After Final Fight was released in 1989, it was decided that Capcom's next major arcade release would be a sequel to their 1987 game Street Fighter. A daunting prospect for the team assigned this task, as the original hadn't been a success, competitive fighting games weren't popular at the time and, as work began on Street Fighter II, the entire arcade market itself seemed to be in trouble. There had been no mega popular games since Final Fight and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which had both been released in 1989.

When the arcade version of Street Fighter II was released in March 1991, all the worries were for nothing as the game was an absolute smash hit, easily becoming the most popular game of the year. Featuring 8 characters, each one with a huge assortment of punches, kicks, throws and special moves, the game was so much better than the original. The fights were fluid and there were all kinds of incredible match ups. Would you play keep away with Dhalsim and his stretchy limbs? Try and get up close to use Zangief's pile-driver? Or keep your opponent pinned down with Guile's sonic booms? Capcom originally thought the single player mode would be the most popular aspect of the game, with the two player vs mode being an afterthought, but when the game was released they quickly realized it was the other way round -people liked fighting each other, not the CPU.

Street Fighter II featured some of the best graphics available in arcade games, along with amazing music and sound effects. People were playing the game all day, every day, learning how to throw fireballs and do combos for the first time. All kinds of rumors popped up, such as a hidden boss to fight, or a way to make Ryu and Ken throw more powerful orange fireballs. These things just made the game even more popular than it already was.

Street Fighter II helped the arcade scene tremendously, bringing everyone back into arcades and also kick starting the fighting game genre revolution. Several other companies starting making and releasing fighting games of their own, but none could compare to Capcom's game. Listening to the requests of players and arcade owners, they began work on an update to the game which made the four boss characters playable, along with other changes and improvements. Street Fighter's legacy had truly begun.