Midterm Project
YES! I finally have the chance to write about two of my top 10 video games that I loved to play growing up. So I set out to convey the impact that the world renowned Street Fighter (ストリートファイターSutorīto Faitā) had on the infamous and brutal game known as Mortal Kombat. When I first began the project I thought I would simply record myself playing both video games to make things easy, but as I thought deeper into the context of what makes each video game unique, I realized that only a self-made graphic would do them justice. It would allow me to portray how the creation of Street Fighter as a Japanese video game is used as a vehicle of soft powerthat influenced the creation ofMortal Kombat.I began my graphic with a blue-tinted-shadow of Ryu in the background with the color blue and the use of shadow-fade representing the appeal and attraction that Street Fighterhad to the gaming community (especially within the United States) around the world. Street Fighter would serve as the foundational piece for the Japanese gaming community in their creations of fighting games going forward, and would also represent an influence over the gaming world (especially Mortal Kombat) going forward because of the amount of detail and 3D characters that it introduced to the world. In addition, the Ryu icon I chose set the tone of a shadowy but impactful influence over the graphic for when I add the Mortal Kombatcharacters which will be more front and center. I chose Ryu as a character for my background because he is thought of as one of the best, most dominant, confident, and skilled Japanese martial artists from the East Asia within the game. Almost everyone who has played a fighting style video game knows his name. he is essentially a super star in the original (and present) game who the player gets to control and beat all other opponents with giving the player a sense of pride and confidence in that character. Ryu’s fighting style also plays a big factor into why I chose him because his fighting style was described as a mix of all martial arts infused with the art of assassination. The art of assaination concept would later be developed and capitalized upon by Midway Games as a catalyst that fueled the controversial and revolutionary game known as Mortal Kombat. I also added Ryu staring at a picture of earth to show Japan’s video game powerhouse that finessed their soft power influence because of its ability to captivate video game audiences and produce iconic graphics into countries around the world such as the United States, which prompted the creation of greatly influential fighting video games that we know today like Mortal Kombat,Tekken,and Injustice. I did not struggle with choosing Ryu as the Street Fighterambassador for the background because of the reasons above, but I struggled deeply with choosing which characters I would have representing Mortal Kombat.
With the creation of video games like Mario Kart and Street Fighter, Japanese companies established themselves as the dominating powerhouse of gaming culture since the birth arcade games and evolutionary consoles like the Nintendo 64 and Sega. As I was putting the graphics together I couldn’t help but look more closely at the character’s backgrounds, dress styles, fighting style and the games itself. I also pondered on what the release of Street Fighterand Mortal Kombat meant for the gaming world. Most fighting games today are rooted in the OG fighting styles and clothing that were first established with a joy stick and colorful buttons that were produced with the creation of Street Fighter. Video game characters took on a 3-D shape for the first time with much more detailed physical traits and showed consumers how simple button mashing can allow you to beat every character in Street Fighter.The game play capitalized on special attacks that allowed you to shoot a fireball from Ryu’s hands or shock your opponent like Blanka. These abilities were new to the gaming world but they captured everyone’s attention for hours on end as they embarked on a journey to beat their rivals as they honed their skills as Ryu. Mortal Kombat’s entrance into the gaming world received intense criticism and hostility at first because of their decision to create real-life-looking characters while adding fatalities and gore to the mix. Chicago’s Midway company was capitalizing on Capcom’s Street Fighter by incorporating the special attacks and button-mashing phenomenon that revealed itself in the late ‘80’s and early 90’s. Mortal Kombattook a chance with trying to appeal to older consumers through the use of violence and they were rewarded with their second installment of Mortal Kombat II and the many more games that were created that generated worldwide recoginition.
Mortal Kombatchanged the way we play fighting games now, but none of that could be done without the creation of Street Fighter. Street fighter influenced the American market by implementing a stylistic level of martial arts culture into the American gaming market. There had been boxing before and small fight moves here and there, but the Japanese influence of a more stylistic martial arts changed the way video game developers created their games. More details was put into characters appearance, specific fighting moves, and the complexity of each video game setting. This would include a traditional style of Kung Fu accessories shown by Sub-Zero and scorpion who rocked a patterned vest and incorporated a westernized version of Japanese dojos as fighting arenas. Both continue to influence one another’s gameplay showing the close-knit relationship US and Japanese video game culture have. In hindsight, the research into both these games has given a deeper appreciation for the creation of both these game for the popular culture of the US and Japan.
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- Index Matthew Arias
