Street Fighter is a real chaos in terms of narrative. If we try to understand its story, follow the lives of its characters and follow what happens to them, it is not as simple as following from the first to the sixth of the games. Among the different sagas, sub-sagas and numbered installments, only a handful are considered canonical and well established in time, making it difficult to know how to get into all of them to have a clear perspective of the whole Street Fighter story in chronological order. But that’s what we’re here for today. To show you the chronological order in which all the Street Fighter games occur.
Street Fighter (1987)
Street Fighter is the first game published in the franchise and also the first chronologically speaking. While it’s true that it doesn’t delve too deep in terms of story, here are all the basics: Sagat, a muay thai master, challenges Ryu to see who is the best fighter in the world in a tournament. Something that ended with a feud for posterity and Sagat with a huge scar on his chest.
Street Fighter Alpha: Warrior’s Dreams (1995)
The first installment of the Alpha sub-series tells the story of the creation of Shadaloo, the organization of the franchise’s main villain, M. Bison, as Sagat seeks revenge against Ryu. Ryu, in turn, seeks revenge against Akuma, a warrior who murdered his and Ken’s master, to close the most convulsive plot in Street Fighter history.
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996)
Basically an extension of the previous installment, adding more characters and extending the ambitions of the villains, focusing on the power of Akuma, who destroys his own island with a single punch, and Shadoloo, who seeks Ryu’s (theoretically) lifeless body to experiment on it. A narratively transitional installment.
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998)
M. Bison and Shadaloo gain control of Ryu, turning him into Shadow Ryu, a more powerful and evil version of Ryu himself. Sagat fights against Ryu, Guile, Chun-Li and Charlie seek to take down M. Bison, and while they don’t succeed, they manage to bring Ryu back to his senses.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)
M. Bison returns and sets up a martial arts tournament to recruit soldiers for Shadaloo. While everyone tries to defeat him, it is finally Akuma who manages to assassinate him in one of the most absolutely unexpected twists of the franchise.
Street Fighter IV (2008)
In spite of everything, M. Bison is still alive, and one of his creations has escaped. Seth is a being capable of genetically copying the abilities of others and, seeking to be the ultimate warrior, creates a new world tournament to copy the skills of the best warriors in the world. Meanwhile, Gouken, Ken and Ryu’s master, turns out to be alive, and seeks revenge against Akuma.
Street Fighter V (2016)
Shadaloo is back and seeks to dominate the world by launching seven satellites capable of launching an electromagnetic pulse to the earth. While several heroes from previous installments seek to stop them, a mythical figure named Necalli seeks to feed on the souls of the fighters, with Ryu in charge of stopping him.
Street Fighter III: New Generation (1997)
With Shadaloo gone, but with a new organization called The Illuminati taking over, a group of new heroes will have to oppose a new main antagonist, Gill. Only Ryu and Ken will return in this installment, serving as mentors rather than the true protagonists of the story.
What’s coming up for Street Fighter now?
Street Fighter 6 comes out today, June 2. Taking place after the events of Street Fighter III, it will hopefully develop more about what has happened to all the classic characters we knew nothing about after the events of Street Fighter V. While we know more, we’re always left to enjoy this franchise that, while best known for its punches and kicks, has an incredible history that’s worth revisiting.
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