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After 35 years, the Street Fighter franchise by Capcom continues to be a household name amongst gamers and non-gamers alike. From humble arcade beginnings initially debuting in 1987 to its most recent 2023 outing, the series has inspired and pushed the fighting game genre forward in many ways.
That fighting game’s long tenure has come with stellar entries, and some of which fail to live up to the Street Fighter legacy. With remasters, remakes, and multiple editions, here are the best Street Fighter games ranked
Editor’s Note: This list ranks the overall best Street Fighter titles and does not include every game that has ever been released in the franchise.
10. Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
Street Fighter 2: The World Warrior is the blueprint that both modern and retro fighting games follow. Before Street Fighter V, this arcade/SNES game was the best-selling entry in the franchise, with over six million copies sold.
During development, a glitch was found allowing players to cancel normal hits (standing jab) into special moves like Ryu’s Hadouken. Instead of removing the bug, they decided to track the hits in later entries in the franchise. This happy accident gave birth to combos for the entire genre.
9. Street Fighter EX 3
Street Fighter EX 3 was the final addition to the Street Fighter EX series. 3D fighting games akin to Tekken began taking off years prior while Capcom was still producing 2D work. Their collaboration with Arika would make the Street Fighter EX series Capcom’s first foray into 3D Street Fighter. Street Fighter EX 3 would be the culmination of that attempt in the early days.
8. Street Fighter V: Champion Edition
Street Fighter V was a mixed bag for Capcom for its initial release in 2015. Fans were not too kind to the entry as it would only have a starting roster of 16 characters. Mechanics like V-trigger would have similar reactions. As time passed, Capcom would try to win over Street Fighter fans with more characters, editions, balance changes, and big prize pools for tournaments.
All of these updates would come in its final form via Street Fighter V: Champion Edition. The Champion Edition would encompass everything that had been released for Street Fighter V since 2015. The final roster would be 40 characters strong and have over 200 costumes. The game would also receive updates to the battle system. While Street Fighter V wasn’t the universally praised title Capcom had hoped for, it became the best-selling game in the franchise, with 7.3 million sold.
7. Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection
While this feels like cheating, Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection was a great collection to celebrate 30 years of Street Fighter. The collection features 12 Street Fighter titles across different versions, including some on this list. One major disadvantage the collection has is the lack of rollback netcode.
6. Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha introduced new mechanics to the franchise, such as air blocking. This was no different with Street Fighter Alpha 3 ’s in 1998. This entry would add a new way to play by including a system called ISMs. They consisted of three different styles named X-ism, A-ism, and V-ism. Each one gave their own unique properties to fit the player’s style of play.
5. Super Street Fighter II Turbo
A faster version (with four different speeds) of previous Street Fighter II entries, Super Street Fighter II Turbo introduces a fan-favorite character to the series in Akuma. He was a secret character that could be played by hovering over Ryu, T. Hawk, Guile, and Cammy for three seconds each in that order.
Going back to Ryu and pressing all three punch buttons plus the start button will give you control of Akuma. Not only was Akuma a playable character, but Capcom also implemented Super Combos to the game with a gauge. This would be a staple in the franchise going forward.
4. Street Fighter IV
Similar to Street Fighter II, Street Fighter IV ushered in a wave of new players flooding the fighting game community(FGC) dubbed the 09ers. 09ers were people who only started to interact with fighting games on the release of Street Fighter IV.
This entry into the franchise would also be what people believe was the revival of the FGC. Although titles like BlazBlue would come out during the “dark ages” of the fighting game community, the amount of players that would compete in SFIV garnered the most attention.
3. Street Fighter VI
While its competitive and seasonal run isn’t completed like others on the list, Street Fighter VI is probably the best first iteration of a Street Fighter title. Street Fighter VI offers modes such as World Tour to help players interact with each other.
You can also play past Street Fighter games on arcade cabinets. Simple Mode allows beginners to jump in and have fun without having to dive deep into the mechanics of SFVI with the caveat of a limited moveset. If you want to do more, switching to traditional controls opens up the gameplay to the new mechanics in SFVI.
2. Ultra Street Fighter IV
The final version of Street Fighter IV would come in the form of a DLC for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 at a $14.99 price tag. Ultra Street Fighter IV takes mechanics like Focus Attacks, Ultra Combo, and Cancels from Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition and gives them some adjustments.
A new Focus Attack called Red Focus Attack would be included as a new mechanic. Ultra Combos would get modified by allowing players to choose an option that lets them use both Ultra Combos. In USFIV, you can also pick between SFIV, USFIV, or SSFIV: AE. It also has a version called Omega Mode. This ability to choose between multiple editions of a fighting game makes this entry unique to fighting games in general.
1. Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Taking elements from other entries in the Street Fighter III series, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike remains one of the most beloved Street Fighter titles. Its beautiful sprite work, paired with interesting additions to the roster and gameplay mechanics, stands the test of time. This is attested by its appearance as one of the main events at this year’s EVO. Maybe another EVO moment 37 will happen.
Many Street Fighter iterations have come to fruition over the past 35 years. Even though titles such as Street Fighter X Tekken were not mentioned, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try as many Street Fighter games as you want.
Street Fighter VI is available for PC, Playstation 4, Playstation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.
