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This is no video game!

"The ultimate battle computer game "Street Fighter II" is now a full-length animation motion picture! Your favorite Street Fighters stand up against the evil Vega who plots to conquer the world. In an all-ensuing battle, the rivals Ryu and Ken join forces to confront Vega with the never-before-seen technique "the double fireball". A must-see super battle action movie for All Street Fighter fans."
— Official description from the Japanese LaserDisc.

After the unexpected success of the original Street Fighter II and its subsequent revisions and console ports, Capcom decided to produce a feature-length anime movie based on the series and hired Group TAC to animate it. The movie, simply titled Street Fighter II Movie in Japan and later released internationally as Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, was first announced in 1993 at the same time as Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (the fourth version of the game) began distribution in the arcades. It was released theatrically on August 8, 1994.

The international criminal organization Shadowlaw secretly records fights of the world's greatest martial artists with their human-like Monitor Cyborgs. These recordings help Shadowlaw's leader, M. Bison, determine which fighters Shadowlaw will abduct and convert into brainwashed slaves. One fighter in particular, Ryu, catches Bison's interest after the despot watches a fight between Ryu and Shadowlaw operative/former fighting champion Sagat.

Shadowlaw's innumerable criminal activities capture the attention of Interpol, which sends lead investigator Chun-Li to team up with U.S. Air Force Captain Guile. Guile is initially reluctant of the partnership until he discovers that Bison had killed someone close to them.note  This revelation gives them common ground to work together. The duo soon learn about Shadowlaw's Monitor Cyborgs and eventually land on the trail of Ryu.

Ken Masters, Ryu's friend/former training partner/rival, spends the off-time between fighting tournaments with his girlfriend Eliza, but finds himself unsatisfied. He awaits the day when he and Ryu can settle their "unfinished business" with another fight. Ryu himself travels throughout Asia in search of fights as well, focused on honing and perfecting his skills with each successive challenge. Once Bison discovers Ken and Ryu's shared history, things go from bad to worse. Ryu is blissfully unaware that he represents the key to either Shadowlaw's destruction or complete dominance...

Unlike the live-action movie based on the franchise, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie stays as faithful as possible to the original game and its various iterations at the time. The film was a major success in Japan upon its release, leading to several fight scenes and new ideas introduced in this filmnote  eventually became part of the Street Fighter Alpha series. Soon after the release of this film, Capcom made a video game that follows the events of an upgraded Monitor Cyborg recording various Street Fighter battles. A manga adaptation was also released.

The film's initial American release in 1995 came with a healthy dose of censorship attached — cuts to the infamous Chun-Li shower scene accompanied toned-down blood and swearing. Manga Entertainment rectified this in 2006 with a dual-sided DVD that contained a (virtually) uncensored version of the English dub and a (completely) uncensored version of the original Japanese version of the film. In 2008, Netflix began streaming a fully uncut version of the film's English dub with either the English or Japanese soundtrack backing the dub. It is currently licensed by Discotek Media, who re-released the film on DVD and Blu-ray completely uncut in October 2016. A 4K version was released in November 2023.


Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Adaptation Distillation: The manga adaptation has Ken's abduction take place at the start and Chun-Li meets up with Ryu soon after. They then encounter a brainwashed Guile who is dressed up as Ken, complete with rubber mask, and what happens to Vega after he plummets out of Chun-Li's apartment is shown.
  • Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the games, Guile is married and has a daughter. In this movie, he has several ship teasing moments with Chun-Li, who's canonically single.
  • Adaptational Badass:
    • Special Moves in general. In the games, Special Moves are simply unique, command-input attacks. Depending on the ability, they may do more or less damage than regular attacks. In this movie, Special Moves are almost an Instant-Win Condition.
    • This was the first time Bison was portrayed as immensely powerful. In the games up til this point, his Psycho Power wasn't really utilized in a way that made him seem nearly invincible. This movie turned it into a Story-Breaker Power, and this was later canonized starting with the Alpha sub-series.
  • Adaptational Intelligence: Balrog is portrayed significantly more confident and capable on the administrative side of things here than he is in games, as shown in a brief scene in Las Vegas.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Cammy is portrayed in her Delta Red outfit, not her Shadaloo one, but is still employed as Bison's assassin at the beginning of the movie. This is justified in that this movie predates Alpha, where the Dolls debuted.
