Examining "Street Fighter II V" With Its Possible "Street Fighter" Movie References

It's known that I didn't like the Street Fighter live-action film. Adaptations will always have some form of altercation. I felt that Ken Masters, not William Guile, should've been the protagonist for an American adaptation of Street Fighter. However, the movie itself was still more forgivable than that accursed Street Fighter cartoon in 1995 -- which came out in the same year but a few months later. So yeah, Capcom was getting double royalties from Group TAC (Japan) and the American companies, Graz Entertainment and InVision Entertainment. The American cartoon ran for two seasons, which was considered the worst addition of the franchise with a very anticlimactic end. 

However, it seemed that Street Fighter II V decided to follow the movie DNA in some way. The American version made Guile spam Sonic Booms as the main character and use projectiles. However, here, we don't see any projectiles and it took AN ENTIRE SEASON before Ryu and Ken performed Hadou energy moves -- such as the Hadouken (Ryu) and Ken later learning to use Hadou energy into his Shoryuken. In fact, several characters here DON'T even use projectile moves while referencing some of their NON-PROJECTILE GAMEPLAY. 

Note that I'll be using the AMERICAN names here for easier reference. 

Ryu and Ken are troublesome youths

The series went back to its roots with Ryu Hoshi and Ken Masters as the main protagonists. So yeah, these two are basically youngsters who couldn't stay out of trouble. These two don't even know how to use a Hadouken or the fancy moves of the game. In fact, Ryu even had to learn the power of the Hadouken as a very dangerous move. Talk about tons of "realism" there since special moves were PRETTY DIFFICULT to pull off or even strategize back in the 1990s. I remember how I often lost arcade matches playing this game. 

It was interesting these two had swapped fight. Ryu was framed for drugs, and he got arrested. Ryu had a fight with Sagat who in here was a disgraced Muay Thai boxer but never a former Shadaloo agent. I felt that the Anime series corrected the fight by having Ken have an intense cage match with Claw instead of Ryu in the movie. Here, the Boxer is strangely enough become an adaptational wimp as he was more of the Dictator's personal secretary than enforcer. Yeah, strange how the Boxer 

When your Chun Li can't fire a fireball but she can kick you hard

 

Chun Li Xiang wasn't even able to fire her Kikoho LIKE THE FILM. Honestly, I thought about how Chun Li in the Anime series looks kinda like Chinese American actress Ming Na Wen. Intentional or not? Honestly, it seems to be TBH as Chun Li also wore a red cheongsam within the Anime TV series. However, unlike the movie, Dorai here managed to survive but was probably meant to die if another season was created. 

A Guile that can't fire a Sonic Boom but still gives you a beating 

Maybe I could also Guile here. Guile was turned into an extra character here because it's the Japanese version. I always felt Guile wasn't fit for main protagonist material compared to playing the sidekick role like Commissioner Gordon or Chief O' Hara. This version of Guile did a flash kick WITHOUT the Ki energy. Guile did that painful flip kick on Ryu and later defeated Ken. 

He was basically a plot kicker. He was a military man, so it was only normal that he beat Ryu and Ken at first. This seems to refer to the Street Fighter America film. This was almost a correction of the Movie Guile by putting him where he belongs -- the important sidekick department. Might not look like Jean Claude Van Damme, but carried THAT SAME DYNAMIC. 

It was amazing to see the Van Damme Energy put into the professional staller. He was seen fighting Bison as much as he could. He also fought Zangief, who was a Shadaloo dummy. His final fight was to free Chun Li from mind control. 

Zangief's role as a Shadaloo dummy

It's unknown why the Anime chose this route. Zangief here still exists as the unwitting pawn of Bison's schemes. Zangief isn't known to be particularly intelligent, so he may think Bison's a good guy. The games always portrayed him as a good guy, though.  

My minor disappointment was that I wish Zangief had said in the Anime, "QUICK! CHANGE THE CHANNEL!" to a scene where a truck is heading there. I suspect that the writers planned that funny scene. However, it was probably deleted since it might've disrupted the serialized storytelling. 

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Basically, the whole series was what I'd call better than the American Street Fighter cartoon that came out that same year. This one probably gets more credit than it deserves because the American version just sucks!