A strange little side quest
Zoom out from The Railroad to Elsewhere for a moment and the timeline gets surprisingly deep. Early computer role-playing games helped turn rules, inventories, exploration and character progression into systems that could support long-form digital adventures. That is only half the story. Street Fighter II, released in 1991, turned head-to-head arcade fighting into a worldwide phenomenon and helped define the modern fighting-game genre. It is a good reminder that simple game mechanics can carry a surprising amount of history.
