We’re just two days away from the milestone 25th anniversary of Street Fighter. It’s kind of insane to think about, especially for someone as ancient as myself, who remembers playing SF1 in Nameless Pizza Joint. Since then, the series has gone on to mean many different things to many different people, whether it’s the characters, the art, the gameplay, the tournament scene, hours spent playing matches with friends and family… all are viable, but for me, it’s the music that stuck around, and has become some of my favorite VGM of all time.

Sure, Guile’s theme is the easy go-to. It goes with everything , right? But step back from the meme for a moment and really soak it in. This song is so catchy and memorable, and perfectly captures the powerful, capable Guile. That’s notable in and of itself. But beyond that, realize how many people across the world know this music – this video game music – and can identify it within a few notes. It’s a cultural touchstone that will never go away, and that really helps convey the gravity of SF’s impact on the world. Even its music has become iconic.

Ah, Ken’s theme. Another classic. I’m also a pretty big aviation/jet fan (as in fandom, not like turbine fan haha) so when I heard Ken’s theme for the first time at Bowling Alley X (the midwest is really bad at naming things) I immediately thought, “hey this sounds like Mighty Wings from Top Gun!” Glad to see many others have noticed too.

Jumping ahead into the Alpha days, Sakura’s theme (represented by its SFIV version here) also stuck with me. So peppy and go-gettery, which fits Sakura’s personality perfectly. Top notch stuff here.

But what really floored me was the SFII credits music, accessible on SNES/Genesis only after beating arcade mode on harder difficulty settings. After the usual character-specific ending, you were treated to a credits scene with this oddly inspiring song. Naturally I wasn’t expecting anything different to happen, so seeing this was complete surprise and delight.

So, that’s a verrrrrry short slice of the awesomeness SF (and composers like Yoko Shimomura, Isao Abe and Hideyuki Fukasawa) has brought us over the years. This begs the question – what’s YOUR favorite piece of Street Fighter music from across the ages? Let’s hear ’em below!