The Lore Lounge
A weekly podcast where your hosts Haile and Vonzell invite you to kick back, revisit gaming history, and talk about the creative legacy it left behind.
The Lore Lounge
What Street Fighter Means To Us (S1E02)
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
It's official! We are tackling Street Fighter for our inaugural season. The first SF topic, you ask? "What Street Fighter means to us". This is the vibe-check episode, to let y'all know we know what we are talking about. Come find out how Street Fighter changed our lives, from rivalries and character crises to babies doing Hadoukens, and how it taught us to dig deep when life got tough. Let the Street Fighter season begin!
We hope you enjoyed the episode! Let us know in the comments what character or topic you want us to cover.
Follow us for additional content over at https://www.instagram.com/theloreloungepodcast/
Graphics by Vince Dang https://www.instagram.com/fallingforsincerity/
Music by Jeffrey Daijiro Taylor https://www.instagram.com/jeffreydaijirotaylor
Character Illustration by Angelli Barrientos https://www.instagram.com/artgelli
Being able to go to the arcade, see a new version of Street Fighter, like check in on everybody. Like, what's the new lore? It has a forever tether to me, you know? And I think that only so many franchises can can do. Like you can you can only be tethered to so many things in your life, I feel. Because otherwise you're just You're just giving yourself away. You're just a dirty object. Welcome to Laura Lounge.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The podcast where we take some gaming history, we break it down, we get into the nitty-gritty, we talk about how it affects us and the creative legacy that inspires us and that we hope uh inspire others.
SPEAKER_08Talks about how it connects spiritually, fills our slots.
SPEAKER_03You have to do that.
SPEAKER_08I don't need to find better words. You just need to understand me.
SPEAKER_03Please look under the couch cushions, see if you can find better words. Because that's not it, man.
SPEAKER_08I mean, if he understood my soul, if his soul was listening and touching my soul, then what our souls are touching them. That's how conversations work. No, that's how souls work, you know. In don't listen, we're good. Alright. So uh so did you ever go out into your backyard and do any moves from Street Fighter?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Was that like an everyday occurrence thing? Doing Hadokens, Shorukins, Tatsumaka Simba, flash kicks, all the shit?
SPEAKER_02With flash kicks? Yeah. You were doing flash kicks?
SPEAKER_08I was not doing flash kicks. Okay, I was like, I dreamed about doing flash kicks.
SPEAKER_02Well, that's a good dream. That's a good dream to have. I still have it.
SPEAKER_08Okay. All right. You you haven't done a flash kick? No. Interesting. I'd ex- I expected more of you.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_08Sorry. You did some yoga fires, yoga flames?
SPEAKER_02I try. Yeah. I got the flame in the belly. It's just not, it's yeah.
SPEAKER_08Right. I dusquite a lot.
SPEAKER_02Sick.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. I was a sumo kid.
SPEAKER_02You were a okay. But see, here's the real question. Are you pile driving people?
SPEAKER_08I'm pile driving cousins. That's right. Yeah, yeah. Little little cousins come over.
SPEAKER_03They get there we go.
SPEAKER_08That's right. You can catch no spinning pile drivers. Let's go. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lil' cousins got it. Little cousins got the work. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08But okay, also, so when when does Street Fighter become like iconic to you? Like, hey, this is my holy grail. This is something that is low-key a part of me.
SPEAKER_02Honestly, that that happened when I was able to take the game in my own in my room and just play it and absorb it and break it down.
SPEAKER_08So, like the moment like you beat the first arcade mode with like Ryu, and you got to the end and you saw his ending or something like that. Like the moment of the credits rolling, you're like, okay, I'm in.
SPEAKER_02This is sick. Right. I'm gonna do it again.
SPEAKER_08Right. Right. And I get to do it eight more times.
SPEAKER_02I'm gonna do it again, and then I'm going to emulate how Ryu is moving. You know?
