Unlike The American Street Fighter Cartoon, Street Fighter II V Treats Projectiles As A PRIVILEGE, NOT A RIGHT

I finished the Street Fighter II V series. Yes, gotta burn some muscle. I thought about how the American Street Fighter cartoon treated the projectiles as merely "common bullets". It should be noted that the Street Fighter games weren't marketed by the ESRB as Everyone but Teen-rated. That may be why the American Street Fighter cartoon had Guile firing the Sonic Boom like he didn't need to charge Back (or Down-Backwards) for at least two seconds before firing it! On the other hand, Street Fighter II V was really aimed at an older audience but wasn't too fortunate to face off against Crayon Shin Chan's Hentai No Hadou.

As I said, I can't resist bringing up the Street Fighter movie. I remember how the movie avoided the use of projectiles, presumably for practical reasons. For example, having Jean-Claude Van Damme fire a Sonic Boom could result in a very badly done one. I mean, Bison's CGI lightning was probably just passable. It was probably due to the CGI budget as well as the pyrotechnics. From a plot standpoint, those projectiles could've easily ended things. Imagine if Ryu and Ken fired a Hadouken against Vega and Sagat. Imagine if Chun Li had her Kikouken in the movie and she just fired a Kikouken at Bison when he psychologically tortures her. Also, if Guile just fired a Sonic Boom (which is basically a ki attack using air physics), he could've won against Bison without the base exploding within the movie continuity.

The Street Fighter II Anime treated the projectiles as abilities that are too. In fact, like the movie, you never saw Guile fire a Sonic Boom, Chun Li fire a Kikoho, Dhalsim (who's a monk here) breathe fire, Fei Long use a flaming rising kick, or Sagat fire a tiger shot. Instead, we see mostly fisticuffs being done in contrast to what the American Street Fighter cartoon did.

The American Street Fighter cartoon treated projectiles like they were "easy-peasy". I even had a feeling that I'd still HATE the American cartoon even if they made Ryu and Ken the protagonists. Seeing Ryu and Ken casually just throw a Hadouken "like that" may be because of the TV-Y7-FV rules. The Hadouken here just tossed the guards aside.

However, in Street Fighter II V, the power of Hadou isn't a joke. Instead, it fits Uncle Ben from Spider-Man's lesson of, "With great power comes great responsibility." Ryu's Hadouken manages to affect the ocean waves. Ken learns he could incorporate the Hadou energy into his Shoryuken (which is meant to throw back to the games) and create the Flaming Shoryuken. Ken NEVER learns the Hadouken in Street Fighter II V. Dhalsim even told them that the power of the Hadou should NEVER BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED. It's almost like the philosophy behind ki attacks in the Dragon Ball franchise. 

This could get anyone confused. Several fight scenes were bordering on Wuxia-ridiculous. Seeing Ryu and Ken survive a fight with a highly ranked military officer like Guile feels stupid. However, I have to admit that every animation during every scene, from Guile dealing with Ryu to dealing with Ken, was basically capitalizing on Van Damme's raw power in animation. Guile never launched a single Sonic Boom on set for some reason; neither did Chun Li fire a Kikoho, JUST LIKE THE MOVIE. I want to believe Group TAC wanted to show off how good they drew fisticuffs and honestly, projectiles can become an easy way out. 

Street Fighter II V's finale even had real intensity. Ryu and Ken were fighting Bison as a madman at that dark dimension. My favorite part was how Ryu and Ken aren't even spamming Hadou. Ryu and Ken are dodging Bison's lightning attacks as a life-and-death scenario. Ken even went near zero after he temporarily stopped Bison's ramming attacks with a Hadou Shoryuken. Ryu had to finish the job and the Hadouken was used to FINISH BISON. Bison was defeated. Ryu and Ken emerged revealing they have survived -- effectively taking Guile's place while Guile greets them after Guile prevented a mind-controlled Chun Li from causing any more trouble. 

This is why I felt that the final Street Fighter American cartoon episode felt like a bad joke. The projectile spamming where Sagat and Guile both shot projectiles at Bison, and then Bison finally getting swallowed up by the humongous supervillain computers. Honestly, Bison's death in the cartoon felt more like a Looney Tunes' villain death than a well-deserved ending. 

So yeah, the games don't respect the logic of the fighting game. In the fighting game, you can get hit by fire multiple times, get your life bar depleted, try to win, insert token. However, Street Fighter II V treated ever projectile as a privilege instead of a right!