Retro Gaming News: Week of August 24th
1987: The Birth of Street Fighter
In late August 1987, Capcom released the original Street Fighter in Japanese arcades. While Street Fighter II became the cultural juggernaut, the 1987 original laid the foundation for the entire fighting game genre. It introduced two playable fighters—Ryu and Ken—and debuted iconic special moves like the Hadouken, Shoryuken, and Tatsumaki Senpukyakud.
1997: GoldenEye 007's N64 Revolution
On August 25, 1997, Rare and Nintendo released GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 in North America. Proving that FPS games could excel on consoles, it delivered stealth gameplay, objective-based missions, and a legendary 4-player split-screen multiplayer mode that defined late-90s gaming nights.
2009: The Dark Knight Takes Over Xbox 360 & PS3
On August 25, 2009, Rocksteady Studios and Eidos Interactive released Batman: Arkham Asylum. The game shattered the long-standing "licensed superhero curse" by introducing revolutionary rhythm-based FreeFlow combat, stealth predator rooms, Metroidvania-style island exploration, and legendary vocal performances by Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill.
2019: Control Rewrites Sci-Fi Action
On August 27, 2019, Remedy Entertainment released Control. Placing players in the shoes of Jesse Faden, the new Director of the secretive Federal Bureau of Control, the game combined levitation and telekinetic gunplay inside a surreal, shifting skyscraper known as The Oldest House.
The Out of Sync Take
Like a lot of gamers in the 90s, I played Street Fighter II before Street Fighter. When I eventually tried the first game, I didn’t like it at all. It had a weird control scheme and was really clunky. But it paved the way for the ground-breaking Street Fighter II which is still fun to play today. Golden Eye was a staple in my gaming rotation in the late 90’s! Many multiplayer matches took place in my bedroom where we all cheated by look at the other person’s screen! Dark Knight and Control still hold up to this day and I’m really excited about the Control Resonate, the sequel launch soon!
What happened around this time in gaming history that you remember? Let us know in the comments below!