The subject of episode 2 requires absolutely no introduction! I am joined by my friend – and co-host of the Pre-Alpha Podcast – John for a review of the soundtrack from one of the most iconic games of all time, Street Fighter II. We cover well-known tunes from the original CPS arcade versions and the SNES ports as well as some deeper cuts from systems such as the Commodore 64 (yes, really) and the Game Boy.
Listen:
Download:
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991, CPS1) ‘Title Theme’ composed by Yoko Shimomura
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991, CPS1) ‘Ryu’s Theme’ composed by Yoko Shimomura
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991, CPS1) ‘Ken’s Theme’ composed by Yoko Shimomura
Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting (1993, Super Nintendo) ‘E Honda’s Theme’ composed by Isao Abe, Yuki Iwai
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1994, Super Nintendo) ‘Fei Long’s Theme’ composer unknown
Street Fighter II (1992, Commodore Amiga) ‘Track One’ composed by Dave Lowe
Street Fighter II (1992, Commodore Amiga) ‘Track Six’ composed by Dave Lowe
Street Fighter II (1992, Commodore 64) ‘Track One’ composed by Dave Lowe
Street Fighter II (1992, Commodore 64) ‘Track Three’ composed by Dave Lowe
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (1993, NEC Turbografx-16 / PC Engine) ‘Zangief’s Theme’ composed by Mari Yamaguchi, Isao Abe
Street Fighter II: Champion Edition (1993, NEC Turbografx-16 / PC Engine) ‘Ryu’s Ending’ composed by Mari Yamaguchi, Isao Abe
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1993, Sega Mega Drive / Genesis) ‘Guile’s Theme’ composed by Tatsuya Nishimura, Tadashi Joukagi
Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (1993, Sega Mega Drive / Genesis) ‘Vega’s Theme’ composed by Tatsuya Nishimura, Tadashi Joukagi
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1994, Sega Mega Drive / Genesis) ‘Cammy’s Theme’ composer unknown
Street Fighter II (1997, Sega Master System) ‘Chun Li’s Stage’ composed by Tadashi Joukagi, Setsuo Yamamoto
Street Fighter II (1997, Sega Master System) ‘Dhalsim’s Stage (Unused)’ composed by Tadashi Joukagi, Setsuo Yamamoto
Street Fighter II (1995, Nintendo Game Boy) ‘Blanka’s Theme’ composer unknown
Street Fighter II (1995, Nintendo Game Boy) ‘Sagat’s Theme’ composer unknown
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (1993, CPS2) ‘Vega’s Ending’ composed by Yoko Shimomura
Hear a track I composed using samples lifted from Street Fighter II Turbo on the SNES here:
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Happy Eclipse day, sir. I decided to listen to a few episodes of your podcast because the Diad recommended it on his fine show….I liked what I heard, but with episode, you have me all in. I don’t quite understand why this game and series is so under-represented by VGM podcasts; I imagine it’s kind of like doing Super Mario Bros. Everybody knows the songs, so it’s the proverbial low-hanging fruit.
But 22 years is enough time to wait! I LOVE the episode and I’m glad somebody is giving the game its due. I played the original arcade game in what must have been May of 1991, just before high school started. It was at least a few weeks before they arrived anywhere else in my State, and I was entranced from the first moment I saw it. I bought it on the Genesis the day it came out, along with the six-button controller. SFII in the US was not only the game that pioneered two-player vs. fighting, but it also was kind of the game that destroyed arcades. Like a lot of economic bubbles, the arcade market grew massively from about ’91 to ’94, specifically because of fighting games. But that was all people played, and when fighting games started to lose popularity, there wasn’t anything else to keep people coming to arcades.
In any case, this was a fantastic episode. There’s a great article called “Street Fighter 2: An Oral History” you should check out for some serious behind-the-scene stories about the game and its developers: https://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history
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Hello! Thank you for listening – this one was recorded in the podcast’s very early days but I like to think that John and I did the topic justice with our picks. As much as it seems like too obvious a subject for a VGM podcast episode, there really were tons of ports of Street Fighter II and they all their own quirks music-wise, so I really enjoyed digging around for picks. I think the Game Boy tracks in particular are surprisingly strong.
This oral history looks tremendous, thanks for sharing that. Would have been useful to have had this in front of us as we recorded the show!
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