Street Fighter II is a fighting game released by Capcom of Japan on February 6, 1991. Starring Ryu and Ken as protagonists with Vega as the villain, it lets players choose from 8 characters from different countries, each with unique special moves and complete defense/attack systems. It uses a standard six-button setup (light, medium, heavy punch; light, medium, heavy kick), where direction and attack button combos trigger special and super moves. Introducing "quarter-circle joystick" and "charge" mechanics adds skill and strategy to move inputs. While its combo system was not fully refined, chaining specific moves creates simple combos, driving players to pursue higher damage and fueling fighting game research. A pioneer of the genre, it sparked the fighting game boom and deeply influenced later titles.
