A Rare VHS From Data East & Capcom's 'Fighter's History' Trial Has Been Found

Oct 21, 2024

The recent discovery of a rare VHS tape from the legal dispute between Capcom and Data East over the fighting game "Fighter's History" is an interesting piece of video game history.

In the early 1990s, Capcom's hugely successful "Street Fighter II" inspired a wave of similar fighting games, including Data East's "Fighter's History" in 1993. Capcom felt that "Fighter's History" copied too heavily from "Street Fighter II" and initiated legal proceedings against Data East.

Mollie L Patterson (@mollipen.bsky.social)

HOLY FUCK I THINK I FOUND IT “It” being GameFan’s copy of one of the exhibit tapes that Data East produced for Capcom’s lawsuit again them over Fighter’s History.

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The court case went to trial in 1994, but ultimately Capcom was unsuccessful in its lawsuit. The court ruled that the elements of "Fighter's History" that were similar to "Street Fighter II" were not copyrightable, and that Data East was free to sell the game without issue.

Recently, the current editor of EGM Media, Mollie Patterson, announced that she had discovered a VHS tape that was used as evidence in that court case. The tape appears to contain comparisons between the character designs and special moves in the two games. Patterson plans to digitize the tape and share its contents, providing a rare glimpse into this important moment in fighting game history.

Mollie L Patterson (@mollipen.bsky.social)

Good news / bad news. Good is that I've captured the 16-minute segment comparing seven of Fighter's History's characters to those Capcom said Data East copied from SF2. Bad is that I thought the second part—the special moves comparison—was also on this tape, but it isn't. For now, a teaser...

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This rediscovered VHS tape represents an interesting artifact from a significant legal battle that helped shape the fighting game genre in its early years. It's exciting to see this piece of video game history come to light after over 30 years.