Last year marked the 30th anniversary of one of the most iconic video games ever. Many childhoods included wasting precious pocket money to wage street fights with Ryu, Ken, Blanka, Chun-Li and other colorful characters at the local arcade. Street Fighter series debuted in 1987 and then exploded four years later, when the famous sequel released. Since then SF got a reputation of one of the most exciting and satisfying fighting games ever made.
Capcom, along with a popular youtuber Angry Joe, decided to celebrate the anniversary by turning Street Fighter into a tabletop miniatures game. That’s not a first attempt at making the franchise into a board game. In 1993 we had a bizarre “Street Fighter II”, that consisted mostly of rolling dice and moving through a poorly designed map to reach the final villain. There was also a more recent “Street Fighter Deck-Building Game”.
Choose Your Fighter
What is the newest Street Fighter tabletop game project going to do differently? One word: figurines. Since the series puts such a huge focus on its beloved characters, it should be obvious, that this was the best way to go about it. And everyone loves figurines.
Characters presented on the Kickstarter campaign website look ultra detailed, with transparent elements portraying their rapid movements, faces full of emotion and classic poses well known by the fans of the series. All most popular characters are included in the game and will ship pre-painted.
Stage Select
The boards were made to resemble stages well known from the series. We’ll see famous locales like the Air Force Base (too bad that Guile’s theme is missing, but you can still play it from your phone if you really need it).
Boards have additional obstacles like wooden crates and missiles, which can be used during gameplay. Areas feature many exclusive elements made to resemble places familiar to players. Even the trees are stylized to match each board.
Fight!
Combat, the main part of the game is based on positioning and most importantly: on cards. There are 40 decks provided, so each character gets his or her exclusive moves and strategies.
Street Fighter the Miniatures Game was made to be played in short, intense bursts. Authors wanted it to portray quick matches known from the video game. You move, draw 2 cards and then perform actions like blocking, counter-attacking with projectiles and others. Attacking fills your combo gauge, allowing for stronger attacks. Game ends after one player wins 2 rounds.
It’s also possible to tackle harder boss characters in co-op mode. Thanks to more powerful boss decks, villains like M.Bison or Akuma will pose quite a challenge.
You Win
First day at Kickstarter ended at 350 000 USD making this launch a great success. People seem to get attracted to figurines the most, as the biggest, most expensive pledge (280 USD) has a huge lead on others. Anyone buying this version will get additional characters from Street Fighter 3rd Strike, 4, 5 and Alpha.
Will this attempt at Street Fighter board game succeed more than the others? Only time will tell, but the campaign looks promising. And even if the game fails to deliver, you’ll still have at least 24 great looking figurines on your shelf.
A Challenge for You:
Got a great Kickstarter project and need a hand promoting it? Tell us your story and let us lead you to the top.