  • Adaptational Wimp: Guile has grand total of one fight scene in the movie, where he serves as Bison's punching bag before getting unceremoniously knocked off a cliff. All the while acting like a stoic badass which inadvertently gives him major Miles Gloriosus vibes.
  • Adapted Out:
    • There is no sort of Tournament Arc whatsoever. This movie takes the Street Fighter title literally. Even Ryu's fight with Sagat, which was supposed to be the final round of the first ever World Warrior tournament, is done in a completely empty field in the middle of the night.
    • Guile's family doesn't appear in this movie.
  • Advertised Extra: Almost every piece of merchandise and promotional material released in Japan featured Cammy. She even received top billing on the Japanese flyer (as seen above) — despite her screen time totaling less than five minutes. Guile, who is actually more important to the plot, is lumped together with the less important Street Fighters.
  • All Men Are Perverts: Even Bison and a friggin' Monitor Cyborg can't resist perving on Chun-Li.
  • The Anime of the Game: It's right there, in the title.
  • Anime Theme Song: "Itoshisa to Setsunasa to Kokoro Tsuyosa to" plays during Ryu and Ken's fight with Bison. Street Fighter Zero, the Japanese version of the Street Fighter Alpha, features an instrumental version of the song for its Dramatic Battle mode. Project X Zone 2 also features an instrumental version of the song when Ryu fights a Brainwashed and Crazy Ken in Chapter 29 of the game and later in Chapter 38 when Ryu and Ken finish off Bison. May Nakabayashi later did a cover for the song to promote Ultra Street Fighter II's release on the Nintendo Switch.
  • Antagonist Abilities: Bison. To wit, his Psycho Power has Flight, Deflector Shields, Villain Teleportation, Death from Above, Mind Manipulation, and many other abilities that no one comes even close to countering. The only reason Ryu and Ken manage to defeat Bison is because they double teamed him after he decided to fight them on their level.
  • Arc Words: "What do you see beyond your fist?" It's a question Ryu and Ken were asked by their late master. During the final battle with Bison, Ken has a moment of clarity and realizes the answer: "My fate."
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Despite being a main character in the game itself, Ken's role is minor. The Animated Movie changed this by fleshing out his history with Ryu and reveals that his iconic red headband used to be Ken's hair ribbon. This was later canonized in Street Fighter Alpha 2, albeit under different circumstances.note  Ken is also given plot relevance, by having Bison target him as a means to get to Ryu, and makes him jointly responsible for Bison's defeat at the end.note 
    • E. Honda usually has a very tangential role in the games. Here, he's helping out with Ryu's training. He even helps out the heroes in the final battle by taking on Balrog.
    • The Indian girl Ryu befriends makes a cameo appearance as his female form during Demitri's Midnight Bliss in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
  • Bash Brothers: Ryu and Ken, naturally. Together they manage to overpower Bison.
  • Battle in the Rain: This happens in the movie's famous opening fight between Ryu and Sagat.
  • Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted. Chun-Li beats the living daylights out of Vega, but ends up severely wounded in the process and is immediately rushed to the hospital.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Subverted by the Chun-Li vs. Vega fight; her ringing phone gets knocked off the hook during the struggle, letting Guile hear that she's under attack, so he starts racing to her apartment as fast as he can to help her. However, Chun-Li finishes Vega off on her own mere seconds before Guile kicks the door down. This is possibly downplayed because Guile arriving so fast saved her from bleeding out from her injuries, as they're severe enough that she still has to be hospitalised afterward.
  • Bloodier and Gorier: In comparison to the source material.
  • Bolivian Army Ending: The movie ends with Bison appearing out of nowhere, driving a truck. Ryu then jumps toward the truck and is about to attack it when the credits roll.
  • Bookends: A Battle in the Rain that ends with a Hadouken.
  • Bowdlerise: The initial American release replaces the Japanese soundtrack with Grunge, and was released in a censored and less censored version. The Street Fighter Anniversary Collection comes with a version that removes nudity entirely.
  • Brainwashed and Crazy: Bison amplifies Ken's normally healthy competitiveness with Ryu to the point of hostility or even hatred.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Ryu and Ken are both subjected to it by Fei Long and T. Hawk, respectively, and both end their respective confrontations in short order:
  • The Cameo: Akuma has a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo in Calcutta.
