Street Fighter the Movie Broke My Heart

[anoon]

I just saw another post regarding Street Fighter the Movie.

I've been lurking on the Shoryuken forums for a while now. Each time this game comes up, I'm always tempted to post about it... but then I chicken out. I figure maybe now is as good a time as any. It's been over 10 years. Perhaps I should post before I forget too much.

Hopefully, what I am about to write does not qualify me for immediate banishment from the board. I have a confession:

I worked on Street Fighter the Movie. Arcade version.

I'm not going to post here and try to convince anyone that SFTM is any good. Clearly we all know where it ranks amongst the rest of the Street Fighter legacy. I just figured it might be fun for some of you to hear a little bit about the stuff that went on behind the scenes.

Any interest?

UPDATE 12-13-08: Images back online: SFTM Blogpost

[Soundatron]

I'm really interested on this gabbage game

[AMinorThreat]

I just saw another post regarding Street Fighter the Movie.

I've been lurking on the Shoryuken forums for a while now. Each time this game comes up, I'm always tempted to post about it... but then I chicken out. I figure maybe now is as good a time as any. It's been over 10 years. Perhaps I should post before I forget too much.

Hopefully, what I am about to write does not qualify me for immediate banishment from the board. I have a confession:

I worked on Street Fighter the Movie. Arcade version.

I'm not going to post here and try to convince anyone that SFTM is any good. Clearly we all know where it ranks amongst the rest of the Street Fighter legacy. I just figured it might be fun for some of you to hear a little bit about the stuff that went on behind the scenes.

Any interest?

so.... did you guys test the game for 5 or 10 minutes?

[Maj]

You know what, i typically stay away from these discussions too, but i don't know what the hell these haters are talking about. SFTM was absolutely revolutionary. I had no idea until i tried out the arcade version a couple of months ago. There so many goddamn features in that game that were way way way ahead of their time, and subsequently stolen by just about every fighting game for the decade after the game was released.

Also, i don't understand why they sold out and raped the game for console release. If they had translated the game engine mechanics from the arcade version into the console version, the game would have a completely different legacy. Instead, nobody played the arcade version and everyone bought the Saturn/PS1 version for $10 from the bargain bin. Of course they hated it. It was basically an inferior clone of ST with ugly graphics resembling characters we hate.

So yes, i'm definately interested in hearing some of the behind-the-scenes stories regarding this game's design and development.

[Shinto]

Im game to hear about the in dept of the game.

[YellowS4]

Hell of a lot better than KOF.

I do have to echo some of Maj's sentiments though regarding the game.

[Dasrik]

No bans. Tell us more.

[Super Warrior]

I just saw another post regarding Street Fighter the Movie.

I've been lurking on the Shoryuken forums for a while now. Each time this game comes up, I'm always tempted to post about it... but then I chicken out. I figure maybe now is as good a time as any. It's been over 10 years. Perhaps I should post before I forget too much.

Hopefully, what I am about to write does not qualify me for immediate banishment from the board. I have a confession:

I worked on Street Fighter the Movie. Arcade version.

I'm not going to post here and try to convince anyone that SFTM is any good. Clearly we all know where it ranks amongst the rest of the Street Fighter legacy. I just figured it might be fun for some of you to hear a little bit about the stuff that went on behind the scenes.

Any interest?

Why was the home version, which was an entirely different game cooked up for the console, WORSE?

Why didn't they just port the arcade?

Also just HOW MUCH of a hand did you have in the Arcade game?

[thedude.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVdFgwCuQc

:p

[CarpeNoctumXIII]

Damn, just when I was able to block it out of my mind, you've brought it back! NO!

[AlterGenesis]

That was some seriously gay shit and I didn't need to see it again. HURRICANE! DRAGON! Fuck, that's messed up. Stop linking to that video please, I've seen it enough. =P

[Kyokuji]

I like how the guy doing Ryu managed to pronounce everything wrong.
Jumps were wayyy too fast in that game.

[anoon]

Ok, so I started writing things down in a seperate doc, and ended up filling 3 pages with the background history. I'll spare you all that for the moment, as it is late, and just answer the questions already posted.

so.... did you guys test the game for 5 or 10 minutes?

Ok, that was honestly pretty funny. believe it or not, we tested it like crazy. As far as I know, it is bug/crash free. if you are referring to the gameplay... well that's another matter, which I will eventually get around to.

SFTM was absolutely revolutionary... ...There so many goddamn features in that game that were way way way ahead of their time

Well, I think you are probably being overly generous there, but while I wouldn't say anything was "stolen" from SFTM, I do like to think that we did have a few good ideas here and there. There are some pretty interesting similarities between some of the things we did, (as well as a number of things we proposed but didn't get in the game,) versus features that showed up in later SF games in particular. Again, I'm not taking credit for these ideas; just coincidences worth mentioning.

Why was the home version, which was an entirely different game cooked up for the console, WORSE?

Well, either version being better than the other is largely subjective, but thanks anyway. :) In my mind, both had their own unique strengths and weaknesses compared to the other. For example, while we did share the same raw digitized footage, each group processed it in a different manner. Maybe I'm biased, but I personally feel that our character art ended up looking better, while I feel that their game played better as it is truer to the Street Fighter game play. (Funny enough, at the start of the project, I was adamant that the right way to execute the project would be to request the art from the original games so we could have the actors match each pose exactly during digitizing. Ultimately this did not come to pass and each character had an entirely new moveset for coin op. it appears as if the console team did more manual editing of the capture data to create many of the signature Street Fighter poses. I wish we would have done that too.)

