What came before Street Fighter ? | MVG

Street Fighter was Capcoms first foray into fighting games all the way back in 1987. But as early as 1982, fighting games were being developed and offered game mechanics that are still used to this day. In todays episode we take a deep dive and what early fighting games looked and played like before Street Fighter.
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[@coda31313]

I just love when MVG makes these "historical" videos, awesome.

[@MoultrieGeek]

Same here, they're some of my favorites on his channel.

[@rayanm2175]

I just love mvg talking

[@KnightsDisillusion]

1985 really was a crazy year for fighting games. Karate Champ's title theme sticks with me to this day. Happy to see a fighting game history video about the 80s. Great video as always.

[@spacechannelfiver]

Glad you mentioned exploding fist and IK, both classics. IK+ really iterated on that template. About halfway through loading Exploding Fist from tape it would make a really loud sampled Karate shout thing which made my jump the first time.

[@markheselhaus5125]

Just for completion I'd like to mention, that there was a successor to "Way of the exploding Fist" called "Fist 2". And Melbourne House even returned the "plagiatism favor" with a third part of Way of the exploding fist, which had 3 fighters at the same time too (just like IK+).

[@goddessesstartrekonlinefle3061]

I also thought IK+ needed a mention. I guess it maybe didn't add anything new to the genre but its influence (to me) seemed massive.

[@XtreeM_FaiL]

IK+ code was on its own level. So much faster.

[@rafaellacerda5839]

No footage of Karateka by Jordan Mechner of Prince of Persia fame? Quite solid game! Great video as usual MVG

[@ultimateman55]

Karateka was awesome (as a kid I used to beg my dad to sit on his lap while he played it on C64), however I think most people would consider it more of a beat-em-up. It does blur the lines, however, since you're always fighting one-on-one. Because it's a one player game it can't be considered a fighting game in the same veins as the others mentioned here.

[@Toby_Kat]

Man, I came down here to say this! Seems the game was pretty important to the folks who played it :3

[@boarMcberry]

same here. Karateka actually plays quite well, & kinda aged like fine wine.

[@CantankerousDave]

Having to time my moves a second in advance due to its sluggishness on my C64 made it impossible to get very far...

[@lunchZA]

I enjoyed Karateka but man as a kid I struggled to get very far. I loved the vibe though, running into opponents 1 by 1 gave each encounter more of an epic feel

[@chrisharrington1372]

I agree that 1984's Karateka would be worth mentioning too. You could do three different punches, three different kicks, run and fight so many different enemies. I guess you could argue it was almost like a proto-Final Fight, but for the fluid fighting graphics, hit point graphs and the bosses it certainly seems very influential.

[@KarlRock]

This was my favourite arcade game as a kid. I’d beg my parents for $2 so I could go play a few games. It was 40c a game at the time. I’d always choose Guile or Ken. Sometimes older kids would come along and enter the game and smash me 😂 Good memories.

[@salvatronprime9882]

Karate Champ was awesome, there were some big crowds and great competition at the arcade. Fun times.

[@yellowblanka6058]

Was also in the movie “Bloodsport” briefly.

[@lordmuaddib]

c64's barbarian is a must, with an iconic fatality, rudimentary parry guard

[@SpeedyGoneFroglegs]

I loved that one, I had the renamed Amiga port, Death Sword.

[@BrianJones-wk8cx]

While not really related, a fun simulation to check out is Budokan: The Martial Spirit by EA (yes, EA!) for MS-DOS in 1989. It was also released on Amiga and later Mega Drive/Genesis. It’s interesting for a number of reasons-an array of styles/weapons, a built-in training mechanic, and variety of moves based on stances and controller motion/key presses.

[@Colin_Ames]

I actually don’t play fighting games, but still thoroughly enjoyed this history lesson. Great video.

[@R3TR0R4V3]

They're not my "thing" either, but I love anything to do with 8 bit consoles & retro gaming. 👍

[@joezar33]

You missing out .. if u did try 1 go with any Tekken game .. it pretty easy button masher a group of friends can easily get into ...

[@Colin_Ames]

@@joezar33 Thanks for the suggestion.