  • Canon Foreigner: Albert Sellers, the British Minister of Justice.
  • Canon Immigrant: Dr. Senoh, the old scientist who works for Shadowlaw, makes a cameo appearance in Bison's Street Fighter Alpha 2 ending.
  • Climb, Slip, Hang, Climb: Seen near the end of the movie while Ryu is free climbing in the mountains of Cambodia. A foothold collapses beneath his weight, though he saves himself by quickly grabbing onto a spur of rock.
  • Clothing Damage:
    • Chun-Li's nightshirt gets torn, which exposes her bra, during her fight with Vega, though it's justified due to his attacking with his claw.
    • Ken's shirt and pants leg are blown off by his own Hadoken, when Bison deflects it back at him.
  • Combat Pragmatism: It's called Street Fighter for a reason: because there aren't any rules, except to be the last man standing. And the characters are fully aware of that fact, because their lives usually depend on it:
    • Chun-Li uses her bedroom lamp and her couch as Improvised Weapons, to defend herself against Vega's claw. She also jumps in the air to give herself extra momentum to kick/shove him straight through the wall and out of her apartment.
    • Ryu and Ken exemplify it, by teaming up to take on Bison. Near the end of the fight, Ryu even goes so far as to grab Bison's legs to hold him still, so Ken could nail him with his Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.
  • Combined Energy Attack: The battle with Bison concludes with Ryu and Ken throwing both their Hadokens at once. Their combined might overwhelms Bison, blasting him straight through his VTOL, causing it to explode around him.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Guile gets his ass handed to him by Bison, whose Teleport Spam made him untouchable. After he exhausts himself trying to hit him, Bison one-shots him, making it a Victory by Endurance.
  • Darker and Edgier: Leagues more than the games. From the amount of blood that occurs with Vega's claws, to Cammy snapping a man's neck like a twig without an ounce of censorship, to everything Bison does to Ryu and Ken. This was the movie that firmly cemented there's more than simply bloody fighting tournaments at hand, and that the villains are murderous psychopaths that are threatening to the entire world.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: Vega wanted to kill Chun-Li like this. He eventually gives up after she injures his face, flying into a blind rage and deciding to kill her on the spot.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • Blanka, Cammy, Dee Jay, Sagat, T. Hawk, and Zangief are only in the movie to fit as many characters as possible.
    • E. Honda fights Dhalsim while in India. Afterwards, he appears again during the final battle for no reason other than to fall off a cliff with Balrog.
  • Defrosting Ice King: Chun-Li ultimately does this to Guile. He goes from ignoring her when they first meet to vowing to get revenge on Bison after she's injured by Vega.
  • Disney Villain Death: Chun-Li defeats Vega by kicking him through a wall; he falls to the alleyway behind her apartment and disappears for the rest of the movie. Even Bison doesn't know if Vega survived, so he sends Sagat to Make Sure He's Dead.
  • Dramatic Thunder: Invoked in the opening scene, which recounts the fateful battle between Ryu and Sagat.
  • Evil Genius: Dr. Senoh clearly enjoys his job.
  • Fan Disservice:
    • Chun-Li fights and gets clawed leaving a bloody slash across her breast by Vega while wearing a loose fitting nightshirt.
    • Ken is naked when Bison brainwashes him.
  • Fanservice: The scene in Chun-Li's apartment prior to her fight against Vega. This includes the shower scene.
  • Faux Action Girl: Cammy, who only has but a few minutes of screentime. She manages to hold her own against an army of bodyguards before being restrained.
  • Feet-First Introduction: The audience gets treated to multiple close-ups of Chun-Li's bare feet, between her Shower Scene and her fight with Vega. They're the first thing you see at the start of said shower scene, again when she finally steps out of the shower, another when she slumps against the couch after Vega kicks her, again when she steps on his chest (then his face), another when he places his feet against hers and pushes her back toward the rafters.
  • Fighting Your Friend: Moments before the battle with Bison, Ryu is forced to face his best friend, Ken, who'd been enslaved by Bison's Psycho Power. Rather than fight back against his attacks, Ryu tries getting through to him, by reminding Ken of who he was and their friendship. He takes a beating, but ultimately succeeds without throwing a single punch.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus:
    • The Monitor Cyborgs analyzing the fighters. Pause and you can see lots of stats.
