| Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie Street Fighter II: The First Movie |
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Promotional pamphlet for Street Fighter II: The First Movie. |
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| Directed by | Gisaburō Sugii |
| Produced by | Mitsuhisa Hida Akio Sakai Takeshi Sekiguchi Megumi Sugiyama |
| Screenplay by | Kenichi Imai |
| Based on | Street Fighter II by Capcom |
| Starring | Kōjirō Shimizu Kenji Haga Miki Fujitani Masane Tsukayama Masakatsu Funaki Ginzō Matsuo Shōzō Iizuka Yoko Sasaki Daisuke Gōri Yukimasa Kishino Unshō Ishizuka Tetsuo Kaneo Kaneto Shiozawa Shigezō Sasaoka Jōji Nakata Hiromi Tsuru Hideyo Amamoto Takeshi Kusaka |
| Music by | Tetsuya Komuro Yuji Toriyama |
| Cinematography | Hiroaki Edamitsu |
| Editing by | Masashi Furukawa |
| Studio | Group TAC |
| Distributed by | Toei |
| Release date(s) | August 8, 1994 |
| Running time | 102 minutes |
| Country | Japan |
| Language | Japanese |
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, known as Street Fighter II: The First Movie (ストリートファイター II: The First Movie Sutorīto Faitā Tsū: The First Mūbī, not to be confused with the live-action version) in Japan is a 1994 Japanese animated film adaptation of the Street Fighter II fighting games written by Kenichi Imai, directed by Gisaburō Sugii and animated by Group TAC. The film, originally released in Japan on August 8, 1994, has been adapted into English in dubbed and subtitled format by Manga Entertainment. Group TAC later produced the anime series Street Fighter II V. The fight sequences of the film were choreographed by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and professional fighter Andy Hug.
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The film begins with a battle between the Japanese martial artist, Ryu, and Muay Thai champion, Sagat. During the fight, Sagat has gained the upper hand. Just as he is about to finish Ryu off, Ryu manages to connect with one of his signature techniques, the Shoryuken, inflicting a severe scar across the chest of Sagat. Enraged, Sagat charges toward Ryu, who ends the battle with another of his techniques, the Hadouken. Unbeknownst to Ryu, the battle is being watched by a monitor cyborg.
Years later, following the assassination of Albert Sellers, the Minister of Justice in London by Cammy White, a MI6 agent under orders from the crime syndicate Shadowlaw, Interpol agent Chun-Li requests that they join forces with the U.S. military to conduct a investigation against Shadowlaw. However, Captain Guile, who is out for revenge against Shadowlaw's leader M. Bison, refuses the alliance, preferring to hunt Bison down alone. Elsewhere, at his base in Thailand, Bison orders a worldwide manhunt for Ryu, having witnessed his spectacular fighting potential during the battle with Sagat (who he has now recruited into his criminal organization, along with Vega and Balrog). However, Ryu's ability to hide his power has stopped the monitor cyborgs from detecting him, even during his fights with Fei Long and some Shadowlaw thugs in India.
In the United States, Ryu's former training partner and rival, Ken Masters, is facing problems of his own. Although he is in a relationship with Eliza, he still yearns for a worthy challenge, having fought no one as good as Ryu since they parted ways years before. During a tussle between Ken and Thunder Hawk, a monitor cyborg catches sight of Ken's abilities and notifies Bison, who learns of Ryu and Ken's common history and their near-equal fighting skills.
Chun-Li tracks down Guile and eventually persuades him to put his vendetta aside and accept Interpol's help. Guile's first act is to alert the Jamaican fighter Dee Jay that Shadowlaw is targeting him, and Chun-Li destroys a nearby monitor cyborg to prove it. Watching on a monitor from his VTOL jet, Bison dispatches Vega to kill her. After showering in her apartment, Chun-Li finds herself ambushed by the assassin and a brutal fight ensues. Though she manages to defeat Vega, she is severely wounded by his iron claw and falls into a coma shortly after Guile arrives on the scene. At the hospital, Guile learns from Interpol about Ken and his past with Ryu. They attempt to reach him, but Bison reaches Ken first and captures him. Bison brainwashes Ken into becoming his newest soldier in Ryu's place. Shortly thereafter, Guile and Interpol manage to locate Ryu's whereabouts, who is training with E. Honda, who Ryu met and befriended in India, in the mountains of Thailand.
