Hollywood is about to try Street Fighter again. On October 16, Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Blanka and M. Bison return to the big screen, carrying roughly four decades of expectations with them. The question is not whether the new movie can copy the games. It is whether these characters can change without becoming somebody else.
That gets harder when a character no longer belongs only to a game. Sonic, Mario, Chun-Li and company now turn up in movies, clothing, video game collectibles, and cosplay. Audiences can recognize them from a silhouette, a pair of shoes or even the way they stand. Get one of those details badly wrong and fans may know it before the character says a word.
But getting a character “right” does not necessarily mean reproducing the source material exactly. Some characters depend heavily on their appearance. Others need the right personality, movement or attitude. The best adaptations figure out which parts are negotiable — and which absolutely are not.
Sonic Found Out the Hard Way
Few movie characters have ever received a makeover quite as publicly as Sonic the Hedgehog.
The first Sonic the Hedgehog trailer in 2019 revealed a version of Sonic with longer limbs, smaller eyes and, infamously, human-looking teeth. The backlash was immediate enough for director Jeff Fowler to announce that the design would be changed, and Paramount ultimately delayed the movie while Sonic was rebuilt.
The redesigned character was not a literal copy of the games. He still had textured fur, more detailed facial expressions and proportions that made sense in a live-action environment. But the big eyes, rounded shape, gloves and oversized shoes were back where fans expected them.
Audiences were never demanding that somebody paste a 1991 Genesis sprite into a live-action movie. They were responding to a collection of familiar visual cues that, together, say “Sonic.”
Sometimes appearance really is that important.
Mario Had Almost the Opposite Problem
Nobody had much trouble identifying Mario in The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The mustache, cap, overalls and general shape were all exactly where they should be.
The challenge was giving him enough personality to carry a feature film.
Game Mario has traditionally said very little beyond short exclamations. That works perfectly when the player supplies most of the motivation. It gets more difficult when the same character needs to hold conversations, build relationships and drive a 90-minute story.
The movie therefore invented around him rather than simply copying him. Chris Pratt’s Mario sounds different from the game version and talks far more, but some of the underlying character remained surprisingly consistent.
When Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto discussed the film with the Los Angeles Times, he highlighted Mario’s refusal to give up and even his slightly bashful nature as fundamental qualities. Producer Chris Meledandri similarly described him as an everyman who keeps getting back up.
That is arguably more important than reproducing every “wahoo” perfectly.
A successful adaptation sometimes has to change the surface because the original character was designed for an entirely different medium.
Lara Croft Shows Why There May Be More Than One Right Answer
Lara Croft complicates the whole argument because there isn’t really a single Lara to copy anymore.
The original 1990s adventurer, Angelina Jolie’s movie version, the 2013 reboot and Alicia Vikander’s 2018 interpretation are recognizably the same character, but putting them next to each other reveals just how much she has evolved.
That transformation began before Hollywood got involved again.
When Crystal Dynamics rebooted Tomb Raider in 2013, the studio deliberately stripped away some of Lara’s confidence and experience. Senior art director Brian Horton explained that the team wanted a more grounded character, while preserving qualities including her intelligence, curiosity and determination. They even reworked Lara’s physical design to fit the survival story they wanted to tell.
The 2018 movie then borrowed heavily from that incarnation rather than trying to recreate Lara as she appeared in 1996.
That makes fidelity a moving target. Long-running game characters change because games change, audiences change and storytelling changes. Sometimes the source material has already given filmmakers permission to evolve.
Resident Evil Just Broke the Rule Entirely
Then there is Resident Evil, which raises an even stranger possibility: perhaps a movie can get the game right without using the game’s characters at all.
That is essentially what Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil has attempted. Instead of building another movie around Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine or Claire Redfield, it follows a new protagonist thrown into Raccoon City’s nightmare.
On paper, that sounds like exactly the kind of decision that gets adaptation fans nervous.
In practice, SKNR’s recent review of Resident Evil called it arguably the best video-game adaptation yet.
What survived the move to film wasn’t a particular protagonist. It was the sensation of playing Resident Evil: isolation, limited resources, hostile environments, bad decisions and the feeling that something unpleasant is probably waiting around the next corner.
That suggests character accuracy is only one part of adaptation. Sometimes the world surrounding a character matters just as much.
Street Fighter Has a Different Problem
Which brings us back to Street Fighter.
This franchise is unusually demanding because its characters are defined by more than faces and costumes. They are defined by movement.
Chun-Li has to look like Chun-Li, but she also has to fight like her. Ryu’s disciplined style is part of the character. Blanka has to somehow remain both absurd and intimidating. Strip away too much of that physical language and an accurate costume will not save the performance.
There are encouraging signs that the filmmakers understand what they are dealing with. Capcom is directly involved in the production alongside Legendary, and its official announcement for the film confirmed Andrew Koji as Ryu, Noah Centineo as Ken and Callina Liang as Chun-Li.
The larger cast is equally strange in a very Street Fighter way: Jason Momoa, Roman Reigns, 50 Cent, Cody Rhodes and others are joining a franchise that has never exactly been shy about exaggerated personalities.
Maybe that is the real test.
A perfect adaptation does not need to preserve everything. It needs to know what cannot be lost.
When Street Fighter reaches theaters on October 16, fans probably won’t be checking whether every stitch of Ryu’s gi matches a particular game. They’ll know whether he feels like Ryu the moment he squares up for a fight.
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