Summary
Ever since Pac-Man got his own Saturday morning cartoon, video game characters have been adapted to other media. They often produced a bunch of oddities, like the curiously Mormon-themedDoomnovels, andMortal Kombat’s cartoon having a more star-studded cast than its live-actionConquestseries, but where doesStreet Fighterfit into this strange world of video game movie adaptions?
As the biggest name in fighting games,Street Fighterwas no different. It’s received all sorts of tie-ins over the years, from the memetic western animated series (“This is DELICIOUS!") to its live-action online series. But its biggest tie-ins have been its movies, which offer their own highs and lows. But how do they compare against each other? These areStreet Fighter’s movies, ranked.
7Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
IMDB Score: 3.7/10
People like to imagine the 1994Street Fightermovie as one of the worst video game adaptations. But it’s not even the worst on this list, asStreet Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Liexists. It barely resembles its source material, which might’ve been the point, as Interpol cop Chun-Li is now a pianist, Rose is now a child rather than a grown-up mystic, and Gen is a typical old master instead of a menacing assassin.
It’s not even good as an ironic watch, as its story is dull, and its action is serviceable, but not special. Most fans stuck out its runtime for a few reasons: Chris Klein’s Nash is a cornball who fits the movie’s odd tone, and the weird scene where Chun-Li goes for a femme fatale seduction scheme to get info. But in a twist, her mark is a lesbian! It’s not especially titillating, and as far as representation goes, the LGBTQ community would bebetter served elsewhere.
6Street Fighter Alpha: Generations
IMDB Score: 5.6/10
The first anime on the list,Street Fighter Alpha: Generations,goes into Akuma’s backstory, and runs up to his first encounter with Ryu. It’s not canon, as it has Ryu meeting Sakura near his old master’s dojo years before they would in the games. Not that they get to do much. In its brief 45 minutes, the only action sequences that matter are Akuma showing off the Raging Demon for the first time, and then his fight with Ryu later on.
A.P.P.P usually have a strong record with animation, as seen in theirJojo’s Bizarre AdventureOVA series, andFist of the Blue Sky. Not so much here, unfortunately, as the art style and its movements are quite scratchy. The cast for both dubs is notable, like Daisuke ‘Heihachi Mishima’ Gori as Akuma in Japanese and Michael McConnohie (Seth inStreet Fighter 4) as Akuma’s master Goutetsu in English. But they’ve done better work elsewhere.
5Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation
IMDB Score: 5.8/10
Street Fighter Alpha: The Animationis officially an OVA, albeit one that’s feature-length at 93 minutes. Yet it’s not a direct adaptation of the 3Alphagames. Instead, it tells an original story where Ryu and Ken meet a boy called Shun, who claims to be Ryu’s little brother. They must figure out whether he’s telling the truth, and who his (and thus Ryu’s) father could be, while the lead shoto deals with the Dark Hado and the nefarious Dr Saddler.
The movie isn’t all that special and is notorious for its shots of Evil Ryu likely inspiring some shots in the ‘Good Times with Weapons’ episode ofSouth Park, and the direction constantly posing Chun-Li in suggestive ways. Ryu and Ken’s life-or-death battle against ‘Rosanov’ (basicallya cyber-Hugo) loses a little edge when it cuts to a beaten Chun-Li lying like a swimsuit model. It’s on better ground when it covers Akuma, as the direction really captures his mood and atmosphere. Shame he doesn’t get much to do.
4Street Fighter: The Movie
IMDB Score: 4.1/10
Yes, it’s true:Street Fighter: The Movieisn’t that bad. It’s not that good, but if someone claims it’s the worst thing they’ve ever seen, they’ve lived a charmed life. The movie did have a messy production due to factors within and beyond the crew’s control, from bad weather and sickness to Capcom’s meddling and Jean-Claude Van Damme not being the easiest person to work with at the time.
It resulted in a messy plot that owes more toG.I Joe, with Guile and his Allied Nations troopers taking on Bison in Shadaloo. Nevertheless, it has some charming performances. Raul Julia’s Bison is the brightest highlight, but Ming-Na Wen is no slouch as Chun-Li, and Andrew Bryniarski’s Zangief has some good comic moments. It also has its own odd cameos, like Capcom CEO Kenzo Tsujiomoto, and the real Adrian Cronauer, the US Army DJ whose story inspiredGood Morning Vietnam.
3Street Fighter 4: The Ties That Bind
IMDB Score: 5.3/10
Case Closedaction director Jiro Kanai made his first and only picture as a main director inStreet Fighter 4: The Ties That Bind. Made available as part ofStreet Fighter 4’s Collectors’ Edition, it’s a prequel that sees Cammy investigate an energy outburst, Chun-Li and Guile look into the disappearance of several martial artists, and Seth being intrigued by Ryu’s Dark Hadou.
It shares the same cast as the game, who do a good job (particularly Dave Mallow’s Akuma). The story has its ups and downs, withCrimson Viper’s subplotbeing one of the highlights beyond the typical Ryu & Ken tale and Shadaloo story. Its biggest flaw is its framing and animation which, while not as low asGenerations, is stiff with plenty of shortcuts. There are only so many shots of buildings with narration viewers can handle before they figure out what’s going on.
2Super Street Fighter 4 Original Video Animation
IMDB Score: 6.2/10
Street Fighter 4brought Capcom’s fighting series back to the forefront after years of being on ice. But old habits die hard, as Capcom gave it a bunch of updates in itsSuper,ArcadeandUltraeditions. This wasn’t such a bad thing though, asSuper Street Fighter 4introduced Juri, the psychotic Tae Kwon Do fighter who’s since become one of the series’ most popular characters.
Capcom must’ve known she’d catch on, asSuper Street Fighter 4 Original Video Animationwould follow her first mission working for Seth’s SIN organization, and her subsequent fights against Chun-Li, Guile, and Cammy. Directed byAfro Samurai’s Fuminori Kizaki, it’s essentially a gnarly selection of action scenes that show off Juri’s prowess. The only downside is that it has an open ending. Fans would have to pick up the game (or its sequels) to see how Juri’s story ends.
1Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie
IMDB Score: 7.2/10
Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movieis generally the most praised adaptation of the game among fans, despite its flaws. It’s quite slow-paced, as many of its scenes are stretched out to meet its 102-minute runtime. Others are just to verify everyone fromSuper Street Fighter 2 Turbogot their spot in the spotlight. Zangief and Blanka fighting isn’t key to the plot, where Chun-Li and Guile are trying to stop Bison before he can find Ryu and ‘enlist’ him (“Any man strong enough to beat the crap out of Sagat is a man I want found!”).
Yet its fight scenes are sumptuously animated and showcase the cast’s key moves in style. The acting has some particularly strong performances from Kirk Thornton’s Guile and Tom Wyner’s Bison (plus a pre-fame Bryan Cranston doing Bruce Lee noises as Fei Long). It’s also the most influential tie-in, as Capcom would use it as the basis for theStreet Fighter Alphaseries, its Dramatic Battle Mode, and would use the stormy field from its opening scene as a stage inAlpha 2andStreet Fighter 5.
