Street Fighter II spawned many great musical themes in addition to creating a whole new genre of video games. Many people instantly recognize the themes for Ryu, Ken, Chun Li and the other Street Fighter pugilists. And they should ? the themes have been tweaked and reimagined and reinvented more than a dozen times.
But these constantly rehashed works have, with the release of both Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix and Street Fighter IV in the past 12 months, reached the top of their game.
However, the SF series has also given birth to a handful of other great, lesser known musical treats across its huge array of titles.
Yes! Sakura’s theme (“I Want You To Know”, in English, there is a version with her voice actor singing vocals) made it to the list. I’ve heard her EX theme as well, “Precious Heart” and its great. Love the sax in it. Overall, Sakura’s SFA2 theme makes me all nostalgic.
I’m surprised Ryu’s theme didn’t make it, as iconic as it is. Ken’s theme was pretty much the theme of SFII. However, I’m at battle with Ryu’s theme from SFIII Third Strike and his original theme.
Balrog’s theme is pretty good too, kinda fits him.
Alpha 3 tunes need more love. They’re not ‘iconic’ and they’re hard to associate with a specific character, but the tempo and instruments used in that whole soundtrack are perfect for an SF game.
My faves, no order:
Chun 3s
Gill 3s
Ryu 3s
Gill 2i
Guy A3
Rose A3
Ryu A3
Sagat A2
Ryu SF2 remix CvS1
Shin Akuma CvS2
Dunno if these count but…
Cyclops XvSF
Nakoruru CvS1
Not a big fan of the A3, but Rose’s theme from that game is so awesome. Sometimes I’d let that fight go on longer just to hear the music. Wish it was included in the list.
Other favs. of mine I wish would’ve been in:
Adon theme
Alex/Ken theme from 3rd strike
and of course…
“This is truuuuue love wee’re makin’ (this is true love we’re makin’, this is true love we’re makin’)”
Now that’s what I like to call “big damage.”
And man, that Street Fighter ex plus alpha song is awesome! Love heavy guitar.
Outside of the near perfection that is the Street Fighter 2 Soundtrack, here are my all time favorite tracks in the SF Universe in no particular order for no particular reason.
Jazzy NYC - SF3 TS
China Vox - SF3 TS
Rising Dragoon - SF EX
Spinning Bird - SF EX
Precious Heart - SF EX
Sakura Mankai - SF EX
Birdie Stage - SF A2
Nash Stage - SF A2
The Road - SF A3
Tower of Shogun - SF A3
Decisive Bout - SF A3
Top 10 lists are stupid, but non-SF2 themes are definitely slept on. Really, the only games that didn’t come to mind when I thought of SF games with sick tracks are the ones I barely played. Completely forgot how good the Ex music was. I even dig the CvS2 shit.