Street Fighter Easter Eggs: Cleveland Nods, Game Moves and a Raul Julia Callback

Street Fighter, directed by Kitao Sakurai of The Eric Andre Show and some episodes of Twisted Metal, is packed with Easter eggs, and I found it genuinely very fun. As a Mortal Kombat fan first, it's hard and it made me cry, because I'll never get what I want with Mortal Kombat. Here's everything I caught, scene by scene, from the animated flashbacks to the midcredits reveal.

Animated flashbacks and What's Up set the 1990s tone

The movie opens on Ryu listening to What's Up by 4 Non Blondes, and that song runs through the entire film as a recurring motif. Visually, it surprises you right away with an animated Street Fighter flashback, something it keeps doing throughout. That's something critics have loved so far, and I love it too.

The animation comes from Titmouse, the studio known for The Venture Bros. and Metalocalypse. It's very '90s, and the animated parts still show off every character's full potential and powers. I think it's a cool idea to capture the '90s feel of Street Fighter through the same kind of popular media we were used to seeing at that time.

Thailand in 1987 recreates Sagat's stage from Street Fighter 2

We're taken back to Thailand in 1987, the first year of the World Warrior Tournament and also the year Street Fighter was originally released. The final fight is between Ryu and Sagat, and the giant Buddha statue in the back tells you this is the stage from Street Fighter 2. Sagat comes straight from the games: a Muay Thai kickboxer and the reigning champion of the tournament. In the games, Thailand is the final stage where you face him.

We also meet Ryu and Ken's master, Gouken, who wasn't in the trailers. He's the driving force behind Ken and Ryu's relationship here, and he's Akuma's brother, just as in the games. Ryu is being demolished by Sagat until he unleashes the Satsui no Hado, which translates to the surge of murderous intent. It's a dark power both Akuma and Ryu possess, though Ryu constantly struggles against his.

Mid fight, Ryu hits Sagat with the Shoryuken, his signature uppercut, cutting through his chest and leaving a permanent scar just like in the games. Akuma senses Ryu, and we learn Ken wasn't invited to the tournament, but now he has to protect Ryu from letting the Satsui no Hado take over. Then we hear "round one, fight" from the games as the story jumps to 1993.

Ken's school sign is the director's real school in Cleveland

Everything is framed through a program called The Greatest Fighters in History, covered by ESPN. We officially meet Andrew Koji's Ryu, from Warrior and Bullet Train, and Noah Centineo's Ken, from To All the Boys I've Loved Before and Black Adam. Ken wears a ponytail like in Street Fighter 5 for the whole movie. True to the games, Ryu was an orphan while Ken was the playboy.

In one funny Easter egg, Ken spray paints his high school sign, which just says University. It sounds like a vague made up name, but Kitao Sakurai attended that boys' private school in Cleveland: University School. Both boys end up with Gouken, who trains them into the fighters we know. A montage shows them happily singing What's Up at karaoke, then getting arrested after a fight breaks out there. On the mug shot board, Ken has his full name, Ken Masters, while Ryu's just says Ryu.

Magazine covers in the montage ask where Ryu is, and one carries a headline that Mike Haggar faces scandals and a reelection bid. Haggar is from Capcom's Final Fight and is the mayor of Metro City, which is featured in Street Fighter 6's World Tour mode. He's never really been a playable character in Street Fighter, but he's still big in the franchise.

Dan Hibiki is reinvented as Ken's manager

With Ryu gone after his master's death, Ken keeps up his celebrity lifestyle, seemingly happy but still carrying a heavy burden. Then we meet Andrew Schulz's Dan Hibiki, who was introduced in Street Fighter Alpha. Here he's Ken's manager or PR, which is new. In the games, he runs a shabby little dojo he has to trick people into joining, which Guile jokes about later.

Behind the scenes, Dan was created as a parody of Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia, the leads of SNK's Art of Fighting, because Capcom saw Ryo as a ripoff of Ryu and Ken. He first appears in a pink suit, but later we see him in his accurate pink gi. I'm not normally an Andrew Schulz fan, but he and Eric André do their finest work here as the comic relief. I like that Dan is a lovable idiot and Eric André's announcer is an egotistical one.

