61 Frames Per Second : street fighter

The Capcom Cartoon Crossover You Never Knew About

Nadia Oxford — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 03:12:00 GMT

I don't have any useful skills to offer society, but I'm pretty good at finding small glimpses of merit in awful things. That's why I'm pretty forgiving towards bad cartoon adaptations of popular video game series. For instance, I kind of liked the Street Fighter cartoon series. Parts of it were just foul, but there were small examples of effort. The 1995 movie did shameful things to the Street Fighter story continuity, which the cartoon struggled to repair with some success. Guile's failed marriage haunted him (interestingly, not a theme you found often in '90s era cash-in cartoons), Ken was a rich boy who didn't get along with his father, Dhalsim returned to mysticism and meditation, and Cammy defected to Bison and did strange things with him when the lights went out.

But even my patience wears thin sometimes. I will gladly hand out gold stars to game cartoons that try, but I'll turn my back on an episode when it's obvious the writers said, “Hey guys, let's just come up with any crazy shit and go to a hockey game.” I had always figured the Street Fighter cartoon episode “The Warrior King” was such an example of writer apathy/drunkenness/depression. The episode involved a king from another planet who pops by Earth to pick up an orb that grants powers to its user. Bison gets a hold of the orb, and uses it to blackmail world leaders. Chun-Li falls in love with King Axl Rose, who must eventually return home to his regret and hers, etc.

For years, the episode left me irritated. Street Fighter has sumo wrestlers, green mutants, ninjas, crazy haircuts. If you need to supplement the story by bringing in characters from Dimension X, you're not a very good writer.

But I discovered recently that my irritation was misplaced. “The Warrior King” was not an instance of a junior writer using Street Fighter as an outlet for his Heavy Metal fanfiction. It was a Capcom crossover.

Random Action Hour, a game cartoon archive thoughtfully provided by Random Hoo Haas, has a summary of “The Warrior King.” It's peppered generously with screenshots for those of you who have trouble following narrative without pictures.

It seems very possible that “The Warrior King” is a tribute to a Capcom bare-chested beat-em-up called Magic Sword. In that game, a barbarian fights through a tower to reclaim and destroy an orb of power.

Of all the obscure Capcom games to pay tribute to, why Magic Sword? Why not, I guess. The Street Fighter cartoon series also crossed over with Final Fight, so maybe the writers decided to try for something less obvious. Indeed, there was nothing surprising about seeing Cody and Guy alongside Guile, Bison, and the rest, though it was interesting to see Cody be treated like an underdeveloped second grader with anger issues.

“Now Cody, you know you should let Ken and Ryu rescue Jessica. Here's some crayons. Why don't you draw a picture of mommy and daddy lying in the gutters of Metro City, bleeding from bullet wounds?”

Related Links:

Where, Specifically, Did the Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
Street Fighter IV's Fighting Spirit in Painstaking Detail

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li Scores 0% At Rotten Tomatoes

Nadia Oxford — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 01:30:00 GMT

It's a rare example of the human race coming together, joining hands, and speaking in one clear voice: Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is deplorable.

This isn't an instance of disgusted high-profile critics turning their heads and waving their hankies at the screen, either. In fact, the RottenTomatoes profile for Legend of Chun-Li is more or less devoid of many big names, as the film didn't offer a screening for critics. These are Street Fighter fans who are scraping dirt over the movie with the side of their shoe. These are people who saw 1994's silver screen attempt at Street Fighter and vastly prefer Jean-Claude Van Damme and his “powder blue beret.”

Ouch, ouch, ouch. Goes to show there's no such thing as rock bottom; there's always one level underneath. For instance, Hell.

Here's a small sampling of what critics are saying about Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li. Contains 3000% of the recommended daily intake of regret, remorse, and regurgitation.

”I much prefer the flamboyant badness of the '94 flick to the attractive, even-keeled mediocrity of this one. Jean-Claude Van Damme's stock just rose considerably.” -- Eugine Novikov, AMCtv.com

“Even by the admittedly lowered standards of video game adaptations, the new Street Fighter movie stinks.”-- Rob Vaux, Mania.com

“As a fan of the video game series, I can honestly say that this is hands down one of the worst films I have ever seen. Chris Klein is so bad that he made the movie a comedy.” -- Kevin McCarthy, CBS Radio

“Common sense says there's no reason to make a follow-up to a bad movie 15 years later. Take that, common sense! Coming soon: The origin of Pac-Man's taste for dots.” -- Matt Pais, Metromix.com

Artist Updates Classic Game Characters

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:18:00 GMT

Over at a blog named Plan to Fail, there dwells a Canadian illustrator named Tom Rhodes. When Reading Week temporarily sprung Tom from the shackles of higher learning, he decided to celebrate by “updating” classic video game characters.

His first revisions centered on the characters from Earthworm Jim and Star Fox:

”I've never played [Star Fox] for more than 20 seconds, because I'd been spoiled by flight simulators I liked a lot more, but I always thought the character looked cool, so that's probably why he came to mind.”

The introduction of Krystal may have turned Star Fox into generic furry pin-up material, but in my heart, Fox is the last stand for genuinely cool animal-men.

A few more examples of Rhodes' work follow after the jump.

(Ken and Ryu. Love the wolf shirt on Ken.)

(The Pong Paddles. Seriously.)

(Guess.)

Related Links:

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Yeah, But Is It Art?: Oh Wait, It's Already Art
The Art of Metroid Prime, Echoes and Corruption

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li Is Not For Critics

Nadia Oxford — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:23:00 GMT

There's a famous Penny Arcade strip—the very same strip that first introduces the quaint and chaotic cartoon duo Catsby and Twisp—that begins with Tycho making some remark about how Kevin Smith had decided that his film “Jersey Girls” was “not for critics.” Gabe responds, “Wow, I didn't know you could even do that.”

Seems you can. The latest film to shut out critics is “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.” That is to say, there won't be an exclusive screening for Ebert and his kin. If they want to review Chun-Li's searing soul-search, they'll have to get in line for tickets and popcorn with the rest of us mortal slobs. Chances are they won't.

But hey, no reviews mean that we'll go into the film with clear heads, right? Yes and no. “The Cutscene,” a Variety blog, confirms what even the most optimistic Chun-Li fans know deep in their hearts:

[I]n 95% of cases, not screening a movie is the studio's way of admitting critics are sure to hate it -- usually because it's bad, occassionally because it's a genre, like horror, that critics rarely appreciate.

This actually might not be a bad move on Fox's part. We already know this movie isn't going to go up for any Oscars. Leigh Alexander actually wrote an interesting column exploring the reasons why video game films will never thrive. Fans made fun of Resident Evil: Degeneration, but the film's story played out true to a Resident Evil game. Seems like there's a choice that needs to be made between being faithful to the source material, and appeasing an audience outside the gamerbase. Video game plots just aren't yet mature enough to strike a satisfying balance between the two.

On the other hand, the same was surely said about comic book movies, once upon a time.

Related Links:

Games to Movies: Why Is It So Gad-Danged Hard?
Watch Out Kids! Video Games Can Hurt You
Where, Specifically, Did The Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?

