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 Is Street Fighter's DNA Without Ryu and Ken? (S1E03)
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Some say Street Fighter is just goofy, colorful characters throwing fireballs at each other, but we know better. Today we tackle the deceptively hard question: what makes Street Fighter feel like Street Fighter? We unpack how it balances innovative mechanics, inspiring story moments, and “World Warrior” character design as it walks the line between exaggerated, funny concepts and serious, iconic fighters you learn to respect. Tekken has the Devils and the Mishimas, Mortal Kombat has the ninjas and the gore, but Street Fighter has a one-of-a-kind DNA. Come chill with us and find out why it’s still unique after almost 40 years of Hadoukens!
We hope you enjoyed the episode! Let us know in the comments what character or topic you want us to cover.
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Music by Jeffrey Daijiro Taylor https://www.instagram.com/jeffreydaijirotaylor
Character Illustration by Angelli Barrientos https://www.instagram.com/artgelli
Rufus And Real-World Fear
SPEAKER_00Any joke character in the Street Fighter world could kick my ass. If I was at a like drive-thru diner and Rufus insulted my girlfriend, I would just turn to my girlfriend and just be like, We've just we just got insulted. We we need to go home right now. Like, I'm not fighting him.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, he's probably right about this.
SPEAKER_00He's probably right about we need to get in the car and drive home now. Uh, this is not a time for me to fight for your honor. I know that guy looks like cheeseburger Bruce Lee.
SPEAKER_01Burger Lee.
SPEAKER_00Hamburger Lee. Yeah.
Defining Street Fighter’s Core Identity
SPEAKER_00Welcome back to Lord Lounge. Now that we have announced what we're doing with Street Fighter, before we get into the nitty-gritty with the guests and uh getting behind the scenes with some of the other characters that we're gonna deep dive into, uh there's still an overall feeling of uh what is Street Fighter. I feel like previously we went through what Street Fighter means to you and me.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_00I think the next step is we let's talk about what makes Street Fighter Street Fighter so we can get into everything else. Let's uh let's establish that. Okay. See what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02Well, this Street Fighter is a fighting game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but like, you know, you you have the layman who can look at Mortal Kombat, look at you know, Tekken, look at all these things, and like, but what distinctly makes Street Fighter Street Fighter? Okay, you know?
SPEAKER_02What do we mean? Things like um people throwing fireballs, maybe announcing their moves when they do it. No, I get it. Like that there's some surface stuff there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, you're saying you know, special moves and people announcing stuff. It was distinctly Japanese fighting games, and then Mortal Kombat was starting to be all like, so they started jumping off Badwalker, but they didn't know any range of languages, so they just started making up shit. So so that's not even a differentiator, is what I'm trying to say.
SPEAKER_02You're forgetting the most iconic Mortal Kombat line. Get over here.
SPEAKER_00Yes, they're all versions of multicolor colored ninjas, right? That's a lot, and and demons and things like that.
SPEAKER_02And
Mortal Kombat And Tekken Comparisons
SPEAKER_02undead.
SPEAKER_00And undead, and like, yeah, whatever grotesque, you know, B-movie horror martial arts thing you can think of. That's like Mortal Kombat. Tekken has all a different diverse cast of characters from all over the world, but they're all like collectively healing from the Mishima Zaibatsu trauma, right? They're dealing with uh Kazuya, Heihachi, and Jin doing their shit, yeah. And and as a world, they're coming together to try to figure out like what do we do here, right? And and also genetic mutating, like and robots and cyborgs and stuff or whatever, right? So that's Tekken. Diversity of the roster isn't inherently a Street Fighter thing. I will give that to obviously to all the different fighting games, but Street Fighter distinctly is uh a celebration of the world as you know, drama-filled as it is, or as wacky and kooky and crazy. I'm flying to different destinations and I'm walking around the next corner, and I don't know what type of opponent is gonna be there, and it's potentially someone with a completely different style, completely different background, and has the potential to be the strongest person in the world, you know, like and that just happens all the time. And to me, that's at least one of the factors that differentiates everything, and like, oh, this is a street fighter game to me. And like, I'm not even gonna say, like, oh, for a street fighter game to be successful, even though they have tried to drop them. I see. Uh a street fighter game doesn't necessarily have to have Ryu and Ken.
SPEAKER_02I you know, I know that's like kind of a blasphemous thought, but eventually Do you really think that Street Fighter is Street Fighter without Ryu and Ken?
SPEAKER_00I want it to be. There has to be a satisfying passing of the torch. I I think it's in the DNA. They've tried several times before. Obviously, Alex didn't take Jamie and Luke don't have the main character sauce to be able to be like the the front men to push it forward. Like they're they're cool characters, but I feel what needs to happen is there needs to be a satisfying conclusion to Ryu and Ken's story, and protege is put in place, whether it be Sean or Sakura or or s or something, to see that evolution I feel will be satisfying, but they have to have a a good conclusion and a good protege, and having like their will of what their character represents still instilled in the next generation officially. But you need a satisfying conclusion.
