“Street Fighter took the video gaming world by storm in the mid-1980s; more than 127 million copies and hundreds of imitators later, the series continues to be one of the most beloved and successful video game franchises of all time. In this official history, legendary game developer Capcom opens its vault to tell the complete story of Street Fighter. Original text and interviews with the developers and animators present the franchise s impact on gaming culture, while more than 200 pieces of artwork reveal the care that went into designing the button-mashing classic. Featuring a slick flexi cover, this collection will be indispensable to the millions of ardent fans worldwide.”
The main thing I hope for out of this book is more concrete information than the cutesy reminiscences that usually make up most retrospectives by Japanese fighting game developers. I wanna hear some real dirt on how the developers reacted to things like crossups and 2-in-1s that have become institutions, what kind of technical philosophies went into designing certain character moves and playstyles (not just what they look like, but how they were intended to gain ground against specific characters, especially moves that ended up sucking…what was their intended purpose?), biggest regrets about character/game balance, that kind of shit. Less BS about who lost the most sleep or who had a baby on the way that the Japanese love to gush about in these kinds of pieces.