Two Stupid Viral Videos for Your Friday

Cole Stryker — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:00:00 GMT

It's friday, everybody. Time for some brain-draining viral videos. First, a mildly funny and super overwrought Street Fighter parody made by a bunch of random azn's that will make you alternately groan and guffaw. It's saved in the end by the endlessly entertaining phrase, "Sonic Bloomberg":

Then, a pretty good Call of Duty gag, courtesy of The Whitest Kids U'Know, wherein a guy ruins his pals' game by talking with his mom while wearing a headset. I assume it's a takeoff on this epic video from a few years ago:

Have a great weekend, everybody. I'm gonna go drink some chocolate milk.

Bleep Bloop: Actually Funny Gamer Comedy

Where, Specifically, Did The Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?

Game|Life's Street Fighter Basic Training

Bob Mackey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

I've never been the biggest fan of traditional one-on-one fighting games, mostly because mastering them seems to be entirely about learning the tedious arcana of the genre. This is why I've only really dabbled in Capcom's Vs. and Nintendo's Smash Bros. series; it's possible to play them like an OCD robot, but the casual fan can still pick up a controller and experience a few minutes of fun, flashy nonsense. The upcoming Street Fighter IV is advertising itself as a back-to-basics approach to the fighting game, which makes me more than happy, since I could never get a good grasp of what the hell was going on in Street Fighter III. However, there's still a lot at work under the hood, and a novice like me could stand to learn a little more strategy aside from "keep punching the other guy in the head."

Lucky for me, the bombastic Chris Kohler and the TV's Frank-esque Chris Baker of Wired's Game|Life have put together a little video (with some help from Street Fighter experts) to break amateurs like me into the magical world of street fighting. And, unlike most situations in life, I actually walked away having learned something.

Today's lesson: always buy a controller that costs as much as the game itself.

Related Links:

Where, Specifically, Did The Street Fighter Movie Go Wrong?
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
Street Fighter IV’s Fighting Spirit, In Painstaking Detail

The Five Characters You Won’t See in Street Fighter IV

John Constantine — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 22:00:00 GMT

Written by Cyriaque Lamar

On February 17th, a numerical Street Fighter sequel will come out in America for the first time in ten years. In an act of unprecedented video game democracy, the good folks at Capcom allowed fans to vote for the characters that would appear in the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions. Their shortlist included such perennial favorites as the panties-flashing Sakura and the leotard-clad M16 agent Cammy. As in the 2008 presidential election, sex appeal commanded the polls.

But what about those fighters who didn’t make the cut? Join me as I take a look at Street Fighter’s lesser-known pugilists and postulate why these lovable losers didn’t earn a silky-smooth 3D sheen.

Rolento

Who?
Rolento debuted as a boss in the 1989 arcade beat-em-up Final Fight. As a boss character, he was entitled to certain amenities players were not, such as a baton, incendiaries, and a subscription to the Ginsu-Of-The-Month Club. When he turned up in 1996’s Street Fighter Alpha 2, he returned with all of his thwacking, exploding, and stabbing habits intact.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Rolento is an absolute hoot to play. For a game full of high-flying karate-men, it’s surprising that the most agile character is the guy with grenades strapped to his pectorals. Rolento’s moves include a wide array of flips, rolls, and the ability to use his baton as a pogo stick. Playing him is like playing a paramilitary spider monkey. Furthermore, his backstory is hilariously bad even by Street Fighter standards. As he puts it, Rolento aims to create a militaristic new world order free of “panty-waist politicking”.

Revolutionary rhetoric.

Why He Isn’t
We suspect his absence has something to do with all those unfair knives, grenades, and super moves involving trip wires and impaling opponents with crane hooks. The moment you bring a goddamn crane to fisticuffs is the moment you’ve left the realm of “street fighting” and gone headlong into “demolition derby” territory.

Sodom

Who?
Another expatriate from Final Fight, Sodom was the boss of the underground wrestling match in Level 2. Despite his menacing shogun attire and dual katanas, Sodom was easily thwarted if the player stood directly below him. He later appeared in 1995’s Street Fighter Alpha. Sodom proved to be a more formidable foe in this game, as players could only walk left and right.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
He’s the most meta character in the entire Street Fighter mythos. A white guy with an overweening respect for Japanese culture, Sodom fancies himself a modern samurai. He flaunts fans and writes in pidgin Kanji. Capcom seem to be making fun of American fans’ geekier proclivities. Hey gaijin, see this joker? He’s you. Go do some push-ups with Guile.

Dude, leave E. Honda alone. He’s above your nonsense.

Why He Isn’t
That name is best left in the past, don’t you think?

Oro

Who?
Oro is a Street Fighter III original. A hundred-plus-year-old hermit from the Amazon rain forest, Oro spent decades in solitude until he grew bored and entered the third World Warrior Tournament. Hey, after Rolento’s rationale, that’s as fine an excuse as any.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Along with collecting AARP benefits out the ying-yang, Oro handicaps himself by tying his left arm to his chest. And he’s not fighting one-handed for laughs — Oro’s so tough that he could accidentally kill his opponent if he unloosed his other fist. He can also take a nap mid-fight, which is one of the best flip-offs in fighting game history.

Why He Isn’t
Although there’s nothing like schooling your opponent with a one-armed, half-comatose decagenarian, playing against Oro is a viscerally unsettling experience. Many of Oro’s moves are grapples, so you’ll spend most of the match getting groped by a greasy geriatric wearing nothing but a loincloth. Plus, he’s from Street Fighter III, and clearly SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono hates that game’s characters. Even if they’re awesome.

Twelve

Who?
Twelve is Necro’s nemesis in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. Necro’s special moves unabashedly mimick Blanka’s electricity and Dhalsim’s stretching. His antagonist needed even more novelty powers to be a formidable foe. So, naturally, he’s a crazy advanced version of Necro made by the Illuminati.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
Twelve was a Whitman’s Sampler of ridiculous gimmicks. Invisibility? Check. Flight? Check. Ability to become a doppelganger of your foe? Check. Ability to transform into a fighter jet? Double check. It’s like Capcom said, “The arcade industry’s in a freefall and this might be the last Street Fighter game we ever make. Fuck it, let’s pour all of the worst excesses of fighting games into one character and hit the karaoke bar.”

Why He Isn’t
For all his shtick, Twelve is perhaps the least playable character in the SF franchise. He can turn invisible, but the player has no idea where he is onscreen. He can turn his hands into pickaxes, but he’ll do almost no damage. Capcom balanced out Twelve’s bells and whistles by making him terrible. Street Fighter III rule also applies.

T. Hawk

Who?
He’s from Super Street Fighter II and possibly the worst caricature of Native Americans since Iron Eyes Cody. Hell, Capcom Japan wanted to name him “Geronimo” until Capcom USA intervened.

Why He Should Have Been in SFIV
T. Hawk is the only character on our list to make Capcom’s shortlist. So in theory, had anyone actually voted for him, he should have been in Street Fighter IV.

