes every version on modern platforms.
• The original SNES cartridge remains the defining home port for many players.
• The Arcade1Up cabinet recreates the arcade experience at home.