Street Fighter (TV series)

Plot

Colonel William F. Guile is the leader of the "Street Fighters", an international undercover peacekeeping force composed of martial artists from around the world. They often face off against the ruthless General Bison and his Shadaloo criminal empire. They follow a code of honor involving the keywords "discipline", "justice" and "commitment".

All 17 fighters from Super Street Fighter II Turbo, along with Captain Sawada from the live-action movie, appeared in some form throughout the entire series, with Guile, Chun-Li, Blanka, Ryu, Ken and Cammy serving as the show's primary characters. Since the arcade version of Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams was only recently released when the show began airing, most of the new fighters that were introduced in that game only make a cameo in one episode ("The Medium is the Message") during the first season. The second season (which aired after the release of Street Fighter Alpha 2) would feature the Alpha roster more prominently, with characters such as Rose and Sakura being the focus of certain episodes, while another episode would adapt the plot of Final Fight (since Guy and Sodom have already appeared as playable fighters in the first two Alpha games, along with Rolento in Alpha 2). Some non-playable characters from the games were also featured in the show such as Cammy's Delta Red compatriots (although they are given different character designs and names) and Gouken. In contrast, Guile's wife and daughter from the games (Jane and Amy) were omitted in favor of giving him a new love interest in the form of his ex-fiancee Cindy.

While the series references the events of the live-action movie, adopting some of its story elements such as the full names and occupations of certain characters (e.g. William F. Guile, Chun-Li Xiang) and the character of Blanka being an amalgamation of himself and Guile's war buddy Charlie, it also deviated from the film in other aspects, particularly in regards to Balrog's and Dee Jay's respective allegiances (switching them back to how they were in the actual games), as well as Zangief's own allegiance (who still works for Shadaloo in the series, despite leaving the organization to join Guile's group by the end of the movie).

Voice actors

Home video release

ADV Films has released the complete series on Region 1 DVD. The first set, Street Fighter: Code of Honor, was released on April 13, 2003 and contains all the Season 1 episodes; while the second set, Street Fighter: Soul Powers, released on May 13, 2003, and contains all the Season 2 episodes. Both of the DVD sets are now out of print. Discotek Media will re-release the TV series in 2015. A 25th Anniversary Collector's Set of games, which includes a Blu-ray Disc of the entire TV series, was released in North America on September 18, 2012.

Reception

Despite lasting two seasons—the same amount as Mortal Kombat: Defenders of the Realm and Darkstalkers combined—Street Fighter has suffered from predominantly negative reception. 411Mania included the series in a 2010 feature titled "The 8 Worst Street Fighter Franchise Failures" on the grounds that "the animation was sub-Captain Planet, the story was contrived, and the dialogue was wretched." Nick Chester of Destructoid called the show "an abomination" and "spectacularly awful." 1UP.com labeled the series "really crappy" and added, "[W]hile SF fans love to quote the Street Fighter movie ... they are usually less enthusiastic about the Saturday morning cartoon." The site also included the show in their list of the "Top 5 Not-So-Classic Video Game Cartoons" on the basis of the plot. "Do you remember when Guile recruited every character in the game into a secret anti-terrorist paramilitary group? I don't either." While Street Fighter was omitted from GamesRadar's 2010 list of "truly horrendous" video game cartoons, it was still mentioned as "a terrible abomination that would have made our list if Darkstalkers hadn’t knocked it off."