What came before Street Fighter ? | MVG 

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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"

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?

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!

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.

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.

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 RU-vid channel. Sadly another case one of those early pioneering games lost to time.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Interesting topic, excited to see this.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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!

Good morning MVG. When I wake up and have noticed that you have posted a new vid, it makes my day all that much more enjoyable. Keep them coming. Each one is very interesting. I vividly recall playing the version of Street Fighter with the two big rubber pressure-sensitive buttons. The manager stated that there was some sort of hoses that put spurts of air into a meter of some sort. Therefore, the more air the meter received, the stronger your punches and kicks were. Well, the game died and instead of repairing it, it was retro-fitted with SF II. Is it possible that you can do a vid about all of the illegal mod chips that were produced for SF II Champion Edition? (eg. the first one, the variances of each one, etc)

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 ?

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!

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.

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? 🤔

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

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!".

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..

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.

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.

I like early fighting games, tbh. Yie Ar Kung Fu on the Spectrum? Brilliant! Sai Combat on the Spectrum? Serviceable. Barbarian on the CPC? EPIC. Budokan on MSDOS? SO MUCH FUN AND DEPTH! Panza Kick Boxing on MSDOS? Oh, boy, where do I even start. I think that the "push down the button then hit a direction" attack mode is unnecessarily vilified. It's true that SF2 (Sf1 was crap, tbh) was a revolution, but it's not like everything before it was the pits.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

I turned 4 years old in July 85, and I remember my local laundromat in my small town here in the US getting a Karate Champ machine, and my dad giving me a bunch of quarters to go play while he did laundry, and that was the game I remember spending most of my money on sitting on a stool so I could reach the sticks 😅

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

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.

And now Tekken 8 and SF6 look hyper realistic lol how time flies

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

My favourite pre-Street Fighter 2 fighting game is absolutely IK+. It's still a blast to this day. Karate Champ, Yie Ar Kung Fu, Street Fighter 1 and Street Smart were games that I... don't like much, but I'd say they're the important ones.

Really surprised you didn't include the absolutely amazing IK+ for the Amiga and ST! Probably the most playable and addictive fighting game on a home system of its time.

"Boxing" on the 2600 was the first fighting game I ever played. Shout out to Atari!

I played Karateka all the time.

I'm surprised you didn't mention International Karate + when you were talking about IK. The "plus" version came out 2 years after the original game and was also called Chop N' Drop in the US. It's notable for introducing something that hadn't been seen before - a third character. Although this character wasn't human playable, to have three fighters battling it out at the same time was something unique that introduced a whole new level of complexity to the genre. Of course, we see this influence of being more than just 1 vs 1 in many games today; the Super Smash Bros series, Powerstone, Kung Fu Chaos and PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale being some examples.

Karate Champ was featured in the movie Bloodsport, for those that may not have known that.

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

Barry McGuigan World Championship Boxing (1985) . Excellent boxing game mixed with RPG elements, i.e. between the fights you would improve your boxer stats in the gym, allowing you to challenge stronger opponents. But if you lose, you will lose rank and would have to fight weaker fighters.

Karateka, anyone? As for the most (technologically) impressive game from the early 90s for me, it was the Mortal Kombat.

Panza Kick Boxing it’s a fantastic kick boxing game that came out in the late eighties, early nineties.

I think it would be cool to see another video that covers something to the effect of "why Street Fighter 2 made fighting video games popular". Showing other other influential fighting games from 1987-1992 that came before and right after SF2. So we can see more influence on SF2 and SF2's influence on other fighting games.

Ah, early fighting games. What we called “beat-‘em-ups” at the time. :-)

Typhoon Gal is stated to have been released in October of 1985; Sega's Ninja Princess (March 1985) and Namco's Baraduke (May 1985) both had female protagonists before Taito's release.

There was a C64 game purely called "Thai Boxing 🥊" where you would fight another opponent and you could see the damage on their faces at the top of the screen. Wasn't strictly a side view fighter but it was one-on-one. I think it probably had a good overall influence

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!

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

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

As someone whose childhood sport was Shotokan Karate, these games would have been my favorite if I grew up in the eighties. I like how some tried to simulate tourney style karate bouts. There just isn't really a modern example.

I spent untold hours with IK+ on the Amiga. All these years later & I can still remember the music verbatim

Just to know, it was quite amazing to be a gamer.

What is interesting is that some of the producers of Street Fighter left Capcom and joined SNK. They released Fatal Fury which was in development during the same time as Street fighter 2.

The way of the expolding fist, that sound when you get punched in the nuts and the look on your characters face..ooooff!

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.

Just a little shout out to IK+ for the amiga, loved that game and soundtrack. Kickboxer for its amazing fluid animation and Budokan just holds a special place in my heart

Pleased that Uchi Mata gets some love. Guess what I’m firing up tonight ;)

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.

As a kid, I played the large pad version of street fighter at an arcade in a flea market. I remember the game felt hard and I did not understand it well. The next time I went to that arcade the pads were broken on the machine.

For me, it was Knight Games for the c64. It had tons of different modes, pvp, and lots of moves. Fighting Streets (SF1) for the turbografx CD was so frustrating that 8 year old me snapped it in half.

just a tiny thing to clarify, but urban champion does not cause a dizzy state when your stamina reaches zero. the dizzy state happens when you get hit on the head by the flower pot thrown by the person in the building. instead, having your stamina reduced to zero makes your jab wind-up take as long as heavy blows and being hit by a jab will send you as far as a heavy blow. (i've been playing a lot of urban champion lately because i mean, sure, why not, someone has to look into this game)

I thought you might have mentioned Karatika, a fighting game for the Apple II. It was programmed by Jordan Mechner (of Prince of Persia fame) and was released in 1984. We had a copy growing up on our Apple IIe, and I'm surprised to find out that it got a ton of ports, from the Commodore 64, through to Xbox 360 and iOS. Just goes to show how much of a lasting impression it made on people.

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.

It always amuses me hearing about Melbourne House being a studio known for cutting-edge games, when for most of my life I've only seen them as the guys that made a Looney Tunes racing game for the PS2.

KARATEKA was somewhat a beat-tem up/fighthing game that let players go foward different maps as they beat their rivals

Yie Ar Kung fu was so damn good. The first really RESPONSIVE fighting game out there.

Street smart was one of the first fighting games I remember owning. Also Mk, Sf, Ki, and clayfighters!

Then when Street Fighter 2 came out, Fatal Fury (King Of Fighters) and then Mortal Kombat followed suit AND THEN THERE WERE A WHOLE BUNCH OF CLONES. Maybe make a video about those clones.

Shanghai Kid was not Data East, it was Taiyo, which later became Culture Brain. Its actual name is Hiryū no Ken, and it spawned a long-run franchise.

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.

In 1984, Nintendo released a Game & Watch device called Boxing that is a bona-fide fighting game using ye olde LCD segments. It's not fancy, but it was fighting on the go.