[@grn1]

Also not a big fighting game person though I have played a little bit of Tekken and related games (Hyrule Warriors) and found them far more enjoyable than most fighting games. Still not my go to for solo play but great for co-op (now I just need some friends).

[@jeremybriggs6951]

Not every fighting game plays the same you got find the one that you do enjoy and stick to it for the time being.

[@retropuffer2986]

My first was boxing for the intellivision. But the one that always sticks out is Karateka for the Apple II. The idea of making a fighting game into an adventure game was mind blowing.

[@SpeedyGoneFroglegs]

I see you are a man of culture as well. I loved Boxing! 🥊

[@ebls2000]

That's a great historical video! I first played Karate Champ in 1986 here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (so long ago, feels like another life...), and I loved it. I was so moved by that game that I began to study martial arts months later (TKD first, Judo and Kickboxing until today). I've played Pit Fighter, Street Fighter 2, MK, Fatal Fury, and a lot of other fighting games when released. Today Street Fighter, MK, Tekken and Soul Calibur are my favorites. But I still remember the Karate Champ as the OG.

[@dinkyflix]

One detail not mentioned about Karate Champ is that on the player 2 side, the controls are reversed with left joystick controlling the attacks and right controlling the movements. This makes it all the more challenging to master on both sides.

[@yvesrn]

I'm a bit surprised Karateka wasn't in the video. I understand this wasn't to be all inclusive, but Karateka was really huge in the early 80's and it was ported to a lot of platforms. It was a C64 (Commodore 64) killer app. It may also have been the first fighting game with a story. The first time I played it I was blown away. The movements seemed real and the fighting accurate (for the time). The graphics still hold up today! I hope this gets included in a future video.

[@markheselhaus5125]

Yeah....I still really like this game. It was one of the most impressive C64 games at the time. I found out just but recently, that it had a copy protection ingame which prevented the player of finishing it, if you had a pirate copy. And I was always asking myself at the time, why I just couldn't walk through a door....

[@Swapzter]

I grew up playing IK+ and would love to see a in depth video about those games in some way. These historical videos from MVG are really something and my only complain about them are that they always feels a bit too short.

[@remakeyourself]

Great video, I would LOVE to see you cover the genre "through the ages". This format was perfect for me as it featured cool tidbits and respected the games for what they were/are, without going too deep or using FGC terms I wouldn't recognize ('canceling' is about as far as my lexicon goes lol). To think, if you kept going, we'd probably get to the "SNES vs Genesis Street Fighter 2" or "Street Fighter 2 clones" era followed by SNK's dominance. Would LOVE to see videos like that from you!

[@MerelyAFan]

Interestingly enough, what's considered the very first fighting game ever was made by Sega in 1976 with their boxing title Heavyweight Champ. Not only is it considered lost media, with no working arcade units known to exist, but we didn't even have footage of it until this year when a San Diego news channel posted a 1977 video report on a local Sega Arcade on their KZbin channel. Sadly another case one of those early pioneering games lost to time.

[@timpize8733]

Thanks for the video, it was particularly interesting as a developer of a fighting game myself. I had heard of most of those but it's cool to have a full description and see what they brought to the table.

[@prawnk1ng]

IK+ on c64 is where it all started for me. Fun times The music gave me nostalgia, quite similar to Last Ninja music.

[@FR4M3Sharma]

You good sir, are old.

[@gamecat666]

IK+ on c64 and Amiga is still fun today. And one of the rare (or only?) fighting games where there are 3 players!

[@carn9507]

@@gamecat666 I seem to remember having Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story on SNES that could be played in 3 player mode (if you had the multi-tap). So that's at least one other. Oh and Guilty Gear Isuka on PS2 and XBox could go up to 4 player.

[@gamecat666]

@@carn9507 Ah I didnt know that about Dragon, and it looks pretty good!

[@Acid_Brad]

As a fighting game dev it's nice to see the roots of the genre!!

[@lawrence703]

It’s great to see these 8bit fighting games from my early gaming days. I used to sell them in the UK and I remember those C64 you mention being particularly popular on the “big 3” home computers of the day.

[@glitchy_weasel]

I never been a big fan of fighting games, but looking back at where it all started is definitely interesting. Would love for more videos about video game origins.

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Wow, blown away. Very interesting. I think about this from time to time. I did not know any of the titles before yie ar kung fu. Would you consider doing a follow up video of the period between street fighter and street fighter II?

[@Cee_Nelly]

Absolutely great video! I hadn't heard of the majority of these games

[@andrewdunbar828]

Karateka (Apple II, 84), Way of the Exploding Fist (85), and International Karate (85) definitely all played their parts. Woah I forgot about Karate Champ! I would actually trace back to Swashbuckler (Apple II, 1982) as well even though it was swordfighting rather than punches and kicks. There were also boxing games but they tended not to be side-view games so makes them more different IMHO. My personal favourite when I was a kid was not an Eastern Martial Arts fighting game, but Rock'n Wrestle on the Speccy. It was published by Melbourne House, an Australian company, and I had a Speccy coding friend with a connection there who used to tell me about it while it was in development.

[@acarajeh]

Swashbuckler was a classic!

[@KurtWoloch]

But there were side-view boxing games already as early as 1978, though only for off-brand systems... see here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e6XCeGChobyiiLs. I would say that they did lay the groundwork for the later wave of Karate games, only the moves are different and maybe less varied.

[@EtaYorius]

Kinda agree, i don't usually play them and find most of them frustrating. The only ones i actually enjoy is Killer Instinct, Mortal Kombat 1 and 3 and King of Fighters from 94 to 2k2. I kinda like SF because i remember it a lot specially sf1 and sf2 on the arcades.

[@EspireMike]

Amazing video as always, MVG!

[@techdistractions]

Love the research, effort and attention to detail. Thank you 😊

[@rkrim2008]

thank you ! I love your videos ! always good quality work

[@hakewinterbottom6986]

I would say 4D boxing (PC MS-DOS) is worth a mention. The mechanics were good and they are still used today. More stamina more power in punches and full 3d movement. Also a wide range of punching options.

[@albineugentrotterecheverri2457]

Thanks MVG, as always, great video!

[@OneSmallStepWeb]

This was brilliant stuff. So much I didn't know you shared. True gem of a video. Although your studio blew my OLED. I had look away.

[@OneSmallStepWeb]

IK+

[@hangonsnoop]

I studied Yoga for years and nobody would teach me how to do Yoga Fire! It was very frustrating.

[@METR0lD]

You definitely covered all the ones I played as a kid. Love content like this!

[@ElVlogdeBob]

Cool video! I knew just a couple of these games. Never heard of the others. Great work!

[@jamesc8259]

My first introduction to Karate Champ was in the movie Bloodsport with JCVD 😊 I love your channel.

[@yesticles]

Great video! I think it would be just as interesting to see the fighting games that came out between Street Fighter 1 and 2, as well as any interesting ones you missed out on here, in a follow up video sometime.

[@scamperly]

I love these videos and will always watch!

[@MistahHeffo]

International Karate was my jam as a kid in the late 80's early 90's. Such nostalgia.

[@swelch2661]

what a great video, it was like a mini street fighter documentary. I really enjoyed it!

[@channjose]

Awesome video, hoping to see more content from you in this format 👍

[@TheLastLineLive]

This was a great retrospective. My favorite of the ones I played of these was Yie Ar Kung Fu. Love the pace and the throwback to classic Martial Arts movies.

[@CinemaStormz]

This is really awesome keep up the good work!

[@kurtgentry6257]

I find these videos where you break down generational advancements for a given genre. Very interesting. Thanks 😊

[@RetroCrisis]

This is a topic I'm VERY interested in. Thank you so much for sharing the knowledge

[@beastheadz]

Your more of a Teacher than a KZbinr...and I attend every class sir...Keep the content coming!

[@user-or6yn8pm3c]

The original was insanely hard. It was also competing against Double Dragon which was the most popular game in arcades in 1987.

[@shrikelet]

The first time I told my mum about _Way of The Exploding Fist_, she thought I said "Wayne the Exploding Fish" and to this day I reckon that would be an awesome premise for a video game.