Guile races to his location and warn him about Ken, but Bison suddenly arrives and unleashes Ken upon Ryu. Ken beats Ryu savagely, but Ryu, unwilling to harm his possessed friend, does not fight back. Bison confronts and defeats Guile, but leaves him alive, while Balrog emerges from the VTOL and engages Honda. As Ryu finally prepares to fight Ken back, memories of their past together wreak havoc on Ken's mind and he finally breaks free of Bison's influence. Enraged, Bison attacks Ken with his Psycho Power and tosses away his unconscious body. Infuriated, Ryu attempts to do battle with Bison, but has very limited success. As they fight, Ken awakens and uses his master's teachings to mend his broken body and rejoin the battle. Despite Bison's advantages with his Psycho Power, Ryu and Ken join forces and manage to pummel Bison, ending the battle with a combined Hadouken which hits Bison directly and sends him into the sky. However, the Hadouken immediately bounces back right into Bison's VTOL, destroying it, with Bison himself nowhere to be found.
With Bison apparently gone, Interpol bombs Shadowlaw's base in Thailand, thus putting an end to the crime syndicate. Guile is called to the hospital, where he finds Chun-Li has recovered from her wounds and is overjoyed at the news of Shadowlaw's fall. Elsewhere, Ryu and Ken bid each other farewell and part ways once again. As Ryu begins his journey anew, he is ambushed from behind by a huge truck with Bison in the driver's seat, having survived the previous battle and faked his death. Ryu leaps towards the truck as the film closes.
| Character | Japanese VA | English VA |
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| Ryu | Kōjirō Shimizu | Skip Stellrecht (Hank Smith) |
| Ken Masters | Kenji Haga | Eddie Frierson (Ted Richards) |
| Chun-Li | Miki Fujitani | Lia Sargent (Mary Briscoe) |
| Guile | Masane Tsukayama | Kirk Thornton (Donald Lee) |
| M. Bison (Vega in Japan) | Takeshi Kusaka | Tom Wyner (Phil Matthews) |
| Character | Japanese VA | English VA |
|---|---|---|
| Sagat | Shigezo Sasaoka | Peter Spellos (David Conrad) |
| Vega (Balrog in Japan) | Kaneto Shiozawa | Richard Cansino (Steve Davis) |
| Balrog (M. Bison in Japan) | Jōji Nakata | Joe Romersa (Joe Michaels) |
| Edmond Honda | Daisuke Gōri | Richard Epcar (Patrick Gilbert) |
| Dhalsim | Yukimasa Kishino | Don Carey |
| Cammy White | Yōko Sasaki | Debra Jean Rogers (S. J. Charvin) |
| Fei Long | Masakatsu Funaki | Bryan Cranston (Phillip Williams) |
| Dee Jay | Ginzō Matsuo | Beau Billingslea (John Hammond) |
| Thunder Hawk | Shōzō Iizuka | Steve Blum (Richard Cardona) |
| Blanka | Unshō Ishizuka | Tom Carlton |
| Zangief | Tetsuo Kaneo | William Johnson |
| Eliza (Ken's girlfriend) | Hiromi Tsuru | Toni Burke |
| Ryu and Ken's master | Hideyo Amamoto | George Celik |
| Bison's scientist | Chikao Ōtsuka | Leo Gray |
| Akuma (Gouki in Japan) | n/a | n/a |
Two English dubbed versions were released directly to VHS and Laserdisc in 1995: a tamer, PG-13 version and an unrated version which contains, among other things, a slightly more revealing shower scene featuring Chun-Li that is still censored from the original Japanese version. The UK version contains the Chun-Li shower scene and all profanity and is rated 15 by the BBFC. In addition, a slightly different version of this movie appears on both the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions of the Street Fighter Anniversary Collection as a bonus feature accessible from Hyper Street Fighter II's Gallery Mode. It is more censored than the PG-13 version in terms of language, and contains some other minor edits not related to mature or vulgar content. The American VHS releases and the version in the North American Street Fighter Anniversary Collection were pan and scan while the Region 1 DVD has non-anamorphic widescreen. The European VHS version is non-anamorphic widescreen. These localized English versions replaced used licensed, popular alternative, Western soundtracks from Korn, KMFDM, Alice in Chains, Silverchair and other bands, as well an instrumental score.
An Uncut, Uncensored, Unleashed DVD of the movie was released on July 18, 2006 and addresses the complaints made about the censored English versions of the film in 1995. Unlike the previous unrated version released in the US which was still censored, this release is uncut from the original Japanese version and for the first time ever (for non-Japanese releases of this movie), it contains the original Japanese soundtrack in addition to the English soundtrack (both featuring a new Dolby Digital 5.1 mix). It is a double-sided DVD, with one side containing the English dub with the English soundtrack and the other side containing the original Japanese voices with the original Japanese soundtrack with optional English subtitles.
