FACULTY: Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter

Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter

During the dates of August 3rd to August 19th, 2012. Iam8Bit Gallery in Echo Park. Over 50 artists put up their quarters and paid homage to the coin-op brawler that started it all. Combo Attack: 25 Years of Street Fighter is a group art exhibition in a array of multiple mediums and a coinciding pop-up shop that celebrates this arcade classic.

Capcom's "Street Fighter" made its debut in the arcades from Japan in 1987. It was designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto. The player took control of the martial artist Ryu, who competed in a worldwide martial arts tournament, spanning five countries and ten opponents. A second player could join in at any time and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken. The player could perform three types of punch and kick attacks (which varied in speed and strength) and three special attacks: the "Hadouken, Shoryuken and Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku". These were performed by executing special button combinations with the controls. "Street Fighter II: World Warrior", released in 1991, was the first true sequel to the original Street Fighter.

The release of the game had an unexpected impact on gaming and was the beginning of a massive phenomenon. By 1993, sales of "Street Fighter II" exceeded $1.5 billion in revenue,^[equivalent to $2.32 billion in 2011. "Street Fighter II" was the first one-on-one fighting game to give players a choice from a variety of player characters with different moves, an option which created hitherto unknown levels of depth and replay value for an arcade game. Each player character had a fighting style with approximately 30 or more moves (including then-new grappling moves such as throws) as well as two or three special attacks per character.

This multimillion dollar and multimedia franchise has expanded into other coin-op successors with "Street Fighter Alpha Series" (1995), "Street Fighter EX Series" (1996), "Versus Series" (1996), "Street Fighter III" (1997) and most recently "Street Fighter IV" (2008).

Below are selected shots from this well rounded exhibit: