Summary

• Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors changed VS Fighting games forever with its introduction of multiple playable characters and attack combos.
• Street Fighter 3: New Generation was divisive at the time but is now recognized as revolutionary for its stunning sprite work and introduction of important mechanics.
• Street Fighter 6 is considered the best Street Fighter game of the 21st century, with its online Battle Hub, approachable features, and deep gameplay encouraging innovation and replayability.

Regarding 2D fighting games, one series stands a Tiger Uppercut above the rest. Of course, we're talking about . Since 1987, Capcom has launc🎃hed over twenty games following Ryu and Ken's martial arts journ🎃eys. And that excludes over a dozen spin-offs and crossover titles!

One may argue that Street Fighter is a sparse series with only six mainline entries in the past thirty-plus years. However, many updates/re-launches showcase the series' progression, with all its ups and downs. We ranked each entღry so you can decide which ones are worth playing!

Updated on April 3, 2025, by Jerel Levy: With Street Fighter 6 in full effect, it's time to clean this article up with some unique aspects and better readability. Take a look at all the Street Fighter games throughout the series history and see which titles rank as the best.

21 Street Fighter 1 ﷽

The first Street Fighter game is not memorable compared to its pivotal sequel. We c🍸an understand why. Although the game introduced several signature mechanics, like the famous six-button control scheme, its wonky gameplay stands out to modern-day gamerꦰs.

Street Fighter 1's shortcomings are abundant. The movement feels clunky, special move inputs are too rigid, and the difficulty curve spikes quickly. Still, SF1 was one-of-a-kind for its time. And its commer✨cial success paved the way for Street Fighter 2, which changed video games forever.

20 Street Fighter 2: The Wor🌳ld Warriors

Street Fighter 2: The World Warriors is one of the most culturally impactful video games ever. It's partly responsible for the arcade boom of the early 90s. Plus, it changed VS Fighting games forever by intro🍷ducing multiple playable 🌊characters and attack combos.

Still, vanilla Street Fighter 2 had several improvements ahead of it before the title reached its ultimate form. So, compared to the rest of Street Fighter💮's catalog, this game falls lower in our rankings.

19 Street Fighter 2': Champion Edition

The original Street Fighter 2 had a playable roster of eight characters. But the arcade ladder conclud🦹ed with four bosses: Vega, Balrog, Sagat, and M. Bison. These four masters became playable in the updated Street Fighter 2': Champion Edition.

Another significant improvement Champion Edition made was the addition of mirror matches. Now, you and a friend could fight each other as the same character, albeit ꦬwith different colored costumes.

18 Super Street Fighter 2: The Newꩵ Challengers

Supe🅺r Street Fighter 2 was a significant step forward for the series in some ways and a step back in others. The game's strong points were enhanced graphics, a new scoring system, and four new characters.

Thꦏe update fell short in one impactful area: speed. SuperSF2 decreased the new battle pace introduced in Hyper Fighting. This was a disappointing choice to many fans who became accustomed to Hyper Fighting's unpredictable and spontaneous gameplay.

17 Street Fighter 2': Hyper Fighting

Competition inspires innovation, even if that competition is illegal. For insta🐲nce, a bootlegged version of SF2, unofficially titled Rainbow Edition, gained popularity with fans due mainly to its faster match speeds.

Capcom picked up on this trend and debuted Street Fighter🎃 2': Hyper Fighting to pick up the pace of battle. The result was🍸 a more dynamic and intuitive game that fans still regard as one of the best versions of SF2.

16 Streeꦫt Fighter 5 ꦅ

Capcom fumbled the ball with Street Fighter in the years following SF4's launch. ♕The DLC scandal behind Street Fighter X Tekken was one significant failure. Street Fighter 5's sparse debut further compounded the company's stingy reputation.

As a fighting game, SF5 is solid. The new V system added unique variations to the game's playable roster. Unfortunately, a small starting roster, bare-bone𒀰༺s story mode, and a lack of essential single-player content (arcade mode was a noticeable absence) left fans severely underwhelmed.

15 Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers 🌌

Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers is a brilliant and confusing entry in the Street Fighter 2 sub-series. The game offers fantastic quality-of-life updates, including rema🅺stered𒉰 HD graphics (ported from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: HD Remix), a beginner-friendly touch-control scheme, and three new characters.

Yet, the game also has a handful of quirks, most prominently its exclusivity on Nintendo Switch. Capcom tried to capitalize on Ultra SF2's Switch exclusive status with sever♍al new modes, the least successful being The Way Of The Hado, a shoddy JoyCon action minigame.

14 🌠 ꧋ Street Fighter Alpha

Between Street Fighter 2 and 3, Capcom revisited the World Warriors' past in Street Fighter Alpha. This serie🥃s explores events between Street Fighter 1 and 2. It also integrates Final Fight into the Street Fighter universe.

The Alpha series significantly impacte♈d Street Fighter's tone and art style for many years. Alpha 1's most apparent gameplay cha🌜nge was its three-tiered super combo meter, which expanded upon the system introduced in SSF2T.

13 ꦗ Street Fighter 3: New Generation

Street Fighter 3 was a divisive sub-series in Street Fighter history. When the first edition, Street Fighter 3: New Generation, launchedဣ, fans were disappointed by the lack of returning characters, and critics felt Street Fighter 3 should have made the jump to 3D graphics.

In hindsight, it's clear how revolutionary Street Fighter 3 was for its time. The sprite work is some of the most gorgeous in gaming history. Plus, several important mechanics debuted in this title, inc🗹luding parries, dashes, super jumps, and recoveries.

12 🅰 Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact

While the original SF3 laid the new series' foundation, Street Fighter 3: 2nd Impact added several vital components that led the way to Third Strike. EX Moves allowed you to perform enhanced special ꧟moves in exchange for Super Art meter. Plus, you could use Tech Throws to escape opponent throws.

2nd Impact also made broader improvements that any Street Fighter 2 fan would love. Akuma joined the roster as a hidden character. Plus, bonus stages returned in arcade mode, including the challenging "Parry The Ball" minigamဣe. 2nd Impact is also responsible for introducing Hugo a⛄nd Urien into the series.