#1 Street Fighter
The granddaddy of them all, the game that pretty much recreated the genre of 2-D fighters in 1987. Looking back, one of the most important design aspects of the game almost never happened. Instead of the six button controls we’re all accustomed to, the first Street Fighter machine featured two giant red buttons that set the ground work for the later control scheme. In the beginning the player had to punch either the giant punch button or the giant kick button, hard the player hit the button affected how hard the character under control hit in the game (up to three levels, get it?). While this idea did seem cool in theory, in reality all Capcom got in return for their investment was a warehouse full of broken machines. The six button format was introduced to keep the game kiosks from being destroyed and also launched a gameplay style that would be worked to perfection or the next decade or so. The combo system, the super move system, and the actual strategy employed in the gameplay might have never gotten off the ground if Street Fighter had ended up as nothing more than a giant Nintendo controller hooked up to a kiosk.
January Gaming Guide 
