Street Fighter

box art  Street Fighter  Sonny Chiba

The title of this popular game series is taken from the excellent (and ultra-violent) Sonny Chiba movie The Streetfighter. Okay, so techincally, Chiba and the movie are Japanese -- but come on, he's a badass! He ripped off a guy's scrotum in not one, but two, movies! Anyway, Chiba has appeared in some HK movies, including The Storm Riders and The Legend of the Flying Swordsman...so there's your Hong Kong film connection.

yoga master from 'Master of the Flying Guillotine'  Dhalsim vs. E. Honda in 'Super Street Fighter II'

The Jimmy Wang Yu classic Master of the Flying Guillotine features a yoga master who can increase the length of his limbs -- obviously a major inspiration for Dhalism.

Gary Daniels vs. Jackie Chan in 'City Hunter'  Ken vs. E. Honda in 'Super Street Fighter II'

In the Jackie Chan film City Hunter, one sequence has Chan morphing into several characters from the game, including Chun Li, Dhalism and E. Honda while fighting Gary Daniels, who transforms into Ken. For those of you wondering, the sequence was incorporated into the movie because producer/writer/director Wong Jing (reportedly a huge video game nut) had bought the rights to Street Fighter but no movie to put them in.

Chingmy YauChun Li

Other Hong Kong movies have had Street Fighter-inspired touches as well. Future Cops (another Wong Jing movie) had several characters in SF-style garb, including Chingmy Yau as Chun Li (pictured), Andy Lau as Vega, Simon Yam as Dhalism and Aaron Kwok as Ryu. The outfits aren't exactly the same as the video game, since Wong didn't bother paying to get the rights to use the characters again.

Super Lady Cop

Super Lady Cop features a sequence where star Cynthia Khan transforms into Chun Li.

bruce Lee  Fei Long

The character of Fei Long has a backstory that he is one of Bruce Lee's students who has risen to fame as a movie star himself. Fei Long uses Lee's Jeet Kune Do fighting style, right down to the trademark yells.

Bloodsport  SF-The Movie

SF-The Movie video game

The game was later turned into a "legitimate" movie in 1994, starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, who got his big break appearing in HK/US co-productions like Bloodsport. Of course, the movie was then made into a game, which featured digitized characters ala Mortal Kombat, a game which Van Damme was originally slated to appear in.


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