Oliver Harper’s origin of the iconic “Street Fighter” video game is just the right rush of nostalgia that gamers and nineties kids just might end up loving. As someone who was notoriously bad at the game but still loved it, “Here Comes a New Challenger” is a wonderful deep dive in to the making of a franchise that impacted pop culture greatly. While some may be put off at the notion of this documentary Harper spends a lot of time on exploring what inspired the initial video game, and shockingly a lot of it is derived from the movies.
There’s the look at the genesis of the game and how it transformed from a beat em up, in to a fighting game, and then a fighting game that shockingly managed to become a test of skills rather than something you mashed buttons through until you beat it. The way “Street Fighter” evolved in to a test of skills is a shocking amount of coincidences and happy accidents, all of which gave it a chance to become one of the quintessential games that allowed for fierce and vicious competition. As I mentioned before a lot of fans might have a good time re-visiting the influences of “Street Fighter” a lot of which derived from cult films like “Mad Max,” “The Warriors,” and “Streets of Fire,” respectively.
Harper doesn’t just dig in to the cogs and motors but also the influences, the more minute creative aspects, and how the different approach to fighting games that “Street Fighter II” took birthed an entirely new and massive sub-genre that ushered in the more adrenaline fueled decade of the 90’s. Sadly, “Here Comes a New Challenger” isn’t entirely interested in the entire library of the “Street Fighter” catalogue as director Harper spends about eighty percent of the film exploring “Street Fighter II” and its various versions that hit the home market becoming more refined and streamlined.
While there are peeks in to the other titles in the gallery, including the bizarre game-based-on-the-movie-based-on-the-game “Street Fighter” fighting game, the film is so much more engaged in celebrating “Street Fighter II.” Nevertheless “Here Comes a New Challenger” is an entertaining, meticulously constructed, and raucous look at the birth of legacy.