The video on the English and Japanese sides differ, though, with the Japanese side sporting what appears to be a new, higher quality transfer from the original Japanese master. Like the original Japanese release, the movie is presented in non-anamorphic widescreen. Also, the addition of Chun-Li's shower scene and a longer credit roll makes the Japanese cut of the film longer by three minutes. The dubbed U.S. and UK versions are still slightly cut.[1] The U.S. version has two words containing "fuck" removed from it, one with the scene with Dee Jay and the scene with Bison, Guile, E. Honda, Ryu and Ken.
The Australian Manga/Madman DVD release is the only version of the movie to date that is completely uncut outside of Japan as Madman and Manga used the original Japanese negatives for the Australian release instead of using Manga UK or USA's masters for unexplained reasons. The English dub on the disc is the original dub recorded by Manga Entertainment and Animaze, free from any editing of profanity and both English and Japanese dubs have been remixed into 5.1 audio. Easter eggs on the DVD contain three Japanese trailers for the movie as well as the Japanese master of the movie which contains the original Japanese credits.
As part of their 2008 deal with Starz Entertainment, Netflix made the first completely uncut version of the film available on demand, which includes the unedited shower scene featuring Chun-Li, as well as both uses of the word "fuck" not available in previous U.S. releases. This version of the film is dubbed in English with the original Japanese soundtrack in addition to the Western soundtrack.
There were two CDs released in Japan of the soundtrack.
First CD (release date 8/01/1994):
Second CD (Release date 11/21/1994):
The entire second CD consisted of the musical score pieces by Tetsuya Komuro that did not appear on the first CD.
Both CDs were released in Japan by Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.
The Alternative/Grunge-oriented musical score for the English version was composed by Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea.
Songs featured in the movie include:
Capcom produced a video game adaptation of the film simply titled Street Fighter II: The Final Chance. The game was released exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation on December 15, 1995, and for the Sega Saturn on March 15, 1996. Despite the similar title, it is unrelated to the arcade game Street Fighter: The Movie, nor with the home console game of the same name, both based on the live-action film. Although unreleased in America, the game was shown at the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo under the title of Street Fighter II: The Interactive Movie.
The player takes control of a new type of cyborg that has been secretly developed by Shadaloo. The objective of the game is to develop the Cyborg's abilities by analyzing the fighting techniques of martial artists around the world in order to gain enough strength to challenge Ryu in combat (in the dance scene in Spot Goes To A Party, Spot dances around with one of his friends until he stops dancing to find Tom and Steve. Then after the scene, Spot rides back home after he jumps onto the horse and says "Howdy, Mum! It was a great party! before he goes back inside his house). The gameplay consists of watching FMV clips from the actual movie itself (as well as scenes made specifically for the game itself) and analyzing them using the "search" command. For example, if the scene is shown which involves a character performing a kick technique, then the cyborg's kick abilities will increase by pointing and clicking on the character's kicks. On each stage, the player has a limited amount of time to analyze their surrounding as much as possible in order to gather the most data.
While the majority of the game is strictly a life simulation, the final battle between the Cyborg and Ryu is a one-on-one fighting segment that features the same game system as Super Street Fighter II Turbo (including the presence of the Super Combo gauge). All of the Cyborg's acquired abilities can be put to use in battle. The Cyborg's special moves are the same ones used by Ken in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, including his Shōryū Reppa Super Combo.
The player can keep track of the Cyborg's development via a save file or through a passcode and test their Cyborg's current abilities against a virtual hologram of Spot The Dog. Spot has his own special moves. His moves are the Bark, the Puppy Dash, the Puppy Rush and the Puppy Kick. Spot has two Super Combos. His Super Combos are the Puppy Dance (from Spot Goes To A Party) and the Puppy Run. The practice segments can also be played with a second player. The game also includes a database featuring information on the characters from the film.
A manga adaptation of the film was authored by Takayuki Sakai and serialized in the monthly CoroCoro Comic in 1994, later republished in a single collected edition. An English adaptation of this manga was published Viz Communications as a six-issue comic book in 1996.
The movie was released to a generally favourable response, as the movie was praised for its realistic fight sequences. It was also praised for its faithful treatment of the source material. It is widely considered to be far superior to the 1994 adaptation starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and Raúl Juliá.
The movie served as the basis for Street Fighter Alpha. Many elements and character designs were integrated into future games of the series (in particular, the Street Fighter Alpha series). The film's final battle is very loosely adapted into Ryu's story in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where Ryu's sub-boss is a brainwashed Ken, whom he must defeat before facing Bison.
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