Im gonna have to disagree on that, but thats just me.
Thank you anoon for all the info so far, best read in a long time, thanks for the advice on my game as well.
Well, might as well cut to the chase outright: Iām sorry that bit about Blade being the worst remained in that wikipedia article. As it stood before, well, this thread there wasnāt much information at all and that was expanded instead of being removed to counter someone trying to nix said article, and never got removed because I couldnāt actually find any further info. Heck I think this is the most info this game has ever gotten.
As it stands I should point out the reasons people make those statements have nothing to do with you but simply the disliking on the palette swap nature, and I myself happen to like Arkane 
So I sincerely appologize and mean no personal offense 
As it stands you might take a personal hand at editing those two: many SF related articles tend to be sorely lacking or misinformed on wikipedia.
Btw, you mentioned considering a redo of the game and mugenā¦I might be able to assist you there if you ever want. I think the only obstacle would be ripping the sprites, though enough fiddling with artmoney would probably allow for cycling through said sprites.
One final note: while Blanka himself is not in the game, his ending still is, and if you cheat to play as Super Bison youāll end up getting it, so that much of him was in.
Btw, who was the main guy behind the stages? And whatās the story behind the apparently debug stage with the white floor and black background if any?
Fanboy Alert
I am here for two reasons.
- KFM with the foot in the mouth
- I want to know about Wes Studi and Andrew Bryniarski!
Actually, since Capcom basically said āHere, do what you want. We really donāt give a shit,ā would yāall still have tried as hard if yāall had known that to begin with?
Meaning the English version, right? Do you know if the bracelet quote the same way, one of Capcom USAās edits?
re: Ken/Ryu actors
Hey, I thought Ryuās casting went about as well as it could. If they tried to get someone who looked anything remotely like Ryu, they would have had to get a white guy.
Also, RIE-YOU for life! 
Well I for one was pleased that the movie wasnāt a complete āwe love you so much Ryu, no other character will get a look inā tribute, like the Alpha anime movies were.
Iāve watched the movie a ton of times, and while iāll agree its bad, its like its got a āits so bad its goodā kind of vibe to it.
BTW, Anoon, this thread is great, a very enjoyable read.
My Question: Since you guys went down the same road as MK and went with digitised graphics since Capcom where feeling the heat abit from MK in America. Why was not the game mechanics in some way copied from MK, such as high/low punch/Kick, and similar motions, fatalities, block button, etc? Cause it seems to me that alot of people played either MK or SF, and making SF look like MK but not play like MK would give little reason for MK fans to switch over. Since MK probably got alot of thier playerbase by stealing them away from SF in the first place, by not only offering a different type of graphics but a totally new and unique style of fighting game. Similarly most of the SF2 players were probably thinking that MK was more gimmicky than revolutionary and stuck with SF2, and making SFTM look MK would instantly put off the SF players to go play it. Its almost as if the game was made so that no one would want to play it.
Itās funny but Byron Mann looks a lot more like Ryu now than he did back then, compare his SF2 portrait with the one below.
http://www.afan.dk/byronmann/bmpic/index-pic.jpg
Timing is everything I guessā¦
Not that Iād want him to reprise the role or anything only because I never want to see any other SF movie associated with that movie in any kind of way everā¦
Long time reader, but I never post. I maybe have 3 posts. Been a fan of SF forever. Thanks for such a great read. I wish more developers would do this for a variety of games.
No matter how hardcore a gamer is the whole development side is still a mystery/ pipe dream for all of us.
anoon - how far into development do you start to realize the game isnāt going to be as good as you hope?
hey akuma.
tw shin akuma here.
Anoon - awesome read. very interesting stuff. brings back memories of my youth in the arcades. I hope that you get the chance to work on another fighting game in the future. LIVE arcade maybe?
Itās actually a pretty good action-comedy (emphasis on comedy) when you pay attention to the humorous bits instead of take it on seriously. What a lot of folks tend to forget too is that a lot of video game movies of that time were bad or grossly inaccurate to a point of there wasnāt anything to salvageā¦I think the first MK film was one of the few decent ones out of the rest of that lot, and that undid any good brought by it thanks to the second film. Oy!
Though Iām confused why everyoneās upset Ryu and Ken werenāt top dogs: this was based around SF2, and the main protagonists there were Guile and Chun-Li because they both had a personal beef with Bison the size of Texas. Ryu and Ken were basically just Ryu and Ken at that time: Sagat wanted to beat up Ryu and that was really the extent of their whole involvement that counted for anything.
Generic white guy
And on top of that Ken is not a white guy, but an Asian (3/4 or something) with blond colored hair.
But after reading this thread Iām really shocked about Capcomās management having so much influence and being on the set and all while not giving a damn how the movie turns out and contradicts to everything that happens in the games.
Your right, but what you gotta remember is that Ryu was the star or SF1 and hes the starting character thats highlighted when you press start. And from a story point of view hes a much more important character than Guile and Chun-li throughout the SF universe. So its no wonder why people see him as the main character. The fanboys probably want the next street fighter game to be called āStreet Fighter 4: The the chronicles of Ryuā or some crap like that.
