Bonus Stage

Bonus Stages (ボーナス ステージ, Boonasu Suteeji) are common throughout the Street Fighter and Final Fight series, usually after a set amount of fights or rounds in the single-player mode. Though they are not optional, these stages are solely purposed for gaining additional points to achieve a high score, as the player cannot lose the game in those stages.

Making their first appearance in the original Street Fighter with Ryu or Ken breaking tiles, bonus stages have gone on to be a regular feature in most games in the series.

Street Fighter
In the original Street Fighter, there were four different bonus stages throughout the single-player mode:


 * 1) The first stage consists of a tile breaking game that required the player to press the punch button at the maximum strength of the "timing" bar. If successful, they would give the stack of nine tiles a fierce karate chop, breaking them and receiving cheers from the crowd. Failure to do so would result in Ryu/Ken hurting their hand, the crowd booing them, and loss of the bonus round.
 * 2) The second stage consists of a wood breaking game where players had to quickly break three planks of wood being held by three men. The men stand at different heights, with two on the left side (one crouching and the other perched upon his shoulders) and the third standing at the right side.
 * 3) The third stage is identical to the first round, with the exception of Ryu or Ken attempting to break three concrete blocks rather than tiles.
 * 4) The fourth stage is identical to the second round, with the exception of having to break four planks instead of three. The four men of this stage are aligned like the original two on the left side from the second stage, so on either side of the room a man crouches with a plank and another man stands upon his shoulders with another plank.

Final Fight

 * The first bonus stage presented players with a car that must be destroyed in under 30 seconds. Each hit to the car awards 1,000 points, and if all hits are landed successfully a maximum of 33,000 points will be awarded along with 500 points per second left on the clock and a bonus 20,000 points for achieving a "perfect" round. Players must destroy the left side of the car (the window will be smashed to confirm it), then the right side, and then the body of the car from either side. A tyre iron is lying on the ground and can be used. If the car is totally destroyed, after the characters walk off-screen to the next challenge Bred will appear and exclaim "Oh! My God!!", then fall to his knees and begin crying. In the early localized console releases this was changed to "Oh! My car!!", but was changed back in more recent localizations such as Final Fight Double Impact.
 * The second bonus stage featured a series of panes of glass hanging suspended from the ceiling which the player must break within 20 seconds. Each pane is worth 1,100 points, and if all hits are landed successfully a maximum of 177,000 points will be awarded along with 500 points per second left on the clock and a bonus 20,000 points for achieving a "perfect" round.

Street Fighter II
In the Street Fighter II series, bonus stages consisted of beating up various inanimate objects. The order and number of stages vary per re-release:


 * Taking after Final Fight, the first stage presented players with a car that must be destroyed in under 40 seconds, although unlike Final Fight, no weapons are provided. Each hit to the car awards 100 points, and if all hits are landed successfully a maximum of 24400 points will be awarded along with 100 points per second left on the clock and a bonus 30,000 points for achieving a "perfect" round. Players must destroy the left side of the car (the window will be smashed to confirm it), then the right side, and then the body of the car from either side This bonus stage takes place in a port town in the United States, and the stage is similar to Ken's stage, Battle Harbor (there are no tie-breakers in this bonus stage if 2 players join in). A man takes cars that do not sell and offers a prize money for those who manage to break a car within a time limit with the bare hands. Each try costs $10. It unexpectedly became a big hit, many people going to the harbor to give it a try.


 * In the arcade release, the second stage is widely considered the most difficult and annoying bonus round, involves the player(s) waiting below a conveyor belt for barrels to drop down from above, and each must be broken using any attack. At first glance there appears to be a 20-second timer, though it is actually a count for how many barrels are left. Players must smash the barrels as they land to gain 1000 points each, which adds up to 20,000 points if all are broken. This combined with the 30,000 point "perfect" bonus will award the maximum score of 50,000. Given no time limit, the round is much more of an endurance bonus game than a race against the clock as was the case for the previous round (occasionally, there is a tie breaker in this bonus stage to get 10000 each depending on how many tries it takes to hit a barrel on a 2 player basis). This was the third and last bonus stage in the 16-bit versions and second stage is now a wall-of-brick smashing bonus game (read below)


 * The third stage featured a pyramid made of oil drum cans set on fire. The player had to destroy it within 40 seconds, and oil drums would sometimes release fire, burning the player. There is always a draw when two players join in. It was replaced with a wall-of-brick smashing bonus game. This bonus stage appears to be set in Zangief's stage, but outdoors (see below). Most challengers end in the hospital.
 * When tie-breaker, the two players normally score 9000 each.


