Street Fighter[a] is a 1994 action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza, based on the video game series of the same name developed and published by Capcom.

The adaptation focuses on the efforts by Colonel Guile (Van Damme) to bring down General M. Bison (Julia), the military dictator and drug kingpin of Shadaloo City who aspires to conquer the world with an army of genetic supersoldiers, while enlisting the aid of street fighters Ryu (Mann) and Ken (Chapa) to infiltrate Bison's empire and help destroy it from within.

While it earned Capcom a return of ¥15.5 billion ($165 million) from the box office and home media, it was poorly received by critics and fans for its campy tone, unfaithfulness to the source material, and overblown effects.

However, Julia's performance as M. Bison was singled out for widespread critical acclaim and garnered him a posthumous nomination for Best Supporting Actor at the Saturn Awards.

One hostage is Guile's friend Sergeant Carlos "Charlie" Blanka, who Bison orders taken to his lab for his captive scientist, Dr. Dhalsim, to turn into the first of his supersoldiers.

News reporter Chun-Li Zhang, whose father was killed by Bison 20 years earlier, and her crew, former sumo wrestler Edmond Honda and boxer Balrog, who are out for revenge against Sagat for ruining their careers, stumble across the plan.

Returning to his base, Bison inducts Ryu and Ken into his organization and orders Honda and Balrog imprisoned and Chun-Li taken to his quarters.

A revival system restores Bison, who reveals that his suit has advanced automatic first-aid mechanisms and electrical weaponry, including superconducting boots that enable him to fly.

As he moves to deal the death blow, Guile counters by kicking Bison into his monitor wall which explodes, apparently killing him and overloading the base's energy storage system.

Among other points, they mandated a December 1994 release date, which required the cast and crew to maintain an aggressive filming schedule.

[8] De Souza says he wrote the initial draft of the script overnight, being made aware that Capcom executives were in Los Angeles on short notice and because he himself was a fan of the game.

[12] This meant that the majority of other parts had to go to little-known or unknown actors, such as Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Peter Navy Tuiasosopo and Grand L.

[14] The cast's physical training was handled by Hollywood trainer and world karate champion Benny Urquidez, who also appears in the film as one of Sagat's henchmen.

In addition, he indicated that he also did not want to shoehorn in elements from the games, citing the previous year's poorly received Super Mario Bros. film as an example.

Upon its release on home video in the United Kingdom, the soundtrack was given away free with every purchase of the VHS tape at branches of Tesco for a limited period.

The music differs from Revell's more popular style,[citation needed] most notably with the absence of pervasive electronic elements and is entirely orchestral as the score is performed by the London Symphony Orchestra.

[7] Leonard Maltin gave the film his lowest rating, writing that "even Jean-Claude Van Damme fans couldn't rationalize this bomb.

"[26] Critic Stephen Holden of The New York Times referred to the film as "a dreary, overstuffed hodgepodge of poorly edited martial arts sequences and often unintelligible dialogue.

"[27] Writing for Variety, Emanuel Levy stated that the film "suffers from the same problems that impaired Super Mario Bros.: It's noisy, overblown and effects-laden and lacks sustained action or engaging characters."

Levy commented on Julia, referring to it as "his weakest performances, accentuating each and every syllable as if he were reciting a Shakespearean role of grand emotional range.

"[2] Leslie Felperin of Sight & Sound described Kylie Minogue as Cammy "hilarious miscasting as a military wench with Heidi plaits.

"[1] David Hunter of The Hollywood Reporter said the film is "neither a satisfying martial arts exercise for star Jean-Claude Van Damme nor the irresistible mainstream diversion it strives for.

The website's critics consensus reads: "Though it offers mild entertainment through campy one-liners and the overacting of the late Raul Julia, Street Fighter's nonstop action sequences are not enough to make up for a predictable, uneven storyline.

A Japanese one-shot manga adaptation by Takayuki Sakai was also published in the June 1995 issue of CoroCoro Comics Special.

The first was a coin-operated arcade game titled Street Fighter: The Movie, produced by American developer Incredible Technologies and distributed by Capcom.

The second was a home video game developed by Capcom also titled Street Fighter: The Movie, released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn.

Capcom also announced that an "enhanced port" was being created for the Sega 32X by their newly formed USA research and development department.