Street Fighter II Movie (ストリートファイターII MOVIE Sutorīto Faitā Tsū Mūbī?) is a video game released by Capcom exclusively in Japan for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn, based on the OVA of the same name.
Street Fighter II: The Interactive Movie featured a few unique additions and variations compared to the original OVA. One key difference is the inclusion of a new scene during Chun-Li's fight against Vega, where she fires a Kikoken. The game also had multiple endings, including one where M. Bison becomes President of the United States, another where Ryu and Ken team up, and a third where the Cyborg turns against M. Bison. Additionally, the game incorporated elements of the movie, including specific battles and unique animated scenes.
Gameplay
The player takes control of one of Shadaloo's Cyborgs, and is given the mission to record data on fighters from around the world.
The gameplay consists of watching FMV clips from the actual movie and analyzing them using the "search" command. On each stage, the player has a limited amount of time to analyze their surrounding as much as possible in order to gather the most data. The player can take pictures, and if he does so when characters are fighting, it enhances the Cyborg's power. Several battles from the movie are included, as well as some extra animated scenes exclusive to this game.
Near the end of the game, the Cyborg will face Ryu in a one-on-one battle. This segment is done in traditional Street Fighter fashion and uses the same gameplay system as Super Street Fighter II Turbo, with the Cyborg having access to Ken's moveset (and even his mind and memories). The fight is only one round and the difficulty will depend on the player's performance during the "main" game. There are three possible endings depending on the outcome of this fight.
The player can keep track of their Cyborg's development via a save file or through a passcode. The game also features a battle mode, where the players can test their Cyborg's current abilities against a virtual hologram of Ryu. There is also a versus mode, where both players control Cyborg. Another feature is the gallery mode, which contains character profiles, design sketches and storyboards from the anime movie.
Reception
Although unreleased in America, the game was shown at the 1995 Electronic Entertainment Expo under the title of Street Fighter II: The Interactive Movie. A version for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer was also announced, but never released, this was due to negative feedback from critics and players alike:
- Boring gameplay. All players do is watch an abridged version of Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie and point at key details happening on the screen.
- The is the second fighting game in the entire franchise after Street Fighter where only two character are playable (Cyborg 1 and Cyborg 2). The roster of 17 characters from Super Street Fighter II Turbo is unavailable due to the Four Kings bosses Sagat, Balrog, Vega, and M. Bison lacking in-game character sprite redesigns to fit their OVA counterparts.
- Even though players have the ability to scan multiple street fighters featured in the interactive movie, the Cyborg will always have Ken's moveset and not be able to change it which feels like a missed opportunity to make the game more unique with the Street Fighter II name. So in a way, players are essentially playing as an echo-fighter of Ken.
- No matter how good players think their monitor cyborg's stats are, they will seem weak to Ryu in comparison because he is all-around a better fighter than the cyborgs based on what attributes players can improve. While some people will see this as a worthy challenge, it defeats the purpose of the gameplay especially for those who want to achieve the different endings for defeating Ryu.
- Sometimes the game is not clear on what is scannable to improve stats. Players scan a character punching to have their cyborg's punches deal more damage, but for something like defense and speed is not as obvious. This makes it infuriating when players scan something that seems of interest, but then a message appears telling players that they scanned too early or too late. When this happens, they are prohibited from scanning again until the message disappears. When that happens, players miss precious time to increase stats.
- When players face-off against Ryu, it is only for one round instead of the usual two. If they lose, then players have to watch the movie again from the beginning which is nearly an hour long before they can fight Ryu again. The stats are also reset so players have to rescan what they have scanned before and scan new things in order to improve their monitor cyborg. Trying to get the best ending which can be obtained by defeating Ryu without taking damage does not seem worth it if the game forces players to watch the movie again.
- The Playstation version suffers from longer loading times and more frequent disc switching compared to the Saturn version.
- Despite the criticism, this game was wildly considered to have the best in-game cutscenes in any 1990s iteration of the Street Fighter II series.
Gallery
Trivia
- An unused picture in the Gallery mode. Depicts a screenshot of a scene with Akuma that was cut from the film, with the text "DISC READ ERROR" over it.