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Street
Fighteris a fighting game franchise produced by
video game company Capcom. The
first entry was released in August of 1987 and featured Japanese martial artist
Ryu as he competed in an international tournament to prove his strength. He
would travel to five countries (Japan, United States, China, England and
Thailand) to face eight opponents before going against Adon, a deadly Muay Thai master, and his
mentor, Sagat. A second player could join in the game as Ryu’s training partner
and rival Ken, who appeared different but featured all the same moves as Ryu
(which would remain constant for the two characters throughout the franchise). It
was produced and directed by Takashi
Nishiyama (credited as “Piston Takashi”) and planned by Hiroshi Matsumoto (as
“Finish Hiroshi”), with character artwork by Keiji Inafune.
The game’s unique
feature was the use of pneumatic buttons that took the amount of power used to
press them and turned it into power behind the attacks in the game. The game
was praised for that innovation, the moves, and the character designs, although
it was said to have very little replay value. The game wasn’t a breakout hit at
its inception, but it did prove popular enough with fans to warrant its being
ported to home consoles as Fighting Street.
Original promo for Final Fight as Street Fighter '89.
In 1989, Capcom began
work on a sequel called Street Fighter ’89. They decided to switch
genres from fighting to side-scrolling beat ‘em up after the success of Technōs Japan’s Double Dragon. The game followed Mike Haggar, a former wrestler
that became Mayor of Metro
City, as he took on the Mad Gear Gang (taking
their name from another
Capcom game released as Led Storm outside
of Japan) after they kidnapped his daughter, Jessica. Joining him was
his daughter’s boyfriend, Cody,
a street brawler, and Cody’s best friend, Guy, a martial artist. The
game was largely inspired by the film Streets of Fire, whose
hero Cody was based on. The game was
produced by Yoshiki
Okamoto and designed by Akira Nishitani and Akira Yasuda. Because of
criticisms over its numerous differences from the prior Street Fighter game,
the game was ultimately released as Final Fight that December. It became a hit for Capcom, spawning
its own game series.
Ad for Street Fighter II.
Capcom eventually
turned their focus back to fighting games and set out to revive the Street Fighter brand; feeling that the
concept was good but the playability could be better. The Final Fight team was put on it, and in February of 1991 Street Fighter II: The World Warriorwas released. While maintaining the gameplay of the original, the
game offered a selection of playable characters with unique fighting styles and
special movements. Introduced were E. Honda, a sumo wrestler from Japan;
Blanka, a green-skinned bestial man with electrical abilities from Brazil;
Guile, a USAF Special Forces operative out for
revenge for his fallen friend; Chun-Li, a Chinese Interpol officer and martial
artist; Zangief, a Soviet pro wrestler; and Dhalsim, a yoga master from India
with extremely stretchy limbs and fiery breath. Returning from the first game
were Ryu and Ken. After defeating the other playable characters, the player
would continue on to face four CPU-controlled “Grand Masters.” Sagat was
included from the previous game and was joined by Balrog, an African-American
boxer from the United States; Vega, a pretty-boy Spanish cage fighter who wears
a mask and uses a claw weapon; and M. Bison, leader of the criminal
organization Shadaloo
who wields a power known as “Psycho Power.” Originally, the three new boss
characters had each other’s names: Balrog was modeled after professional boxer Mike Tyson, so M. Bison; Vega was Balrog,
as the name “sounded strong” according to Nishitani; and Bison was Vega, after
the star.
But when it came time to export the game to America, Capcom feared a likeness infringement
lawsuit with Bison and felt that Vega didn’t sound threatening enough for the final
boss, so the names were
all switched.
The game became a
hit, and was regarded as redefining the fighting genre due to its accurate
controls and highly detailed graphics, as well as being the first to offer a
selection of characters. A programming
glitch introduced its most popular feature: a combo mechanic that could be
used to string a series of moves together. Street
Fighter II is often credited with revitalizing
a struggling arcade industry, exhibiting a level of popularity unseen since Pac-Man. It led to the creation of
other popular fighting franchises like Mortal Kombat, Tekkenand Virtua Fighter. Capcom also introduced the concept of revisions, the precursor to
today’s downloadable patches. Rather than releasing direct sequels of the game,
they kept expanding and improving the game by including new moves and game
speeds, rebalancing the fighting, and adding characters T. Hawk, a Native
American warrior from Mexico whose ancestral land was taken by Shadaloo; Fei Long, a
Hong Kong movie star who wanted to test his skill against real fighters; Dee
Jay, a kickboxing musician from Jamaica looking for inspiration for his next
song; Cammy, a 19-year-old British special forces agent with ties to Bison; and
Akuma,
essentially a dark version of Ryu and Ken. In total, five revisions
were released.