I also donāt know why the Ryu fanboys complain about him not being the star of movie, its not like he was left out of the movie like Feilong. If the Ryu addicts are that dissappointed they should go watch Street Fighter Alpha the movie and Street Fighter Alpha Generations, complete Ryu fests. I swear whoever made those films probably wanted to have Ryuās babies.
thereās no perfect movie of a game, though mortal kombat is very close. street fighter is a good example of this. its too hard to please everybody. they have to make it appealing to people that donāt know what street fighter is and so the result were subpar to the fans. add to the fact that the people who worked on the movie didnāt really know what SF was. i think street fighter is decent movie. it has some funny moments and we all liked it in someway, otherwise we wouldnāt be making jokes about the movie.
Last night I wrote up a bit about the character art pipeline. Iām trying to post once or twice a day, so expect this information maybe tomorrow sometime.
I couldnāt tell you the specifics of the camera as I wasnāt in charge of operating it. As far as lighting went, we had a bunch of film grade lighting equipment. We started with your typical stage lighting rig of key light, fill light, kicker/back light, and then added from there. We had extra lights on the ground to keep the lower half of the character as illuminated as the upper portion. I think I mentioned the baby oil trick already, which was used to boost the highlights on the actors flesh.
Sorry, Iām still in Chicago. But thanks for the offer!
Hey No worries. Blade is not a great character. I always half hoped that he might get a make over and appear in the Alpha series, but I guess not. It would be neat to see what the Capcom guys would do with him. On that note, he does share a couple of similarities to Rolento: knife projectiles, military theme, jumps around a lotā¦
While that might be fun, I wasnāt seriously considering it. I already have a number of other things to keep me busy. Besides, Iād have to get the original data and permissions to use it. I just donāt see that happening.
Background art was split up between a few of us. I did Bisonās Lair, Temple Ruins, Tong Warehouse, and Catwalks,(Bisonās Command Center) There were two other primary background artists. One did Dhalsimās lab and the Dungeon, the other did the A.N. Headquarters. There was a secret background that took place ontop of Bisonās Temple at night, but I really canāt remember who did that one. Come to think of it, Iām not sure it actually got put in the game. Thereās a section on backgrounds coming up within the next couple of days.
Wes was a very serious guy. All business. I liked him. He did a great job on our set.
Andrew was cool too. Very full of energy. A real character. He was very serious about playing Zangief and really immersed himself in the role. I think it shows in the final product of both the film and the game; Zangief is one of the characters that really fits his traditional Street Fighter representation.
Wellā¦ Iām not sure I would characterize Capcomās attitude towards the product or us exactly like that. Iām sure they cared about the project. These days I tend to think that perhaps they didnāt realize what it was we were going to deliver until it was too late. But to answer your question: We absolutely would have tried our best, no matter what. We were contracted to do a game, and you always do your best. Itās no help to anyoneās career or the franchise your hired to work on to slack off and not care.
In the very beginning I do believe that was proposed by one of the team members. It definitely seemed like the 5 button config was an American fighting game trademark. One considerastion in favor of the 5 buton layout was that if we did use the MK button config, perhaps arcade operators would be more likely to convert their MKs to SFTMs. These types of concerns are very real issues in coin op. You have to remove as many barriers as possible when it comes to convincing the Arcade Operators to buy your game. Most of us are familair with the poor stage of the equipment in the arcades back in the day. There were/are very few Operators that could be bothered to install anything propoerly and then maintain it afterwards. Iām not putting the blame squarely on them for this, but is it any wonder the arcades died?
Iāve debating how to approach the following subject: There were conflicting opinions amongst the team members as to how SFTM should ultimately play. I mean to discuss this when I write the final section in which I evaluate the game and offer my opinions on what we could have done to make a better product.
I couldnāt tell you the exact date that I realized SFTM wasnāt going to be everything I had hoped. There were a lot of little signs along the way I suppose. I do very specifically remember the first incident that raised a red flag in my mind. The story is a bit long, so I think Iāll save it for a bit later. Please stay tuned.
You and me both, brother. Iād love to do another fighting game. The current crop of consoles are loaded with features that would lend themselves to a pretty amazing fighting game. Who knows what the future may bring?
Live Arcade is a very interesting proposition. Certainly match making over Live would have to be a given for a modern fighting game. Whether it is through the Live Arcade interface or an via an in game mode that is part of a larger product is the question. Depends on the product really.
Funny you should mention that. Now, you have to keep in mind this was before internet access was truly widespread and that there wasnāt a lot of (any?) data coming out of Capcom regarding the background info of the SF universe. Pretty much all of the info available was what you got after you played through the game with each character. Two win screens with a handful of sentences. Done. I remember when the Capcom JP guys told me that Ken was Japanese. I was like āWhat are you talking about? Heās obviously American!ā They explained that actually he was Japanese, but was so enthralled with the U.S. that he left Japan and moved over seas. His hair is dyed in an attempt to be more American.
