Street Fighter II/Gameplay

Cast and story
M. Bison, ruler of Shadoloo crime syndicate based in Thailand, sponsors the "second" Street Fighting tournament. The first one ended when Ryu defeated the reigning champion, muy-thai kick boxer Sagat, with a devastating Shoryuken uppercut across his chest. Several of the events that lead to the second tournament have been retconned since the development of the Street Fighter Alpha series which takes place between Street Fighter I and Street Fighter II. (Although it is commonly believed that Ken competed in the first Street Fighter tournament due to his appearance in the game as the second player, he did not actually participate according to Capcom's official continuity.)

Selectable characters
Click on the character's names to be taken to their individual move lists.
 * Blanka: A mutant who grew up in the jungles of the Amazon in Brazil, after being separated from his mother in a plane crash. He enters the tournament in hopes of finding his mother.
 * Chun Li: A member of the International Criminal Police Organization, or Interpol, who is searching for clues leading to the identity of her father's murderer. She suspects that M. Bison is responsible.  She is considered to be a student of master martial artist and fellow street fighter Gen.
 * Dhalsim: Generally a pacifist, Dhalsim uses his Yoga endowed super-natural limb stretching abilities to compete in the tournament to raise money for his impoverished village.
 * E. Honda: Dismayed by the thought that the world does not take Sumo Wrestling seriously, Edmond sees the tournament as the opportunity to prove to the world that sumos are the ultimate fighters.
 * Guile: Aware that his senior officer, and best friend, Charlie died at the hands of M. Bison during a dangerous escape, Guile is bent on avenging his friend's death and taking M. Bison down at any cost, possibly even the love of his family.
 * Ken Masters: The son of a wealthy business man, Ken was an unruly child until his father thought it might be best to send him to Japan to learn discipline through martial arts training. Along with his sparring partner Ryu, under the training of Gouken, he became one of the greatest fighters with a passion for proving it.
 * Ryu: Orphaned at a very early age, Ryu was adopted by Gouken who raised and trained him in the art of Goutetsu-ryū Ansatsuken. Eventually, Ken joined them in Gouken remote mountain home in Japan, and the two became fast friends.  Events in Ryu's life lead him to constantly struggle between the mastery of fighting techniques, and the mastery of self control.  As a result, he seeks out a constant stream of fighting challenges to test his own abilities.
 * Zangief: After becoming the greatest wrestler in all of Russia, and loosely entering several world competitions, the second Street Fighter tournament gives Zangief an opportunity to simultaneously prove that he is the greatest fighter in the world, and single handedly shut down the ruthless Shadoloo crime syndicate for his motherland.

Boss characters
Boss characters are not selectable in the original Street Fighter II, but they become selectable in every revision of the game thereafter.
 * Balrog: Once a great boxing champion in America, Balrog was disgraced when he was stripped of his title for his brutality and increasing use of illegal moves such as head butts. Full of shame, he is recruited by M. Bison to become a high ranking henchman in Shadoloo, giving him a purpose again.
 * Vega: Vega prizes beauty above everything else in life. The son of a Spanish bullfighter and a Japanese ninja, he has combined techniques from both parents in to a deadly martial arts that involves the use of a claw weapon on one hand.  M. Bison recruits him for his ability as an assassin and due to his reputation for cruelty.
 * Sagat: Once the greatest muy-thai kick boxer and mighty world street fighting champion, Sagat experienced tremendous shame for losing to diminutive (compared to himself) Ryu. Forsaking everything else, he trained endlessly for a rematch with Ryu when he encountered M. Bison.  With no interest in Shadoloo, he declined the invitation to join until M. Bison promised him that if he joined, he would almost certainly face Ryu again.
 * M. Bison: Seeing himself as the rightful dictator of the world, M. Bison appreciates the power of the human fighting spirit, and technology's ability to enhance it, over firearms and weapons of mass destruction. M. Bison officially hosts the second tournament of world warriors in an effort to isolate and employ only the greatest warriors that the world has to offer, forcefully if necessary.

New Challengers
The New Challengers are only available in Super Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter II Turbo
 * Cammy: At this point in the story, Cammy is recovering from amnesia with no clue about her past. Having joined the Delta Red forces, she joins the tournament because she knows that M. Bison is somehow linked to her past.  Her story is fleshed out in the Street Fighter Alpha prequals.
 * Dee Jay: His only ambtion for joining the tournament? To be the only recording artist that's also a world street fighting tournament champion. Fame and glory.
 * Fei Long: Facing criticism as a Hong Kong martial arts movie actor, Fei Long decides that it's time to prove to the world that he is the "real deal" by winning the tournament and restoring the adoration of his fans.
 * T. Hawk: The only new challenger with an actual axe to grind with M. Bison, Hawk is seeking revenge for the destruction of his home town and the kidnapping of his little sister. He vows to hunt M. Bison down and pay for his crimes.

(Note: It is later revealed in Street Fighter Alpha 3 that Cammy and T. Hawk's little sister were both part of M. Bison's project to create a team of 12 assassins known as the Killer Bees. Though you never see T. Hawk's sister, Juni and Juli from SFA3 are two more members of this team.)