El Fuerte, the bonus car stage and Jolt Cola fill Ken's montage

Old school MTV clips show off Ken while Good Vibrations by Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch plays. Then comes the trailer fight where Ken takes on El Fuerte, with the stars on his costume and a black ponytail peeking out of his luchador mask like in the games. In the movie he throws a pan at Ken's head. He's a weird chef type in the games, and while he doesn't throw the pan there, it does appear in his intro.

Ken then beats up a car, an endgame bonus stage, with the very Street Fighter 2 counter in the background. The car's license plate matches the one in Street Fighter 2. Noah Centineo is having so much fun as Ken. In recent press from ComplexCon, he dove onto this car during a photo shoot and badly startled the actress who plays Chun-Li. Let him be Ken. Let him have fun.

Ken also shamelessly plugs Jolt Cola, the soda from the '90s, in an interview, and he's sponsored by Duracell. After beating El Fuerte, it's clear Ken is a sad boy who hasn't amounted to much internally despite his fans and riches. The movie weaves in his drive to become something more, for himself and his master, with a thin thread of brotherly honor running through it. We cut to him alone, drunk, singing What's Up again.

M. Bison borrows Raul Julia's iconic Tuesday line

We move to Metro City, home of the tournament and of M. Bison. In this movie, Bison is a weirdo. Many of us, maybe just me, are used to Bison being huge, but here he isn't, and that plays into his whole motivation. Raul Julia played Bison in the 1994 movie and was the best part of it, and this Bison also killed Chun-Li's father and gets to echo that famous line: "The day Bison graced your village was the most important day of your life. But for me, it was Tuesday."

Bison wants to become as strong as possible by siphoning power from stronger victims, in this case the people he's imprisoned or kidnapped. The dial on his siphoning machine reads psycho power, his thing in the games. He witnessed the first tournament fight between Ryu and Sagat and has craved that power ever since.

His team includes Cammy, played by Mel Jarnson, who was Nitara in the first Mortal Kombat movie. Cammy wears her Shadaloo Dolls look, an outfit that debuted in Street Fighter Alpha. Rayna Vallandingham plays Juli, another of the Dolls, a group of clone assassins Bison created. In the games, Juli was created from Cammy, who was herself weirdly a clone of Bison.

Eric André's character was a former rock star turned announcer in Street Fighter 5's story mode. He's been taken prisoner by Bison for sharing his distaste for the man on Combat News. Bison's plan is to draw Ryu out with a second World Warrior Tournament, kidnap him and siphon his powers. The Combat News photos of Bison, Ryu and Ken are made to look like a choose your fighter screen.

Chun-Li recruits the roster, and Joe wins by default

Chun-Li, played by Callina Liang from Bad Genius, appears to work for Bison, though we later learn she's infiltrating Shadaloo. For now she's recruiting the best fighters. The montage starts with Dhalsim, played by Vidyut Jammwal. He first appeared in Street Fighter 2 and is a yoga master and pacifist, which is ironic since he's always fighting. In the game, he enters the tournament to raise money for his village.

Zangief is played by Olivier Richters, the Dutch Giant. Zangief is a Russian pro wrestler, also called the Red Cyclone, known for wrestling bears in training, so pulling a tractor full of men is light work for him. Vega is played by Orville Peck, and I'm sure he was cast because the singer never takes off his mask. Vega is a Spanish cage fighter and ninja so vain he won't remove his mask to protect his face, which gets wrecked by the end.

Joe is played by Alexander Volkanovski, an Australian mixed martial artist. Joe only appears in the very first Street Fighter arcade game. He's an American kickboxer, allegedly modeled after the kickboxer known as the Jet, one of the first Western fighters to gain major popularity in Japan in the 1970s, and Joe's spinning back kick mirrors that fighter's signature move. Joe might unknowingly be one of the funniest characters in the movie, because, spoiler, he wins the tournament by default.

The bracket was meant to be Ken versus Balrog, Dhalsim versus Zangief, Vega versus Guile and Joe versus E. Honda. Half the fighters drop out or forfeit, so out of eight we arguably only see three make it to the ring. The invitations play out like Willy Wonka, with golden tickets spreading through word of mouth and the news, including Balrog's in a Russian newspaper Zangief's trainer is reading.

