A series of games, made by Arika, that featured Street Fighter characters, along with some other guys, kicking the crap out of each other, for reasons usually assumed to have something to do with fighting tournaments. Let's see a brief run-down of the Playstation versions, as I don't even know if the arcade versions truly exist in this dimension or not. Shall we?
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha: The first one. Featured original Street Fighters Ryu, Ken, Guile, Akuma, Sakura, Zangief, Dhalsim, and M. frickin' Bison. New characters included:
-Allen Snider (guy with orange hear and purple gi, 80% shoto-scrub, 10% Justice Fist, 10% Triple Break)
-Blair Dame (a chick with a bunch of kicking attacks)
-Doctrine Dark (retarded name, but cool character, with bombs and knives and stuff)
-Garuda (who by divine right should've been the boss of the game)
-Pullum Purna (Arabian-lookin' chick with mostly kicking attacks)
-Kairi (Shoto, with a Dan Hibiki-ish uppercut)
-Hokuto (girl with moves that involved sliding backwards and then punching or kicking, and probably some counters, too)
-Cracker Jack (Balrog if he was white, dressed like a pimp, had a baseball bat, etc)
-Darun Mister (twice cooler than Zangief, what with that crazy moustache and all)
-and finally Skullomania, who happens to be so cool that maybe I should just discuss him at a later date.
The music in this game was pretty wicked, especially such tunes as Stronger and Amusementive Crime. The fighting system revolves around the ability to cancel an attack into a super move, or a super into a super, allowing you to pull off crazy three-level combos that defy the laws of awesome. Plus, taking a guy out with three supers chained together made the earth explode in the background. It's crazy.
Street Fighter EX 2 Plus: I doubt they even make these games without giant titles. They got rid of Sakura, Akuma, Allen, and Blair (though I hear Allen and Blair went to a crappy game that isn't mentioned anywhere ever). Added were even more people, like Blanka on the Capcom side, and, of course, more new characters, like Vulcano Rosso (who swiped Maxi's hair, or was it the other way around?), Sharon (who used guns, for shame), and Skullomania's arch-nemesis Shadowgeist.
New stuff was added, like Excel Mode, which allowed crazy custom combos and such, and level three supers, which basically rocked all and took up all your super meter. The crazy meteors hurtling through space thing was changed a bit, with the world blowing up at two supers and the universe being vaporized at three. Great fun, though the music was not so fun.
Street Fighter EX 3: Wait, I was wrong. This one was released on the PS2, and featured better graphics, though most of the Street Fighter characters ended up lookin' like crap. This game re-added Sakura, and included a Tag Battle mode. In this mode you could execute team attacks, only with certain teams, that would take up three meters. Like, for example, Pullum jumping on Darun's rock-hard stomach, like a trampoline, while kicking the crap out of her opponent.
There was lots of other stuff added, too much to mention, though what should be mentioned was the customizable character, Ace, who came in two forms (Left and Right), each customizable to your evil whims and such. By meeting certain tasks, ranging from simple combos to juggling someone for ten seconds straight, you could gain points, which would then net you more moves, some of which were exclusive to Ace alone. I'll be damned if I'll ever pull off the Somersult to Triple Somersult challenge, though.
The Street Fighter EX games make a worthy addition to any game collection, especially since it's relatively easy to find and dirt cheap.