Sounds can be deceiving as Ryu battles E. Honda in a fight that’s half laughable, half legitimately amazing.
Despite being one of the most consistently enjoyable video game franchises of all time, Capcom’s Street Fighter hasn’t had the same sterling record of success in its live-action adaptations. Hollywood’s 1994 Jean-Claude Van Damme-led Street Fighter motion picture and the 2009 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li both were sorely lacking in exciting fight scenes and source-material loyalty, making them major disappointments for the most celebrated fighting game series of all time.
But it turns out Street Fighter can work in live action, as shown by performers Tomoyuki Yano (@nomo_info on Twitter) and Hoshi no Kotetsu (@NO79369371), who recently staged a near-perfect reenactment of a fight between series protagonist Ryu and sumo wrestler E. Honda, as posted to Twitter by user @_103i.
If you’re watching the video with the sound off, you might be wondering how the slow-speed hand waves and foot wiggles of two heavyset dudes with only the slightest hints of athleticism can be called a “near-perfect reenactment” of a hand-to-hand duel, but the key here is in the sound. While the background music (Ryu’s stage music from Street Fighter II) is piped in, all of the other sounds come from Yano and Kotetsu’s mouths. And no, not just the battle cries and voice of the announcer, but the impact of Ryu and Honda’s punches and kicks, too. They even recreate the “dizzy” sound effect that accompanies the immobilizing stars produced by a sufficiently strong combo, and, as a special treat at the very end, the rapid chimes as the winner’s end-of-round score bonus is tallied.
▼ End-of-round bonus sound
If Yano and Kotetsu’s routine seems especially well-practiced, it’s because collectively they’re the comedy cosplay team No Motion, who specialize in reenacting famous video game moments. Their unique combination of gag visuals and amazingly convincing sound has won the video over 1.7 million views, plus comments such as:
“Ryu’s voice is spot-on.“
“The ‘Fight!’ is so convincing.”
“Can’t say the same for how it looks, but it sounds just like the real thing.”
“If you were listening to this without watching the video, it’d be really hard to tell that it’s not the game’s audio.”
“Ryu is a bit too chubby, but Honda’s physique is just right!”
The combination of a canonically pudgy character and one who’s originally slimmer is something that comes up a lot in No Motion’s acts, like when they cosplayed as the massive Earthquake and muscular Genjuro from SNK’s Samurai Shodown, complete with blood-spurting finishing attack effect…
…and as Fist of the North Star’s Hart and Kenshiro, once again with cleverly toned-down gore for the latter’s head-exploding martial arts techniques.
Getting back to the Ryu vs. Honda video, @_103i says that No Moton performed it as guests at an end-of-the-year party he was attending. In Japan, end-of-the-year parties are known as bonenkai, literally “forget the year parties,” since you’re supposed to let go of any negative energy you’ve accumulated over the past 12 months, but we think No Motion’s act is something we’re going to remember for a very long time.
Source: Twitter/@_103i via Otakomu
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where he would like to sincerely apologize to everyone he cheesed with Chin-Li on the original Street Fighter II.