SPEAKER_08So in bedroom like this.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yes. Okay. I also got the six button controller. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I know exactly what the technology is. Specifically for Street Fighters.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, being able to do hard hard punch and hard kick on the same and not have to do that. Nope.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Yep. So yeah. It was probably after that. It's probably when the the alpha series dropped. That's probably when it felt like this is a little bit more of an obsession than it is just something fun.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. I like I remember when Super Street Fighter came out, and that was amazing because of the four new challengers. You got Cami Phelong and whatever. And everyone was talking about that. And they're like, hey, black people, y'all get DJ! Alright. You know? Shaba. You know, okay. So we got him. That was that was great. But like we also shortly after Darkstalkers, I think, came out, or Vampire Savior. Vampire Savior is Japanese and Dark Stalkers is the American. But that animation style was sick. Yeah. Right. Immediately in my head, I was like, man, it would be cool to see Street Fighter like in that animation style. Like, not but six months later. It felt like Street Fighter Alpha came out. And then it also had the concept of like the dramatic battle with like both Ru and Ken being able to fight. Oh, that was sick. Right, right. So that's when it evolved in my heart, where it was like, I don't want to be away from this. Like, I just constantly, I want to be reminded always in my life, this this feeling constantly. Being being able to go to the arcade, see a new version of Street Fighter, like check in on everybody. Like, what's the new lore? What what happened in this? Like, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, is Sagat out for revenge? Is he even here? Is it Kuma? Like, what's what's going on with you know, Rue? Is it Guile? Is it did he find Charlie? Like, all this, like, or no, at that time, who is Charlie, right? Who is Charlie for sure? And then uh the fact that Cody and Guy joined, or or Guy first, and then eventually Cody was the final fight. Everyone's coming together. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, that was sick though, because I I did not know that at all. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08So I'm saying it was the the same world.
SPEAKER_02That it was in the same world. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm looking at them like, wait a minute, I don't know where them. I've seen them before. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Serious? Yeah. That that is when I was like, okay, this is like no matter what I'm doing in my life, no matter if I'm graduating middle school, high school, if I'm paying my taxes, if my boss is berating me at work, I need to check in every now and then. You know, and I think that only so many franchises can can do. Like you can you can only be tethered to so many things in your life, I feel. Because otherwise, you're just you're just giving yourself away.
SPEAKER_06You're just a dirty object.
SPEAKER_02For me, I enjoyed the game, and the more I played the game, the more I played through it at home, broke things down. That's when I really got into it.
SPEAKER_07You started labbing as a child.
SPEAKER_02I started labbing as a child.
SPEAKER_07It was Dexter's laboratory up here.
SPEAKER_02No joke. For real. Like it was seeing the patterns that the AI had, of course, it was hard at first because you're trying to figure out the moves. But even when I was playing it at friends' houses, you'd have those Hadokin battles. Right, right, right. Where you're just you're just spamming it back and forth. Yeah. And the the person that that flubs the input chokes, and then you win. And then you just keep going and you overwhelm them, right? Right, right, right. Those are the kind of games that I was playing and I was winning them.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And that was cool. I couldn't play a charge character character to save my life. Right. Right. But I felt like the more I got into it and the more I understood how these characters were working and what I could do to counter them or punish them, that's when I became like more into it.
SPEAKER_08So it it wasn't like lore bits or character designs, it was more like legitimate, like overcoming your opponent. It was like the competitive nature.
SPEAKER_02Like at least on at first impression. When we got to the alpha series and they were dropping little bits of story in there, then that was that was really exciting.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I I guess I would I would agree with that. I mean, besides the whole concept of, you know, bison dictator, like being like, who is this guy who's just like holding these tournaments and everything in the sequence, like you have to he's jumping on your head and shit. Like, like, like besides that, like pulling me in on like wanting to beat him and wanting to defeat him, I will have to agree. It was about the competition. I would say it started to click super, super early for me, because apparently this is this is hearsay, because I obviously I don't have the cognitive mem memories to to remember this, but um when I was a baby, apparently young, my brother who be working at Blockbuster and and things would bring his friends over, and then he would call me downstairs, and I hear I come waddling my ass down with the with the diapers and shit.
SPEAKER_03Wait, wait, wait, baby genius in Street Fighter? Is that what you're trying to say?
