Street Fighter Anniversary Collection

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 

X-Men vs. Street Fighter - 1996

Now we're fully into spin-off land. X-Men vs. Street Fighter introduced Capcom's crew to Marvel's cast of angsty mutants, as well as tag-team combat. Chun-Li appears as she does in the Alpha series, except in her alternate, pre-SF II costume (not that crazy unitard).


 

A quirk of X-Men vs. Street Fighter is that, due to insufficient testing and balancing, each character can perform at least one infinite combo. Chun-Li is seen executing a bizarre 99+ hit combo from hell below.

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter - 1997

There isn't much new here, but it's worth pointing out because, though Blanka is not a playable character in any of the Marvel vs. Capcom games, he does appear in The Hulk's MSH vs. SF ending. The game is not part of the official Street Fighter storyline, but the idea that Blanka was affected by Gamma radiation like Bruce Banner is nevertheless amusing.

 

Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes - 1998

Once again, these sprites are recycled from Alpha, and the character art doesn't stand out in any noteworthy ways. For the sake of completeness, however, check out Chun-Li's expression in this screen.

 

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - 2000

New Age of Heroes is the final crowd-pleasing game in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. Console ports of game are slightly more difficult to obtain than most, as production was limited by Capcom's loss of the Marvel license. While we don't see any new sprites in the series, we can still enjoy some of the quality concept art.

 
Related Games
TalkRadar 22 – quiz show!
360 Feature
Oct 10, 2008
Why games fail at storytelling
360 Feature
Oct 10, 2008
Guess the game from the sound effect
PS3 Feature
Oct 9, 2008
New Game Releases for the Week of October 12, 2008 N4G
PS2 News from N4G
Oct 11, 2008
FIFA 09 sells whopping 1.2 mil in first week  N4G
PS2 News from N4G
Oct 10, 2008
Fifa 09 Has Record Breaking First Week N4G
PS2 News from N4G
Oct 8, 2008
5 new PopStar Guitar screens and Box arts N4G
PS2 News from N4G
Oct 7, 2008