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Street Fighter Week: The evolution of Chun-Li and Blanka

A visual history of Street Fighter's first leading lady, and first green beast

Words: Tyler Wilde, GamesRadar US

Table of Contents
Street Fighter II | Alpha series | Street Fighter III | EX series | Marvel vs. Capcom series | SNK vs. Capcom series | SF: The Movie and Gem Fighter | Sprite comparison | SSFIITHDR and Street Fighter IV | Comics and cosplay | Film, figures, and more 

SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium - 1999

The first SNK/Capcom mashup came in the form of a little NeoGeo Pocket Color game in which Chun-Li gets the chibi line drawing treatment. The art may be simple, but TMOTM is one of the most feature-rich handheld fighters ever created, and uses the most cartridge space of any Neo Geo Pocket Color game.

Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 - 2001

Capcom vs. SNK: Mark of the Millennium 2000, once again, features recycled Alpha sprites, but Capcom vs. SNK 2, released in 2001, did feature a redrawn Chun-Li (right), based on her appearance in Street Fighter III. Most notable about the series, however, is the change in character art, which gets a completely new, SNKish style.

Sadly, Capcom vs. SNK 2 does reuse Blanka's Alpha sprites, probably because he did not appear in SF III. Like Chun-Li, however, his character art is significantly re-styled. Blanka is looking a great deal more realistic, and more human-like. We could believe that he is a human raised in the wild who, by some mutation, happens to have green skin.



Above: Chun-Li on the Dreamcast cover of CvS 2. "Millionaire Fighting 2001" was the name of the Japanese version


Above: Blanka art from CvS 2

SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom - 2003

SVC Chaos was developed by SNK instead of Capcom, and the characters were completely reworked in a darker, meaner style. Released in arcades and as an Xbox exclusive, SVC Chaos was not received particularly well by the media. In regards to the graphics, IGN commented:

"Depending on your adherence to purity, the Capcom characters look distinctly different than they would in a pure Capcom game. Every one of them is slightly more realistic, taller, and bulkier."

Nevertheless, for the purposes of exploring how Chun-Li has changed, this graphical tangent is a great bit of Street Fighter history to look at.


 


 
3 Comments
Order Comments: Newest First | Oldest First
twishart  - 11 months 20 days ago 
Wow Tyler, nice article. Looks like a fuckton of work. I thought the character art in Capcom vs SNK 2 was the best, while I prefer the in game sprites of the alpha series.
Arukami  - 8 months 28 days ago 
The best Chun-li is that presented by Jackye Chan...ahahahahah! See that video guys is awesome! ^^!
Jokes are finished, the best version of Chun-Li to my opinion is that of SF III 3Rd Strike, with the awesome pose on her legs retook in the motion against C. Viper in SF IV! A sprite realized awesomely n every particular abovelall in the SenretsuKyaku! Chun-Li is the best gal's fighter in the entire world! Rulez!
Elbo444  - 4 months 11 days ago 
the 2 best characters in SF
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