Street Fighter I and II

Street Fighter is a popular video game in which players compete in martial arts tournaments against various fictional opponents from around the world. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, and first released in 1987 by Capcom, a Japanese video game design firm, Street Fighter casts the player in the role of Ryu, a Japanese martial artist. The objective of the game is to win a series of fighting contests in the United States, England, Japan, and China; a final match is played in Thailand, where Ryu must defeat two martial arts experts, Adon and Sagat, in order to win the game. Street Fighter II, a sequel to the original game, continues Ryu's quest to prove his fighting prowess in the martial arts world.

The games were hugely successful and were hailed as innovative contributions to the video game industry. Street Fighter II allowed users to choose from a variety of characters (the first fighting game to do so), provided players with a deep arsenal of fighting moves, and deeply influenced later games in the genre. The Street Fighter franchise has continued to develop games since its original inception, leading to a number of different series: Street Fighter II (1991–95), Street Fighter Alpha (1995–98), Street Fighter III (1997–99), Street Fighter EX (1996–2001), Vs. (1996–2002), and Street Fighter IV (2008). Other media have been developed as well, [Page 683]including a film titled Street Fighter and starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, as well as Street Fighter comics, card games, and other merchandise, such as action figures. The games have not been without criticism, however, and some suggest that Street Fighter and similar violent video games negatively impact children's development and socialization.

According to one history of video games, Street Fighter “single-handedly revived the flagging Japanese arcade market and defined the modern ‘fighting game’ genre,” while Capcom states that the release of Street Fighter II in 1991 “marked the beginning of a new video game phenomenon.” The sequel allowed for multiple players, linked by as many as eight arcade consoles, to fight against one another and was enhanced by more sophisticated graphics. Even more impressive was the degree of individuality that was possessed by each of the game's characters, who were endowed with unique fighting moves and styles, a contribution to video game development that would become standard practice. Such innovations have made Street Fighter a “classic” in video game history and made a lasting impact on subsequent fighting games.

Violent games like Street Fighter, along with other popular titles such as Mortal Kombat, Primal Rage, and Maximum Carnage, have been criticized for contributing to aggressive behaviors among young people. Studies suggest that playing violent games can be responsible, in part, for “weakening of inhibitions against antisocial behavior, modeling, reinforcement, decreased empathy for other, and the creation of a more violent world view.” Research has also linked violent video games to desensitization to real-life violence and promoting identification with violent characters. Despite many compelling studies in the literature, however, the direct correlation between playing violent video games and aggressive behavior remains a controversial subject of academic study.

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