Why He Isn’t
Let’s ignore T. Hawk’s F-Troop routine for a moment to talk about his gameplay. In short, he combined Zangief’s complicated special moves, Sagat’s unwieldiness, and a sleeveless Canadian tuxedo. I have terrible childhood memories of selecting T. Hawk on our Super Nintendo versions of SSFII, only to have 5’5” Cammy knock the wind out of his longhouse.

Memories like that stick with you forever, so let’s hope SFIV’s new challengers don’t disappoint – check back in 10 years to see if we’re griping about “that goddamn Crimson Viper” by the time Street Fighter V hits the Xbox 1080, Zii, and Atari Jaguar 2.

Related links:

Street Fighter IV's Dress Rehearsal
Video Game-Grade Pretension: Not For Street Fighter?
Play Street Fighter in Youtube
Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian

Street Fighter IV's Dress Rehearsal

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 04:38:00 GMT

Street Fighter IV is coming, and the World Warriors are dressing up in their Sunday best for you.

Palette-swap “costume changes” are something of a tradition in the Street Fighter series and other fighting games. Said costume changes usually involved Ryu standing in front of his closet and musing if he should wear his purple gi or his white gi. But the latest installment in Capcom's famous series will actually offer alternative costumes that are seemingly based on the characters' history, personality and whether or not they have a bum that looks good in tight leotard.

Zangief wears the felt overalls of his hero, Mayor Mike Haggar. Guile remembers Charlie by wearing a yellow military vest. Vega dresses up in frills and a ballroom mask so he can run straight to Ken's son's Bar Mitzvah* after he claws out Chun-Li's eyes.

Check out the video after the jump. It's a cute and welcome touch that stands to add a lot of personality to the new fighters and the ones we already know. Something about El Fuerte with a frying pan seems right.

*Disclaimer: Ken probably isn't Jewish. Vega just looks so dolled up, y'know?

Related Links:

Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix is Too Big For Me
Why I Like Street Fighter Continuity

Video Game-Grade Pretension: Not For Street Fighter?

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 04:30:00 GMT

Topless Robot posted a video of Street Fighter IV's entire cast doing its thing—that is, kicking, punching and philosophising. This is probably the first time you'll hear the aging World Warriors banter about their pills and arthritis in English. If you're a Street Fighter veteran, it's almost certainly not the first time you'll hear them ask one another the meaning of life while they pulverise one another's kidneys.

The “pretension” exuded by the cast in this video really gets at Topless Robot editor Rob Bricken, who made the post:

[H]ey Capcom--Street Fighter is not Sun Tzu's Art of War, okay? It is a fighting game. Where people punch luchadores, green fur-covered men, and Japanese schoolgirls, at that. No one needs some kind of bullshit examination into the human psyche here, and no one wants it,.either. What was the problem with the tournament idea? Was that not deep enough for you? Look, you're making a game so kids can beat up people of various ethnicities and not get thrown in jail. Do not get all pretentious about it.

I feel like I should be ashamed for being so interested in Street Fighter's backstories and character histories—like I should cement my braces back on and abandon my contact lenses for my old thick glasses with the pink frames.

Know what, though? I just gotta be me. I have to care about these testosterone-driven huns; they've been in my life since I was 11. Ryu is constantly on the verge of being consumed by hate and I think that is interesting. I think that's attractive Myspace profile info.

Eliza got her ultrasound in the last issue of Udon's Street Fighter comic, and goddammit, I'm excited about that.

Also, I'm not offended by the voices, but I have a history with Capcom's bad voice acting. This is disappointingly sane.

Related Links:

Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
Street Fighter IV's Fighting Spirit In Painstaking Detail
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix C-C-Combo Makers

Play Street Fighter in Youtube

Cole Stryker — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 21:00:00 GMT

Can't wait for Street Fighter IV to drop? Why not pass the time by playing a clunky, but pretty claymation version within Youtube? This has got to be Youtube's killer app.

You may wonder how you can play a game on Youtube, but by stringing a branching tree of outcomes together in over a hundred different video wondows, the creators of the game have managed to craft a cute little "choose your own adventure"-type fighter. Pick your character, choose a few attacks, and let the pre-recorded claymation miniatures do the rest.

Very nerdy, but a fun little diversion on the road to the grave, no?

(via Destructoid)

Gamers Don't Crave Gore, According to New Study

Cole Stryker — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 22:30:00 GMT

Obvious to most of us, but comforting nonetheless, a new study proves yet again that moms and girlfriends have nothing to worry about when their loved ones play violent video games:

"For the vast majority of players, even those who regularly play and enjoy violent games, violence was not a plus," explained Andrew Przybylski, a University graduate student and lead author of the study. "Violent content was only preferred by a small subgroup of people that generally report being more aggressive," added Przybylski, however, even these hostile players did not report increased pleasure when playing more gruesome games.

See, mom!

Hopefully, these findings will help lead to a decrease in video game violence, rather than an increase:

"Much of the debate about game violence has pitted the assumed commercial value of violence against social concern about the harm it may cause," explained Rigby. "Our study shows that the violence may not be the real value component, freeing developers to design away from violence while at the same time broadening their market."

The idea is that conflict is a simple social construct that presents gamers with challenges and goals. Therefore, any kind of conflict, no matter how violent, is going to heighten the senses and hit pleasure centers. In some cases, violence even seems to get in the way. Personally, I'd play Street Fighter over Mortal Kombat any day. Not only does the excessive violence do nothing for me, it actually adds unnecessary clutter and brings down the pace of the game.

Trailer Review: King of the Fighters XII

John Constantine — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:00:00 GMT

King of the Fighters fans are a lot like people who tell you they prefer The Rolling Stones over The Beatles. They seem insane to us normal, Street Fighter-loving folk, and their predilections make us deeply uncomfortable on a fundamental level.

I kid. Outside of the weapons-based affairs, like Samurai Showdown and Last Blade, I never cottoned to SNK’s two-dimensional fighters. I’m the first to admit that the King of the Fighters titles, and the series that birthed them, are all beautiful, well-made games, but the flow of their fighting has just never clicked for me. Call it Capcom brainwashing. I respect the hell out of the King of the Fighters series though. Fighting game staples like enormous character rosters, franchise crossovers, and team battles all have their roots in the series. I also have to give props to a series that was developed on hardware from 1990 for eleven entries over as many years. That’s awesome.

King of the Fighters XII is an event for the series. It abandons all of the character sprites of yesteryear, loses many fan favorite characters, and it is built from the ground up for HD play. What’s more, every single facet of the game, from the backgrounds to the character sprites, is hand drawn. Even Arc System Works, the 2D fighting hounds responsible for Guilty Gear, Arcana Heart, and others, didn’t make their HD debut, Blazblue, fully hand drawn. And understandably so. SNK has taken an enormous risk with King of the Fighters XII. It is monumentally expensive (not to mention time consuming) to make a densely animated 2D fighter by hand, let alone one built for high-definition. And fighting games broadly aren’t the most profitable genre in gaming,

From the looks of this new trailer for KOFXII, it looks like SNK’s efforts have yielded very positive results. This game is gorgeous. So gorgeous, I’m going to have to pick up its inevitable home release like it were a work of art I would hang over my mantle. After almost twelve years, it looks like someone may finally best Street Fighter III’s level of detailed animation in its characters.

