Street Fighter, designed by Takashi Nishiyama and Hiroshi Matsumoto, made its debut in the arcades in 1987. In this game, the player takes control of martial artist Ryu, who competes in a worldwide martial arts tournament, spanning five countries and ten opponents. A second player can join in at any time and take control of Ryu's rival, Ken.

The player can perform three types of punch and kick attacks, each varying in speed and strength, and three special attacks: the Hadouken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku. These are performed by executing special button combinations with the controls.

A port for the PC Engine/TurboGrafx CD console was released under the title Fighting Street in 1988. This same version was later re-released for the Wii's Virtual Console in 2009.