Arcade-Junkies.com

They call me ‘Hadoken’ because I’m down-right fierce.” If you’ve ever used that line to pick up a lady, you’re probably a Street Fighter fan. You’ll also never score if you keep using it, so stop.

It’s not as easy to stop as you might think, though. Easily the most influential collection of fighting games of all time, the Street Fighter series has entwined itself in pop culture almost as thoroughly as Mario. Street Fighter II alone breathed life back into arcades that rang with energy in the ’80s and served as little more than parking garages for frostbitten hobos at the dawn of the ’90s. Street Fighter’s rich history of success does have its dark moments. Lawsuits, cheap imitators, poisonous merchandise, and a terrible movie that’s regarded as a tragic bookend to the life of actor Raul Julia threatened Street Fighter’s status as king of the mountain. A game featuring kombat of the most mortal variety actually did challenge Americans’ love for Ryu and Ken with the help of some of the most infectious marketing used in the pre-Internet age.

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