Secret character Akuma
In Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Capcom introduces it's first 2D Fighting secret character Akuma. Known as Gouki, he is the brother of the sensei of Ryu and Ken, known as Gouken. Gouki and Gouken were taught the art of the Ansatsuken fighting style from their sensei, Goutetsu. Ansatsuken was designed as a form of martial arts that could be used for murder. When Gouken passed the knowledge of Ansatsuken to Ryu and Ken, he withheld the killing technique of the style from his students. Gouki on the other hand, became consumed with it, becoming more demon than human as he allowed the murderous intent within him to grow. Eventually he returned to Gouken's dojo for one final showdown, and walked away as the only survivor. Now Gouki wanders the earth in search of only the greatest fighting challenges capable of feeding his never ending hunger for battle. Though his story is primarily told through the Street Fighter Alpha series, he is first seen here, obliterating M. Bison before challenging the player if the player was strong enough to fulfill the requirements to face him. The move that Akuma uses on M. Bison is called Shun Goku Satsu, but was named the "Bison Killer" by fans. Although Akuma has access to the move in several other games, he can not access it in SSF2T other than to kill M. Bison before the battle begins. He returns, much older, in the second part of the Street Fighter III series. The Street Fighter Alpha series depicts Ryu's struggle with a similar murderous intent to the one that consumes Akuma. Akuma recognizes this struggle and is interested in seeing Ryu fall victim to his inner rage for no other reason than that Akuma might have a worthy competitor to fight against.

Controls
One player may compete against the computer, or two players may simultaneousy compete against each other. Each player has an 8-way joystick and 6 buttons.

Buttons
The buttons on the arcade are typically laid out in the following fashion: The L, M, and H stands for light, medium, and hard respectively. In general, light attacks are less powerful and faster, and hard attacks are more powerful but slower, with medium attacks in between.

Joystick
The joystick works intuitively in that pressnig left will generally move your character left, and pressing right will generally move your character right. But it is more important to think in terms of relative direction. For this reason, all instructions are given with respect to forward and backward since the left and right directions change purpose when your character switches directions.
 * If your character is facing to the right, then pressing left on the joystick means backward, and pressing right on the joystick means forward.
 * If your character is facing to the left, then pressing left on the joystick means forward, and pressing right on the joystick means backward.

The following directions assume that your character is facing right, the starting direction of every fight for player one, who begins on the left side:

Rules
Each battle consists of best-of-three round match between you and your opponent. At the start of each round, both player's life or health bars are full. The first player to drive the other player's health bar to zero wins the round. The first player to win two total rounds wins the match and moves on to the next opponent. If a single player loses to the computer, the game is over and the player must continue to rematch the recent opponent.

Attacking
To win a round, the player must use his or her character's attack moves to damage the opponent, and block or dodge the opponent's attacks. Each player may attack from a standing or crouching position, or they may jump in to the air and attack. To attack from a standing position, press any single attack button. To attack from a crouching position, pull the joystick in a downward direction (including both diagonals) and press any single attack button. To attack from the air, direct your character to jump straight up, or jump in a diagonal position, and press any single attack button in mid-air.

Blocking
To block an attack, a player must push backwards on the joystick when the opponent attacks (otherwise, pressing back on the joystick moves the player away from the opponent.) Blocking can be done standing which blocks middle and high attacks, as well as attacks in the air, but does not block attacks which are low to the ground. Blocking can also be down crouching by pressing the joystick diagonally down and back. A Crouching block will successfully block low and middle attacks. High attacks will usually go over your character's head if they are crouching, but a crouching block does not defend against air attacks.

Special Attacks
In addition to normal attacks there are attacks known as command moves and special moves. Command moves are special combinations of a joystick direction and a particular attack button that produces a different attack than when the button is pressed alone. A special move is a move that requires a more complicated joystick motion and an attack button to perform. For example, Ken and Ryu's fireball attack, called Hadouken, is performed by sliding the joystick in a circular sweeping motion from down to forward, and finished off with any punch button. In this example, the strength of the punch button used happens to dictate the speed at which Ken and Ryu's fireball attack travels across the screen. Special attacks can be blocked like any other attack, but they do what's known as "tick damage." That is, even when blocked, they removed a single hit point from your health bar. Most special moves have a pause associated with them that leave you vulnerable to attack if you miss the opponent, or "whiff".

Throwing
The last form of attack available in this game is a throw. Throws are executed by standing immediately next to your opponent, pressing the joystick either towards or away, and pressing a punch or kick button. If performed correctly, your character will grab the opponent and toss them to the ground in a manner specific to your character's fighting style. Different characters have a different array of throws, so while some characters can throw with the medium punch button, not all characters can. In general, every character can throw with the hard punch button, and no character can throw with the light punch or light kick button. Throws are unblockable.

Super Moves (SSF2T only)
Super Moves were added to the game in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. In addition to the health bar shown at the top of the screen, each player has a super meter at the bottom. As the player attacks and damages the opponent, and as the player takes damage from the opponent, the super meter fills up incrementally. When the super meter fills to capacity, the player is given access to a Super Move. Super Moves are activated by inputting slightly more complex motions than special moves. When they are successfully executed, the game will freeze for a brief moment, and then the animation and attack associated with the super move begins. If the super move connects and is not blocked, it will do substantial damage to the opponent. Super moves can be used to turn the tide of a battle. Every player (except for the secret character Akuma) has one unique super move.