    • When Chun-Li is presenting her briefing to Interpol about some of the characters, pause and you can see their profiles behind her. They are identical to Capcom's profiles of them. In the English version, while both Balrog and Vega's profiles are listed under their English names, their Japanese names can be seen in the comments section.
    • If you pause at just the right time during the montage scene in Calcutta, you'll spot Akuma selling fruit by the side of the street, near a wall. Capcom later produced art canonizing this as how he makes money when not fighting.
  • Friendly Tickle Torture: An annoyed (but happy) Guile does this to Chun-Li after she pretended to be dead when he returned to the hospital to tell her about Bison's defeat.
  • Gainax Ending: The movie ends with Bison trying to run down Ryu in a semi-truck.
  • Heroic Build: You can count the number of guys who don't have super muscular builds on one hand. Sagat and Bison notably take this to almost Top-Heavy Guy proportions.
  • Hidden Depths: Honda, an unassuming, down to earth sort of sumo wrestler, wins his fight with Dhalsim when the latter throws it after being momentarily overwhelmed by Ryu's fighting spirit. The former dismisses the latter's claims as nonsense... only to seek Ryu out and give him half his winnings after the fact, with vague pretenses as to why, otherwise, heavily implying a similar level of sensitivity to the far more spiritually minded Dhalsim.
  • Hoist by His Own Petard: It isn't long before Ken realizes that conventional attacks are useless against Bison, so he resorts to using the Hadoken. Bison counters by his using his Psycho Power to send it back and drops him.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: Ken spends nearly half his screentime reminiscing about the good ol' days when was training with his buddy, Ryu. Each scene is usually accompanied by soft music and wistful expressions (from Ken). The most prominent example being when he recalls having accidentally injured Ryu during one of their sparring sessions. Ken lets down his hair, in the same manner that a woman does, to unfasten his ponytail ribbon and ties it around Ryu's forehead as a form of apology.
  • Hospital Surprise: Chun-Li is wounded in her fight against Vega roughly half-way through the movie. After Ryu and Ken defeat Bison in the climax, Guile goes to the hospital where she's staying only to found out that she has died. When Guile tells Chun-Li about Bison's defeat, she sits up, revealing that she has recovered and was pretending to be dead in order to prank him.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Ryu's fight with a brainwashed Ken.
  • Improvised Weapon: During her fight with Vega, Chun-Li tries to defend herself from his claw by using her bathroom lamp, which he cuts in half. But when he cuts her cheek and makes a show of Licking the Blade, she retaliates by throwing her couch at him.
  • Irony: Despite telling Dee Jay to be vigilant of any Monitor Cyborgs, Guile and Chun-Li don't realize that one is standing above them on a roof.
  • Kamehame Hadoken: Naturally, the Hadoken is one of Ryu and Ken's signature moves. However, its power in this movie has been elevated to near-One-Hit KO levels —even opponents that can weather a Shoryuken are not getting up from a Hadoken.
  • Ken Doll Anatomy: Ironically, Ken himself. He is shown naked with no genitalia when Bison brainwashes him.
  • Kick Chick: Chun-Li, who uses kicks in most of her moves, especially considering her fight scene with Vega, which ends with him being kicked through a wall and into the street stories below.
  • Licking the Blade: Done by Vega, to taunt Chun-Li after cutting her cheek. He winds up regretting it a moment later.
  • Male Gaze: Since Chun-Li provides the movie's T&A, she's the subject each time it happens:
    • The video feed of Guile and Chun-Li is shown from the Monitor Cyborg's perspective. When its gaze shifts to her, it zooms in on her breasts for several seconds, then her thighs, and finally focuses its attention directly between her legs.
    • This is used liberally during her shower scene, which features close-ups of her backside and breasts. When she finally steps out of the shower, the camera focuses directly on her bare feet.
    • Chun-Li's opening scene has her wearing her combat attire while giving a mission brief at Interpol, of all places. Yet, her superiors treat it as if it's perfectly normal.
    • Guile is introduced wearing a flight suit and doesn't switch to his T-shirt and fatigues 'til after he agrees to team up with Chun-Li.