Previous Trailer Reviews:

Scribblenauts
Resident Evil 5
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Edge
Wanted
The Chase: Felix Meets Felicity
Yakuza 3
Dragon Quest IX
TGS Trailer Time: Resident Evil 5
Retro Game Challenge
Golden Axe: Beast Rider
House of the Dead: Overkill
Riz-Zoawd
Idolm@ster PSP
The Last Guy
Tecmo Bowl: Kickoff
Captain Rainbow
Mega Man 9 and Chrono Trigger DS
Densetsu no Stafi 5
Sonic Unleashed
Infinite Undiscovery
Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood
Street Fighter IV
The Conduit
Mirror’s Edge

Games to Film: Street Fighter – The Legend of Chun Li Looks… Good?

John Constantine — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 01:30:00 GMT

On the one hand, no Street Fighter movie could possibly match the unadulterated awesomeness of the image above. That’s Raul Julia wearing an M. Bison costume and getting kicked in the face by Jean-Claude Van Damme, known popularly as The Muscles From Brussels. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

On the other hand, Kristin Kreuk is hot.

I admit, my headline was slightly misleading. This does not, by any means, look like a quality motion picture. But it really could be worse. I know how bad videogame movies can be. I watched Bloodrayne last week. I know Uwe Boll pictures shouldn’t count, but seriously, it was really not good. This looks like I could sit through it. Then again, I can’t understand a word they’re saying.

Related links:

Film to Games: Ghostbusters is the Beginning of a (Hopefully) Beautiful Friendship
Games to Film to Games to Film: Resident Evil Degeneration
Games to Movies: Why Is It So Gad-Danged Hard?
Games to Film: Leo DiCaprio to Play Nolan Bushnell in Upcoming "Atari" Flick

Capcom, Street Fighter IV Cluttering My Home With Even More Useless Junk

John Constantine — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 02:00:00 GMT

Collector’s, commemorative, special, limited, ultimate, and EX plus hyper deluxe editions of games are, by and large, pieces of crap and a truly lousy way to spend even more money on an already expensive leisure. This is, of course, a well-covered topic in our little neck of the cultural woods. Saying that collector’s editions suck is a bit like pointing at the moon in the gaming journalism world. But it’s worth mentioning again when a collector’s edition of a game is announced that is legitimately cool. Take, for example, what lucky Europeans picking up Street Fighter IV will get their mitts on. A comic book strategy guide detailing how to use El Fuerte, Abel, Crimson Viper, and Rufus! (It’s totally forgivable that the rest of the line up isn’t included. Everyone knows how to use those characters.) Action figures of Ryu and Crimson Viper in a Chun Li stage diorama! And a copy of the Street Fighter IV anime movie! Hell, I’d buy that package even if it didn’t come with the game. No word on whether or not this collection will come out in the States, but I’d wager we’ll get something snappy. As long as it isn’t some crappy t-shirt or a tin case.

(Link: Siliconera)

Related links:

Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian
LittleBigPre-Order Confusion
Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic
The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come

Gift Idea: A Judas Priest/Ikaruga T-Shirt

Joe Keiser — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 17:00:00 GMT

Yeah, you read that headline right. And when 100% cotton gets that high concept, that can only mean one thing: the 2009 Meat Bun T-Shirt collection is here.

You know Meat Bun, because Meat Bun made those excellent 1942 and Street Fighter t-shirts that have been haunting your wish lists for all of 2008. You can still get those, with some in new, wonderful colors. But the real action is in the new stuff. The headliner is obviously Shooting for Vengeance, because if you sit and think about it black and white bullets hells really are f’n metal. Yet I’ll also take Street Fighter Club any day, as glow-in-the-dark retro horror somehow is a perfect fit with Blanka-based electrocution.

Is this lineup as good as last year’s? Well, no, because last year’s stuff was impossibly good and this year’s designs are inexplicably fascinated with the name of the boutique. But when a company this microscopic continuously churns out stuff this imaginative and specific you really do have to give them credit. I mean, come on: heavy metal Ikaruga baseball t’s! Does that kind of thing even need explaining?

So check it out. If nothing strikes your fancy, may I suggest a viable alternative?

Related Links:

Mega Man 9 Box Art is Further Proof That Inmates Have Taken Over the Capcom Asylum
Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian
Action Button Top 25 Games Ever List Up

Licensing Tragedies: Malibu's Street Fighter Comic

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:04:00 GMT

This is an adequate time to be a Street Fighter fan. Thanks to the the launch of Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV on the horizon, we have been given a reason to keep breathing throughout the day.

Even better, we can go to our local comic retailer and exchange tuppence and a ha'penny for the very competent Street Fighter comic books by Udon. Purists can even help themselves to translated Street Fighter manga, full of bristling hairdos and hoarse oaths.

Ah, but life wasn't always so beautiful. There was a time when developers were scared to let US-bound video games and Japanese culture touch each other, so American comic book companies were commissioned to break out their Crayolas and scribble some cash-in magic. Bad things happened, Malibu's Street Fighter comic being among the worst.

Fans of The Simpsons might recall Marge Simpson's declaration that everything must be paired up: a woman for every man, a salt shaker for every pepper shaker and a dog for every cat. Malibu noticed that in the Street Fighter games, Chun Li wasn't paired with a man and they decided that must change immediately. So we have golden flashbacks where Ryu and Chun Li recall the love and laughter of their salad days. Of course, the narrative outside of the flashbacks are serious business. Things have changed, harumph harumph. Times are darker.

The Ryu/Chun Li pairing is as spectacular as damp moss next to everything else that goes on in Malibu's comic. Ken gets scalped and Ryu receives his friend's lovely locks in a "Forget Me Not" box from Sagat. Sagat, meanwhile, is obsessed with destroying good monitors. And Malibu sent one of their own hideous chimeras to fight against the World Warriors, a feral mental patient named The Ferret. I have a cousin who owns a ferret. She dresses it in a bow tie and calls it Daisy.

I'm sorry I put you through all this so close to Thanksgiving. Have something nice.

Related Links:

Street Fighter IV's Fighting Spirit in Painstaking Detail
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix's C-c-combo Makers
Street Fighter IV's Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come

Achievements and Trophies and Unlocking, Oh Meh

John Constantine — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Amazing things are going to happen in 2009. In the first third of the year, we’ll be playing a trifecta of raw, unadulterated Capcom goodness in the form of Street Fighter IV, Bionic Commando, and Resident Evil 5, Killzone 2 will finally come out and not look anything like the concept footage shown at E3 2005, we might find out just what the hell Alan Wake is, and maybe, just maybe, it’ll turn out that Final Fantasy XIII is actually a videogame and not just a three minute clip of a chick with nice hair. Home might even come out! Instead of the adorable little freak version of you that putters around your Wii games – or your Xbox 360, which is the exact same little freak but with hands and a selection of shirts from Old Navy – you’ll get to have a version of yourself that is iPod commercial ready, with glossy hair sharp enough to cut a Nomura character. You’ll get to go bowling, wonder why no one’s playing Warhawk and show off all your trophies. And you will have trophies, rest assured. Come ’09, Sony’s making them an obligatory component of any and all PS3 games.

