You want me to WHAT? RANK all the STREET FIGHTER GAMES!? Bro there’s like 20 of them! I gotta start training for something like this! Gotta take a page outta Ryu’s book and really get my sets in for my fingers. This is gonna be a lot of typing.
21. Street Fighter 1
Hush now purists, I know you’re angry. Shhhh … easy, boah. EASY! Yes, I did just say that the OG Street Fighter is the worst game. I will concede defeat in a pushup contest with M. Bison but not in this take. Street Fighter 1 is a wonky mess. It’s clunky. It’s confusing. It’s challenging in a hard to play way and not in a fun way. The only good thing about it is that it paved the way for …
20. Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors
NOW we’re getting somewhere. Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors was cultural landmark of a game. It singlehandedly ushered the world into a glorious new era of fighting games. Multiple characters and complicated combos? Thank this game for that. It would be a long time before these games got “good” in a modern gaming sense, but this game paved the way.
19. Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition
Okay so Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition is basically the same thing as Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors except for one VERY important distinction. You know how in Super Smash Bros. you unlock playable characters by defeating them? Champ Edish rewarded everyone who played World Warriors with the ability to play as the game’s four bosses. Vega. M. Bison. Sagat. Balrog. First you wanted to defeat them. Now you want to BE them.
18. Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting
If it hadn’t been for bootlegging, we wouldn’t have had glorious Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting. It’s literally just Street Fighter 2 but FASTER. Bootleggers made illegal copies of the game that allowed players to move quickly, so Capcom got wise and upped the gameplay speed to compete. If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
17. Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers
Super Street Fighter 2: The New Challengers decreased this speed of the game from what it was with Street Fighter 2: Hyper Fighting, but made up for that unfortunate decision by giving us four new characters and shiny new graphics. It’s a trade that the gaming world was willing to make.
16. Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers
Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers, if the title didn’t clue you in, introduced NEW challengers into the Street Fighter 2 ring! Including an EVIL RYU. So cool! Pair that with the game’s cool retro-modern graphics and you’ve got a winner on your hands. The problem? It’s a Nintendo Switch exclusive. Share the love with other platforms, Capcom. Wtf.
16. Street Fighter V
Street Fighter V is a solid game. So why is it ranked so low? Because, like a skeleton, it’s solid but totally bare bones. It only has a small roster of fighters to choose from, along with a totally tepid story mode. Worst of all? The game’s famous arcade mode is completely absent. Faux pas, Capcom, faux pas.
15. Street Fighter Alpha
Street Fighter Alpha earns points for its story, exploring how the world of Street Fighter transformed between the first and second games. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it’s cool to see the lore fleshed out. The game also scores points for the introduction of the three-tiered combo meter, a staple of later games. Well done, Capcom.
14. Street Fighter 3: New Generation
Street Fighter 3: New Generation was a bit of a mixed bag. Capcom made the bold-but-wrong decision to eliminate most of the recurring cast of Street Fighter and introduce a slew of entirely new characters. Listen, we love new characters, but give us the old ones back too. The game made up for it though with beautiful retro graphics and a whole mess of new mechanics like the parry and the dash. Would Street Fighter be the same without them? I think not.
13. Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3 made a bold choice with the introduction of the ISM system. What’s that? It’s a gameplay setting that lets you choose between three different play styles. It either plays like other Alpha titles, like SF 2, or an insane third way that lets you spam infinite game breaking combos. The last of the three options is naturally hit or miss. However, the game has seen quite a bit of love in the competitive circuit. Even if the third gameplay style generally isn’t allowed.
12. Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact
Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact took Street Fighter 3: New Generation and just made it all around better. The best part of the game is the improved mechanics, which allows you to perform cool new styles of special moves, including one that allows you to escape from being thrown by a foe. The game also added two new characters, an arcade mode featuring bonus stages, and the famous “Parry the Ball” mini game stolen straight from Tekken.
11. Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition
Hyper Street Fighter 2: The Anniversary Edition is exactly NOT what’s written on the tin. Think it’s just Hyper Street Fighter 2 with new graphics? Wrong. It’s a walk down memory lane! The game lets you choose between characters from previous Street Fighter games, and those characters keep the mechanics of the old games too. Meaning you get to see how Ryu from Street Fighter 2: Champion Edition would fare against his incarnation from Hyper Street Fighter 2. It’s a science experiment!
10. Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 2 is easily the best of the Alpha series. It maintains all cool new mechanics of the previous game, like three-tier super combo system and alpha counters, but it also introduces a custom combo system that lets you chain your moves together in ways that were impossible in other games! Hooray for combos!
9. Street Fighter 4
The advent of 3D fighting games in the early 00’s nearly KO’d the Street Fighter series, whose latest installment was mere 2D. Street Fighter 4 brought Street Fighter into a staggering FOUR—I mean THREE dimensions. Well I guess it has a timer so it is in four dimensions already?
8. Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition
Street Fighter 5: Arcade Edition took the barebones skeleton of Street Fighter 5 and helped it pack on some much needed muscle. Fans who were perturbed by Street Fighter 5‘s lack of arcade mode were disperturbed (I’m making that word up) by Arcade Edition‘s inclusion of the famous mechanic. The game also included a cool new story mode too, which was all but absent from the previous rendition of SF5.
7. Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition
Capcom continued to repent for its Street Fighter 5 sins with the addition of Street Fighter 5: Champion Edition. It’s essentially the best version of the game’s fifth installment, with a string of new characters and all of the DLC content from SF5 seasons past. Couldn’t you have just given it to us like this the first time, Capcom? Was it too much to ask?
6. Super Street Fighter 4
It’s just Street Fighter 4 but super better. New stages. New announcers. New online gameplay modes. And TEN, count ’em, TEN new characters. And what’s this? Each character gets not one, but TWO Ultra Combos? Christmas has come early this year!
5. Ultra Street Fighter 4
Street Fighter 4 couldn’t possibly get any better, could it? O ye of little faith … it CAN. Ultra Street Fighter 4 is the pinnacle of the Street Fighter 4 experience. This game has a 44 person character roster complete with different versions of Street Fighter characters from games past. Pair that with even more online modes and the ability to use your two Ultra Combos AT THE SAME TIME and you have a champ on your hands.
3. Street Fighter 3: Third Strike
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike is to Street Fighter what Super Smash Bros: Melee is to Super Smash. While not the most modern installment of the game, Street Fighter 3: Third Strike is seen by many as the pinnacle of the Street Fighter art. It has tight, fluid controls that reward surgical precision, and the game’s addition of the Guard Parry make it the definitive version of Street Fighter 3. It’s a game for the hardcore fans, the true dyed in the wool Street Fighters.
2. Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo
Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo is hailed as the definitive classic Street Fighter title, and some would say that it’s the best game in the entire series. Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors may have ushered in a new era of fighting games, but Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo perfected them. Like Hyper Street Fighter, the game lets you choose your preferred play speed and is also the first Street Fighter game that allows you to use Super Combos. It’s heralded by amateurs and pros as a jewel in the series’ crown.
1. Street Fighter 6
Street Fighter 6 is not only the best Street Fighter title, but one of the best fighting games of the 21st century. It did to Street Fighter 5 what Street Fighter 2 the original Street Fighter—built upon the foundation to completely define the game. Like Walt Whitman, Street Fighter 6 contains multitudes. Its Battle Hub system brings players back to the 90’s arcade games of yore, while its Modern Controls setting makes it accessible to new fans of the series. It may just be the most technical fighting game on the market, transforming the fighting game medium into a full fledged competitive sport.
Published: Aug 2, 2024 05:13 pm