Street Fighter II is a fighting game where players choose one of eight characters: Ryu, Ken, Blanka, E. Honda, Zangief, Chun Li, Guile and Dhalsim to fight against each other. The ultimate goal is to defeat all seven opponents and then four powerful bosses: M. Bison, Vega, Sagat and Balrog. Each character represents a country and has their own reasons for wanting to win.
Each character can perform different basic fighting techniques based on three types of punches and three types of kicks. The effectiveness of these moves depends on the character's position (standing still, ducking or airborne). Street Fighter II uses a unique "button combination" style of gameplay to unleash powerful moves specific to each character. This includes abilities like firing fireballs, using electricity or performing suplexes.