At the height of Street Fighter’s popularity, Capcom
produced and co-financed a film based on the franchise. Written and directed by
Seven E. de Souza, the movie
centered around several different groups of heroes uniting to take down General
M. Bison (Raul Julia) and his
plan to extort billions of dollars from the world by taking Allied Nations (a
pastiche of the United Nations that denied
use of their name) relief workers hostage. Jean-Claude Van Damme,
Capcom’s first and only choice, was cast as Col. William Guile, the head of the
A.N. military response to Bison who sought his own revenge against him for the capture
of his friend, Charlie.
Charlie was experimented on to become an inhuman fighting machine (blending the
character with that of Blanka, played by Robert Mammone). de Souza had
intended to keep the focus of the film small, but Capcom continually wanted
characters added until the full roster became involved and the film overloaded.
The movie was released on December 23rd, 1994 to overwhelmingly negative
reviews, but still managed to gross almost $100 million worldwide.
Guile with Chun-Li, Ken, Blanka, Ryu and Cammy.
Following the movie
was an animated series called simply Street
Fighter, also known as Street Fighter: The Animated Series (and sometimes Street Fighter II) to
differentiate it from the game.While
the characters resembled their video game counterparts, the show was heavily
inspired by and infused elements of the film’s story. Col. William Guile
(Michael Donovan) was branded as a criminal in order to provide him the cover
necessary to run the covert Street Fighters team. Unlike the film, the
characters were able to tap into their special projectile abilities from the
game; notably Guile’s “sonic boom” attack. Each episode typically featured
Guile receiving a mission and setting out to recruit necessary members from his
team that he’d need to complete it. Primary
members carried over from the film included Blanka (Scott McNeil), Guile’s
friend still mutated by Bison (Richard Newman); con artists Ryu Hoshi (Tong
Lung) and Ken Masters (McNeil); reporter Chun-Li Xiang (Donna Yamamoto) who
wanted revenge against Bison for the death of her father; E. Honda (Paul
Dobson), who was the team’s computer whiz rather than Chun-Li’s producer as in
the film; Cammy White (Lisa Ann Beley), a member of the British SIS Special Operations unit Delta Red who had a
flirtatious relationship with Guile; Dhalsim (Gary Chalk), one of the
scientists responsible for Blanka’s creation; Dee Jay (Dobson), who was the
team’s helicopter pilot rather than Bison’s lackey as in the film; and T. Hawk
(Dobson), who was portrayed as serving deep cover spying on the cyborg criminal
known as The Satin Hammer (Lynda Boyd). Balrog (Dobson), who served as
Chun-Li’s cameraman in the film, was made into a computer programmer for Bison
in an episode of the series.
M. Bison.
The primary
antagonists were Bison and his legions of Shadaloo, with Sagat (Robert O.
Smith) serving as his second in command. Zangief (Donovan) once again served as
Bison’s lackey and muscle, despite his moment of redemption at the end of the
film. Vega (Dobson) was portrayed as a former Bison henchman who was searching
for eternal youth, in keeping with the character’s vain personality from the
games. New to the series was Akuma (Dale Wilson & David Kaye), who wanted the Chi
energy possessed by certain characters for himself.
The series ran for two seasons. Production of the show moved from Graz Entertainment
to InVision Entertainment for the
second season. Animation duties also moved from Madhouse to Hong Kong Japan Sunrise, Ltd., resulting in a slight change in overall style
and the character designs. Over its run, the show incorporated all the
characters from SuperStreet Fighter II: Turboas
well as from the Street Fighter Alphaseries and other Capcom games like Saturday Night Slam Masters,
Magic Swordand Cyberbots: Full Metal Madness. The episode “Final Fight” served as an adaptation of that game
with the additional inclusion of the Street Fighter characters (Final Fight characters were starting to
be gradually integrated into the Street
Fighter game series). Season 2 saw Guile’s role reduced somewhat as a
couple of episodes focused on the other Fighters. Cammy became part of a
season-long subplot where she was brainwashed into serving Bison (as she had
been in the games).
The Warrior King fights with Chun-Li.
As with the other entries in the Extreme Team—Wing
Commander Academy, Savage
Dragon, and Mortal
Kombat: Defenders of the Realm—Street Fighter took part in “The
Warrior King” crossover event on November 16 during its second season.
Developed by Will Meugniot,
the titular barbarian (Michael
Dorn) crossed between dimensions to find and acquire the Orb of Power,
which could control the weather of any planet. While The Warrior King was seen
in all four shows, their respective characters didn’t cross over. It was
coordinated so that each episode would air on the same day, resulting in each
series being shown outside of their regular timeslots. However, the event
received little to no promotion, and outside of the rearranged schedule there
was no indication that there was anything special about that day.