SPEAKER_02I don't want
Can Street Fighter Move On?
SPEAKER_02to ask you what you think that satisfying conclusion can be just because we're trying to parse out what makes Street Fighter Street Fighter in the sea of fighting games that exists now.
SPEAKER_00If you guys want to talk about predictions of satisfying Street Fighter conclusions, we can we can talk about it. Leave a comment and I'll I'll go into what my preferred storyline finishing up what Ryu and Ken, where they should end up, yeah, or whatever. That that might be a fun episode. But right now we're again, you're like you said, we're trying to be what what makes Street Fighter Street Fighter.
The Quest For Power
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I think that you know, one of the things that you mentioned earlier about a character's sort of struggle to gain strength. I think of it like the internal quest for power and what that power does to the characters.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for good and worse, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for better or for worse, because we see all gradations of what happens to these characters when they do acquire or encounter or strive for power, and it's not necessarily power from the outside. Some people try to get stronger or they are strong. Geef is Russian muscle.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I gotcha.
SPEAKER_02You know, we're also talking about what happens when that power consumes. We have examples of that with with bison and with Akuma.
SPEAKER_00Right, or when you're empathetic and giving with that power. I still think, like, conceptually, everyone is a contender, and that's the point. Even though uh you and Ken are, you know, uh studying Ansatsken and dealing with this ancient martial art, a bouncer in London who all of a sudden, you know, has the the feel and wants to fight, could also be a contender and come up with techniques and stuff or whatever. It's like there's something in the water awakening everyone's like search for power and becoming the best or whatever. I know they have their all all their different um objectives and reasons behind it, whether it's hey, let me let me get my let me get my father's car back. Or let me let me get uh what else is ridiculous. Fight money. Yeah, yeah. I'm trying to get paid, you know, like time to get paid. Whatever it is, obviously, but still there is a uh incessant search and recognition for strength that I feel all the characters share.
SPEAKER_02Everyone can get it.
SPEAKER_00Basically, everyone can get it in Street Fighter, and that's when like a new when a new character is announced, I get personally excited because I'm like, okay, cool, how is he gonna fall into the mix? Whereas, say a new character is announced in Tekken or something, I'm like, how is this person traumatized by the Misha? You know, like that's that's I mean, you know, jokes aside, I get super excited when there's a hundred percent new Street Fighter character. I was like, man, where did where did you come from? And why do you want to jump in this world full of tiger knees, Hadokins, you know, Satsuino Hados, Ishusengeks, like all that stuff, right? Like, why are you now feeling like, yeah, I see all that, and I'm I'm a contender, I can do this. You know, it's like, okay, who are you? You know, yeah.
Rivals Make You Improve
SPEAKER_02As we were saying, it's not necessarily unique anymore, but there is something particular, I think, about a character in Street Fighter having a rival.
SPEAKER_00That also goes back to the concept of like how the game was built in the in the first place with Street Fighter 2 making a full cast of characters available for two players to like compete against each other, right? Like that you can sit at home, play the computer and stuff every day. You will reach a certain level of competency with the game. Add an older brother or a friend from school or whatever, or a Haley at five years old. Yeah, throw throw me into your life, and then all of a sudden you're like, let this little beat you, or oh hell no.
SPEAKER_02Like you you this man still has a pacifier in his mouth and he dogging you in Street Fighter is your problem.
SPEAKER_00All of a sudden you're you've you've unlocked something and you're up till three in the morning trying to get the perfect frame, perfect combo, shoruken, hodoken, or whatever. Hadokin battles. So the next time you meet that rival, you've gotten better. The way you grow the most, I feel, is you're finding that one person that's around your level, maybe a little bit stronger.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, maybe a little better.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, maybe a little bit better. And you guys constantly every match are learning from each other and then growing together. That feeling when you boot up a street fighter, you're on that quest to find that right competitive level, uh, is another aspect that I think would make Street Fighter Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's interesting. Nowadays, if I'm watching like a Street Fighter VI match with high-level players, there's a lot of complicated stuff going on. Yeah, it was not so in Street Fighter 2, for example.
SPEAKER_00Right. You know what?
Innovation Is Part Of The DNA
SPEAKER_00To be honest, I feel a new innovative mechanic is also a part of what makes Street Fighter Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_02You know, I feel like every iteration is something unique about it.
