Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

Who can remember the first time Ryu and Ken appeared? My first remembrance of them was in the  Street Fighter II series where the two characters played very much alike. They had their three basic moves namely the Hadoken, Shoryuken, and the Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku with very little difference. The Street Fighter II series had me picking Ken (at first) though over time - I was more tuned in to Ryu himself. It was probably due to Ken being ore cocky. Over time, the Street Fighter II series started to evolve in both arcades and consoles. There was Super Street Fighter II and later Super Street Fighter II Turbo which started to differentiate them even more. The differences were spelled out even further in the prequel trilogy called the Street Fighter Alpha series - games that took place before Street Fighter II came to light. So, how did the differences take place? Ken was made master and more juggle-friendly. Ryu was made to be more of that heavy hitter. Ryu eventually had his focus on ...

The adaptation will never be canon to the source material, right? Street Fighter II V is an Anime series that had deviated greatly from the video games. It was a 1995 cartoon that came in way before Cammy's rather bizarre original as a modified clone of M. Bison in Street Fighter Alpha 3 - a game that came AFTER this series. Amazing was that the American Street Fighter cartoon was also aired in 1995 with Guile as the protagonist. This was one series that de-aged the main protagonists Ryu and Ken to just teenagers, Chun Li isn't even a detective (yet) and is still a struggling reporter. Other non-canon elements include a Ken and Chun Li shipping all the while the former is married to Eliza (Guile's sister-in-law) in the games. You don't see the Hadouken used UNTIL the series end.  What's the whole point of having ONE SEASON before the Hadouken was used? Granted, this isn't game canon. Notice that many of the projectile-based characters here DO NOT use their proje...

The variations between the adaptation (or remake) vs. the video games really do differ a lot, right? A good example is how Zangief who's a HERO in canon ends up becoming a villain in non-canon Street Fighter media. How he appeared as a villain varied from adaptation to adaptation. The failed Street Fighter movie which made Guile the protagonist over Ryu made him a naive villain. He had no idea that M. Bison was REALLY a bad guy. He had his funny moment when he said, "Quick! Change the channel!" when a truck was about to hit their base. He had no idea that Shadaloo was a villain organization. Ironically, Balrog who is a VILLAIN in the games was a good guy in the movies.  After the failed movie - two more series followed. One was the Street Fighter II V cartoon and the American-exclusive Street Fighter cartoon. Zangief played as a dumb muscle antagonist in both versions - something he doesn't become in the Anime movies.  Why did this happen? There hasn't been a clea...