How would Street Fighter characters fit the darker, grittier look usually given to comic book and video game charactersthese days?
According to SpineBender, the person who made these awesome works of art, this redesign is an attempt to do a series of semi-realistic portraits of the original 12 Street Fighter II characters. Redesigning their look, but trying to remain true to what defines them. The goal is to make them look like real street fighters or something that could work in a movie.
Blanka
Next time you drink too much and get into an argument about why Blanka is green, tell them the truth: Blanka was once known as Jimmy, before he was in a plane crash as a little boy. This crash caused him to be raised in the wild, exposed to electric eels, mutating his appearance and giving him electric powers.
Guile
A character originally designed to appeal to the American market, and was usually considered as the game’s main character by the Western audiences.
Mike Balrog (Or M. Bison)
His design and name in Japan (M. Bison) was done as an obvious spoof of Mike Tyson, but when the game made its American transition, the names were shuffled, fearing a lawsuit.
Sagat, the Emperor of Muay Thai
Sagat, if you wanted to know, is 7’4. He lost his eye due to a fight with Dan Hibiki’s father in the same fight in which Sagat killed him. He was the final boss in the original Street Fighter game.
Zangief, the Red Cyclone
Originally designed as a character named Vodka Gobalsky, planned to be a very strong but extremely slow character to play as.