Balrog is played by 50 Cent. In the games he's a pro boxer Capcom created to be Mike Tyson. In Japan, his name is actually M. Bison, but that sounded too close to Mike Tyson, so for Western audiences Capcom swapped all three: Bison's Japanese name is Vega, and Vega's Japanese name is Balrog.

Ryu hides out in Cleveland after Gouken's death

Another animated flashback teases the rift. Later we learn Akuma came to challenge Ryu, and Ryu held back his anger as his master taught him. Akuma ended up killing Gouken in front of both of them. Ken begged Ryu to act, but Ryu didn't, and they haven't seen each other since.

Ryu, it turns out, is alive, surviving as a street vendor selling fermented pigeon soup in Cleveland as Black Hole Sun plays. That's another nod from the director, who is from Cleveland Heights. Chun-Li invites him to the tournament, and he refuses because he's given up fighting, but he ends up joining anyway.

The Talk to Me directors cameo in a Street Fighter 2 parking lot

Back in Metro City, a parking lot sequence is pulled straight from the Street Fighter 2 loading screen. Even cooler, the two men fighting there are Danny and Michael, who wrote and directed Talk to Me and Bring Her Back. They're big Street Fighter fans and were originally supposed to make this movie but couldn't find the time because of Bring Her Back. I think the cameos are really sweet.

The hotel, Golden Bullion, was also the Shadaloo casino stage in the games, and inside we hear Guile's theme. Guile is played by the American Nightmare himself, Cody Rhodes. In the games, he's in the US military and enters the tournament to take down Shadaloo. Jean-Claude Van Damme played him in 1994, and I did not like it. Guile greets Ken with a crude nickname that had me cackling in the theater.

Ryu is waiting in Ken's hotel room, and they reunite the only way they know how, by fighting, in a very funny sequence. Ken refuses to believe Ryu and stays in, and with the roster locked, Ryu can't join.

Chun-Li's Interpol unit and E. Honda's bathhouse brawl

We find Chun-Li, drunk, letting off steam with nunchucks. She works for Interpol, as in the games. Her partner Marvin is a new character played by Kyle Mooney, a parody of men obsessed with Chun-Li and Street Fighter, part mockery and part homage. Their boss is Striker. It could be Kevin Straker from Street Fighter 2010, a side game that wasn't very good, and the names are spelled differently, so I don't know who Striker ultimately is, but it could be that.

Ryu's cleanup transitions into E. Honda's bathhouse. Honda is played by Hirooki Goto, a Japanese pro wrestler signed with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The E stands for Edmund, and the bathhouse feels exactly like his Street Fighter 2 stage, and I think it is. Ryu asks Honda to drop out so he can take his place, and Honda insists they settle it with a fight.

It's the first real fight in the movie and it's hilarious, with both playing to their game strengths. Honda uses his sumo headbutt, the Oicho throw, a power stomp and his hundred hand slap before Ryu's spinning hurricane kick, the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, finishes him. Elsewhere, Eric André's character annoys Cammy while playing the upright bass, which André studied at Berklee College of Music.

A pre-tournament party turns into a street brawl

At the party the night before, Guile tells a performer about his friend Charlie, the man Guile seeks to avenge in the games. Maybe that storyline plays out in a second movie, I don't know. Ryu announces he's in, and Balrog finally shows up in person to a Tupac track. Ken dives onto Ryu, wrecking Zangief's dinner and setting off a free for all.

Balrog hits Ken with his buffalo headbutt, and Dhalsim uses his yoga mummy against Vega. Zangief hits Dan with what Paramount calls his cyclone lariat, though to me it looks more like the spinning jackhammer from wrestling. Guile hits Vega with his flash kick after delivering his Street Fighter 2 line: "Go home and be a family man." In the street, Zangief lands his Russian suplex, Ryu saves Ken with a Hadoken, and Shadaloo arrests everyone except Ryu.

