Street Fighter (universe)

The Street Fighter (ストリートファイター) universe refers to the Smash Bros. series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Capcom's famous fighting game franchise called Street Fighter.

Franchise description
Street Fighter made its debut at the arcades in 1987, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. The player took control of a lone martial artist named Ryu, who competes in a worldwide martial arts tournament spanning five different countries (United States, Japan, China, England, and Thailand) and ten opponents, two per country. The player could perform three basic types of punches and kicks, which varies in speed and strength, for a total six attack buttons and three special attacks: the Wave Fist in which the player launches a fireball, Rising Dragon Punch, and Hurricane Kick; or the Hadoken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpukyaku in Japanese, that could be performed only by executing specific motions. A second player could join in anytime and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken, during competitive matches and play the rest of the game as Ken if they won. The original Street Fighter has been noted by fans of the series for the considerable difficulty in executing special moves compared to its sequels.

While the original game faded into relative obscurity as time went by, its 1991 sequel, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior was a smash hit in the arcades, turning the franchise into a household name in the video game industry and allowing the fighting genre to flourish due to a whole slew of competitors which appeared in its wake, from SNK's Fatal Fury to Midway Games' Mortal Kombat. Ryu and Ken returned from the previous game, joined by a host of other characters from various parts of the world: Chinese kung fu expert and Interpol officer Chun-Li, USAF officer Guile, Japanese sumotori E. Honda, Russian wrestler Zangief, Indian yoga master Dhalsim and Brazilian beastman Blanka, each one with their own moves and fighting styles. The player could choose any of them freely as they competed in a new worldwide martial arts tournament hosted by the criminal organization Shadaloo, led by M. Bison (Vega in the Japanese version) and his three main lackeys: American boxer Balrog (Mike Bison in Japan), Spanish assassin Vega (Balrog in Japan) and Muay Thai master Sagat, also returning from the first game. A series of gameplay-tweaking updates eventually led to Super Street Fighter II in 1993 and its own update, 1994's Super Street Fighter II Turbo, which added four new fighters, allowing for more gameplay variations: British government operative Cammy, Hong Kong movie star Fei Long, Mexican brawler T. Hawk and Jamaican kickboxer Dee Jay. Super Turbo added also the mysterious and powerful Akuma as a secret final boss.

Following the II games, 1995 saw the release of Street Fighter Alpha (Street Fighter Zero in Japan), the first part of a prequel trilogy whose events bridge the gap between the first and second World Warrior Tournaments, while adding new characters, fleshing out the backgrounds of established characters, and integrating Final Fight (a 1989 side-scrolling beat-'em-up from Capcom) into its canon with characters like Guy and Sodom. Its sequels, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, came out in 1996 and 1998 respectively.

The series' true sequel, Street Fighter III, was released for arcades in 1997 in the new CPS-3 board, which showed off greater graphical capabilities, like smoother animation and greater level of detail. Ryu and Ken were the only returning characters, the rest of them making way to a whole new slew of fighters from everywhere around the world. Street Fighter III received its first update, 2nd Impact, eight months after the original release, and the second, 3rd Strike, in 1999. These games were notably more technical than the previous ones, with new mechanics like Parrying (in which the player can repel an oncoming attack by pressing forward at the exact moment of impact) and EX Specials (enhanced versions of special moves, performed at the cost of a portion of the Super Arts gauge).

While the characters from Street Fighter would be featured in a slew of other fighting games and even crossovers throughout the late '90s and 2000s, a real sequel to the main series would not materialize until Street Fighter IV, released for the arcades in 2008. The new entry drew attention from the gaming press by utilizing the traditional 2D gameplay style in conjunction with high-definition 3D graphics (the Street Fighter EX subseries, developed by Arika, was an earlier attempt at bringing the series to a 3D environment; fan reaction to these games remains mixed to this day), while adding in new mechanics like Focus Attacks (powerful, chargeable moves which ignore defense at their full strength) and Ultra Combos (desperation attacks whose usage depends on the Revenge Gauge, which fills as the player takes damage; as such, these moves are mainly used as a means to alter the outcome of a match). The game was brought to home consoles the following year, and its success led to a total of three updates: Super Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition in 2010, and Ultra Street Fighter IV in 2014. Notably, at the final version, the game has as many as 44 selectable characters in a roster which encompasses every era of the Street Fighter series.

The next game, Street Fighter V, has recently been announced and is slated to be released in 2016.

Characters

 * Ryu is a playable character that can be avaiable to download. He is supposed to release in the same day as Lucas.
 * Ken appears as a regular trophy.

Stages

 * Suzaku Castle appears as new stage in the Wii U and 3DS versions.