While the American versions of Street Fighter haven’t done well,
Japanese interpretations have been more favorable with several anime
movies and series under their belt. Street
Fighter has also been consistently published in comics
since the 90s; both in American versions and in manga form. Along with action
figures and music albums, Street Fighter continues
to be a merchandising juggernaut for Capcom and one of their most well-known
gaming franchises.
EPISODE GUIDE:
Season 1:
“The Adventure Begins” (10/21/95) – Guile assembles Chun-Li, Ryu, Ken
and Blanka to retrieve a biological virus from Bison.
“The Strongest Woman in the World” (10/28/95) – When Bison captures
the nuclear facility near Chun-Li’s former village, she must choose between
revenge and saving innocents.
“Getting to Guile” (11/4/95) – Chun-Li assembles Ryu, Blanka, Ken and
Dee Jay to rescue Guile from Bison before Bison figures out how to brainwash
him.
“No Way Out” (11/11/95) – Guile gets trapped in the Shadaloo American
embassy trying to rescue a boy inside while Sagat’s army attacks.
“Demon Island” (11/18/95) – Guile, Dee Jay, Cammy and Blanka set out
to retrieve the invisible jet Bison stole, and Dee Jay gets a chance to settle
a score with Zangief.
“Desert Thunder” (12/2/95) – Guile and Blanka have to retrieve a laser
from the Satin Hammer, but it becomes a question if their inside man T. Hawk is
still on their side.
“Dark Heart” (12/9/95) – Bison plans to use a comet to extort money
from America.
“The Medium is the Message” (12/16/95) – The Street Fighters are sent
to compete in a tournament where Bison hopes to either destroy or discredit
them.
“Eye of the Beholder” (12/30/95) – A scientist in Hawaii creates a
serum that Blanka wants to become human and Vega wants to stay eternally young.
“The Hand That Feeds You” (1/6/96) – While Fei Long has Guile teach
him to use Chi energy, Ryu searches for his missing cousin Sachi in Hong Kong.
“Keeping the Peace” (1/20/96) – Warlords target a Shadaloo city that
has been discovered to have rare diamonds, and Guile is sent to investigate.
“Chunnel Vision” (1/27/96) – When Delta Red captures Bison, Bison’s
supporters begin bombing locations around London and target the Chunnel.
“Strange Bedfellows” (2/3/96) – Bison and Guile are set up against
each other by Akuma who wants their Chi energy.
Season 2:
“The Hammer Strikes” (9/21/96) – Using Blanka, Dhalsim summons the
Street Fighters to his mountain to help stop the Satin Hammer from stealing a
nuclear device from him.
“Cammy and the Bachelor” (9/28/96) – Guile, Cammy and Honda join Delta
Red in stopping Bison’s London crime wave, but Bison takes over Cammy’s mind
and brings her to his side.
“New Kind of Evil” (10/5/96) – Guile and Blanka help Chun-Li track
down her kidnapped camera crew, leading to Blanka becoming even further
mutated.
“The World’s Greatest Warrior” (10/12/96) – Akuma challenges Ryu and
Ken for the Chi of their master Gouken.
“So, You Want to be in Pictures” (11/5/96) – Ken has his father invest
in Fei Long’s latest film, but Ken’s taking over the leading role puts him at
odds with Fei Long.
“Face of Fury” (11/15/96) – Vega escapes prison and seeks revenge
against Blanka, using Mei Lei as a hostage against him.
“Cammy Must Die!” (11/23/96) – The Street Figthers and Delta Red seem
to free Cammy from Bison’s control, but she betrays them all and helps Bison
escape.
“The Flame and the Rose” (12/9/96) – Psychic Rose believes Ken and
Blanka are the source of the evil energy that threatens the world, but soon
discovers it’s actually Bison.
“The Warrior King” (1/4/97) – The Warrior King joins forces with
Chun-Li to retrieve his Orb of Power from Bison.
“The Beast Within” (2/18/97) – Blanka’s search for a mysterious
healing plant instead leads him to help an alien boy get revenge on evil
natives for killing his family.
“Second to None” (4/11/97) – Ryu’s biggest fan Sakura tracks him down
and enlists his help in stopping Sagat’s reign of terror in Shadaloo.
“Final Fight” (4/27/97) – Guile, Ken and Ryu help Metro City Mayor
Mike Haggar retrieve his daughter Jessica from the clutches of the Mad Gear
Gang.
“Cammy Tell Me True” (5/14/97) – Bison captures Delta Red and plans to
take over the world by holding it hostage with its own nuclear weapons.
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