  • Market-Based Title: The film, known in Japan as Street Fighter II Movie, was retitled Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie for its overseas release to avoid confusion with the live-action film.
  • Meditation Powerup: Ken regains his strength and center after Bison nearly kills him through meditation.
  • Mind Rape: Bison uses a combination of technology and his Psycho Power to invade Ken's mind and brainwash him. Ken screams in anguish the whole time.
  • Mind-Control Eyes: Ken's sclerae turn faint red while he's under Bison's control.
  • Mood Whiplash: Near the end of the movie, Guile returns to the hospital to discover that Chun-Li died from her injuries that she got in her fight with Vega. This turns out to be a rather messed-up prank that she plays on him, but everything works out in the end.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • An unintentional one on the part of the animators, but in the comments section of different YouTube videos of fight between Ryu and Sagat, fans have snarked that Sagat was a noob for using an unsafe jump in and not expecting Ryu's Shoryuken on wakeup.
    • During their second encounter, Chun-Li asks Guile if he's man enough to check out her other abilities, which is most likely a reference of his "Are you man enough to fight with me?" win quote.
    • The truck that Ken almost runs into has the Capcom logo on it.
  • Named by the Adaptation:
    • Ken's last name of Masters, technically existed before this movie, first introduced in Hasbro's G.I. Joe crossover toyline, as a way of Writing Around Trademarks due to the name Ken being associated with Barbie's boyfriend, but this was the first time any form of Japanese Street Fighter media referred to him as Ken Masters.
    • Cammy's last name of White was first used in this movie.
    • Subverted with Ryu and Ken's sensei, who was given the name Goutetsu in the script, but goes unmentioned in the actual movie.note 
  • Neck Snap: Cammy does this to Albert Sellers.
  • Nipple and Dimed: The uncensored Shower Scene of Chun-Li features her nipples.
  • Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Every non-American character inexplicably has an American accent.
  • Not Quite Dead: After being thrown off a mountain by Ryu and Ken, Bison looks like he's done for. But at the very end of the movie, he turns out to be just fine and tries to run over Ryu in a truck.
  • Not Worth Killing: Bison invokes this after humiliating Guile. Just as it seems he's about to finish him off, Bison stifles a laugh and decides Guile isn't worth it.
  • Oh, Crap!:
    • This is Chun-Li's reaction when Vega ambushes her in her own apartment:
    Chun-Li: Oh, god! Vega!
    • This is E. Honda and Balrog's reaction when they realize that they have rolled off a cliff.
  • Perfectly Cromulent Word: Oh, Sagat? The "moo tie" champ?
  • Post-Victory Collapse: Chun-Li collapses after suffering critical injuries in an epic fight with Vega that takes up four minutes of screentime. Despite her devastating wounds, Chun-Li ultimately prevails, literally kicking Vega out of her apartment.
  • Power Level: Ryu's potential fighting capacity is 3620. Martial arts masters are said to average only 2000.
  • Pragmatic Adaptation: While the movie is lauded as one of the most faithful video game adaptations ever made, some of the Special Moves were changed to make them look more believable. An added benefit of these changes is that it makes them more "special":
    • Perhaps most noticeably, in his fight with Fei Long, Ryu's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku is changed from him hovering through the air spinning around on one leg like a top with his other foot extended to him throwing multiple midair roundhouse kicks with alternating legs.
    • Chun-Li's performs her Spinning Bird Kick against Vega by rapidly handstanding in circles, rather than floating across the ground.
    • Guile's Sonic Boom goes from a small yellow frisbee he can spam out in front of him every two seconds to an actual sonic boom that takes him several seconds to charge and cuts E. Honda's hut in half.
  • Precision F-Strike: When Dr. Senoh expresses concern about Cammy being interrogated by Interpol, Bison says, "I don't give a shit".
  • Psycho for Hire: The Animated Movie codified Vega's portrayal as a psychotic, sadistic narcissist, which was displayed in other adaptations and games, but never taken to the extent seen in the movie before.
  • Ret-Canon: Various parts of the movie's narrative influenced the Street Fighter Alpha series:
    • Ken's wealthy status was first established here.