Yeah, I was about to bring up a lot of info on the actual SF universe wasnāt exactly widely known at this point, and a lot of it is still strewn all over or getting rewritten by latter games.
There was something related to that though I guess that should be asked: āWilliam Guileāā¦where did that come from exactly? As well as some of the other first/last names for characters specifically for the movie, game and latter US cartoonā¦did you guys cook those up or was capcom behind them? (Iām half suprised nobodyās asked about these yet)
Sounds like SFII the animated movie. Both SF fans and other anime fans love it for good reasons. Plus it has a well balanced importance to Guile, Chun Li, Ryu and Ken with Ryu still being the main character. And itās not crap. It can be done with real live movies too, if Spielberg or Scorsese makes them.
They exist since the GiJoe characters were out (Ryu Hoshi, Chun li Xiang,ā¦) but only Ken Masters stayed from that time. Read my pure speculation about the name in my rip off section:
http://fightingstreet.com/folders/variousinfofolder/ripofffolder/ripoffpage2.html
(scroll down to āKen Masters & He-Manā)
What the fuck? Ken dyes his hair? Iām not entirely sure that iām willing to accept that. Though ā¦ if Ken really is a fob ā¦ it would kind of add up that his stage is on a dock next to a boat. Still, who the hell thought it would be a good idea to come up with this random backstory about him really being Japanese? Makes no sense to me.
I just found this thread today and I agree with others itās one of the most interesting things Iāve ever read on SRK. Iām glad you overcame your shame and decided to share all this info. When you talk about this being a black page in your career it sounds quite depressing and sad. If itās any consolation a lot of things doomed this game to fail, including but not limited to the crappy movie it was based on. Looking back itās probably easier to see why so many ppl are excited about all this info being brought out into the light since we as fans are pretty much starved for information on anything SF. The most striking thing in all your posts is technical stuff. I keep forgetting how far technology has come since thenā¦ 2x burners, 1GB HDDās, 8bit color spritesā¦ amazing you guys did what you did.
You say youāre proud of the art in the game. First off, what exactly do you mean by that? If you mean the cleaned up captures, then Iād have to agree. Those sprites look surprisingly good and have a warm coloring that makes them seem more real than MK3 cartoonized sprites (which seemed flatter due to heavy postprocessing). You used the word art which makes me wonder if you mean all the games graphics combined or what I thought you meant: the artistic theme/feel of the game. I think many older games (probably american games moreso) share a lack of artistic direction in that they donāt have a specific style. They donāt have a real āfeelā of any kind. SFTM is no exception imho. I look at the character selection screen and there is nothing there that appeals to me on any level. Itās just pictures and names on a metal plate, on top ofā¦ yet another metal plate. Thatās the only recurring theme I can find: metallic looking plates and fonts. SF2 achieved so much more with only larger mugshots of the selected character and an eliptical globe and accompanying airplane. Whatās the art part you were talking about?
How much input from gamers (if any) did you guys try to get before designing the game? Did you guys think āweāre gamers and we like SF so we donāt need to hear from other pplā or was market research not part of your ādev-cycleā at the time?
As a fan of SF storyline and universe I really hated having to tie real life ppl to characters, especially since they didnāt resemble them in most cases. It would have never worked imo, since SF has allways been cartoony and translating it to real life would have allways fallen short of what we have come to know and love. Be it due to physical proportions or laws of physics. I guess my question is: Do you think that part of the gameās failure is due to the fact that the real life versions of beloved fictional characters were not embraced by fans of the series? Do you think if in a world where SF did not exist a game such as SFTMTG (which would have no history or legacy to follow) would have done better?
Iām a bit conservative when it comes to some things, so I canāt help but grimmace at the thought of actors portraying SF characters. Do you share that feeling at all? I understand that you had no say in the matter and that it was decided to be that way before you were even involved, but did it not strike you as something fans would dislike?
You mentioned some of the actors were excited about the capturing process. I actually wondered about that from page one of this thread. So Iām gonna ask for some elaboration, which ones were notably excited about the prospect of being in a game and (maybe more interestingly) which ones were unenthusiastic?
thanks for a great read so far.
EDIT: LOL @ SF the movie being Van Dammeās biggest success.
@Maj: Iām pretty sure that SF canon guide on gamefaqs says that Ken is Japanese. It only stands to reason he bleaches his hair.
Hahahaha.
Anyway, characters in Japanese games/manga/anime etc always have weird hair colorsā¦Roseās is purple, Akumaās is red, whatever. So someone having blonde hair doesnāt really mean much, other than that it signifies being white very often. I think a big part of it is just to keep everyone from looking too similar, which is especially a problem with manga characters, as most manga are still drawn in black and white, and you donāt wanna give everyone black hair.
About Ken having Japanese heritage, I think Capcom considers him American, regardless. Same with Guy. Even if he is part Japanese (or fully so like I assume Guy isā¦though like Ryu sometimes he looks Mexican, but whatever), being born and raised in America = being American, no matter where your parents are from. This is the way Iāve heard Japanese look at it in general, though I canāt confim.
Karin, on the other hand, is Japanese, but has blonde hair. Just one of those thingsā¦