22. Street Fighter (1987)

There’s no denying that 1987’s Street Fighter is a historically important pitstop between Data East’s seminal 1984 Karate Champ and Capcom’s industry-disrupting 1991 smash Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. There’s also no denying it’s a bad-playing, frustrating game that offers little enjoyment to a modern player.

It certainly made some contributions to the genre, though. Designed by Takashi Nishiyama several years after he created Irem’s influential Kung-Fu Master (and several years before he jumped ship to Capcom rival SNK), Street Fighter pushed the nascent versus fighting genre forward by adding a large cast of beautiful, relatively charismatic characters, multiple unique input schemes, and the exciting concept of hidden but powerful “special moves” activated via secret joystick inputs.

The ambition was there! It just feels terrible to play. Ryu and Ken (identical except in looks) are the only playable characters, movement is painfully hobbled, enemy attacks are unpredictable, and the CPU can kill you in seconds. Then again, you can destroy the CPU (or another player) in seconds too if you figure out the knack of mashing out the ultra-powerful but incredibly picky fireballs and dragon punches. Spam those quarter-circles!

Ultimately the first Street Fighter is just a curiosity, albeit a historically notable one. If its 1991 sequel hadn’t embodied the most incredible glow-up in video gaming history this first game would be largely forgotten today. — Alexandra Hall