9 Hardest Street Fighter Games Ranked

Street Fighter is the most impactful franchise to affect the fighting game market. It currently stands as one of the most successful as each entry brings new experiences through its evolving gameplay. Some changes can make the experience a lot harder to handle while other additions lower the growing stress during a match.

The most important factor to balance for Street Fighter is the weight for risk and reward. Some entries are designed with earn rewards much easier with its features while other games are only rewarding after dedicated practice and study of the main mechanics. Despite their different level of challenge whether by required technicality or knowledge, each game provides a unique level of fun in its own way.

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9

Street Fighter II

The Beginning

Street Fighter II is the most impactful entry that would gain momentum for the franchise’s success. The game depends on footsies since it has no universal mechanic for supers or special cancels, making its gameplay very straightforward to play, but trickier to master. Like its predecessor, it greatly rewards the user when jumping on the opponent, though it can expose them to counterattacks by anti-air moves.

The game has evolved with multiple iterations for more customizable options and experiences like changing the gameplay speed or costume colors. Its latest version even gives access to different versions of fighters, unlocking the fighter’s classic version with the original moveset or the modern version with the super meter.

8

Street Fighter VI

Drive To Play

Street Fighter VI brings a broad audience. The game provides classic controls for those experienced with the series and modern controls for players who want simple motion inputs for greater focus on fundamentals, though at the cost of damage and loss of a few moves. It rewards players with more damage compared to its predecessor, lessening the required interactions for a match win. This is portrayed through its main system, Drive Gauge.

Drive Gauge is an essential meter that allows players to engage offensively with dash cancels and EX specials or play defensively with guard. Applying Drive techniques gives players more advantage during aggression, but it can backfire when exhausting the gauge into burnout, a vulnerable status. Fighting an opponent during the burnout state is a great risk since it rewards the opponent with more plus frames and chip damage application. The user should never fall into burnout unless necessary to end the match.

7

Street Fighter EX

EX Play

Street Fighter EX welcomes the Street Fighter cast into the 3D environment to face the EX group. The original fighters include both expressive and ominous characters like Skullomania and Garuda. The game is still played traditionally like a normal 2D Fighter, though players can shift along the 3D plane similar to Tekken. This new 3D graphics makes the gameplay more appealing to a broader audience, including veteran players.

Street Fighter EX series revolves around Super Combos and Cancels, increasing the various combo routes and aggressive pressure. These options benefit the user’s advantage while diminishing risk to laggy special moves. While the Street Fighter characters continue on their own series, the other roster would journey to a new manifested series, Fighting EX Layer.

6

Street Fighter: The Movie

Revamped Roots

Released: August 23, 1995

Platforms: Sega Saturn, Playstation

Developer: Capcom

Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment

Street Fighter: The Movie is designed like a dramatic edition of Street Fighter II. The home console version is more balanced and restrictive than the arcade version due to its absence of unique special moves, slammaster, defensive counterattacks, and more. These options were taken out to make the neutral more balanced and slower, despite the awkward-looking hitboxes with some of the digitalized performed moves.

Super meter isn’t new to Street Fighter, but Street Fighter: The Movie improves its use. Instead of using the entire super meter for one super combo, fighters could partially use meter bar for the newly implemented EX special moves. It even rewards the player with limited-time access to unlimited enhanced attacks when filling the meter to the max.

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5

Street Fighter Alpha

Street Fighter Anime

Street Fighter Alpha is very welcoming with its appealing art style and neutral-based gameplay. It’s very accessible with its controls, having a manual mode for veterans and auto mode for newcomers. Auto mode activates auto guard to block a limited amount of attacks and auto super combo for easier combo enders. There are even chain combos to make easier combo conversions.

The third game changes the series’ accessibilities by including the distinct Ism system. Each play style changes the fighter’s stats and super meter, making three different versions for each fighter like in Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001. The A-Ism is the most all-around friendly system whereas the X-Ism and V-Ism have better benefits but greater risks.

4

Street Fighter V

Triggered Aggression

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Street Fighter V is straightforward with its gameplay, rewarding players for hit-confirm reactions through footsies. It plays the most standard neutral that requires multiple interactions to take the match win, giving both players a chance for a comeback. This can greatly change when including the game’s universal mechanic, V-Gauge.

V-Gauge is an option that gives a fighter access to certain moves while unlocking stronger skills for a certain time. When filling up the V-gauge, the fighter can activate V-Trigger to open up a hidden fighter-based mechanic. These can include strengthening certain special moves like Ryu’s Hadouken or unlocking a brand-new move like Luke’s Rock Smasher. They usually provide greater rewards than risk during the moment, though improper use will waste the advantage, forcing the user to build up the meter again. Some V-Triggers can even hinder the fighter’s options like Necalli being trapped in his Eruption of Power form, locking his defensive V-gauge options.

3

Street Fighter III

Hard Parry

Street Fighter III brings many benefits through its extremely risky options. The game revolves around its parry system, a defensive move that gives the user an opening to counterattack. Its active window is very tight with a few frames, but can make any move punishable.

Parry can save a player’s life since its latest version involves chip damage. Reaching a pixel of life will make blocking insignificant since the fighter can still fall to a guarded attack. Parry nullifies the attack damage on the ground or in the air, but it’s extremely risky since it requires players to move toward the attacker rather than holding back to guard.

2

Street Fighter IV

Focusing Advantage

Street Fighter IV brought a huge roster of characters into its more technical system. Each fighter in the latest version was very customizable with their costumes, Ultra Combos, and fighter versions. The gameplay is complex with its faster animations, requiring faster reactions and tighter input motions that force combos to include one-frame links. One of the newer counterattack options is Focus Attack, a slow armored technique that stuns an opponent.

Focus Attack is best used when predicting an opponent’s physical attack, rewarding the user for a combo. Charging the move fully will make the attack unblockable, though it can only handle one attack. This can risk the user when facing multi-hit attacks, reversing the reward for the opponent.

1

Street Fighter

Miraculous Origins

Street Fighter was a challenging game with potential for a successful future. It is the most basic structure of Street Fighter to test the player’s skills at footsie and maintaining momentum.

What makes the game very challenging is controlling Ryu’s special moves. His iconic Shoryuken and Hadouken are inconsistent due to the game’s dated input reading. Motioning an input for one special move can activate a different one, leaving Ryu vulnerable to a counter hit. This can greatly hinder the match when facing fighters that deal massive damage on jump attacks when hitting the head or linking attacks for a combo.

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