Episode Details

Street Fighter II generated over $10 billion in inflation-adjusted revenue, and its publisher still shuffled boss character names to avoid a likeness lawsuit from Mike Tyson. This episode traces the franchise from the 1987 original by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, with only Ryu and Ken playable and brutally strict joystick inputs, to the 1991 sequel by Akira Nishitani and Akira Yasuda that offered eight selectable characters and turned matches into real-time chess through hitboxes and frame data.

We cover the international name rotation that turned Mike Bison into Balrog, the bootleg Rainbow Edition that prompted Hyper Fighting, the ROM-board upgrade model behind Champion Edition, Super, and Super Turbo, the Alpha series and Marvel vs. Capcom crossovers, and the 1994 live-action film with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raul Julia that spawned an arcade game built from digitized movie stills. Then we break down the parry system of Street Fighter III: Third Strike, Daigo Umehara's 15 consecutive parries against Justin Wong at EVO 2004, the 2008 revival that brought back the Street Fighter II roster with ink-splash 3D visuals, cross-platform play in Street Fighter V, and Street Fighter 6's real-time esports commentary.

• Why the 1980s arcade token economy rewarded players who mastered demanding special-move inputs
• How different hitboxes and frame data across eight characters created the matchup metagame
• Why 1990s game executives chased Hollywood, and how the Street Fighter II animated movie succeeded where live action failed
• How parrying removes chip damage but punishes mistimed inputs with full damage
• Why EVO Moment 37 is compared to Babe Ruth's called shot and why Daigo holds a Guinness World Record