[@RollingExistence]

Interesting topic, excited to see this.

[@BlackMoore82]

Karate Champ was the first fighting game I played growing up. I wasn’t any good at it but didn’t care, just had fun playing it. Yie ar Kung-fu also features Star, the First Lady of fighting games.

[@theFaded01]

Well done, very informative about the fighting game genre.

[@EBCHILL2]

Karate Champs is a great game. Made a cool cameo in Bloodsport.

[@ultimateman55]

Ah, Bloodsport. Great movie with a phenomenal soundtrack!

[@kupokinzyt]

Your video camera looks like it's recording in like, 8K resolution! The quality on your channel always amazed me MVG. :) I have been following you for years.

[@imm311]

Excellent video! God bless you and yours! Praying for you!

[@whthafk]

You took it back bro! Thanks for the pertinent history lesson 👊🏾

[@AdamJorgensen]

Nice to see you shining a spotlight on the history of FGs

[@Sannidor]

Best "early years" compilation for fighting games I've seen so far. It's amazing how every few years some devoted historian finds more obscure rarities to fill gaps in theory of genre's evolution. Like, which game introduced "block" as a separate button? The very FIRST? 🤔

[@Jasonhoods]

This is an awesome video. Thank you.

[@ranseus]

It came out in 1989 probably too late for this video, but I fondly remember "Budokan" for DOS.

[@clashclay]

Very informative i really appreciate this video. For me fighting starts at street fighter 2 & MK for the genesis! I was a tad too young for arcades even thought i faintly remember them in the early 90's with like VF 2

[@christianschoerner2188]

Nice topic!!! It would be great to se a part 2 in what led capcom the following 3-4years to make the amazing SF2.

[@RockyP77]

Great episode!

[@alphabuilders]

Watched this in the hope of seeing International Karate again, I loved the Amiga 500 version, ran fast and was crisp, for its time the lag was decent... Delighted to see that gem again... After all these years just watching it triggered memory of the moves and I was playing along with the clips, I had forgotten all the hours I played as a child on my elder brothers computer. Knowing which way I needed to push the joystick to execute the best move given the position of the players, it all came back to me from when I was around 8-9 yrs old. That game was all about the gap between players and the direction they faced, the correct move would make contact and the wrong one would not connect, for example if you were too close the kick would miss, but a headbutt would floor the opponent for a sec. I loved the spin and punch so if you walked passed each other, it was the best way to go instead of just turning to face the opponent id use this and often land a decent blow which knocked the other player back to the perfect distance to land a kneeling punch to the nuts.. Oh and there was some nice humour and easter eggs, awesome game for the era.. A bit simple for the Amigas capability's but cutting edge for the c64 when it came out and hella fun on both.. Thanks for the amazing content. Once again your on point. These games and their legacy is the backdrop onto which modern gaming's evolution belong.. Great stuff..

[@bredenis5]

Really enjoyed this video! Also, the state of your computer desktop, mate! 😂

[@Dan.R.A]

I've been fascinated with fighting games all my life and the first one I've ever played was Karate on the Atari (mentioned here) when I was a little kid. However, I was never too much in contact with them anymore until Street Fighter II. That game changed my life forever and to this day my main genre in games is fighting. Missed your NeoGeo shirt today, Mr. Vintage.

[@Gaming-Enthusiast]

Absolutely loved bed this video , massive inspiration to us smaller creators 👌👌

[@robinmattheussen2395]

I know you mentioned you weren't going to cover all games (obviously), but certainly Karateka deserves a mention? I know that's not a pure fighting game per se, but it did have the classic 1-on-1 fighting scenes and was actually pretty good. I definitely think it's a game worth mentioning.

[@sayeghjoe]

Great video. You covered so much here. I remember those Commodore 64 games well. Especially Yie Are Kung Fu and IK+. I could be wrong but wasn’t Karate Champ the game they were playing in the JCVD movie Bloodsport?

[@Alianger]

Good one! I played IK+ on Amiga a lot before SF2, and a bit of the vs modes in Golden Axe and SoR as well.

