Street Fighter 2celebrated its 30th anniversary on June 30, 2025. The game released in arcades back in 1991 and ignited a craze that spread from the arcade to home consoles across the world. Since then, the series has gone on to spawn numerous sequels, spin-off games, anime, movies, toy lines, and more. Thirty years later, the game that revolutionized the fighting game genre is still impacting the fighting game genre and gaming culture in general to this day.
The originalStreet Fighterwas a very different form of what would become arguably the most iconic fighting game in history. With the release ofStreet Fighter 2,however, Capcom refined the game’s core gameplay and defined some of the characters that are now among the most recognizable in gaming history. Its release had eager players dumping quarter after quarter into arcade machines and excitedly snapping up console versions of the game once it released on the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.Street Fighter 2is celebrating its 30th anniversary, but the game still impacts games available on even the newest PCs and consoles.
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Street Fighter and the Fighting Game Genre
The fighting game genre has become one of the more popular in gaming, with big tournaments like the Evo Series drawing millions of viewers and featuring the biggest titles in the space likeMortal Kombat, Super Smash Bros.,and of courseStreet Fighter.That craze truly began back in 1991 with the release ofStreet Fighter 2. Capcom had refined the elements of its previous beat em' ups into a system that is still the industry standard for play thirty years later. And its arcade roots are still being celebrated today withvarious releases of mini-arcade consolesand rereleases like theStreet Fighter 30thAnniversary Collectionthat includesStreet Fighter 2’scurrent iteration and several other classicStreet Fightergames in theAlphaseries and some others.
It’s hard to overstateStreet Fighter 2’s impact on the genre. Today’s 2D fighting games likeDragon Ball FighterZstill utilize mechanics that were pioneered inStreet Fighter 2. The iconic “dragon punch” command is a safe bet for any fighting game veteran who is attempting to test out a new game’s commands for special attacks, and performing quarter circles on the analog sticks, D-Pads, or arcade sticks are still the go-to move for testing out a new controllers feel for many fighting game players. Over its 30 year history, Capcom has refined the formula, but it’s not always perfect andStreet Fighterstill has many broken charactersin its history. The core gameplay ofStreet Fighterstill sets the bar for balancing any new traditional 2D fighting game nonetheless.
The number of spin-off titles that have come out fromStreet Fightercan be staggering. Cross over games like the popularMarvel vs. Capcomfranchise sees Ryu and other Capcom fighters squaring up against Marvel’s mightiest heroes and villains. And the often underratedStreet Fighter x Tekkenwas meant to be the first in a pair of crossover titles, but ended up becoming a standalone game. What was once Capcom’s biggest competitor in the fighting game space, SNK, also worked with Capcom to create crossover games that saw the cast ofKing of Fightersand other SNK titles fighting against Capcom’s stable of warriors. And newer titles featuringStreet Fightercharacters, and naturallyStreet Fighter V, are considered by many to be among thebest of the PS4 and Xbox One generation.
Thirty years later, many players still enjoy the originalStreet Fighter 2, and whether they’re playingStreet Fighter Vor not, most fighting game players are still impacted by its legacy. Almost all modern fighting games owe at least some inspiration toStreet Fighter. And many modern fans are still excitedly awaiting anynew information aboutStreet Fighter 6. The legacy ofStreet Fighter 2is hard to ignore, and it doesn’t seem like the franchise is going away any time soon, even as the new generation of consoles and PCs has arrived.
Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collectionis available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
