Here Comes a New Challenger (2023):

Here Comes a New Challenger (2023):

“The origins of the gaming phenomena that is Street Fighter II and how it impacted the lives of kids worldwide. It explores not just the aspect of the series, but what made it special to players that played at the comfort of their own home.”

I'm a big Street Fighter fan. So, if you have about an hour, you should watch this documentary on the unprecedented success of Street Fighter II. They interview game designers, and take you through Street Fighter I's game's movie inspirations that are mostly Bruce Lee's “Enter The Dragon”, and Sonny Chiba's “The Street Fighter”. Street Fighter had the basic ideas of Street Fighter II, but with wacky controls, bad hit detection, and limited characters. (1 player had to be Ryu. 1 player could be Ken, but only if he joined to fight Ryu.)

By 1991, Street Fighter II did everything bigger and better. 8 characters, 4 bosses, each with their own fighting styles. The 2-Player vs. mode revived a stagnant arcade industry, and made it ripe for in-home videogame consoles. It took off in a way Street Fighter never did. The meat of the documentary I think, is going through the old character designs (They knew they wanted an international fighting tournament, but who would represent each country?) and music decisions.

There's an interview with the game's composer Yoko Shimomura who confesses that for some countries she had no idea what music should sound like. She'd been to Spain, and was a big fan of American rock, so those countries were no problem. (And from that, we got the iconic Guile Theme for the USA stage.) But, for a country like Brazil...she didn't have a clue. In the documentary, she says she was taking the train home one day, and just filled in the train sounds with jungle drums, which became the iconic Brazil theme music for Blanka, the Brazilian fighter.

After the music, we finally get to explore fighting game tournament culture, a staple of Street Fighter II and all that came after. Championship Editions were released, along with re-makes and new characters like Cammy from England, and T. Hawk from Mexico in 1994's aptly named Street Fighter II: The New Challengers. Some versions like Street Fighter II Turbo added increased speed and really made use of the “combo” system, where players could hit more than once, and string attacks together; which became a classic feature.

But, it's not all just classics. There's a lot in the documentary about the cheesy merchandise that Street Fighter II brought with it. Of course, anything that gets big gets toys. I didn't really like this part of the documentary. If you're a fan, you know some of the toys and games (Even a boardgame!) were cheap cash grabs. Of course they were. It feels like...the director mocking toys and games that fans probably loved at the time. Yes, even the Street Fighter movie with Jean-Claude Van Damme. It felt a little out of place to praise Street Fighter II and then say “But, look at how stupid this stuff for kids was.” We know. We were those kids.

The documentary ends with Street Fighter II spin-offs and its influence on later games like Mortal Kombat, and Killer Instinct, up to Street Fighter EX and the anime-style Street Fighter Alpha series beginning in 1996. If you have an hour or so to kill (Ha!), give it a watch. It's really cool to see how Street Fighter went from one clunky arcade game, to its sequel becoming a cultural stable of the 90s, and an inspiration for the genre for years to come. Check it out!