[@kaijin2020]

According to a PR rep from Capcom who I spoke with many years ago, the Street Fighter cabinets with the giant punch buttons were never meant to be sold to regular arcade places. They were intended specifically for amusement parks but they ended up being resold to the arcade places against Capcom's wishes.

[@ChrisTalent]

Great history of fighting games, cause me many flashbacks! One that I thought you'd mention but you didn't - Taito's RENEGADE. One vs. many with throws (that could finish an opponent in one move if you were in the right location). Always had fun (and was frustrated) by this one.

[@MrSlowestD16]

I never really thought of all the influences of something huge like MK or SF2. Interesting how all these not-so-great-games contributed a little something which all culminated in a style we still use today.

[@jeremybowers3181]

Very cool MVG. How about a whole series of these historical look-backs? 😎👍. I would appreciate having your take on these .

[@li0nhart4477]

I remember being hooked on a fighting game called Barbarian. can't remember what it was on as i played it at a friends house. If i remember right you could cut of the opponent's head and a little creature would walk on screen and kick it off screen. It was really cool i thought at the time.

[@Metallic-Sun]

Someone is working on a version of Barbarian for OpenBOR.

[@jameshakola3603]

Great list... really enjoyed the video! Yie Ar Karate Champ, and Shanghai Kid are definitely the ones I think of as the beginnings of the Japanese arcade fighting genre. Sometimes fighting games lists will also include boxing games, which go as far back as 1976, and also was one of the original four titles from Activision's launch. And there's Warrior, the vector sword duel arcade game by Cinematronics. But these are not Asian-style martial arts of course. Black Belt reminded me of Rocky (1983) for Colecovision, since it has similar gameplay, with a few bands of vertical movement within the ring. Great videos, cheers!

[@kabongpope]

Was definitely blown away when I first saw Yie Ar in the arcade back in the day. I was never a big fighting game player, but that one got me hooked for a while lol

[@mdrumt]

Great video. 'Barbarian' was another one on C64 that was a good un

[@BackForwardPunch]

Very cool breakdown! I love fighting games and SFII is one of my favorites. I had tried Street Fighter I, but did not know most of the games you showed off! Thanks for the history lesson!

[@BloodiTearz]

The moment i saw the video, I was sure that you would mention Yei Air Kung-fu and Ik+, The amiga version with Paula audio rocked.

[@jetronico]

Flying Dragon: The Secret scroll for the NES is a port of Shanghai Kid and a very good one. Fighting is polished, frame rate is perfect and it also has 2d platforming scenes between fighting tournaments. It was not my first fighting game but by far the most memorable growing up. Always dreamed to have that kind of game with different gameplay modes aside from fighting in the same game.

[@christianb8900]

I feel that MVG should've included Flying Dragon. I'm sure he's aware of the game, but he may have assumed that Shanghai Kid 'covers that type of game good enough'. Flying Dragon came out before Street Fighter (in Japan anyway) and was probably the first fighting game to include a super move, including a super meter that builds up like in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo. The super move in Flying Dragon was even a super flying spinning kick, which definitely inspired Street Fighter's similar move. Flying Warriors is also in the same series, but I won't comment on it too much since I don't really remember it too well. (Edited for clarity).

[@jetronico]

@@christianb8900 Absolutely! Let's hope for a part 2, this is a great piece!

[@fancitickler]

Honorable mentions. *Chambers of Shaolin* 1989 was a very under-rated fighting game. Maxing out your character stats before you took on your opponents was a great game mechanic. Fighting the dragon at the end was tricky. Music was pretty cool too. *Karateka,* spent so much time playing it but never finished it C64. *Kung Fu master* a side scrolling beat-em with five levels was an arcade favourite before SFII. *The Way of the Tiger* 1986 was an interesting one on one fighting game. Pole, Sword and unarmed combat styles. *Way of the Exploding Fist 2* was awesome for the amount of game packed into a C64. *Andre Panza Kickboxing* another interesting kickboxing game, which included training aspects. Lest we forget *Bruce Lee* the game where you could play as the Green Yamo against your friends.

[@NealBauer]

Way of the Exploding Fist on the C64 had the scariest scream in all video games. When someone would load that game up during a slumber party, it would invariably bring parents into the room saying "It's time for you all to settle down and go to bed!".