SPEAKER_00100%. Not only you're evolving as a player, but the game in the street fighter world is evolving also. The characters have evolved, you have evolved, the game has evolved, you know, and that feeling too is like when you boot up a new street fighter, it's like, okay, what type of journey am I about to undertake under this new horizon? You know, like I remember we didn't start getting our super moves in Tekken until Tekken 7. They were upping the motion capture and the amount of moves. That was Tekken, right? We didn't get the innovation of like super moves and rage arts and all these all these things until 7 and 8 started to hit. But Street Fighter, I expected, I expect something new and innovative every time.
SPEAKER_02That that's part of the core mechanics of the game.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So whether it be adding a super move for Super Street Fighter, adding parries, the the isms in Street Fighters. Then you have the the drives in six and or the V-triggers in five, you know, like focus attacks and then the cancels and four. Right, right. Yeah, yeah, there we go. So game-wise, we've figured that out. Lore-wise,
Why New Street Fighter Hits Different
SPEAKER_00we kind of tapped into what makes Street Fighter, Street Fighter. But yeah, like fan reception in the community. There is a distinct reaction when any type of Street Fighter anything is announced. Whereas another new anime fighter, a new tech, and new Mortal Kombat, there's a difference in the air, if that makes any like abstract sense.
SPEAKER_02It makes sense in the numbers. Every fighting game tournament at this point has the most amount of players doing Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_00It's like a signal flare is shot up to the whole world. New Street Fighters drop. Yeah, and the whole world needs to get on it. Because whether it be nostalgia from when they're kids, I'm playing Street Fighter 2 and like see how I hold up, or the new generation coming in and seeing how uh the old heads are really, really good at Street Fighter 4. And now they're starting to get of age and like, okay, let me see if I can run things in Street Fighter 6. Like I stayed up late watching online tournaments for them on Street Fighter 4. Let me see how I can do in Street Fighter 6 and what eventually gonna be Street Fighter 7. Inspiration.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like it's it's which kind of filters back into the game itself.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I I feel like the the releases and the lore and everything, it's like a self-fulfilling prophecy, a little bit. Yeah, yeah. And I feel
Street Fighter V Missteps And Fixes
SPEAKER_00like even when uh Street Fighter misses its mark, like I was not as hyped on Street Fighter V.
SPEAKER_02I mean I'm not gonna lie, I hate Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, are you just gonna be angry? I believe you're yeah, yeah. Like, what do you mean?
SPEAKER_02It was just no.
SPEAKER_00Um, there was things obviously like the game not having enough content and then the balance being off and stuff like that. But also that beginning roster was looking a little bit Aryan. Was a little bit blonde haired, blue-eyed, like everybody. Like I look, you know, I love me some of the blonde hair, blue-eyed characters, you know, Guile and Ken. Something like there was like eight blonde hair, blue-eyed people when I thought of this is supposed to be a world warrior game, right? This is supposed to be, I mean, this is the the the definition of diversity is a Street Fighter game, right? Yeah, I mean, eventually they got their the roster filled out. Like I did feel with subsequent updates and patches and characters and things that they were trying to to fix it and mold it to eventually would would be a a pretty decent game and a pretty decent addition to lore and characters and things. So even when they mess up, I'm still at least there to support and be like, alright, cool, let's let's get them next time. Okay. Okay, you know, that that's interesting.
SPEAKER_02So do you think that that is a product of the game developers responding or engaging with the community and the willingness to say, you know what, we want to make this better. Was Street Fighter a pioneer in that endeavor?
SPEAKER_00People joke all the time about all the different, like, oh, Street Fighter 2, Rainbow Edition, Street Fighter Ultra, Street Fighter Super, Street Fighter, whatever. Like, but some of it, you know, you could be like, oh, it's a cash grab, but a lot of it too is just like we want to update the game. They wanted to fix this, we want to make sure not only this patch works, but we also want to add these characters, we want to continue giving back to the players, right? I will admit there were times where they can overdo it, but the all of that stemmed at least from them wanting to make sure the game continued to be at a standard that everyone was like a quest to be better, right?
SPEAKER_02And make you know, because like you're saying with Street Fighter 2 and the Street Fighter 3 had three different versions.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Street Fighter 2 in particular had like four versions, right? Yeah, four or five, you know, super turbo editions.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. In hindsight, I'm grateful for it now, because now we're looking at these games where you can play a certain Street Fighter where Sagat is a broken mess, but then you can see where they resolved it and try to fix him, and now he's balanced. But you could see the kind of timeline in it, and I'm I'm grateful for for those different versions now where maybe at the time I was like, Man, I gotta I'm gonna buy a new street fighter gun down. But but yeah, the concept of improving strength, finding yourself within the battle, I think is
Car Smashing As A Skill Test
SPEAKER_00is something that is inherently Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_02I mean, it sounds simple, but I think that's what also makes it really compelling, even going so far as beating up a car.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02Because are you stronger than a car, then you can probably be in the world warrior tournament.
