Usually, whenever one mentions video game adaptations, the first thing they’ll be talking about is how the majority of them are awful. Over the last decade, video game adaptations have been infamous for its inability to capture the essence of its source material and adapting too little from the games, as video games have different storytelling methods than in movies, as they give the player the freedom to make their own choices that affect the story, which can’t replicated in a live-action movie. There have been a plenty of good video game adaptations that capture the feel of the games, such as 1995’s Mortal Kombat, the Sonic The Hedgehog films and Arcane, but Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie also deserves to be recognized as one of the best video game adaptations, due its accuracy to the source material, incredible animation and amazing fight sequences.
Before I’d talk about the movie, I’m going to talk about the history of the series up until now; in 1987, Capcom released Street Fighter, the first fighting game to feature super moves. The game sees the player take control of a martial artist named Ryu, who travels around the world and fights against the world’s strongest fighter before facing off against the Emperor of Muay Thai, Sagat. The six-button arcade cabinet of the game was commercially successful, which made Capcom interested in developing a sequel and in 1991, Street Fighter II was released and was a huge hit, influencing the future of fighting games and becoming a pop culture stable. Naturally, the success of the series would encourage movie studios to make several adaptations. In 1994, two adaptations of the Street Fighter series were released; the live-action one starring Jean Claude Van-Damme & Raúl Juliá (R.I.P.) and the animated version which adapted Street Fighter II and was directed by Gisaburō Sugii.
Whereas the live-action film was infamous for its inaccuracy to the source material, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie closely follows the games while fleshing out some of the characters and influencing the storyline of the games, such as Ryu giving Sagat the scar or Ryu and Ken’s training flashbacks. The anime’s aesthetics would also influence the Street Fighter Alpha series, especially the designs of Sagat and M. Bison, which took cues from the film. What surprised me about this film is how entertaining it is and it still holds up pretty well by today’s standards.
The animation is pretty gorgeous to look at and it does a great job in doing the characters of the games justice as well as bringing the games’ world to life. What I also love about the film is how much it focuses on the principal characters, such as Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and M. Bison, while also giving time to introduce secondary characters like E. Honda, Fei Long, Zangief and Blanka, without involving them too much in the main story, which was one of the main problems of the live-action version as it jammed every character in the story, making it easy to lose focus on the main character. The fight sequences are some of the best set pieces ever put on animation and the choreography does a brilliant job in implementing the special moves of the games while also giving a more realistic depiction of the games’ fighting styles.
The soundtrack of the film features two variations; the original Japanese version, which is more J-Pop oriented, and the American one, which features bands such as Korn, Alice in Chains and Silverchair, which fit the film’s 90s aesthetic. The voice acting ranges from okay to pretty good, with the highlights being Eddie Frierson as Ken, Kirk Thornton as Guile and Tom Wyner as M. Bison, who easily stands out as the film’s best voice actor. The only problems I have with the film are minimal; I really wished they implemented the World Warrior Tournament into this film and I was disappointed in not seeing Sagat and Ryu having their rematch as the film’s opening set their rivalry pretty well, but it doesn’t detract the film’s strongest points and its entertainment value.
If you’re a fan of the Street Fighter games, I could not recommend Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie enough, as it does an excellent job in capturing the tone of the games while delivering a solid martial arts anime with memorable setpieces and incredible animation that still holds up today. It deserves to be recognized among the best video game adaptations.
