Street Fighter's Games Based On a Movie Based On A Game
Street Fighter was a popular IP in 1994, which saw the release of both the Street Fighter 2 anime film, and the live-action Street Fighter movie based on the game starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. Though the anime movie was a more faithful adaptation of the game, the live-action film was profitable, despite poor reviews. Street Fighter’s live-action movie received two video game adaptations, one version exclusive to arcades, and another for the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles, both of which used digitized versions of the film’s cast. These games form a uniquely odd moment in gaming history, where a game was produced based on a movie based on a game, borrowing mechanics from the original game the movie was based on.
The home console version of Street Fighter: the Movie was developed by Capcom, though it was published in the US by Acclaim. This version featured mechanics Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, with digitized characters and new backgrounds in place of the original sprite art. The game featured a Street Battle mode which played out much like the classic Arcade Mode from Street Fighter 2 titles, with 12 battles ending in a fight with Bison. The “final four” were changed from Street Fighter 2’s boss characters to match with the plot of the movie, with Zangief and Dee Jay replacing Vega and Balrog, but the final two remain as Sagat and Bison.
The game also included a “Movie Battle,” which featured scenes from the film, and a branching story. In this mode, the player only controls Guile, the protagonist of the film who was played by Van Damme. After fighting Bison twice, a short ending scene played, followed by a music video of “Something There,” a song that was part of the film’s soundtrack by Japanese soft rock duo Chage and Aska. Unlike Shaq Fu, where the story mode required players to control one of the game’s worst characters, Guile of Street Fighter: the Movie played just like his Street Fighter 2 counterpart, and was a reasonably strong character.
All of the characters in the home console version of Street Fighter: The Movie played fairly well, mimicking their 2D counterparts move for move, and despite the digitized characters leading to some awkwardness, the gameplay was fairly on-point and the controls were responsive. In addition to the familiar moves and Super Special Moves from Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the game also featured “ES Moves,” more powerful versions of normal special moves activated by using two kick or punch buttons, similar to the system Capcom used in the Darkstalkers franchise.
The arcade version of Street Fighter: The Movie was an entirely different game. It was also a fighting game, but developed by American studio Incredible Technologies instead of Capcom. It featured much more impressive graphics and animation, compared to the console version of the game. It also deviated further from the original mechanics of Street Fighter 2. Though characters had the same special moves and inputs, their basic attack animations differed, and the game had a unique Street Fighter combo system that emphasized air juggles more than early Street Fighter games, as well as a mechanic for throw reversals as well as reversal counters. Characters were also given a variety of new moves unique to the game, making it overall a fairly complex and aggressive fighting game that has never had a home console release or PC port.
Both versions of Street Fighter: The Movie included the movie's original character Sawada as a new fighter, as well as Akuma, who did not appear in the film. The arcade version omitted Blanka and Dee Jay, adding in Bison’s movie-original soldier Blade, as well as palette swaps Arkane, F7 and Khyber, similar to the palette swap cyborg assassin characters from Mortal Kombat 3. Both of these mid-90s fighters have aged better than others, mostly due to both versions using the solid Street Fighter 2 mechanics as the basis for their gameplay. Still, the games are mostly noteworthy as franchise oddities, alongside the Street Fighter tabletop RPG, for their odd approach to adapting an adaptation, and for offering players a chance to pit digitized actors like Kylie Minogue, and Ming-Na Wen, who played Cammie and Chun-Li, respectively, against each other, using the Street Fighter moveset.