Street Fighter II remains one of most iconic and famous video games of all time, and its visuals and music are etched in the memory of many a gamer. The colourful backdrops against which you fight have passed into gaming lore, which makes any piece of trivia regarding them incredibly interesting (for us, at least).
With that in mind, check out this fresh evidence:
It's not uncommon for video games to draw inspiration from movies, and in the '80s and '90s this was practically the norm. Still, it's fun to see how one piece of mainstream media can influence another so strongly and directly, and knowing that Ken and Zangief's backgrounds are based on a flick from the '70s somehow makes them even more appealing.
UPDATE: Kotaku has picked up on this too, and points out that Capcom artist Akira “Akiman” Yasuda has previously cited the movie as inspiration:
I remember stitching together a few movies to make a presentation. “Streets of Fire” and Charles Bronson’s “Hard Times” were the ones I used back then. Basically movies about fighting. I really took the chairman’s words to heart - “Use movies!” he said, so I took that to mean we should just openly plagiarize them (laughs).
It is also noted that Hard Times was re-titled The Streetfighter when it was released in Japan! Guess it was just us who didn't know this, then.
Have you spotted any similar moments of inspiration in classic games?
This article was originally published by nintendolife.com on Tue 20th March, 2018.
Comments 21
This kind of stuff, while not all that surprising, blows my mind.
A reminder that The Square goes with everything.
I don't know inspired what become SFII but clearly it had some influence into what become Ken stage and Zangief's stage/character.
I love this stuff! And yes, one time while my car was getting serviced, I was randomly watching a 1960s TV show, "The Big Valley", Episode: "the Price of Victory". By the end of the episode, I was (and remain) convinced this little-known show inspired my favorite NES game of all-time, Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! The VanKaiser outfits were my first clue, but the focus on a fighter’s weakness and tells sold me.
See for yourself here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gA_cGsnFMM8
@Robotron2084 No!
Walter Hill must have been a god to certain Japanese arcade game designers; the director of Hard Times went on to direct The Warriors and Streets of Fire, both of which must have been big influences on the beat 'em-up genre.
Streets of Fire especially; Cody from Final Fight is named after the main character Tom Cody, the infamous opening cutscene from Double Dragon is just like the first scene of the film where the hero's love interest is kidnapped by a gang who walk away with her slung over the leader's shoulder, and even the title may have inspired the western name of the Bare Knuckle series, Streets of Rage.
Addendum: According to IMDb, Hard Times had the working title Street Fighter, variations of which were used for certain international markets, including the UK! (The name change probably had something to do with the Sonny Chiba film from around the same time)
Bloodsport
I need to own Hard Times now. It was Street Fighter before it was cool.
Very cool find. Will put Hard Times on my to watch list
The Italy stage in Alpha is based on the fight scene from way of the dragon in which Bruce Lee fought Chuck Norris.
Very Cool to know that. I like stuff like this; what influenced what, & so on.
Speaking of classic games, on a related note, don't forgot that Wii points can still be added until next Monday(the 26th), and still spent until January 2019. So, you might wanna grab any SF, or any games on there, that aren't on WU, or are licensed. I know someone made a list of games still only on the service, but wasn't there a SF game only on there?
@Retron
Looked pretty direct to me and now you can know, thanks to @BensonUii and a Kotaku article.
Sadly whoever made the film never sued Capcom for not only using the Street Fighter name but also the two background sceneries too so basically Capcom got lucky. Since the movie was called The Street Fighter in Japan and renamed to Hard Time everywhere else, Capcom wouldn't had been able to use the name Street Fighter everywhere else.
Mad. I never knew this film as Hard Times, to me it was always The Street Fighter...
Loose connection: Hard Times was also the title of a song by The Jetzons, which formed the basis of the Ice Cap Zone theme in Sonic 3
@bluedogrulez I know that show well and remember the episode. It certainly does seem like it might have inspired game design in Punch Out. Shows like that enjoyed a lot of success around the world, so it's quite plausible. Capcom did have a game called Gun.Smoke, after all.
The scene in Terminator where Arnold fights the punks with mohawks may have been an inspiration for final fights character design. Every time I've seen that movie it reminded me of final fight.
@sdelfin: That's incredible! Thanks for not dismissing my crackpot theory . . . we could be on to something, lol!
That is a great piece of trivia! Now I want to see that movie.
What's that, Captain Obvious? A game's settings are inspired by other kinds of art? No way! That's absurd!
Everything in the late 80's to early 90's - Streets of Rage.
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