The release of Street Fighter II in 1991 sparked an explosive boom in fighting games on both arcades and home consoles. But as the decade ended and arcades declined, so did 2D fighting games. Street Fighter IV thus completely rejuvenated the genre.
After Strike 2, fighting games became a boom. From Fatal Fury to The King of Fighters, Mortal Kombat and more. However, in 1993 Virtua Fighter came along, ushering in a new wave of his 2D fighting games such as Tekken and Soulcalibur. This revolution, combined with the eventual demise of arcades, brought a slow and final demise to 2D fighting games.
SNK eventually went bankrupt (not entirely because of the arcade and fighting game business), and 3D fighters remained popular, but after the competitive boom of the early 2000s, 2D fighters were released every year. It has become relegated to things like “King of Fighters” and “The King of Fighters” being released. His ArcSys games such as Guilty Gear. Guilty Gear was certainly popular in its niche, but it couldn’t hide its broad appeal. Street Fighter IV will be needed to revitalize the genre and show companies that fighting games can sell.
Dave Klein and Maximilian Dood team up to discuss how Street Fighter IV saved 2D fighting games.