“We used to go rent games every weekend and my parents were like, ‘You rent something that makes people happy,'” Madden, 37, said. With him who lives in Montreal, Currently, I participate in various fighting games as a professional. My family always chose Street Fighter 2. “If you want to play more, you have to get better. If you win, you keep the controller.
The 1991 game became a pop culture phenomenon during its decade. The housing of “Street Fighter 2” filled not only game arcades, but also billiard halls, bowling alleys, dive bars, laundromats, etc. with its vivid colors. The game includes stages around the world, so Indian digital elephant trumpets and Brazilian bongo beats were as much a part of our collective soundtrack as Doctor His Dre and Nirvana. This laid the foundation for modern professional video game competition.
As arcade machines fell out of favor at the turn of the century, avid Street Fighter players like Madden traveled across state lines to play new sequels in the same way Taylor Swift fans crossed state lines for concerts. Expeditions and even planes were used.
“This is the type of game that avid fans will play for the rest of their lives,” Madden said. “I will never forget going to Japan and walking to Japan.” [the Tokyo neighborhood] Check out the Street Fighter 2 machines in Akihabara and see a middle-aged man in a suit playing a few rounds before heading back to his office. “
The series culminated with Street Fighter 6, released earlier this month, to critical and commercial success, selling over a million copies in its first weekend, as well as gaining popularity among Madden and the fighting game community. It boasted positive word of mouth from the biggest stars. Twitch streamer Maximilian Doud. In a way, the new version epitomizes why the series survives: his constantly updated game mechanics and his aesthetic roots in street culture and hip-hop.
Street Fighter has had its ups and downs. The third installment made little money in arcades, but in recent years has been hailed as one of the best fighting games of all time. In his 2004 match during the EVO tournament, Daigo Umehara made a surprise comeback against Justin Wong, parrying his hits with split second timing. This ending is known as “EVO Moment 37” and is often called the greatest moment in competitive gaming history.
The fourth game introduced sophisticated online play for consoles. The fifth game focused more on monetization schemes than gameplay and once again struggled with lackluster features at launch. However, each game is typically updated and improved in the months following its release, as developers polish the foundations of the series.
“Street Fighter 6” Director Takayuki Nakayama “The most attractive and important element is the unique and interesting characters” of the series. “It’s about enjoying each character’s individuality and worldview, and experiencing the fun of fighting in a variety of ways.”
Big, bold characters of various ethnicities and nationalities set the series apart from other video games. Blanca was a green beastman from Brazil. Chun-Li was a femme fatale Hong Kong detective. Zangief was a Soviet-era professional wrestler who danced with Mikhail Gorbachev. The sixth installment adds new characters such as Manon, a French supermodel and judo master, and Kimberly, an African-American ninja and tag artist. Each fighter has a different fighting style, such as Kung Fu, Muay Thai, Capoeira. The series initially posed questions players still ask each other 30 years after his death. “Who is your ‘main’? Which character is the best avatar to express your aggression?”
“Street Fighter requires you to be independent and to fully understand who you’re fighting and who you’re fighting,” Madden said. “There are no factors to consider other than your opponent and the characters you are using against each other.”
This game is believed to have given fuel The beginning of mixed martial arts as entertainment. The first UFC tournament in 1993 was held as a real-life version of fighting games such as Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat, as organizers wanted to distance themselves from professional wrestling theatre. The Street Fighter series is giving back by making its new protagonist Luke a mixed martial artist.
“Change from 2D to 3D visuals” [since “Street Fighter 4”] It also makes it easier to convey grappling and throwing techniques. “ Nakayama said. “This kind of movement might look mundane in his 2D setup, but the addition of camerawork can make this kind of grabbing and locking technique more dynamic.”
In “Street Fighter 6”, players can now create their own fighters. Nakayama said the team has also developed a simpler alternative control system to address the long-standing problem that fighting games are too complicated for most people. Instead of spinning the joystick and throwing fireballs, he just needs to press a button and push the joystick forward. In addition, the “World Tour” mode features an original story in which various Street Fighter characters undergo step-by-step training.
“A key concept for us was not to force the player through a series of tutorials, but to provide an interesting experience of improving the game at the same time,” Nakayama said. “Rather than forcing all players to play ranked matches, we wanted to create an experience where people would love Street Fighter from different perspectives.”
Like MMA, hip-hop music has had a two-way influence with fighting games for decades. Even more recently, this year’s “Princess Diana” by Ice Spice opened with Mortal quoting his Kombat.
Street culture has been part of Street Fighter’s identity since 1987, when the introductory screen to the first arcade game featured graffiti art on a brick wall. The 1994 film Street Fighter soundtrack featured Ice Cube, Nas, Farcyde and Chuck D. Lil Wayne is now the face of marketing for Street Fighter 6.
LA-based rappers Randy Marx and Rocco808 wrote the theme song for their new game, “Not on the Sidelines,” and released the music video last summer alongside dancer Sumi Oshima and paraplegic graffiti artist Benny Diar. appeared in. The song’s lyrics speak broadly about not giving up the fight.
Genta Jamal Hamani, a 28-year-old Hawaiian-born rapper known as Rocco808, said his friend and music producer GRP contacted him about a top-secret project in 2020.
“I got an email from the GRP saying ‘I need your help,’ so I thought he might be in trouble, so I immediately drove to his studio,” Hamani said. “When we arrived, the Executive Producer and GRP told us that we were going to be involved in a very large project. They just said “fighting game,” so I used the context as a clue. I couldn’t think too deeply. It wasn’t until last summer, when he flew to New York City with Marx to promote the video through a partnership with Rolling Stone magazine, that he found out what it was for.
Hamani grew up with the series because he played Street Fighter 2 as a kid at a family-run video game shop in Honolulu. “To be honest, I’m still pretty hesitant to be part of it.”
Another rapper on SF6’s theme, Mr. Markus (real name Randy Mark Yrigoyen Jr.), says the series’ street credibility shines through because the creators weren’t as independent as he was. He said it was because he chose to elevate the artist. “The energy and atmosphere were just right,” Yrigoyen said. “I was warmly welcomed by the team and praised for my contribution to the project. It really changed my life.”
As a lifelong listener, series producer Shuhei Matsumoto is responsible for the hip-hop aesthetic of the new game. He can clatter tracks from artists who have sampled the series, including DJ Qbert, Kanye West, Metro Boomin and Future. The lyric site Genius has been in rap poetry for decades, including Megan his Gee his Stallion’s “I’m Ryu, Yellow his diamonds move like his Pikachu” in his 2019 freestyle performance. Recorded the existence of the game.
Matsumoto said Street Fighter 6 is a tribute to this 30-year feedback loop.
“I strongly believe that ‘Street Fighter’ is similar to hip-hop culture, evolving while respecting past works and artists,” he said. “Games and this culture have grown together.”
“Street Fighter 3” has the heaviest hip-hop presence, with composer Hideki Okugawa working on several tracks with a jazz-infused beat reminiscent of A Tribe Called Quest’s umbop sound. I wrote The series then moved away from his early 2000s street aesthetic, adopting a Japanese pop-inspired art style instead. The revival in “Street Fighter 6” delighted fans.
“As the title suggests, the decision to go back to hip-hop, the street was the best they could do,” said Madden. “At arcades, it was an environment where you were hanging out with people listening to hip-hop. The whole atmosphere was part of it. It’s about Street Fighter.”
Other Articles
