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Hadouken your way into this debate! Join us as we count down our picks for the Street Fighter characters and how their movie portrayals stack up against their iconic video game counterparts! From noble warriors to ruthless dictators, some translations were flawless victories while others dropped the ball entirely. Who do you think was adapted best? Let us know in the comments below!
Transcript
00:00Welcome to WatchMojo, and today, we're taking a look at 10 Street Fighter characters and
00:04how they hold up in the 2026 movie compared to the games.
00:12Ken
00:18In the games, Ken has always been more the reckless and aggressive counterpart to Ryu's
00:22calm and collective demeanor.
00:24Ken's more about flair and looking cool, while also being an overall friendly dude.
00:28The 2026 Street Fighter movie does an excellent job at translating the character to the big
00:33screen.
00:42Not only is Ken the kind of guy who would take a beating in a fight like how he took
00:46Zangief's
00:46grapples, but he is also the kind of guy who would ham it up for MTV.
00:50Safe to say that the writers, director, and actor Noah Centineo understood what makes Ken,
00:55well, Ken.
01:02Ryu
01:06Though a noble warrior, Ryu maintains a stoic look in a level-headed manner compared to
01:11his brother.
01:12But he struggles in suppressing a deeper, more vicious side to him, one driven by unmitigated
01:17rage and ambition to be the best fighter.
01:19This is about as much as you need to know about Ryu when it comes to the games, as it
01:23rarely
01:23ever expands on this part of his character.
01:33The movie takes those parts and comes up with a fairly fleshed out iteration of Ryu that
01:37we haven't seen before.
01:38As for that dark side, he seems to have a much harder time suppressing that part of him and
01:43it'll likely fuel the storylines for future sequels.
01:47Don't worry, Ryu!
01:49Don't worry, Ryu!
01:50Don't worry!
02:01Don't worry!
02:06Chun-Li
02:08Who wants revenge towards M. Bison for her father's death.
02:13Actress Kalina Liang plays the part well, and she even took the time to bulk up her legs
02:18just for the role.
02:19To say she did Street Fighter's leading lady justice is a bit of an understatement.
02:23And of course, there is a crap ton of kicking butt.
02:25Literally, whenever Chun-Li's on screen.
02:28Oops, you dropped something.
02:30Guile
02:31Such a ridiculous look.
02:33Now, this was the biggest change we had seen between the video game version and the movie
02:37version.
02:37In the Street Fighter video games, Guile is often stone-faced.
02:40He is THE American military man who does his job, sees the good in people, and will beat
02:45down anyone in the wrong.
02:47I'm positive that a fireball came out of Ryu.
02:53Well, the movie version kind of did a 180 on his character by making him more of a wisecrack
02:58than some of us were expecting.
03:00Maybe this was done to maintain the campy humor.
03:02Maybe it was to make him seem less boring.
03:04Either way, it was weird seeing him in this light.
03:06Oh, I don't know, Dan.
03:08You know anybody in this tournament who fights with a claw hand?
03:11Cammie
03:12Everyone keeps going on about your thighs.
03:14What's going on?
03:16I don't see what the big deal is.
03:17In a previous video, we were critical about Mel Jarnson being cast as Cammie.
03:21While Cammie would get more buff in games that followed starting with Street Fighter 4,
03:25the earlier iterations of Cammie did portray her with a thinner frame.
03:28So, consider our earlier criticisms retracted.
03:34But what hurt about the depiction of Cammie in the movie is that nothing we saw was Cammie,
03:39even when you consider her time as a doll.
03:41In the games, she is basically a femme guile.
03:44Disciplined, intimidating, commanding.
03:46So, why is she flirty and borderline psychotic?
03:49You could make a case for her being a part bison.
03:52But still, she never had this side in the games even when she became a hero.
03:56Execute!
03:59How'd I lose?
04:00Blanca
04:05For the most part, Blanca was translated about as well as you'd expect for a film adaptation
04:09of a video game.
04:10You've got the green skin, the orange hair, and the teeth.
04:13Overall, this is indeed Blanca.
04:16Just when you think you've done him, he slips away.
04:20But as we said in the aforementioned previous video, there's one big problem with Blanca's
04:25depiction here, and it's that he looks just like Jason Momoa.
04:27I do not wish to fight you.
04:29Then, you die.
04:31Okay?
04:31There's nothing wrong with Momoa specifically, but in this kind of a role, it's hard to believe
04:35that this is supposed to be Blanca.
04:37Momoa is simply too recognizable with the number of films he's been involved with, so
04:41seeing him as this CG animated being really pulled us out of the movie.
04:45As for his Portuguese in his fight scene, 10 out of 10.
04:50Don Sauvage
04:55You could probably make the same criticisms we had regarding Blanca here.
04:59Eric Andre isn't exactly a small-time comedian.
05:02He isn't big-time, but he's way bigger than he was when he was doing The Eric Andre Show
05:06on Adult Swim.
05:07Nevertheless, his personality and humor was perfect for a loud and boisterous host like Don Sauvage.
05:18In the games, Don was more loud and boisterous in appearance, while his speaking roles, while
05:23few and far between, were less excitable than you'd want a show host to be.
05:27So it was pretty cool for the crew to give him a slightly bigger role here.
05:34Zangief
05:37Zangief has gone down as one of the most iconic wrestlers in fighting game history thanks to
05:41his beard, litany of body slams and pile drivers, and absurd amount of muscle.
05:52He does appear in a couple of scenes, but overall, his purpose in the story is non-existent.
05:57People will appreciate the moves. They really look like those moves in the game.
06:01That's a real shame, because you could have made him more of the comic relief for the story,
06:05as opposed to guile, and still give Zangief some meaning that matches the source material.
06:09This is about to get interesting.
06:12Alas, we wound up not getting much.
06:14Your muscle spirit is ready for anything.
06:17And it is friend as well as mine.
06:19So I know you can do this.
06:21Akuma
06:26Unfortunately, Akuma faces a lot of the same problems as we had with Blanca.
06:30You got everything right with the purple gi, the red hair, the menacing visual effects to show his power.
06:34It was all going swell, until you cast Roman Reigns.
06:38We want the pageantry and the characters, signature moments, the stances, everything.
06:43Once again, we have nothing against Roman Reigns.
06:46But this guy was a prominent figure in WWE, which means we have seen his face quite a bit.
06:51To his credit, Reigns does a good job at channeling the same ominous, sinister aura that our favorite demon exudes.
06:57We only wish he could have faded into the role a little more.
07:02M. Bison
07:03The day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life.
07:12But for me, it was Tuesday.
07:15With Raul Julia being many people's de facto Bison, actor David Dasmalchen had a lot to live up to.
07:23Who are you? I know what you're capable of.
07:27He already looks like he could be Bison, and Dasmalchen does play the part very well.
07:31He isn't as dramatic as Julia's Bison in the 1994 movie, but he matches the game Bison's intimidating presence while
07:38carrying a slight bit of corniness in performance.
07:40In a way, you could almost say it's a seamless transition.
07:43It only would have been one to one if Dasmalchen had managed to have that same wicked smile Bison has
07:49for the entire movie.
07:50You lose.
07:53What did you think of the new Street Fighter movie?
07:55Do you think it deserves a sequel?
07:57Let us know down in the comments.

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