While Mortal Kombat gets most of the attention, whether positive or negative, for violence in fighting video games, Capcom’s Street Fighter II, the title that established the genre as gamers know it today, had some pretty grisly graphics, too. Unlike modern polygon fighters which zoom in on the victorious character as he or she strikes a victory pose, Street fighter II cut away to a different screen after each match, which showed the gory details of what a losing combatant would look like after taking a few too many hadokens or spinning bird kicks to the face.
Now, with a new set of iPhone cases, you can adorn your smartphone with the losing portrait of the Street Fighter II character you like best, or perhaps hate the most.
Smartphone accessory manufacturer Suzuri began selling the cases on July 1. The whole original cast of fighters is available with each case going for 2,700 yen (US $26.50) on Suzuri’s website here.
It’s not only the eight selectable player characters who get cases, either, as the four bosses are represented too.
▼ We’re not sure why Vega/M. Bison’s case is the only one featuring the blue logo from semi-sequel Street Fighter II’/Champion Edition.
Suzuri’s website also has a little heart icon which visitors can click to show their love for each case. As of this writing, the runaway favorite is surprisingly neither Chinese vixen Chun-Li, nor hometown hero Ryu, but rather the Red Cyclone himself, Zangief, whose case has twice as many votes as any other character.
We’re not sure if this means there are tons of Zangief fans cheering for him to get up and finish the fight or a large number of gamers who hate him and are glad he just got his butt handed to him, but after the character’s unfair and inaccurate labeling as a villain in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, it’s just nice to see the bear-wrestling Russian’s roots getting some attention.
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