Street Fighter II was built to revive a struggling arcade series after Capcom saw success with fighting games such as Final Fight. Development took about two years with 35 to 40 people, and the team focused on animation, using Capcom's CPS-1 hardware to give each character a different memory footprint. During a bug check on the car bonus stage, a developer noticed that if the punch was timed perfectly, a second hit could be added, and the team recorded the sequence. They first thought it too hard to use, so it was left as a hidden feature. Later the timing was made easier and the chain of hits became a deliberate system, with the team eventually allowing up to eight hits. The combo mechanic then became the basis for later games in the series and for the fighting genre.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.