You almost have to wonder if Masahiro Sakurai will ever run out of things to discuss with his “Creating Games” channel. After doing a very fun crossover series with the Retro Game Master, where they played various arcade titles from history, he returned to his “standard formula” of making videos about certain “game essences” and mechanics. In today’s video, he pulled back the curtain behind the legendary “Shoryuken” attack that was made famous by Street Fighter. What would he have to talk about with that attack? Well, a lot more than you think when you look at its history and how it’s evolved throughout the franchise.
For example, the attack was indeed in the original Street Fighter arcade game back in 1987. We even saw that game during the Retro Game Master crossover finale. The attack was noted to be the most powerful move in the game, to the extent that you could defeat every opponent with it in just 2-3 hits. That’s a wallop of an uppercut! The catch, at the time, was that it was a hard move to pull off with the arcade controllers. Thus, using it often proved you were basically a master of the technique and game.
However, by the time the beloved Street Fighter II title was released a few years later, Capcom had decided to nerf the attack quite a bit. Even Masahiro Sakurai was surprised when they did that, given how powerful it was previously compared to how it was on consoles. That being said, the command structure for the attack was still the same and is so influential that you’ll find attacks rooted in that command in various other fighting games.
But what Sakurai also noted was that this technique, when focused on “game essence,” was an excellent example of balancing “push and pull” mechanics. For example, pulling off the move is hard enough, given the multiple directions you have to tilt the control stick in before you push the attack button. But it’s more nuanced than that. Due to the positions that Ryu or Ken are in when they’re trying to pull the move off, they leave themselves open to just about any attack if they don’t pull off the Shoryuken in time. That’s a huge disadvantage, and thus, you have to be quick with it.
In contrast, if you can pull it off, and you time it right, you’ll not only do damage, you’ll not only be invincible for a time, but you’ll also be able to counter just about any technique. Pretty cool, huh?