SPEAKER_08I okay, again, again this is the story that was told to me. Uh-oh. Yeah, he would turn into a game, he'd turn into a bet. I bet you can't beat my brother, my little brother. It's like, man, get your little brother on the sticks or whatever, right? You know, so I would come waddle my ass down there, and we would start playing, and apparently I just whoop all of their asses. And then they would all be making fun of each other on like who lost to the baby. I was a menace. I was destroying folks. I was the ultimate fighting baby. So okay, how old were you in in this? I don't remember. Maybe, maybe three or four.
SPEAKER_03Nah. I don't know about all that. What? I don't know about all that. Oh, you want proof?
SPEAKER_02Four-year-old street fighter baby? Come on, man.
SPEAKER_08Come on, man. Give me a second.
SPEAKER_02This is the first time I've heard this story.
SPEAKER_08Is it? I I felt like I've told you.
SPEAKER_02Or not send you a four-year-old Street Fighter baby.
SPEAKER_08Hello. Hey, what's up, bro? Hey, we're recording the podcast right now, and and Vonzel doesn't believe me. So I I want I want to let you be a witness.
SPEAKER_05Your entry into gaming? Is that what we're talking about?
SPEAKER_08Yeah, entry into Street Fighter specifically.
SPEAKER_05Oh, okay. Well, you know, you are quite a bit younger than I am.
SPEAKER_08For everyone out there, my brother is what, 15 years older than me? Is that 15 years older than me?
SPEAKER_05And all I did back then was a game, right? We had all the systems. So we played everything. You played everything almost before you could talk. Back in the Nintendo days where you had to take the cartridge out and blow in it, you in the diaper were taking the cartridge out and blowing in it and putting it in the thing and closing it, right? To blow the dust off to make it work. Like you know how to do that before you know how to talk. So, yeah, when it came to Street Fire, when it came to like the fighting games or whatever, I used to bet my friends that you could beat them. And I would clean up because you knew the combos, you knew everything, and they would turn red, they'd be frustrated, they'd be sweating, and it would be like, I can't, what what is he doing? Like, how and it's not real. And then they'd get mad and not want to play you anymore. And you'd be like, How come he doesn't want to play? And I was like, Haley, you can't win all of them. You have to back off, man.
SPEAKER_08You know what? I I have I do have an ingrained like like feeling all the time when I'm playing somebody. It's like, even if I could take a full round or a perfect or whatever, I don't. I just, you know, I let them take a round, I let them take a whatever. So you know it would crush their soul.
SPEAKER_02This explains so much. It does explain. This really does explain so much.
SPEAKER_08Don't act like this is opening up something that you're not seeing a part of my soul because of this story. Okay. It's it's all right. All right, cool, cool, cool.
SPEAKER_05No, no, man. Your your mind just works different. When other people were learning how to communicate and whatever, you were in there plotting all of the moves for the Mario for Mario. Like that was your your brain. And that's how you got wired.
SPEAKER_08And when other kids were learning how to communicate, I learned how to Hadoka. Before I was potty trained, I would rather shit in my diaper before not knowing how to Tatsumashi Senpukak, you know?
SPEAKER_05And that is actually true. Because I and they be like, he's in a diaper and he's whooping your head.
SPEAKER_08All right. All right, all right, thanks, bro. I appreciate it. All right, guys. Talk soon. Bye.
SPEAKER_02That explains. So let me explain something to you, okay? I've known this guy for a while. We would have 50, what, 100 match sessions in Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Especially in the beginning, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Especially like the Street Fighter 4, it was ours. And I couldn't get above 50%. Like, you know, we have we have other mutual friends, we would do the same thing. Sometimes I get 50%, sometimes I get a little bit more. This guy right here, it would never get above 50%. I was the most frustrated. And then he would go, you know what? I I'll pick a different, I'll pick a character I'm not familiar with. I'll I'll do that. I'll do that. The humiliation. It was more like we're learning together, you know, getting to the you were learning different ways to humiliate me because I was not changing my character.
SPEAKER_08Right. Well, that that wasn't my purpose. That wasn't my goal, you know. That was I was just thinking like this is a way to to to get back the fun together.
SPEAKER_02Right, exactly. Just like how you were in diapers crushing 20-year-olds.
