After Street Fighter II released in in 1991, it caused a fighting game explosion, both in arcades and in home consoles. But, as the decade ended, and arcades were failing, so too were 2D Fighting games. This is how Street Fighter IV completely revitalized the genre.
After SF2, fighting games were booming. From Fatal Fury, to King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat, and more. But then, in 1993, came Virtua Fighter – which brought about a new wave of 2D fighting games, including Tekken and Soulcalibur. This revolution, combined with the eventual death of arcades, brought about a slow and eventual demise to 2D fighting games.
SNK would eventually go bankrupt (though not entirely due to their arcade or fighting game business), and while 3D fighters will still popping off, after the versus craze of the early 2000s, 2D fighters became relegated to the annual releases of King of Fighters and ArcSys games like Guilty Gear. While Guilty Gear was certainly popular within its niche, it was failing to hid a broad appeal. It would take Street Fighter IV to revitalize the genre, and show companies that fighting games could sell.
Join Dave Klein and Maximilian Dood as they work together to tell the story of How Street Fighter IV saved 2D Fighting Games.
