Although Street Fighter is not the only video game to be adapted for film and television, it alone has seen several versions, both American and Japanese, and thus offers a case study of how a game can be transformed into different styles of animated entertainment. With the right creators at the helm, it can even take on a compelling narrative life of its own, boasting enough action, drama and artistry to attract significant crossover audiences.

Street Fighter on USA Networks. © Invision Entertainment.

The Street Fighter game, a product of Capcom, a Japanese-owned video game company, first appeared in 1987; it featured just two playable characters, Ken and Ryu, young martial artists who faced a variety of opponents, all armed with different martial arts styles and appropriately deadly moves. The game achieved worldwide popularity in 1991 in a revised form entitled Street Fighter II; over the next 2 years, it underwent 3 revisions until it had established its unique multiracial cast of 16 playable characters, ranging from the 4 attractive young martial artists--the American male Ken, the Japanese male Ryu, the Chinese female Chun Li and the British female Cammy White--to the brute strongmen, Russian wrestler Zangief, Japanese sumo wrestler E. Honda, Thai kickboxer Sagat, black American boxer Balrog and South American wild man Blanka.

Each of the characters has a backstory conveyed partly through promotional material, such as trading cards and articles in gaming magazines, and partly through the game itself, in which key information is revealed to winners. Since no Street Fighter bible exists, the stories are, in the words of Don Friedman, licensing executive at Capcom, "like a fable, orally told and passed down" from fan to fan.

The popularity of Street Fighter II enabled Capcom to assign film rights to the game to producers in both the US and Japan, with the intention of tailoring different versions for its two most responsive markets. In 1994, it was adapted into two different theatrical films, one a live-action Hollywood film called Street Fighter, for the American and international markets, and the other a Japanese animated film called Street Fighter II for Japan and selected international markets. In 1995, both films were adapted into animated TV series, again, one for the US and one for Japan. The US series, also titled Street Fighter, premiered on the USA cable network with 13 episodes in the fall of '95, and 13 new ones in the fall of '96. The Japanese series, Street Fighter II V (the V stands for Victory), lasted 29 episodes. All film and TV versions carry the name of Kenzo Tsujimoto, the president of Capcom, as producer. All of the characters from Street Fighter II appear in one form or another in each of the different versions.

The American film Street Fighter and the first season of the American TV series stress standard action movie combat rather than martial arts, with story lines involving high-tech terrorism and military intervention, while showcasing ensemble casts. The Japanese versions, however, focus on a handful of characters and build relationships among them, creating story lines which incorporate character development and emotional conflict, while not skimping on the martial arts styles which made the game so popular.