SPEAKER_08Because I came in to a situation where it was like where you guys were all like playing each other, you guys were already having hierarchy and talking shit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_08So, you know, then I was like, okay, well, I can just come in and just be a menace if I want to. I thank y'all for that. It was I felt like in all other situations I always had to hell hold back and stuff, but I was able to fight you at full capacity, full, full power.
SPEAKER_02Let it be known in the friend group, I was at the top. Okay, I was number one, number two in Street Fighter. And then this Negro showed up, and there was there was no more competition. It was everybody tried to get at least one win off of Haley. And then it was, oh, okay, all right. Now I'm gonna start playing for real. I was like, are you serious right now? Are you serious? All the work that we put in just to get one win, and you're like, now it's time to play for real. F out of here. But that's that's a that's a question that I have because I feel like one of the core philosophies of Street Fighter, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think, is this idea of testing your metal. And the the power differential can be asymmetrical. Like there's clearly a more a much more powerful player, right, you know, but between us. Yeah. But as you were saying, there was never any I never felt like dejected.
SPEAKER_08Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02It always felt like, no, I I can I I can do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? And I feel like that's that's one of the core philosophies of this particular kind of fighting game versus you know, the other fighting games that exist. Yeah.
SPEAKER_08In a sense, it's chess, you know, like it's you there's always a better move. But like if you're quick on your feet, if you're thinking about situations, if you're thinking about pressure, if you think about whatever, you can find a way out. And that is endearing to especially cut like having a comeback where you have a sliver of life, and then you just go on and you make the perfect guess every time, and you're putting them on their back foot. Do you do the comeback and you win with the sliver of life? It's like the most euphoric feeling ever. Yeah, you know, and thinking about that sometimes when life gets you down, just like in in the game, like I'm I might have a sliver of life right now, but it's not over. Like I can come back, you know? And I think that was also a very important lesson I learned from Street Fighter and made it feel like okay, this is a part of my life, like forever, you know, no matter how rough things get. So I feel like part of us getting this podcast together is like the Street Fighter mentality. I'm like, uh there's so many things that have been keeping us down or figuring figuring shit out, but it's like, hey, we'll we'll get it. You know, we have a sliver of life right now, but we'll get it.
SPEAKER_02The answer lies in the heart of battle. That's right.
SPEAKER_06Sharukin, Arokin, Kyle Herbert.
SPEAKER_02Shout out, shout out, for sure.
SPEAKER_08So, yeah, like speaking of developing a connection with uh Street Fighter and it being a part of your life, was there is there any particular characters that like resonated more than than others?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when I was playing um Street Fighter on the Genesis, I always pick Ken. Like it was Ryu or Ken, but I I always pick Ken. Um it was flashier. I I I I gravitate toward like good sounds, good music. Street Fighter 2, I think, has one of the most aesthetically pleasing uh soundtracks for a fighting game.
SPEAKER_08Which we will get into at a later episode, by the way.
SPEAKER_02We're getting into it. We're getting into it, but of all time. So that that really excited me, but also just the sound effects. Right. I was a big sound effects person. If there was a game that had an options menu, I would go to the options menu, go to the sound bank, and play every sound. Sometimes I would do it multiple times.
SPEAKER_08Right. And like Ken, like having sort of some of the same moves as Ryu, but having like three or four hits on the shirt. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02That was more that was exciting. So I'm always I'm I'm always picking Ken at least.
SPEAKER_08Uh and you can like easily almost get like three or four hits on his Tatsumaki too, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you're just watching the opponent just go Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And there was no knockdown. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And they would just be stuck in the street.
SPEAKER_02It's like you're stuck there, and now what? Now what? Now what I'm now what I'm gonna do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um but when we got to the Alpha series, there was a character that was a little bit similar and had more of those cool sound effects. And her name was Sakura.
SPEAKER_08Oh, right.
SPEAKER_02She's basically been, I think, one of my favorite Street Fighter characters ever since.
SPEAKER_08That is super interesting. I have my reasons why I like Sakura, but like what what what attracted you to her?
SPEAKER_02Um, self-made. She is self-made.
SPEAKER_08Okay, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know what I mean? You start with Rue and Ken, and they do these crazy, super powerful moves. Right, right. There is clearly a training that existed there. Sakura did it just by watching and emulating.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And the fact that she was able to like baby Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, like like you know, baby Haley and Sakura is like on the same path.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we're not gonna go there.