I don’t necessarily think achievements and trophies are a bad thing, especially for the type of player who enjoys setting themselves inane goals outside a game’s explicit ones. I just don’t understand why they have to be a necessary feature in every game. Nor do I see it as an effective way for players to, and pardon my French, wave their dicks at each other. Does anyone honestly care that their pals playing Gears of War have killed three-hundred thousand monsters? Finding ways to twist the fundamental rules of a game to make it something new is a time honored tradition. Just look at speedrunning for a perfect example. But unless a developer is inspired to put these sorts of objectives into their game, why force them to spend time on tacked on content?

No more ranting on the subject, I promise.

Note: The Mega Man 9 achievements are kind of neat. Perhaps I am wrong.

Related links:

Progress Quest: Playstation 3 Growing Up and The General Beauty of Firmware Updates
The Curious Case of Playstation Home
Whatcha' (Wish You Were) Playing: How Does Your Garden Grow?
Let the Mega Man 9 Speedruns Continue

Game Compilations: The Good, the Bad, and the Fugly

John Constantine — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 22:00:00 GMT

Time was, I thought game compilations, museum, and anniversary collections, and anything else you’d want to call them were the cat’s meow. Greatest thing since sliced bread. The *ahem* tits. Then The Mega Man Anniversary Collection for Gamecube came out back in 2004. Fifty simoleons for all eight console Mega Man games plus an opportunity to finally play Mega Man: The Power Battle and Power Fighters? Sounds like a dream come true. Then I found out that instead of the A button making the little blue fella shoot and the B button making him jump, the buttons were reversed for the compilation. There is no way to change this control scheme. It turns playing Mega Man 1 through 6 into a personalized hell, the place where cheat code users go when they die. Compilations are dangerous business because, more often than not, the publisher puts no effort whatsoever into them and people buy them anyway. That’s how you end up with Mega Man’s jumping and shooting getting reversed, how Sega releases not one, but two Sonic the Hedgehog collections with fantastic unlockables that are almost impossible to unlock, and how Namco can release the same damn Galaga/Dig Dug/Pac-man collection nine-hundred times.

Of course, they really can be a treat. Despite all the load times and inaccessible unlockables, the Sonic Mega Collection is still a great way to play Sonic at his best. Occasionally, budget numbers like the Capcom Classics Mini Mix, a no-frills GBA collection with Bionic Commando NES, Strider NES, and Mighty Final Fight, can come along and introduce you to games you’ve never ever heard of. (Seriously, Mighty Final Fight? When did that happen? It’s got mini Haggar!) They are a more palatable alternative to Virtual Console-style downloads too, as far as price is concerned. Sega’s just-announced Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection for PS3 and Xbox 360 comes with forty games, and for thirty bucks you get what Nintendo would charge $120 for on Wii. Plus, they wouldn’t even all fit on the Wii’s memory! But again, the production values are highly questionable. As Jeremy Parish pointed out with the screen Sega released of Shinobi III, the emulation work on this new collection isn’t exactly screaming HD-console-quality visuals. Look at this:

That's a game that Backbone Entertainment has already put on Xbox Live Arcade! It didn't look half that muddy. See?

So, what’s the problem? Why can’t Sega, and every other publisher with a mind to, release well-considered, value-laden collections like the Capcom Classics Collection (which has radical Street Fighter tutorials?)

(Link: Joystiq)

Editor's Note: Pictured at the top is Sega's own Fantasy Zone Complete collection. It is awesome.

Related links:

What I'm Playing This Weekend: Mega Man Anniversary Collection
Sega "Gets" the Wii
Infinite Mega Man 9: Composer Ippo Yamada Talks Living Up to a Serious Musical Pedigree
Where I Draw the Line With Retro
Growl, Snarl, Bark: Screw Attack's Top 10 Genesis Games

Finally: Playing Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix With Seth Killian

John Constantine — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:00:00 GMT

If someone, some mad man or woman, decided one day that they had tired of hunting big game across the world, tired of hunting for basic thrills in defying death, and decided that the only thing left on Earth to hunt was 61FPS bloggers, well, we’d be pretty easy prey. A simple process: set a trap out in the woods, say a leaf-covered pit, and place a small box in the center of the trap as bait. Write the words “street” and “fighter” in conjunction on said box. Not even a full day later, this theoretical hunter would find me sitting in the bottom of the pit, pawing at the box, wondering aloud why I can’t make it do a proper dragon punch. We like Street Fighter here, a lot, and we’ve been waiting very patiently to play both of its latest incarnations. We’ve been thwarted in earlier attempts to get our greasy mitts on Street Fighter IV and were given only a teasing sample of HD Remix back in June. But yesterday, the wait ended with a hearty walkthrough of both, courtesy of Street Fighter guru and Capcom Community Commandant, Seth Killian.

Both HD Remix’s director, Dave Sirlin, and IV’s lead, Yoshinori Ono, have made it clear that both games were made with the express purpose of both renewing Street Fighter as a cultural force and making the fundamental, genre-defining play as accessible as it possible without sacrificing its versatility and depth. This much is clear: they have succeeded. When we sat down with Killian, he immediately began explaining SFIV’s new focus attacks. A variation on Street Fighter III’s parry system that does away with delicate memorization and timing in favor of ease and readability, focus attacks are slow-activating moves unique to each character that allow a brief moment of invincibility before landing a strong and flashy attack. They offer the same opportunity to change a round’s offense/defense dynamic (and come with the same risks) as parries, but can be executed by anyone with hands. Just wait for your opening and press both medium attack buttons, and you’re good to go. Even if the language “medium attack” means nothing to you, all you have to know is to press the two in the middle.

As far as the way the game handles, it’s a little bit different than you might expect. The characters are all significantly larger than they’ve been in the past, and they feel just a touch heavier, but they’re by no means slow. When trying out luchador El Fuerte, one of IV’s new fighters, Killian took the prototype arcade stick to demonstrate Fuerte’s signature moves, the majority of them based around running and wall-jumping. It looked intimidatingly complex and fast as the wrestler bolted about the screen, rushing up to Sakura and placing her in a fluid flying headlock or body slam. But, when I was back in control, the series’ renewed accessibility was on full display; all of the moves demoed were easy to execute but never felt automatic, a perfect balance of effortlessness and skill. That balance is essential to IV’s success, as sacrificing the reward that comes from mastery would ruin the game. Even each strike in the flashy Ultra combos, Killian told us, have hit-specific properties.

