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Atari worked on deluxe version of the original Street Fighter arcade game

Posted by Jon Catalyst Grey • October 28, 2013 at 6:27 p.m. PDT • Comments: 21
Many people may not be aware that Atari had a hand in creating the first Street Fighter arcade cabinet.


Back before Capcom adopted the standard 6-button configuration, there was a deluxe edition which Atari helped craft. Check out these concept drawings of the cabinet, along with the finished product in the last image.


Click images for larger versions

Before six-button controls became standard for fighting games, the original design for Street Fighter pictured in these concept documents) featured a joystick and fist-sized pressure-sensitive rubber pads for each player.

Capcom dumped the pads when players who aimed to inflict more damage on their opponents damaged the machines instead. Look closely at the first drawing, do you see the player with his fist raised?

In 1987 Atari designers created a deluxe cabinet for Capcom's new martial arts fighting game, Street Figher. Of the millions who played the game, only a few got the chance to enjoy Atari's fancy and rare version.
As the machines began to break, Capcom started replacing them with the standard 6-button configuration we're all more familiar with.

One begins to wonder if those pads had never broken in the first place, if we'd still be playing on them to this very day.

Source: National Museum of Play.
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