SPEAKER_08And and in hindsight, like if we're looking at the whole thing, like I'm your favorite character of Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Hmm. Facts.
SPEAKER_02Interesting.
SPEAKER_08Okay, all right. Continue. So Haley, Sakura, Sakura, Haley, go ahead.
SPEAKER_02Cool. Well, um, that's interesting that you you made that connection for yourself. I didn't make it, but you made it for yourself. But that's fine. That's that's fine. Yeah, you just want to just want to take over my favorite character.
SPEAKER_04No, I had not taking over. I'm just my favorite character is Sakura. Oh, yeah, well, you know what? I like Sakura, sorry. Like that's that's crazy. I don't think I made that face. Okay, whatever.
SPEAKER_08That's okay.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, it's uh the fact that she was able to not just like copy the ideas of the style, generate her own key, right? Yeah, yeah, but also made it her own.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, and you never had to play with it being m malignant, you know, like it was just her pure, like hardworking, like Hado energy, yeah. That that but it was incomplete, but it was like hers. Yeah, and it was that was kind of cool, you know. Even even though, like, you know, you're in you're in Street Frat Alpha and you're you're you're doing her Hadook again and it's like coming out as the smallest. I'm like, I'm like still rooting for her. I'm like, yeah, get it, girl. Yeah, yeah, anyways. Love the cast. I started obviously with Ryu. Um, but then it was really interesting. I feel like someone completely opposite from Ryu was Blanca, right? Because he's yeah, yeah. He's just a jungle boy, he's just doing his thing, and you know, he has electric power and he's like flipping all over the screen. And I found that as a kid, like so excited. The fact that I can overwhelm my opponent, jump behind them, bite them, and then electrocute him, whatever. And that overwhelmed people really quickly, but it taught me the diversity of characters, like because I was you know figuring out, you know, like you even small things when you're playing on the Super Nintendo, right? Like, you're like, oh, the shoulder buttons are the hard punch and the uh hard kick, right? And then you figure out the moves and the Hadoken, and you're like, okay, cool. Like you kind of get this kind of discipline with you and Ken. And then you go over to Blanca, who's a who's a charge. Hindsight, right now, it's like obviously not that big of a deal, but to me at that point was huge. Like, yeah, like, oh, I have to I have to charge now? What even what even is this? Yeah, yeah, right. So figuring that out, but then like realizing I have to rework my brain and understanding to play different characters in that variety, and that that's how that's life as well, you know. Like, I I started to really appreciate that. That dichotomy taught me a lot. And then as we moved moved on, I liked Feilong when. The super came out. I did uh gravitate towards Ken a lot too because you know some of those combos he did. Street Fighter Alpha came out. Yeah. Ken was amazing in that. And he had that kicking combo. Yeah, that was sick. Like back in the day, I was like, oh my god. Um, but you know, other other characters like Cody and Guy, I like playing as in Street Fighter Alpha.
SPEAKER_02I hated Cody and Street Fighter Alpha. My gosh. Throwing rocks. Get out of here, dude.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Um, as we get to Street Fighter Third Strike, here comes Dudley. I was always wanting to play a boxer, but I didn't like bullrog charging. I felt like if I want to punch, I just want punch. I don't want to wait. And Dudley was everything I ever wanted in a Street Fighter character. Like, I think the dichotomy of Dudley's character too, being a being a rich, you know, uh pampered person, but then also being able to fight with great finesse and power. Like, I thought that was like really cool. Like the you you would think, like, oh, he's he's a pampered prick. He's not gonna be able to take a punch. And he's like, no, I I also fight. Like, I sip tea and knock you out. So with Third Strike and then Street Fighter 4, I was like, this is heaven. This is don't please don't stop this. Please just keep him a part of the cast all times. Let me throw roses on folks. Let me let me show show you what a gentleman pujaist is. Like, let me sip tea as I'm knocking you out. Like, please. And uh, they've betrayed me ever since ever since Street Fighter V. I I broke down and played ball wrong just because he I was like, okay, I guess I'm thugging it out. Time to get paid, you know. But I wanted Dudley, and then Street Fighter 6. I'm like, okay, who's the boxer gonna be? Ed. Damn. I wanted the English Indo-Black gentleman boxer, and they gave me a Nazi boxer instead. Or, you know, whatever. That's that's what I get.
