1Up.com is running a nifty story detailing Capcom's history, starting out with titles such as Trojan and of course moving along into the Street Fighter series.1987 was a monumental year for Capcom, though the gaming world didn't really know it at the time: it was the year both Mega Man and Street Fighter were born. Though it was a revolutionary take on a competitive fighting game, Street Fighter is better remembered as the rough precursor to the much-improved and wildly popular Street Fighter II. The original game was hard to find, and players who did locate it were usually thrown against an unbeatable foe: the dreaded "Out of Order" sign. The early versions of the arcade console used pressure-sensitive buttons, so belting out a fierce kick was a matter of squashing the controls over and over. Most Street Fighter arcade cabinets died before the game really had a chance to catch on fire. Capcom eventually retooled the game with the now-standard six-button punch/kick setup, but it wasn't enough to spark widespread interest or distribution of the game. Regardless, its lasting impact on the game industry, the fighting fandom, and Capcom's history is undeniable.
"Street Fighter's lasting influence is felt in the creation and definition of one of the biggest genres of video games," says Chris Kramer, Capcom's Senior Director of Corporate Communications. "It's not for nothing that Capcom used to be referred to in Japan as a 'house built one 100 Yen coin at a time.' Every game that features two players punching each other will forever be compared to the latest and greatest Street Fighter effort."