Then there’s HD Remix, which is exactly what you think it is: Super Street Fighter II Turbo, but blindingly gorgeous. The extra time spent on making new sprites and backgrounds as beautiful as they are has definitely justified the game’s multiple delays. Most impressive, though, is the simplified controls. Sirlin’s initiative to ease the timing on special move inputs has yielded incredibly positive results. (I wasn’t struggling to pull off dragon punches here.) More than anything else, the game is more adept at interpreting your intent now. Some moves, like Cammy’s hooligan throw, have been completely remapped, making them valid components of strategy rather than a mid-fight accident. I did wonder why they chose to make her breasts noticeably bigger, but I’m also not complaining.

HD Remix is all but done, and should be out in November, followed closely by the Xbox 360 and PS3 edition of IV in early ’09. I’m happy to tell you, they have been worth waiting for.

Related links:

Street Fighter IV’s Fighting Spirit, In Painstaking Detail
The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come
61FPS Q&A: David Lloyd and Larry Oji of OC ReMix on the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Soundtrack
Street Fighter HD Makes Me Freak Out
Street Fighter IV in NYC and We've Got Proof This Time
Bringing Sexy Back: Street Fighter Dress-Up Party!

Up All Night: Cannon Spike

John Constantine — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:22:00 GMT

Come with me. Let us prance about at all hours and let us indulge in things not meant for polite society. Let us revel in exploitation, bask in the thick glow of trashy characters, ribald stories. Bring us busty, lusty babes and muscle-bound meatheads with pecks bigger than their brains and guns bigger still. Let these things be good. Let them be bad. Let us stay up all night.

It certainly has been awhile, hasn’t it, since we indulged in a bit of the ol’ UAN? Sure, but it’s been longer still since arcades ruled the land. It’s been even longer since Capcom was slinging quarter munchers at gamers across the world from their Japanese stronghold, slaving over 2D fighters, brawlers, and all kinds of licensed goodness. I’ve stayed up all night with Capcom many, many times: sharing a laugh over Aliens vs. Predator, political discourse over some 1942 (awkward!), and some serious bonding over Street Fighter. The good old days have come back, in a way, with Street Fighter IV and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom hitting arcades, but all the reminiscing has me looking backward at those final years we shared together and the serious lunacy they bore. Way back in 2000, two things led me to believe that Capcom had lost its mind. The first was that polygonal clown face background in Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Seriously, look at this.

The second was Cannon Spike. Cannon Spike is a shooter in the Smash TV tradition, which entails you getting stuck in a closed arena and shooting a plethora of moving, most likely living, things as they surround you in eight directions. Sounds like standard, meat-and-potatoes game fare. Until you realize the cast is made up of Mega Man, Ghosts ‘N Goblins’ Arthur, Charlie and Cammy from Street Fighter, and B.B. Hood from Darkstalkers. They are all wearing roller skates. The things they are shooting range from giant robots (normal) to a zombified Vega from Street Fighter (WTSF.) It is beautiful and can be completed in much, much less than an hour. Everything happens so fast that you don’t even have time to wonder why Arthur looks like a tank or how Cammy can get shot that many times when she’s more or less naked. Cannon Spike and Capcom would not have answers for your silly questions even if you managed to ask them.

This is how arcades died: in an epic flash of strangeness and fan service. You can still experience this piece of history, provided you have a working Dreamcast and love in your heart. See you next time!

Previously on Up All Night:

Parasite Eve
Trojan
Dark Sector
Ex-Mutants
Nightmare Creatures
Bad Dudes
P.N. 03

Mega Man is a Dick

Nadia Oxford — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 04:30:00 GMT

From the good human being who brought us "BISOOOOON!" comes a video of Mega proportions: Mega Man 10: WTF?

"WTF" is all you need to describe the Ruby-Spears Mega Man cartoon that aired in the early '90s. No other cartoon licensed by Capcom or otherwise varied so wildly in quality. Yes, I am counting Street Fighter and Dark Stalkers. Neither of those had the dizzying high of Mega X (in which Mega Man X chases Vile and Spark Mandrill to the past and blasts the holy shit out of everything around him in spite of being a pacifist in the games) or the bowel-dropping low of Curse of the Lion Men (which simply has to be seen to be believed).

Nevertheless, I followed the cartoon. I didn't often like what I saw, but "Day of Sigma" was still more than ten years over the horizon so I had to make do somehow. I would just kind of let my brain glaze over and jerk reflexively whenever I heard "Sizzling circuits!"

But I never realised until seeing this video that Mega Man was an out-and-out dick to Roll so often. Poor Roll just wants to tag along with her brother on his missions to stop Doctor Vily, and he basically tells her to stay at home and make robo-babies. At one point, he bars her enthusiasm with a broom. A broom. That's cold, Mega Man.

Worse is Doctor Light's reaction to Mega Man's sexism: "Uh huh. He's right." Well, what can you expect from the man who invented robots and brought misery to mankind.

Related Links:

Sonic is for Porn
16 Bit Morals: Sonic Warns You About Uncle Ernie
Quickies: Homestar Runner

Street Fighter IV’s Fighting Spirit, In Painstaking Detail

John Constantine — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:00:00 GMT

In the year since Street Fighter IV was first announced, producer Yoshi Ono has been spreading the good news, making sure that every gamer, and not just fighting enthusiasts, knew about Street Fighter’s glorious return to the world stage. It’s rare that even a few weeks have gone by, especially following EGM’s exclusive cover story on SFIV last December, without Ono sitting down with journalists across the world to discuss the game’s ongoing development and refinement on the road to its release this past summer. But excitement for Street Fighter IV, at least in the United States where only a scant few imported arcade cabinets are available to players, is at a perilous stage, somewhere between tense excitement and frustrated impatience. We’re ready to fight, and even though the fall gaming season is just swinging into gear, it’s hard to ignore Street Fighter IV’s absence from the landscape.

To tide over the faithful, Brandon Sheffield’s interview with ubiquitous Ono running on Gamasutra today has some of the deepest insights into SFIV’s structure yet to be published. The familiar territory of how SFIV has been built to bring casual players back into the fold is covered well here, but filtered through the perspective of the fighting genre’s most technical aspects. Ono also provides some fascinating perspective on the series’ history, particularly fighter’s-fighter Street Fighter III and why it’s taken some twelve years for that title to gain the respect and audience it has always deserved:

Sheffield: Why do you think that Street Fighter III was so ahead of its time? It feels like it's starting to really get appreciated in the last two or three years.

Ono: Definitely at the time we didn't think it was ahead of its time. I think at the time, it was the right game to come out, from our perspective. The way that fighting games were at the time, their popularity, and the need for something more technical and complex... we felt that it suited the air at the time.

The reason it seems to be ahead of its time and the reason why it's gaining more popularity now is probably because it's taken people that long to get really good at it, and they appreciate the depth that the game has to offer.

Ono also elaborates on the high barrier of entry in Street Fighter III, and every other fighting game from the genre’s late-90s peak, leading to the genre’s fall from mainstream grace:

Ono: If you think about chess for instance, a kid and a grandfather can play the same game, with the same ruleset, and understand what's going on. I think through our (fighting game developers) competitive spirit back then we were always out to out-complicate each other, and make our systems deeper and deeper. It was ok then because there was a wide player base who understood how to play these games, but that's not true anymore.

