Street Fighter 2 turns 30, and some never stop playing

Street Fighter 2, one of the most important fighting games – and video games – of all time, is now 30 years old. As of February 6, it has been three decades since Ryu and the company landed in arcades, and the fighter’s classic game has created countless sequels.

In a post on the Twitter page, Capcom celebrated the game’s 30th anniversary with a short game clip. Street Fighter 2 was far more successful than its predecessor, which was a fairly limited game that contained only two playable characters: Ryu and Ken. Both played basically the same thing.

Following the initial success of Street Fighter 2, Capcom transferred the game to several different systems and released sequels that added new features and characters. These included Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. On Switch, Ultra Street Fighter II also gives players the choice between a new or classic art style, and works the classic mechanics of a game that looks like it could have released today.

Of course, the Street Fighter series continued well after the second version of the second game. Street Fighter 3, Street Fighter 4, Street Fighter 5 and Street Fighter Alpha have all had success in themselves, but Street Fighter 2 will probably always appear as the series’ biggest game. It even got its own Arcade1Up home arcade cabinet, and an updated version that was announced last month will include artwork like the original cabinet. In addition to several versions of the game, the classic Capcom includes arcade games such as Darkstalkers and Strider.