    • Back when Street Fighter II was first released, Chun-Li was simply a martial artist who was out for revenge over her father's murder. The Animated Movie cast her as an Interpol agent to further justify her motivation for pursuing Bison.note  This retroactively became part of the series canon beginning in Street Fighter Alpha.
    • Guile was made a U.S. Air Force Captain whereas the original game hadn't specified what branch of the military he served or his rank. It also marked the beginning of the collaboration between the U.S. Air Force and Interpol in the game series itself.note 
    • In the movie, Cammy briefly speaks with Chun-Li, which later became the basis of their partnership in the Street Fighter IV series, where she's the third member of their triumvirate (along with Guile).
    • The background used in the movie's opening scene later became the bonus stage for Sagat's boss battle against Ryu at the end of Alpha 2.
    • There was no explanation for the change of Ryu's headband until Capcom worked in the movie's backstory about it being a gift from Ken. However, the reason behind the gesture was changed. Conversely, the explanation from the movie was later adapted into Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist.
    • Dr. Senoh was added to the series in Bison's Alpha 2 ending. So was the Psycho Drive, which was used for Bison's "Doll Program", instead of enslaving Ken with it.
    • Vega's beef with Chun-Li wasn't canonized until Street Fighter IV, where she becomes one of his rival matches.
    • While Bison's profile in Street Fighter II stated that he was an unrivaled street fighter and was able to form Shadaloo strictly by way of Asskicking Leads to Leadership, his actual skills and abilities weren't that far beyond what other characters in the game were capable of. In this movie, Bison has full-blown Story-Breaker Power to the point that no other character even comes close to touching him. This was later copied over to the Alpha series, where this form of Bison was dubbed "Final Bison" and is the absolute peak of Bison's Psycho Power.
    • In this movie, just before Bison fights Ryu and Ken, he removes his cape, the first time he does so in the entire film, and declares that he will "fight them on their own level". Afterwards, he displays no Psycho Power, aside from briefly hovering, and is defeated by Ryu and Ken without using any of the Story-Breaker Power he'd used throughout the movie. In the Alpha series, it's established that Bison's cape is an Amplifier Artifact, which allows him to use all of his power (similar to Rose's scarf). In some games, he is shown removing it during a pre-battle cutscene.
    • In this movie, Cammy assassinates British Minister of Justice Albert Sellers with an attack where she vaults herself upside down on top of his neck, twists it to the point where it breaks and she's able to turn him around a full 180 degrees, then proceeds to slam him down hard into the ground while kicking his knees forward, breaking both them and snapping his spine in the process, killing and leaving him in a grotesque crab lock. This move would finally make its way to the games in Street Fighter 6, nearly 29 years later, as her Level 2 Super.
  • The Rival: The movie plays up this aspect of Ken's character, by having him repeatedly reminisce about his sparring days with Ryu and their promise to settle their rivalry once and for all. However, their "fated match" ends up being postponed due to Bison.
  • Second-Person Attack: Chun-Li unloads on Vega, at the end of their fight, where she kicks the ever living shit out of him for about seven second straight. She then ends it by putting him through the wall with both feet. Almost all of it is seen from his perspective.
  • Series Continuity Error: One of Bison's monitors lists the name of Ryu and Ken's sensei as "Goutetsu"; while the film's producers intended to use that name for him, nobody spoke it. After Gouken, a Canon Immigrant from Masaomi Kanzaki's Street Fighter II manga, was established to be Ryu and Ken's sensei, Capcom used Goutetsu as the name of Gouken and Akuma's sensei instead.
  • She-Fu: Chun-Li gives a fantastic Fanservice filled battle with Vega after her shower, while prepping for bed. It involves many of her acrobatic attacks from her video game move set.
  • Ship Tease: The movie is in no way subtle of this regarding Chun-Li and Guile.
  • Shoryuken: It wouldn't be Street Fighter without it. It's first seen near the end of Ryu's fight with Sagat, at the beginning of the film, and seen again when Ryu nails Bison with it, during their showdown at the end.
  • Shout-Out: The President of the United States is named after Edward Pressman, a veteran film producer who worked on the live action Street Fighter movie.
  • Shower Scene: The movie provides one of the earliest and most well known examples in anime. In fact, word of Chun-Li's shower scene actually helped the film gain notoriety, during the time of its original release.