 * The 16-bit versions of SFII (SNES and Genesis) featured a wall of bricks (first bonus round in SFII, second in SFII Turbo and SSFII). Assembled in a pyramid-like fashion, players are tasked with destroying the blocks in under 40 seconds. The brick wall actually consists of four different "sections": The left side, top, center, and right. Players are awarded 100 points per hit along with a bonus for taking out each section, and all four sections must be demolished to achieve a "perfect" bonus of 30,000 points and 100 points per second left on the clock. Also, there is always a tie-breaker in this bonus stage as well.
 * Yet again, tie-breakers can give the two players 6800 each maximum.


 * In the Dreamcast version of Super Street Fighter II X, there is a trick where if bonus stages are enabled and the player puts the cursor over a question mark during the stage select and holds down the start button when selecting the question mark, there is a chance the battle may be replaced with a two player bonus round.

Final Fight 2

 * As with the first Final Fight, the first bonus stage presented players with an SUV that must be destroyed in under 30 seconds. Each hit to the SUV awards 1,000 points, and if all hits are landed successfully a maximum of 33,000 points will be awarded along with 500 points per second left on the clock and a bonus 20,000 points for achieving a "perfect" round. Players must destroy the left side of the SUV (the window will be smashed to confirm it), then the right side, and then the body of the SUV from either side. Improvised weapons are lying on the ground and can be used.
 * The second bonus stage featured a series of metal oil drums which the player must break within 30 seconds. Each drum is worth 2,000 points, and if all hits are landed successfully a maximum of 38,000 points will be awarded along with 500 points per second left on the clock and a bonus 20,000 points for achieving a "perfect" round. Complicating the matter is the fact that the drums sporadically ignite in flames, which immolate the player if he or she attacks while the fire is burning.

Street Fighter III
The bonus stages of the Street Fighter III series are comprised of a familiar scenario and an all-new bonus stage to showcase the "Parry" system:
 * 1) In the first stage players are given 50 seconds to destroy an SUV, a spiritual successor to SFII's similar car-smashing game. Players will get different amounts of points depending on what sections of the car they destroy (individual hits don't give any credit, a chunk must be removed for credit). Around 83,000 points can be earned for destroying the car, along with a 30,000 "perfect" bonus and 1000 points per how many seconds are left on the clock.
 * 2) In the second stage the player attempts to deflect basketballs thrown by Sean by parrying them. The player will earn 1,000 points for each basketball deflected in this way; if all are deflected they add up to 20,000 points, and an additional 120,000 points are awarded for a "perfect" round. How they are thrown is dependent on Levels determined by how well of a ranking average the player has strung by matches prior.

Super Street Fighter IV
Bonus Stages were absent from Street Fighter IV but make their return in its sequel, Super Street Fighter IV. These stages are modeled after the car and barrel stages from Super Street Fighter II; however, the Car Crusher stage (now with a 60-second time limit) is more reminiscent of the bonus stage present in the original Final Fight, where the car is placed by an abandoned gas station at the same area of the "North America: Drive-in At Night" stage. Also, if the stage is completed with Guy or Cody (two of the original selectable characters from Final Fight), instead of the photographer in a hazmat suit in the background, a "Bred"-type thug will stagger into the stage at the end, kneel into the ground and yell "Ohhh, my car!" in despair, much like it happened in the original game. As for the Barrel Buster stage, it takes place at the same Scottish brewery of the "Europe: Historic Distillery" stage, with a worker manning the influx of barrels.

Street Fighter EX plus α
A barrel bonus stage based on the one from Street Fighter II was added by Arika due to the request from Capcom.

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100928112909/streetfighterex/images/thumb/2/23/BonusEX1.jpg/230px-BonusEX1.jpg

Street Fighter EX2 Plus
Bonus Stage excel and satellite (named ARK-99) is additional game added by Arika.

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100928112959/streetfighterex/images/thumb/9/93/BonusEX2b.jpg/230px-BonusEX2b.jpg http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100928112938/streetfighterex/images/thumb/2/2b/BonusEX2a.jpg/230px-BonusEX2a.jpg

Street Fighter EX3
Bonus Stage is additional game added by Arika. This bonus stageonly used during the end credits where players can endure an endless wave of enemies.

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100928113016/streetfighterex/images/thumb/0/01/BonusEX3.jpg/230px-BonusEX3.jpg

Trivia

 * The Street Fighter II bonus stage made a cameo appearance in the 2012 Walt Disney video game-themed film, Wreck-It Ralph.