SPEAKER_00Right, right. That's that's that's the barrier of entry. It's like, hey, that Magtian truck over there, can you destroy that? Can you can you that's your ticket? Yeah, exactly. That's your ticket to World Warrior. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02If there are barrels falling, right. Can can you break them?
SPEAKER_00Right. How many can you break? We're just gonna keep rolling them at you.
SPEAKER_02If you only break one, then you might not be caught up for this.
SPEAKER_00Right. We're gonna make sure they try to trip you, we're gonna make sure they try to hit you in your head. We're just gonna we're gonna try to concuss you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, exactly. They're trying to kill you.
SPEAKER_00If after all the barrels are thrown and we just see nothing but wood pieces on the ground, then you got a ticket. The world got it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02That's right. Welcome.
SPEAKER_00We don't want to see a a full barrel at all, which is just wood pieces everywhere. Yes. With you just like at the end of the day, I think the characters are
Characters From Joke To Legend
SPEAKER_00what makes Street Fighter Street Fighter.
SPEAKER_02Like there are people that find inspiration in Ryu's journey.
SPEAKER_00There's people who find inspiration in Gal's hair care. Absolutely. You need those edges sharp. Right. There's people who don't skip leg day because they see Chung Lee. Absolutely. There's people who try to have parties on yachts because they see Ken. Okay, he's not just a party boy, but I guess I understand what you're saying. I mean, he'll kick your ass while people are on the drinking champagne on his boat. The actual character designs themselves. You you get you need to push it to a point where it's like stereotypical. Right. I mean and almost almost racist. Almost. And then you push it past and get a little bit more of a cultural appreciation, and and then pushing it past even further that the the culture itself that you're representing might even enjoy it. While they're being created, it's like you gotta laugh and you gotta have fun. But as soon as they're set in stone, you gotta treat them seriously. You know what I mean? Like that's what I that's what I feel about all the Street Fighter characters. It's like you have I Honda, who's like 350 pounds or whatever of just flying sumo man, right? And like again, you're laughing at it, but as soon as the character is real and in the game and solidified as a legacy character, and people are celebrating, people are that's my main, I I know e Honda's moves or whatever, he is in intimidating. If you really if you really think about fighting this character who you might have made in the beginning out of laughs, now he is real, and he's you know, and you're accepting that, and that's the cool thing about Street Fighter, I feel. Yeah, you know, and that goes for any any character, yeah, you know, any joke character in the Street Fighter world could kick my ass, could could kick Mike Tyson's ass, you know, like, or could kick whoever. Like, I I feel they're at the caliber of being so impressive that the fact that they're so weird is something that you maybe could laugh behind their back, but you wouldn't laugh at laugh at that in their face. Guy's hair, if he was in front of you, he should be so intimidating enough that you're not you can't laugh at him in in his face. Yeah, you know, you have to make sure you've driven at least 30 miles away in the car, turning, looking over your shoulder, and then chuckling. But sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, case in point. Rufus.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02My Street Fighter 4 main after Sakura. Space Opera Symphony.
SPEAKER_00I was about to say that. Yeah, that's right. Space Opera Symphony. That's right. Goodbye! Goodbye. Yeah, yeah. If I was at a like drive-thru diner and Rufus insulted my girlfriend, I would just turn to my girlfriend and just be like, We've just we just got insulted. We we need to go home right now. Like, I'm not fighting him.
SPEAKER_02I'm sorry, he's probably right about this. He's probably right about you. I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like that's it. If we need to get in the car and drive home now, uh, this is not a time for me to fight for your honor because I know that guy looks like cheeseburger Bruce Lee, but he will kick the shit out of me.
SPEAKER_01Hamburger Lee. Hamburger Lee.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, hamburgerly, 100%. I'm I'm not fighting hamburgerly, yeah. Um, and especially how he moves, are you kidding me? Yeah, yes. And that is the cool, fun thing. It's like as eccentric, unique, just ridiculous, some of these characters are, they are all formidable. I'm excited
Guests Tease And Listener Requests
SPEAKER_00to kind of dive deep in some of these characters a little bit later. We got some guests lined up who help us break break some things down. Apologies for a little bit of overview, but I I really felt we needed to have that that conversation establishing what we understand is Street Fighter. But now that we've done that, let's dive right in.
SPEAKER_02You know, he's ready.
SPEAKER_00Since the cricket is ready, you know, for for us getting into the nitty-gritty with these characters and in the next episodes. Are you ready? You know, just keep it here, subscribe, and let us know in the comments. You know, if you if you if there's a specific character, maybe your main that we that you want us to tackle, you know, let us know. Yeah, we might got something coming down the road for you.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Who is your favorite character?
unknownLuke.
SPEAKER_03It said Luke.