Behind Bison in his office hangs a portrait of himself in the 1994 movie, plus a giant one of him on horseback, his Street Fighter 6 victory scene and battle intro. Bison brands Chun-Li with the Shadaloo sigil, and she's dedicated enough to accept. Marvin reports her to their boss for getting too personal, so she fights her boss and his security team at the helicopter from the trailers, then escapes and gets a new outfit from Marvin, coded like her famous original look.

The tournament, Blanka and Ryu's white gi

We don't see Vega and Guile fight, which I hate, but we learn Guile lost. Ryu is announced as dropping out by forfeit, which distracts Ken heading into his fight with Balrog. Balrog dominates at first to 50 Cent's Many Men and uses his crazy rush, but Ken hits a chin buster and finishes him.

In prison, Bison decides the best way to unleash Ryu's power is to make him fight Blanka, played by Jason Momoa. Blanka keeps commenting on his smell, saying he smells like hot dogs, and since in the games you can catch him scratching himself, I think that's a play on it. Ryu ends the fight with his Tatsu and a Hadoken that frees Blanka. Meanwhile Joe is introduced, and Joe is just Joe.

Ken faces Dhalsim, whose stretchy limbs get plenty of use, before Ken lands a dragon lash kick and finishes with a Shoryuken. Moved by Chun-Li's words about looking beyond himself, Ken infiltrates the prison disguised as a guard and stages a riot to free Ryu. That's where Ryu finally wears his iconic white gi with red gloves and a black belt. One pose he strikes comes from the Super Street Fighter 2 intro, which fits the era the movie is set in.

Bison's psycho power, Joe's fate and evil Ryu

Having siphoned a little of Ryu's power during the Blanka fight, Bison floats toward Chun-Li with arms crossed in his signature pose, but sends Vega and Juli instead. Chun-Li uses her spinning bird kick and hundred lightning kicks before Bison drops her with a Psycho Crusher and reworks the Raul Julia line. I'm so happy about it.

Ken is captured and forfeits, so Joe wins by default, drawing Akuma, played by Roman Reigns, who challenges the champion as he does in the games and swiftly kills Joe. Joe has maybe 10 lines and dies. I promise it's funnier than I'm making it sound. Blanka returns to save Ryu, reveals his name is Jimmy as in the games, and tells Ryu he can't keep running from his past.

As he leaves, Blanka says "Bye, Rayu." This might just be me, but I think it could be a nod to how Americans often mispronounced Ryu's name when the first game came out. In an alley that looks like Blade Runner, we learn Ryu burned Ken's invitation to the first tournament out of jealousy. Ken attacks, and Ryu knocks him out with a Hadoken before heading to face Akuma.

Akuma uses a special move whose name I'm only guessing at, since the games say them quickly or not at all. Bison arrives, captivated. Ryu dons his black gi, technically evil Ryu from Street Fighter 4, fully taken by the Satsui no Hado, and wins with his Street Fighter 4 ultra combo. He turns on Ken, Chun-Li and Dan until Ken's own Hadoken and a round of What's Up bring him back, and the movie acknowledges how weird it is to sing your friend back to life.

Dan's pink gi and the midcredits Sagat reveal

Bison escapes with Akuma's body, and Cammy blows up Chun-Li's vehicle with a bazooka. The next day, the four hitchhike, with Dan in his pink gi. The games explain that it turned pink because he washed it with Ken's red one, allegedly, which is also what he says here. Their ride turns out to be Guile and Dhalsim, listening to a Meredith Brooks song, which is a nice touch.

Ryu briefly walks alone with his bag over his shoulder, a nod featured often in the games, and then everyone but Chun-Li sings What's Up as they drive toward Bison. An animated midcredits scene reveals Bison's team of Cammy, Juli and Vega has added Sagat.

Critics have a point, but the fights and jokes won me over

I had a fun time. I like IGN's review, which says "Street Fighter is dumber than a box of rocks. But have you ever thrown rocks at things? It can be pretty fun with the right combination of enthusiastic friends." I see where critics are coming from. I think they wanted more story, because the fighting made the plot a little confusing, and there's too much going on. They also didn't show much of a tournament.

But the Easter eggs, the fights and the comedy are what gave me a fun time, and I'll probably see it again for that, because it's a really fun movie. So critics, calm down.