Continuous evolution

On February 16, 2016, the world of fighting video games will see one more step in its evolutionary chain: Capcom will launch "Street Fighter V", the latest installment of the franchise so far.

The street fighting game has retained its basic structure for 33 years: two contestants face off in a 3-round fight, of which only one will be the winner and go to the next round.

With this seemingly simple premise, Capcom revolutionized the world of 'Arcade' (or 'Cosmos' as it is better known in Ecuador) and opened the way for other fighting game franchises like "Mortal Kombat" or "Tekken".

Street Fighter - 1987

The first version of the fighting game was developed by Capcom in 1987. It was not as popular as its successors, but it paved the way for fighting games like Mortal Kombat or Tekken.

This game introduced from its first installment many of the mechanics that are now official rules of this type of games (such as victory to whoever can win two of three rounds).

In the first version of the game, the only "playable" characters were Ryu and Ken; the first, a martial arts expert from Japan, and the second, his training partner, from the United States. Ken could only be activated from for the second player, making Ryu the main character.

In story mode, the player had to face two fighters from Japan (Retsu and Geki), two from the United States (Joe and Mike), two from China (Lee and Gen) and two from England (Eagle and Birdie) before being able to traveling to Thailand, where he could finally face Adon and his main rival, the Muay Thai martial art emperor, Sagat, who is the fighter who has organized the entire fight tournament to prove that he is the best fighter in the world.

Street Fighter II - 1991

The second installment in the series was originally created for Arcade, and in addition to improving the gameplay and graphics of the original version, it introduced the 6-button configuration (three for soft, medium, and heavy kicks, and three for light, medium, and heavy punches).

The game was later reprogrammed for use alongside Nintendo's Super NES, and this version was largely the cause of the console's best-seller.

The fury for this game reached such a point that the developers created different versions of the delivery:

• Champion Edition
• Hyper fighting
• Super street fighter ii
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo
• Hyper Street Fighter II - The Anniversary Edition
• Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix "and the" Street Fighter Alpha sagas
• Street Fighter Alpha 2
• Street Fighter Alpha 3. Over the years, many of these versions have also been reprogrammed for different consoles and game systems.

For the original version of this game, 'playable' fighters went from 2 to 8: Ryu and Ken, the original characters, remained. Also new fighters arrived whose names today are already synonymous with classics: Japanese sumo wrestler E. Honda; Blanka, a half man - half beast fighter from Brazil; Guile, former combatant of the United States Special Forces; from China, the martial arts expert Chun-Li; from Russia professional wrestler Zangief; and Dhalsim, a Yogi teacher from India.

In addition to these fighters, the game in its original version had four 'non-playable' characters: Balrog, an American boxer; Vega, a ninja bullfighter with a claw in his hand and a mask to protect his face; Sagat returns as the self proclaimed Muay Thai expert champion of the original Street Fighter tournament; and M. Bison, a mysterious military commander. leader of the Shandaloo criminal organization.

These fighters made up the series of final enemies to face in the game, which were accessed only after a series of fights with the "playable" characters of "Street Fighter II".

Street Fighter III - 1997

The full title of this game was "Street Fighter III - New Generation", and it lived up to its name by bringing a whole new generation of fighters to the screen. In fact, the game only kept Ryu and Ken, relegating them to the background.

The protagonist of this installment is Alex, an American fighter who seeks revenge against Gill, the main antagonist of the game, for having killed his best friend, Tom.

Gill, meanwhile, is the leader of a secret organization known as the "Illuminati." He can manipulate both fire and ice, which is shown by the fact that his body is symmetrically covered by two coloes: red and blue. In fact, Gill bases her attacks on the powers of these two elements. Its place of origin is unknown

The other characters in this game are Dudley, a British boxer who does not lose his aristocratic manners when fighting; Elena, an African princess who masters the art of Capoeira; Ibuki, a young aspiring ninja from Japan; Necro, a Russian man who was a victim of the "Illuminati" experiments; Oro, a Japanese hermit looking for the fighter worthy of inheriting his unique fighting style; Sean Matsuda, a young Ken disciple from Brazil; and brothers Yang and Yun Lee, two Kung Fu experts on a mission to protect their hometown in Hong Kong.

The only "non-playable" character from the start of the game is Gill; the only one to be able to play with him was to beat him with all the characters in the game, which was extremely difficult, considering one of this villain's powers consisted of the complete regeneration of his energy bar.

Street Fighter IV - 2008

The improvements of this game compared to its predecessors are more in the field of graphics than in that of gameplay. Although the game remains true to its roots as a fight between adversaries in 2 dimensions, the scenarios are prepared to give the illusion of 3D.

Regarding the game mechanics, there are two changes that are introduced: the "Concentrated Attacks" (or "Focus Atacks") and the "Ultra Combos", which are combinations of attacks that can be executed only under certain game conditions. These combinations are an evolution of the "Super Combos", first introduced in "Super Street Fighter II Turbo".

From this game were derived:

• Super Street Fighter IV
• Street Fighter IV - 3D Edition
• Street Fighter IV - Arcade Edition
• Ultra Street Fighter IV. This latest version is the one that has included the most characters so far: 44 fighters available to play.

This installment of the saga keeps several characters from the previous installments in the list of fighters: Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, E. Honda, Blanka, Zangief, Guile, Dhalsim, Dan, Fei Long, Sakura, Cammy, Gen, Rose, Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison.

They are joined by Abel, a French expert in "Mixed Martial Arts" (MMA) who has no memories of his past but is clear about the mission behind him: defeating the criminal organization Shandaloo; Crimson Viper (or C. Viper), an American spy; Rufus, an oversized Kung Fu expert who wants more than anything to defeat Ken to prove he is America's best fighter; and El Fuerte, a Mexican wrestler with two great interests: the ring and traditional cuisine.

This game also has three hidden characters: Seth, a new enemy whose body has been modified with the latest technological advances to combine the fighting techniques of various "Street Fighter" fighters; Gouken, teacher of Ken and Ryu; and Akuma, Gouken's younger brother, who remains in the shadows until he finds the moment to confront and defeat Ryu.

Street Fighter V - 2016

The latest installment of the street fighting game will come exclusively for PS4 and PC users. In the online game mode, however, this game will achieve the cross-platform for the first time: PlayStation users will be able to face those of the PC and vice versa; there will be only one player pool worldwide.

For this installment, four new characters arrive for the "Street Fighter" universe: Laura, Rashid, F.A.N.G, and the mysterious Necalli.