SPEAKER_02Okay, you know what you were saying about like enjoying the entire cast, right, and everyone in the cast feeling like they fit into this world is um truly a difficult thing to do.
SPEAKER_09Right.
SPEAKER_02And I think Street Fighter does it really well for the most part. Yeah, the characters are all interesting, there's a a foundation, whether it's an archetype or a caricature, something that will immediately grab you.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, we can all agree, like some of the character designs, you know, if you if they were made in 2026, like they might be a little bit problematic, yeah, but at least at the time, they could have been a lot worse. And the fact that they were there were still trying to pay you know respects to different cultures and have these characters be iconic.
SPEAKER_02Like Dalsum is one of those characters that I'm playing against him in Street Fighter 2, and I'm like, what is this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, what is this? And why is the only thing he's saying yoga? Like, what is happening?
SPEAKER_02And it was great to see throughout each iteration of the game, more was revealed about him, what his motivation is, yeah, like the the like the source of his power, and then you find out he's one of the strongest fighters in the world, and you're like, of course he is.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I know like there's all these different lore interpretations, which we'll be getting into in later episodes, but like the Street Fighter 2 V, the Street Fighter 2 anime uh that that came out, that concept that Dulcim like unlocked Ryu and Ken's being able to use Hado and being able to channel and understand key control and and being able to do the Hadoken and Shoruken or whatever, like they understood the moves, they had a background in it, but they're like the true potential came after learning from a guru like his Dulcim. That was that yeah blew my mind. And the fact that again all the understanding of the characters just kept evolving. Yeah. The the cool thing too about you know Street Fighter is not just about the diversity and overcoming and like make yourself better than you were the day before, like that type of mentality. I felt it was really powerful for like filmmaking and storytelling, and like even if you're like you're writing a script and you feel the shit is trash, it's really easy to beat yourself up. But at the same time, you go, hey, here's my starting point. You know, I will, you know, write a better draft and I'll write a better draft, I'll write a better draft. And then when you get things on film and you're seeing how it's turning out, you're like, okay, well, I I I know I made these mistakes today, I can shoot things tomorrow. I know this is very, like, a very elementary type of like, yeah, that's life, but it's like the fact that that was ingrained in me from a video game. Everything I do in my life, I if the concept of wanting to give up is not there because of a headband wearing Japanese man. Like, yeah, who's who's who's trying to just be the best in martial arts, may not be, may not ever be. He may not even get there. And I think that's also one of the awesome things about Street Fighter, is like, you know, Ryu's journey is like he might not become the strongest, but he's striving for it, and you're there to watch it, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I do wonder what it says about a person to look at that game over screen with the countdown.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Do people wait until the last minute while they deliberate? Should I try this again? Should I really do this again? Yeah. I was a kind of person it's like as soon as I as soon as I lost, nope, nope, we're doing this again. We are doing this again, and I am going to win this time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So there's a there's a kind of tenacity, I think, that even if it's not something that I feel like I was taught from the game, yeah, it was definitely reinforced in the way I played the game. Like I was saying, the I would study the AI.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And you know that Ken's gonna throw some fireballs, then he's gonna do every version of the shore you can. So you just wait for the third one, right, and then you do what you gotta do. Or Zangif is just gonna walk towards you. Right. Doesn't matter. You can just foot sweep him all day. He's just gonna keep walking towards you.
SPEAKER_03Like, don't get caught.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but it's real easy, and like you said, understanding that there is a there's a move, there's a button that can get you out of that situation, yeah. That can uh punish this, that can reveal the vulnerabilities of this habit.
SPEAKER_09Yeah.
SPEAKER_02As far as like self-examination, that it's the same thing.
SPEAKER_08Did that did you ever use that? I mean, I know you have so many different acting techniques and and things that you've learned over the years, and you know, being a professionally trained actor, but then doing you know all these plays and all these different projects. Is there any little sliver of Street Fighter lessons that you've learned that you have then uh come back and reiterated and took into a play or something or or a film or whatever, and you're like, oh, but that's that's interesting that I'm pulling from that of all places.