Even though we know what it will look like when it finally does arrive, Street Fighter IV is still painfully out of reach for gamers not based in the Land of the Rising Sun. If you’ve felt your interest tested by the wait, head over to Gamasutra and get pumped all over again.

Related links:

Versus: Rebirth of the Fighting Game
The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come
Street Fighter IV in NYC and We've Got Proof This Time
Trailer Review: Street Fighter 4
Street Fighter II in Your Financial Times
Bringing Sexy Back: Street Fighter Dress-Up Party!

The Street Fighter IV Boxart: A Warning of Things to Come

Bob Mackey — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 00:30:00 GMT

Capcom recently released the box art for their upcoming home version of Street Fighter IV, so here it is--in case you missed it:

Overall, not too bad; when it comes to the Street Fighter series, Capcom has done much worse. What's troubling, though, is the emphasis on Chun-Li. It's not that I have anything against Chinese women with gigantic legs; I just don't like to be reminded that another Street Fighter movie will soon exist. That's right, if you've been trying to forget about it like me, I really hate to bring you back to reality--but Street Fighter: Chun-Li Girl Detective Mysteries (title embellished for mockery) is something that well-meaning people are making on purpose. And nothing will stop them.

But will the new Street Fighter movie really be all that bad? Of course it will. And to illustrate my point, I present to you the final moments of the original Street Fighter movie. Notice how closely this clip resembles the ending of any number of 1980s sitcoms:

And while YouTube users rarely have anything productive to say, someone left a comment about this clip that made me chuckle:

what's weird is that Blanca and Dhalsim both died in that building and everybodys like "yeah we did it"............yeah, you let an innocent freak and scientist die in a burning building.

Truly, Street Fighter taught us the horrors of guerilla warfare. Who knows what valuable life lessons Chun-Li has in store? I'm guessing it'll be something about bike safety.

Related Links

Follow Up: Street Fighter IV In North American Arcades
Fei Long and Dan in Street Fighter IV - Plus, New Boss Character
Alternate Soundtrack Redux: Super Street Fighter II vs. The Go! Team

Ne, Rokkuman! Yaranaika?: The World of Hayadain

Nadia Oxford — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 19:16:00 GMT

Yesterday afternoon, our hero John Constantine became frightened and confused when he inadvertently discovered Mario and the Western Show. In this jaunty showtune, which is set to music from Super Mario World, Super Mario and his nemesis Bowser haggle back and forth over which one of them loves Princess Peach more (and Bowser picks his nose hard enough to make it bleed). Both seem oblivious to the fact that Peach wants neither of them. In fact, she sounds like she's on the verge of initiating that sexual harassment lawsuit that should have been filed years ago.

Mario and the Western Show is written by a Japanese remixer named Hyadain. Whereas America treats its video game remixes with the awe and dignity you'd expect with a revered hobby, Japan's remixes tend to be a bit more silly. Hyadin has become especially famous for cutting loose and giving us beauties like The World Warrior.

The World Warrior features the cast of Street Fighter. Each fighter sings about what motivates them to get their face stepped on by M Bison. True to the series, Honda says, ”Sumo is the greatest fighting style in the world!” When is someone going to conjure up the stones to tell the dude that he's the #1 choice of n00bs? Nobody who doesn't want to be sat on, I guess.

Other delights by Hyadin include Appearance of Golbez's Four Lords of the Elements and (oh God) CRASH! Let's Do It!, which is Crashman's love song to Mega Man. Don't act disgusted, you only wish you could make love to your hero while Airman fans you gently.

Hyadin's stuff isn't all about bristly guys in costumes and flamboyant robot masters, though. He's also produced the Sabin Rap, which isn't nearly as uncomfortable as it sounds.

And for all you big tough men out there who think crying is for sissies: I dare you to take on My First Friend. Do it, punk.

Related Links:

Japan Scares Me: Mario and the Western Show
The Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix Soundtrack: An Inside Look
What's in my MP3 Player: Kindred

It’s Madness!: Evo Championship 2K8 Starts Friday, Baby

John Constantine — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:00:00 GMT

The headline above may or may not mean anything to you. If it does, chances are you’re going to be spending August 8th through the 10th in Las Vegas screaming at arcade cabinets or constantly updating YouTube to check out the latest match footage. However, if everything I’ve just written reads like Sanskrit to you (not Derrick. The dead language.), the annual Evo Championship is the closest thing competition level gaming has ever had to a Super Bowl. Warriors gather from around the world and engage in combat. They don’t actually fight each other or anything. They fight in a selection of two-dimensional and three-dimensional fighting games including a number of Street Fighter titles, Tekken, and Smash Bros. It is an epic event.

If this sounds silly to you, well, you clearly haven’t seen this.

Can you believe people get this excited over a Street Fighter match? Doesn’t it seem like an awesome time? Looks way more fun than actually watching people beat the crap out of each other, if you ask me. Here’s hoping this year’s tournament has fights as exciting and memorable as that epic 2004 final. Here’s Evo’s official preview video of the event.

For anyone attending, please shoot 61FPS an email and let us know your thoughts on Street Fighter IV, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD.

Good luck to you, fighters!

Related links:

For Love of the Game: Street Fighter One
We Can Kick Salman Rushdie’s Ass in Street Fighter
Street Fighter II HD Update – Hitbox-o-Rama
Alternate Soundtrack: Super Street Fighter II vs The Go! Team

Alternate Soundtrack: Mighty Final Fight vs. Radio 4

Derrick Sanskrit — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:30:00 GMT

Conceived as a sequel to the original Street Fighter, Capcom's Final Fight was an admitted take-off of Technos' Double Dragon side-scrolling beat 'em ups. Already a hit in the arcades and 16-bit consoles, Capcom took the next logical step with its new gang violence franchise: rebuilding it with super-deformed style anime graphics for the 8-bit and obsolete Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993.

Comically playing through the story of a city under siege by roving street gangs and the three dudes who fight it (including the burly bodybuilder mayor), Mighty Final Fight plays wonderfully with Radio 4's 2002 sophomore LP, Gotham!, a post-punk opus to a ravaged and dilapidated New York City. From the virulent guitar slashes of "Start A Fire" to the echoed fallout of "Pipe Bombs," the deafening pounds of "Dance to the Underground" to the screeching distortion of "New Disco," Gotham! crafts the tale of a post-disaster metropolis and the squalor of youth culture that fills its freshly exposed cracks. Produced by an as-yet unknown DFA (The Rapture, LCD Soundsystem, Hercules & Love Affair and many others), the album is considered one of the early building blocks of the NYC dance-punk scene.

In one of my favorite moments in 8-bit gaming, the first boss in Mighty Final Fight actually gives you the opportunity to acknowledge his rule. I've made a special call out of that in the video below. Please enjoy, and let us know what your alternate soundtracks are in the comments!