  • Spell My Name With An S: The movie refers to Bison's organization as "Shadowlaw" instead of "Shadaloo", even on printed documents. Capcom used the "Shadowlaw" spelling in the manuals for the home versions at the time before making "Shadaloo" the standard spelling.
  • Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Ryu and Ken are the focus of the plot. While they are technically the series' lead characters, neither of them were involved at all in Street Fighter II's main conflict against Shadaloo. This movie was the first time that either of them became connected in any way to Bison and Shadaloo, aside from Sagat joining out of hatred for Ryu, and made them the primary adversaries of Bison rather than people with an actual grudge against him (Guile, Chun-Li, Cammy, and T. Hawk).
  • Stat-O-Vision: The Monitor Cyborgs have this ability.
  • Story-Breaker Power: Bison's Psycho Power is so utterly powerful, that the heroes can't even scratch him. Guile gets curbstomped, and all Ryu manages to do on his own is singe Bison's cape. It's only once he stops using it out of frustration that Ryu and Ken are able to defeat him.
  • Supernatural Martial Arts: It's practically what the movie's about, considering the video game it's based on. Gravity defying spinning kicks, dragon punches, ki blasts and elemental powers are all accounted for. It's a faithful adaptation.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Chun-Li realizes she's at a disadvantage against Vega, since she's unarmed, with little more than a nightshirt for protection. So she tries to even the odds with her bedroom lamp, which predictably, doesn't last long. Even though Chun-Li ultimately wins the fight, she sustains life threatening injuries, which causes her to spend the remainder of the film in intensive care. She does recover at the end.
  • A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Chun-Li doesn't appreciate the stunt Vega pulls, so she pays him back by returning the favor four times over: first by hitting him in the face with her couch, followed by repeatedly hitting him in the face with her Spinning Bird Kick, then pushing him back down on the floor, stepping on his chest when he tries to get up, and finally planting her barefoot on his cheek and doing a full pirouette. To say the least, he does not take it well:
    Vega: M-my beautiful face is ruined! YOU BITCH, I'LL MAKE YOU SUFFEEEEEEEEER!
  • Title: The Adaptation: Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, which is the movie's overseas title.
  • To the Pain: Vega does this to Chun-Li — and pays dearly for it:
    Vega: My hobby is to slowly peel the skins off the rabbits I catch, especially cute little bunnies like you! And my friend here is thirsty for blood.
  • Violence Discretion Shot: For a few seconds, the audience is treated to a shot of Chun-Li's living room while she and Vega are heard scuffling in her bedroom. In between muffled thumps against the wall and sounds of breaking furniture, she can be heard crying out in pain, until Vega finally kicks her through the door, which is hard enough to knock it off its hinges. Soon after, she knocks over the phone, right as Guile is trying to call her. It then becomes an in-universe example, since all he hears through the receiver are her screams.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: The film never shows Sagat again after Bison gives him the order to dispose of Cammy and Vega. Judging by how he just stood alone after Bison left with Balrog, it's likely Sagat was having a Heel Realization from being denied his rematch with Ryu. Also, Bison tells Sagat to kill Vega if he wasn't dead already, so we don't know if Vega was killed by Chun-Li or not.
  • Willfully Weak: After mopping the floor with Guile thanks to his Psycho Power, Bison decides to fight Ryu and Ken without it. He loses.
  • The Worf Effect: Bison desires to recruit Ryu into his organization as a result of Ryu defeating Sagat in a fight. He tells his men "Any man strong enough to beat the crap out of Sagat is a man I want found."
  • Would Hit a Girl:
    • Guile almost fights Chun-Li at one point. He stops when he learns that Bison killed her father.
    • This is played straight when Vega attacks Chun-Li.
  • You Have Failed Me:
    • Just before departing for Cambodia, Bison orders Sagat to eliminate Vega since he failed to carry out his assignment to kill Chun-Li.
    • Bison nearly does this Ken when the latter breaks free of his brainwashing. Ken is about to recover through meditation.
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: In the same scene where Bison orders Sagat to eliminate Vega, he also orders Sagat to eliminate Cammy since he no longer has a use for her.

 
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Ryu & Ken VS. M.Bison

Ryu and Ken square off against Shadaloo's supreme master

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5 (8 votes)

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