SPEAKER_02I mean, the one thing I can definitely tell you is that uh Street Fighter was probably one of the reasons I was more excited to learn Shotokan karate.
SPEAKER_08Right, yeah, true, true, true, yeah. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02So if I'm doing a video or something like that, or if I'm in a fight scene or whatever and we're doing karate, I'm definitely recalling the stances, right? You know, because there was so much that is accurately translated from the games, even the the sprites, yeah, yeah. And the more I learned uh uh in karate and I saw those moves, I'm like, wait a minute.
SPEAKER_04I that really yeah, yeah, yeah. The kind of accuracy like this is a little one to one, right? It's a little one-to-one.
SPEAKER_01That's cool, man.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, yeah. Your sense is coming over teaching you a move, and you're like, oh, that ain't that ain't nothing but forward punch, man. That's back fierce, baby. I got that already, you know.
SPEAKER_02When when am I going to learn how to do the Tatsumaki?
SPEAKER_08Okay. It's ingrained. Right, ingrained. Let's go. That Street Fighter 2 movie, the animated one, I still think it holds up. I still think it's fantastic. The fact of like, hey, we're gonna elevate the action cinematography of martial arts, like in this animated, like that was like what they're like, okay, cool. If the Tatsumaki is real, like Tatsumaki Senpu Kek, if if that is real, how would I incorporate it into a fight? And you seeing him do it in the Fe Long fight where you know Fe Long does his rising kick, you know, Ryu falls back, rolls into it, use the momentum, you know, kicks him, kicks it out of it, and then jumps up and then does the Tatsumaki. That's sick. That's awesome. Not only are you paying homage to the actual game itself, but it it makes sense within the context of the film and and making it real in the fight, right? That feeling on that being so epic and and make it making so much sense. I'm like, don't just throw it away because you think it's goofy. Like, how do you utilize it? How do you make it real? And that transitioning into like, you know, action project that I'm doing, that I'm trying to incorporate things that I think, oh, maybe kind of far far-fetched. I'm like, I would rethink and think about that feeling, whether it be horror, whether it be what whatever. It's just like, how do I be true to not only you know my ideas, but if it's an adaptation, not throwing the baby away with the bathwater, you know? And Street Fighter kind of taught me that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and like you you just reminded me the ultra combo series. One of the things that really launched us into virality at that time was literally trying to design our own ultra combos inspired by what was going on in Street Fighter 4. So when you when you were talking about sort of the adaptation of the stuff that's these gimmicky type of moves in the game into something that feels like it's a part of a logical fight sequence and animation, we were trying to do something like that in the live action environment because of that kind of and it was because of what they did in Street Fighter 4, which I feel like was taking that idea, but also making something that looked cinematic, something that looked really cool. Yeah. And we got inspired by that and said, can we do something like that? And uh that was kind of awesome. Yeah, like I'm I'm a huge fan of just you know supernatural type of stuff. Yeah, if if you are able to channel your energy into your poems, have it visually apparent above and beyond reality, like that that kind of stuff excites me too.
SPEAKER_08And and then pulling those, you know, moments that are outside of reality into reality, into the reality, how would it be? And like that thought exercise all the time, again, of like not being afraid of it, not not like going, no, we can't do that, or that's stupid, or whatever, being like, no, like if it's if it's real, how would you do it? Yeah, with any type of storytelling, it's just not being afraid of tackling those things. Okay, so it's safe to say that Street Fighter has had a huge impact on our lives, whether it be creatively, uh spiritually, financially, what whatever it is. That being said, I want to hear from from y'all. If you do have Street Fighter stories, we want to we want to hear them in the comments below.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, be dope to hear what your favorite characters are as well, and whether or not that's changed over the the history of the games.
SPEAKER_08Thanks everyone. Please like, comment, and subscribe. I I said it without grimacing. That's good. Yeah, I did, I did.
SPEAKER_02Been working on it.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_08And if you want to see von Zell and I do Naked Hadokins, subscribe to our OnlyFans.
SPEAKER_06See you in the next one. Show you Ken.