Related articles:
Alternate Soundtrack Redux: Super Street Fighter II vs. The Go! Team
Alternate Soundtrack: Streets of Rage 2 vs. Test Icicles
For Love of the Game: Street Fighter One
It's Official: Capcom Has Been Taken Over By Nerds

Street Fighter II in Your Financial Times

Cole Stryker — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 16:00:00 GMT

This advertisement is full of win. The puzzling pop culture parody features the world leaders who comprise the G8 all dressed up as Street Fighter II characters. The ad ends with, "For millions of the world's poorest, this is not a game." Har har. Your average gamer is not likely to page through the Financial Times, so most people who see this ad are going to be very confused. Time to get a new brand manager, Avaaz.

Besides, the parody is even lost on me. Why would the G8 leaders fight each other to stop poverty? Shouldn't they be working together? I guess the Street Fighter characters all trying to defeat the evil M. Bison, so they're sort of on the same team, but still. Also, copyright infringement?

The incredible ad makes me want to see Bush pull a sonic boom on ol' Gordon "Ryu" Brown. "Are you man enough to fight with me? Go home and be a family man!"

Bringing Sexy Back: Street Fighter Dress-Up Party!

John Constantine — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:00:00 GMT

Yes, this slinky black number that can be unlocked for Chun Li in the imminent and fine looking Street Fighter 4 is an ample slice of cheesecake. It is not, in itself, bringing sexy back in any way, shape, or form. Cheesecake, as our good friend Patrick Alexander over at Eegra so deftly illustrated, is nothing new in fighting games. Nor are alternate costumes for the exaggerated characters that populate them. What is bringing sexy back is the thought that, ultimately, we’re going to be able to play dress-up with our Street Fighter characters as new content is released in both arcade iterations and home versions of the game. Here’s my thinking: that slinky black dress on Blanka. That will strike fear into all opponents!

Many thanks to Siliconera for the fantasy.

Click here for more Bringing Sexy Back.

Related links:

Webcomic Watch: Eegra
For Love of the Game: Street Fighter One
Street Fighter HD Update – Hitbox-O-Rama
Street Fighter HD Makes Me Freak Out

The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 3

Peter Smith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:32:00 GMT

Shadow Man

As Pete said, Mega Man III started to strain the series' robot-masters-as-industrial-tool conceit. Silly as Top Man is, I have even more trouble getting my head around Shadow Man and his lair sitting at the bottom of a waterfall of lava. What was the civic-planning meeting like for this one? "Finally, we have used the remaining funds in 200X's robot-master budget to build a crazy-sweet ninja robot who lives in a rad fortress at the bottom of a lava flow. He will be protected by robot frogs and parachuting heads." "Madness! Why would you do such a thing?" "Because, sir. It is awesome." Know what? He's right. — JC

Bubble Man

A big part of the classicness of any given Mega Man stage is the music. Bubble Man's got one of the greatest tunes in the series, an unforgettable bit of melodic pop that builds quickly to a dazzling chorus of harmonized square waves and Van-Halen-esque arpeggios, all over an appropriately watery triangle-wave bassline. But let's not forget the stage itself, which follows our hero from a huge waterfall, down into a cramped subaquatic tunnel (some kind of refinery?) stuffed with giant robot lantern fish, then back out into the open air for a showdown with the local kingpin. As in so many classic Mega Man levels, there's a beautiful sense of the elemental here — the breeze, the cold metal, the spray of the sea. — PS

Crystal Man

You'd think Capcom's increasing ability to push the NES hardware would've made stages in the later Mega Man games even more memorable than their simpler precursors. Unfortunately, this usually wasn't the case. Many levels in Mega Man II and III gave you just enough detail to fire your imagination, and not enough to stifle it; the increased detail of IV through VI actually made the stages seem less like real places and more like digital constructions. Sometimes the most evocative background of all is just a sinister and inviting black. Still, the fancier graphics of later games did allow the occasional surrealist delight, like Crystal Man's stage, a jagged landscape of shimmering gems and glass-tube-enclosed machinery. For a brief and gorgeous section, the blue background switches to glowing hot pink like an animated bar sign. — PS

Dr. Wily's Castle, Part 1

This is the finest stage in the entire Mega Man franchise, spin-offs included. Mega Man II has four scenes of explicit narrative, and outside of the introduction's brief narration, they are wordless, used only to provide spatial context. What is remarkable about the first stage of Wily's castle is how it conveys scale and design independent of the cutscene that precedes it, how its propulsive music perfectly illustrates exhaustion, finality, and resolve. It is an assault, the scaling of a mountain using literally every tool at your disposal. The level concludes with actually breaching the fortress' walls and finding a chasm, the crossing of which requires precisely timed jumps across miniscule platforms. The castle's guardian, a screen-filling robotic dragon, destroys your footing in its pursuit. The stage, the music, the opponents reveal everything about this world and its stakes: you are fighting a madman on his terms and survival is not guaranteed. Remarkable. — JC

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 2.

What'd we miss? Tell us in the comments. For the record, we like Flame Man's arabesque oil well and Tomahawk Man's cod-western badlands too, but nothing from MMVI makes the top ten in fairness. MMVII and MMVIII are beneath discussion.

Previous Top Tens:
The Ten Videogames That Should Have Been Controversial
The Ten Greatest Opening Levels in Gaming History
The Ten Most Adventurous Sequels
The Ten Greatest Fire Levels

The Ten Greatest Classic Mega Man Levels, Part 2

Peter Smith — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 17:31:00 GMT

Metal Man

More than your average Mega Man stage, Metal Man's feels collosal. Who knows why — maybe it's the giant screws and gears in the foreground, or the dense, heavily animated background (technically quite impressive) of pistons and cogs. Or maybe it's that Metal Man's stage actually has somewhat less variety than most of Mega Man II's stages, thereby suggesting a larger size. Whatever the reason, the scope seems massive. The stage itself is relatively short, but it feels like just a small part of a vast, rusted-out fortress of industry. — PS

Toad Man

For all of Mega Man IV 's missteps (downgraded music, overemphasized story, increasingly nonsensical characters), it's not without its highlights. Toad Man's stage bombards you with intimidating elements from the start, buffeting seemingly easy jumps with heavy wind and pouring rain. As you descend deeper into the sewers of 200X, waterfalls crush, overflows lead to bottomless pits, and robotic vermin (rats, slugs, snails) take full advantage of your decreased mobility. The stage is emblematic of the series' descent into comic absurdity, but it's flawlessly laid out and challenging. — JC

Spark Man Revisited

Mega Man II is an undisputed classic, but for a NES game, it's pretty damn easy, a fault that Mega Man III hastens to correct. By the time you get around to the "dark" versions of conquered stages, III is offering you no quarter. When you walk into Spark Man's second stage, you're at the bottom of a room with no ladder to the top; as you go to summon Rush Coil, just imagine Keiji Inafune giving you the finger. Spark Man 2 is also a long haul, with some truly nasty spike placement and two bosses to tackle; for an added touch of creepiness, it's also got a damaged background texture that suggests the whole place has been bombed out. Ominous stuff. — PS

Click here for Part 1.
Click here for Part 3.