Street Fighter 1: Ryu vs. Sagat (1987)

The Street Fighter story begins in 1987 with the original. That entry had a single playable fighter — Ryu — and a road leading to "the strongest".

One man's journey

The protagonist of the original Street Fighter (1987) is a young Ryu. Freshly parted from his master, he sets out alone on the warrior's path. No teammates, no elaborate story scenes — just one goal: beat every strong fighter in his way until he stands at the top.

This was an era when the "fighting game" genre was just sprouting. Crude as it was, the original Street Fighter set the classic framework of "fight your way to the final boss".

The final match: Ryu vs. Sagat

The original's final boss is the Muay Thai king Sagat, then recognized as the world's strongest — towering and unstoppable. A young Ryu fought through blood and steel to stand before him.

In that final bout, Ryu was pushed to his limit. Just as Sagat thought victory was his, Ryu unleashed the killer move of Ansatsuken — the Shoryuken — driving a fist deep into Sagat's chest and carving a cross-shaped scar to the bone.

Ryu won. He'd beaten the era's strongest, and made the world remember his name.

The scar's foreshadowing

Many don't realize that Sagat's chest scar traces back to the original Street Fighter. That single punch had far-reaching consequences: Sagat made Ryu his lifelong rival, and joined Shadaloo for revenge, becoming one of the Four Kings in Street Fighter II.

In a sense, that one Shoryuken planted the entire series' first thread of destiny.

The original's legacy

By today's standards, the original Street Fighter looks rough and limited. But its place in history is unshakable — it's the starting point of the Street Fighter series, and one of the starting points of the modern fighting game. Ryu's seeking, Sagat's scar, the legend of the Shoryuken — all began here.

In 1987, a young man threw a Shoryuken. And that one punch changed the history of fighting games.