Why didn't they just port the arcade?

As far as to why another group (Capcom out of CA office,) did the home port, I don't know the details of the arrangement, but I'd wager that it was largely due to the fact that we were a coin op company that did not have the expertise or experience with the new 3D consoles to do the port.

Also just HOW MUCH of a hand did you have in the Arcade game?

Quite a large hand, honestly. I am credited as Co-Designer, Artist, and Actor. I can go into further detail later.

HURRICANE! DRAGON! Fuck, that's messed up

LOL. It seemed like such a good idea at the time! Seriously though, it was impossible to get the hollywood actors to say the real japanese wording. IMPOSSIBLE. believe me, I tried. We had an actual SSF2 on the set to demo it. We played recordings. We had the Japanese Capcom guys there coaching. We wrote it out phonetically. I believe we even had sound sessions with Japanese speaking voice actors, but in the end, you have to understand that there was a movement to Americanize the game somehow, so the English stuck. Again, I can go into that further later.

Ok, so there's a little info. If people want more, perhaps what I'll do is post a paragraph or two from the doc I started writing every so often.

Thanks for reading, and thanks to Shoryuken for the opportunity to come clean!

[FragMasterGen]

more! tell us more!

[Rioting Soul]

LOL. It seemed like such a good idea at the time! Seriously though, it was impossible to get the hollywood actors to say the real japanese wording. IMPOSSIBLE. believe me, I tried. We had an actual SSF2 on the set to demo it. We played recordings. We had the Japanese Capcom guys there coaching. We wrote it out phonetically. I believe we even had sound sessions with Japanese speaking voice actors, but in the end, you have to understand that there was a movement to Americanize the game somehow, so the English stuck. Again, I can go into that further later.

I can understand that. But why doesn't Jean-Claude say "Sonic Boom"?

[Maj]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJVdFgwCuQc

:p

Seriously, whoever is playing during that video is a total scrub. I mean, he's got no idea whatsoever what you can do in that game. Imagine some random 3S player trying to play MvC2 for the first time. That's what you're seeing in that video, no joke.

Ok, so I started writing things down in a seperate doc, and ended up filling 3 pages with the background history. I'll spare you all that for the moment, as it is late, and just answer the questions already posted.

Well, I think you are probably being overly generous there, but while I wouldn't say anything was "stolen" from SFTM, I do like to think that we did have a few good ideas here and there. There are some pretty interesting similarities between some of the things we did, (as well as a number of things we proposed but didn't get in the game,) versus features that showed up in later SF games in particular. Again, I'm not taking credit for these ideas; just coincidences worth mentioning.

Dude just post the the doc file. Don't be shy, haha. And no, i'm not being overly generous. Personally i think the console versions are pretty weak because they try to go in the same direction as ST and fail miserably. On the other hand, i think the arcade version goes in a completely new and bold direction, and accomplishes some interesting things. Don't get me wrong - i don't think there's any way whatsoever to play that game in a tournament setting cuz there are 100% combos and infinites all over the place. But at the same time, it's a really interesting experiment and there aren't too many games that you can say that about. I'm not a fan of the SFTM games, but i do think that the arcade version is vastly, majorly underrated.

[fistoftheryustar]

this is quite a cool thread.

can you tell us more about akuma in that game. i dont think he was in the movie.

also if you could tell, how hard is it to take someone's movements and put it in a 2-d game (as opposed to the ping pong ball suits used nowdays)?

[Spooty Whiteboy]

I'm not a fan of the SFTM games, but i do think that the arcade version is vastly, majorly underrated.

I agree with you 100%. I actually really enjoy playing this "crap" game. So much shit that you can do; and some of it is very stupid...which makes it great. It can't be taken seriously, but it is one of the best "fun" games ever.

[Shinto]

Please tell more.

Why Sawada? Why Blade ? Why Akuma ? were they there for fillers?

No Dhalsim, No Blanka?

[FallingEdge]

Post up that doc file. I am interested in reading it as well.

As for my question, did you guys seriously believe that the game was good? I mean, I'm not expecting that you guys thought it was the greatest of all time but as you were coding/developing/playing it, what was going through your mind?

[AlterGenesis]

Doesn't that question come into into mind when shitty games get released? We only wonder what the hell quality check team was on when they decided to release such a game. I for one, would like to get an opinion of how people saw a shitty game once and for all before they released it.

[Vic Viper]

I like how the guy doing Ryu managed to pronounce everything wrong.
Jumps were wayyy too fast in that game.

TaSemenMonkeyMadPoo = TatsuMakiSenpuuKyaku

[AlterGenesis]

Shoroooken = Shoryuken =/

[Unreallystic]

I can't complain about the arcade release - serious tourny fighter? No. fun way to kill time? YES. I had a ball playing it a few evenings ago. It was broken, and MvC2 is a sign that broken games are just fun. I kinda want to go home and play it now actually.
-

[Lantis]

can you tell us more about akuma in that game. i dont think he was in the movie.

Akuma was portrayed by Ernie Reyes Sr, dad of Ernie Reyes Jr, TEH SURF NINJAAAAAAAA!

Therefore, he is full of win. Obviously he was meant to be the most broken character in the game.

On a side note: Wow, comedy threads in FGD? There's a first....