page nineteen
Although yet to return as either an opponent or a playable character, Retsu, the first Japanese opponent in Street Fighter, made a canonical reappearance in the form of a famous piece of promotional artwork for Warriors' Dreams. In this picture Retsu is seen standing over a beaten and bloody Dan Hibiki. This image accomplishes three things; firstly it cleverly joins up Street Fighter with Street Fighter Alpha in the series timeline. Secondly, it vicariously pokes fun at rivals SNK; the spoof character Dan is not even a good match for Retsu—often the very first opponent faced in Street Fighter! Thirdly it informs the player of the futility of Dan's quest to avenge his father; if Dan can't compete with Retsu what chance does he have against Sagat? Retsu also features in a flashback in issue six of Udon's Street Fighter comic where he is shown as a friend of Gouken (and nearly killed by an infant Ryu under the influence of satsui no hadou). He can also seen in chibi form in SNK Vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999) and Card Fighters Clash 2: Expand Edition (2001).
Many players recognise a reference to the television series The X-Files in the ending to Q's game in Third Strike. The two F.B.I. agents investigating Q's movements and his mysterious appearances 'at sites located around the world' are named Juliana and David. In The X-Files, agents Scully and Mulder are portrayed by Gillian (Anderson) and David (Duchovny); too close to be mere coincidence, especially given the overwhelming prevalence of the programme at this time.
Two of Rolento's Mad Gear foot soldiers, originally antagonists in Final Fight, appear in Alpha 3 in support of the former Red Beret. The character El Gado appears during Rolento's 'Take No Prisoner' special, where he assists by stringing the opponent from a hook and, alongside Holly Wood, he is seen again during Rolento's victory pose, where a series of the characters flash their knives and cheer on their leader. In Final Fight both Holly Wood and El Gado are notable for their use of knives. When Final Fight was ported to the SNES console in 1991, Rolento and his stage was entirely absent from the game due to time constraints; the player progresses from West Side to the Bay Area avoiding Rolento's Industrial stage altogether. This stage was reinstated in the Gameboy Advance port Final Fight One and a nudge and a wink to the SNES omission can be found when 'Alpha' Cody confronts Rolento:
Um. It's strange. I don't remember this way. Oh yes, I took a shortcut, after beating the policeman. I walked along the coast... That is a good memory. Although, it is different....
Capcom's 1987 arcade beat 'em up Avengers (sometimes just Avenger) is the spiritual predecessor to their all-conquering Final Fight. Besides scrolling vertically as opposed to horizontally, the scenario is remarkably similar. The game takes place in Paradise City (cf. Metro City) where 'Geshita' (cf. Belger) has kidnapped six young women (cf. Jessica). The player must overcome hordes of thugs and defeat powerful end-of-level bosses to proceed, ultimately reaching 'Geshita' himself. Interestingly, the name of one of the two protagonists in Avengers is Ryu (the other is Ko). A coincidence maybe (it's clearly not the same Ryu), but it's worth noting that the director on both Avengers and Street Fighter was Takashi Nishiyama. Capcom included a subtle reference to this arcade classic within Dan's moveset in Alpha; his 'Hissatsu Buraiken' Super Combo takes its name from the Japanese title for Avengers (literally 'Deadly Ruffian Fist').
The Animated Movie (1994) was released with different soundtracks in Japan and internationally. The orchestral score in the Japanese version was composed by Tetsuya Komuro, along with two tracks from Capcom's 'house band' Alph Lyla and the pop-rock song 'Cry' by Big Life which plays over the epic Chun-Li‒Vega fight. Two CDs (30 tracks in total) were released commercially. Internationally the score was markedly more grunge/metal oriented and was composed by Cory Lerios and John D'Andrea. Additional songs were performed by Silverchair, Alice in Chains and Korn alongside the atmospheric 'Hallucinations (Dream World Mix)' by In The Nursery, and KFMDM's industrial track 'Ultra'.
Chun-Li's famous victory celebration in Street Fighter II; 'Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, yatta!' means, 'Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, I did it!' The word 'yatta' is the past tense of the Japanese verb 'yaru' and is also the familiar short form of 'yarimashita', 'It is done'. The single verb 'yatta' expresses the full sentence. On the subject of characters' voices, all of Akuma's vox in Super Turbo are recycled voice samples from the other male characters.
Monster Hunter Frontier, first released for Windows in 2007 and later for Xbox 360 in 2010, is an online role-playing game for multiple players released exclusively in Japan. In January 2011 Capcom made Ryu and Chun-Li costumes available for players to download and use on their hunters. The equpiment was created to help promote the release of Super IV the month prior. As can be seen in the enlarged image both costumes have four different palettes and the Chun-Li costume diverges from the norm in that it includes silk gloves.
