Fireball of death!

Hadoken! Anyone who doesn’t recognize the sound of that infamous fireball should probably just stop reading now. It is, of course, synonymous with the warriors Ryu and Ken, and has become as ubiquitous in the world of Street Fighter II as the game’s memorable soundtrack. For all three of you that didn’t own a Super Nintendo or didn’t visit a pizza parlor in the mid ’90s, SFII is a fighting game from Capcom that pits warriors from across the globe against each other in the ultimate fighting tournament.

That’s really all the story line anyone needs. Or so it seemed, until Udon Comics recently decided to start releasing comics based on Street Fighter II and its successor, Street Fighter Alpha.

Any gamer worth their salt knows the importance of Street Fighter II. Aside from bolstering Capcom’s reputation as a quality game developer, SFII pretty much was the fighting-game genre in 1992. Sure, other games like Fatal Fury or Mortal Kombat were around, but not in the same force.

The fact is, SFII is the superior game–as much for its memorable characters (including a renegade Sumo and an Indian fighter who can make his limbs stretch) as for its fast-paced, yet nuanced game play. Street Fighter‘s characters are well recognized and beloved, and deserve at least a decent story. But instead of delivering on that, the Street Fighter II manga, translated from Japanese and brought overseas thanks to Udon, is … a little disappointing.

The comic’s story line, by Masaomi Kanzaki, follows Ryu, the iconic Japanese warrior, through a fleshed out story line of the game. Essentially, M. Bison, evil leader of the criminal organization Shadaloo (also the final boss in SFII), is overseeing the manufacture of a new drug known as DOLL. When taken in excess amounts, the drug can lead to mind control, turning the subject into a killing machine. Don’t ask me how this works, because it doesn’t really make any sense (the story is based off a fighting game, after all). This wouldn’t be so bad if the book was still entertaining, but the SFII manga isn’t.

This can mostly be blamed on entirely expository dialogue that sounds like rejections from the worst ’80s U.S. anime. And Kanzaki’s art doesn’t help things much. SFII is drawn in what appears to be a horribly dated style (Ryu practically has a mullet, for Christsakes), and worse, the characters look more like Sailor Moon or Robotech than Capcom’s venerable fighting heroes.

Maybe this is just a matter of personal preference, but I’d rather look at just about any other kind of style in manga. Also, the text gets in the way, often obscuring what’s going on in the fights. This may sound stupid, but word bubbles of mostly inane text taking precious page real estate tend to be a little annoying.

Udon is capable of doing justice to the Street Fighter universe when helping out with the games, which use a slicker, more modern art style. The Street Fighter Alpha manga fares better, both stylistically and story-wise. The American comic, essentially a redux of the Street Fighter Alpha series with some twists, is also surprisingly not bad, though the artwork doesn’t feel quite as authentic or interesting.

Read those first. After all, the series is no stranger to bad adaptations–just look at the abysmal Jean-Claude Van Damme live-action movie from the ’90s. But with the release of Remix and the long-awaited Street Fighter IV looming on the horizon, the future of this classic series appears promising, despite past blemishes.