[@markheselhaus5125]

That was a sample of Bruce Lee in Enter the Dragon.....which is actually isn't scary at all. But I can see what you mean. At that age I didn't know that either.

[@NealBauer]

​@@markheselhaus5125 It was really scary because that game would take for-ever to load (without a fast cart) and we'd often (read: "always") forget to turn the volume down. We'd be reading Calvin and Hobbes or the Far Side comics quietly before hearing that, "CHEEEEHHHHYYYYYAAAAAAAAAA" come screaming out of the monitor.

[@wettuga2762]

There is a Street Fighter One Remake on MUGEN by a group called Valkyrie Project, which is much more playable than the original. All original 12 fighters are playable, it has counters, super combos, CD-audio music, upgraded graphics/backgrounds, and... Cody from Final Fight!

[@olafwagner]

Awesome video (as always). I was specifically on the lookout for Yie Ar Kung-Fu, Fist and IK (as those were the most influential on me back in the day with my C64) and was not disappointed :-)

[@KorenLesthe]

IK & IK+ were amazing even on the Amstrad CPC. Good memories and lots of unknown games, thanks MVG !

[@DoomRater]

Urban Champion is a lot more clever than it first appears. For example, the win condition is to push your opponent off the screen, which is more in line with Smash than it is with traditional fighting games. High and low attacks that must be blocked correctly and not just on reaction. No traditional health either, and I'm not sure how the police car mechanic works at the end, but it's definitely left me with the meme "Meet me behind the Discount Shop and we settle this once and for all"

[@meetoo594]

My choices: IK+ had 3 fighters on screen. Fist 2 had an exploration aspect to the levels, Barbarian had swordfighting (and amazing c64 music) although fighting warrior the weapon based followup to fist1 might have come slightly earlier., way of the tiger on spectrum also had you progressing through a landscape between each fight and the opponents were vastly different to each other.

[@joezar33]

6:36 I'm shocked that Urban Champion didn't have *Wreck It Ralph* as the final boss holy crap that spot on... guess the makers of *Fix it Felix* was inspired by Urban Champion decade's later ?

[@chrisr529]

This is a really cool interesting video. Thanks.

[@Rob_Enhoud]

It's fascinating that Street Fighter's signature 6 button layout, which contributes to its intricate and technical gameplay, started out as a clumsy force sensitive button gimmick. In fact the whole game itself seems to have started as an idea to merge fighting games of the time with punching machines also found at nearly every arcade of the era.

[@nimrodlevy]

LOVED the history lesson! many many many thanks!!!

[@sirkastic]

Heavy Nova and Rise Of The Robots were extremely influential games to the beat-em-up genre, I feel. You may wish to include an addendum including these games

[@nintendianajones64]

For me the evolution of top tier fighting games was Karate Champ, Yie Ar Kung Fu and Street Fighter 2. Nothing else ever really captured my imagination like those.

[@johnmc3862]

International Karate was a huge hit selling 1.5 million in the US. It just seemed so polished and playable. So good DataEast the makers of Karate Champ sued them!

[@rustymixer2886]

Perfect timing to upload this

[@dandiaz19934]

Omg! MVG, you read my mind. Literally yesterday i was wondering about this very question

[@jagergerg9771]

Excellent video

[@FFHB]

Karate Champ was in the movie Blood Sport. Van Damme and Donald Gibbson characters became friends while playing it. I like that International Karate was mentioned. My favourite was International Karate Plus on C64. There was 3 characters on the screen at the same time and 2 of them could be human players. That was awesome! Yie are Kung Fu was also my favourite! Cool video! Thanks!

[@wishusknight3009]

I remember the apple ][ having a game called "Swashbuckler" which used one of the most complex control systems in memory. Which came out in 1983...... And then there were story driven games like Karatika and such.

[@striderpak]

awesome , I hope you do more video like this

[@KasumiKenshirou]

I spent a lot of time playing _Brian Jack's Uchi Mata_ on C-64, so I'm glad it was mentioned here. It and Typhoon Gal are based on Judo.