Ultimate Street Fighter II Project

The idea struck me while listening to the umpteenth Street Fighter II remix album (Blood on the Asphalt, if you must ask): “Man, there have been a lot of Street Fighter arrangements. Someone should go through and compile the best tracks, regardless of album.”

Bingo.

So here we have it. A month and dozens upon dozens of tracks later, I present the Ultimate Street Fighter II Project. The constraints were pretty simple:

- 16 total tracks, one for each fighter
- All tracks within the Street Fighter II canon are fair play. That includes all OSTs, official arrangement albums, fan-made remixes and more
- Just Street Fighter II. So No Alpha series. No Street Fighter III. No Zero. No Marvel vs. Capcom or other spin-offs

With that in mind, here is my list, available on RapidShare to download as a single ZIP. I encourage others to post their lists (but please, don’t go to the painstaking ends that I went through to decide).

Here are my tracks and comments. Tracklist is in no particular order besides what I think works best for the album. I hit from the front with a straight out 1-2-3 punch and then loaded up the back half of the disc.

Tracklist:

1. Dhalsim: Street Fighter II Image Album: 03 Meditations of Yogi (DHALSIM)
2. Ken: Street Fighter II OST
3. Fei Long: Street Fighter II Alph-Lyla with Yuji Toriyama: On Your Mark ~Fei-Long Stage~
4. Blanka: Street Fighter II Image Album: The Naked Man (BLANKA)
5. Chun-Li: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: A Potion for Dreams
6. M. Bison: Street Fighter II Turbo (PC Rip)
7. T. Hawk: Blood On The Asphalt: New Mexican Thunderbird
8. Guile: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: Lonely Wolf
9. E. Honda: Super Street Fighter II Turbo (PC Rip)
10. Sagat: Blood On The Asphalt: Urban Uppercut
11. Cammy: Street Fighter II Alph-Lyla with Yuji Toriyama: Remembrance ~Cammy Stage~
12. Deejay: McVaffe – Carribean Soul
13. Vega: Street Fighter Tribute Album: Balrog Stage
14. Zangief: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: Terror! Vacuum Man!!
15. Balrog: Street Fighter Tribute Album: M. Bison Stage
16. Ryu: DJ StarBLaSt: Tatsumakisenputronic OC ReMix



Dhalsim: Street Fighter II Image Album: 03 Meditations of Yogi (DHALSIM)

By far the best of the Dhalsim tracks. The flute shines in the opening minutes before the synths kick in full. The biggest surprise? The presence of electric guitar, which fills in magnificently at the 1:53 mark. Top-notch work.

Ken: Street Fighter II OST

Amazing that the series’ strongest theme can’t get a proper arrangement. We get guitar arrangement after guitar arrangement, followed by an occasional woefully misguided bout of experimentation (I’m looking at you, saxophone on the Instrumental album). In short, nothing stands up to the original. It’s the reason my brother and I would always play Ken’s stage first.

Fei Long: Street Fighter II Alph-Lyla with Yuji Toriyama: On Your Mark ~Fei-Long Stage~

This has always been a personal favorite of mine, with some devastatingly beautiful acoustic guitar sequences. A strong representative from perhaps the series’ most consistent arrangement album. With apologies to Zircon, whose action-asian fusion track on “Blood” rips apart most other songs.

Blanka: Street Fighter II Image Album: The Naked Man (BLANKA)

Seems most tracks want to de-jungelize Blanka’s musical roots. “Naked Man” preserves it with those perfect jungle woodwinds, and supplements it with some rollicking up-tempo jazz arrangement. A decent track, but no standout on this list of powerhouses.

Chun-Li: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: A Potion for Dreams

The original version has its own elegance, but this arrangement adds several flavors of kick ass. Violin sample leaves a little to be desired, but it still undeniably works, contrasting well with the heavier synth elements in the track.

M. Bison: Street Fighter II Turbo (PC Rip)

A handful of bland arrangements for a very good original theme. The PC rip acquits itself the best, upping the pace with drums and trademark SNES-era synths and managing to make it sound epic, menacing and rocking in one fell swoop.

T. Hawk: Blood On The Asphalt: New Mexican Thunderbird

My heart’s telling me to take the Alph Lyla arrangement, which has two minutes of wonderful build-up. But then I get angry when it slides into its harder middle stretch for no reason. And thus, New Mexican Thunderbird. Its melody is a little lacking in clarity, but it makes up for it in sound quality by giving T. Hawk’s theme the full sound spectrum: horns, guitar, the whole mariachi band. Solid.

Guile: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: Lonely Wolf

An utter embarrassment of riches to choose from. Quality arrangements didn’t even get a sniff of first. The two best? The Tribute Album, which masterfully reinvents his theme into a mid-tempo guitar showcase. And then Lonely Wolf, which unapologetically blows it out as big and bad as it gets, thanks to guitars that dig as deep as Hades and then soar to heights never imagined. An epic rock song that ranks right at the top.

E. Honda: Super Street Fighter II Turbo (PC Rip)

This is a special rip with improved sound quality over the typical SNES ones. As for E.Honda, a litany of arrangements with wacky voice samplings does not a good category make. The straight performances are more rewarding, and Turbo does it best with some lovely asian flute.

Sagat: Blood On The Asphalt: Urban Uppercut

Unsurprisingly, Sagat’s stellar source material leads to a number of good mixes. This may be the best. I worship at the altar of bLiNd, and the man does not disappoint with a smart, rhythmic take on this ubiquitous theme. Consolation prizes go to the Tribute Album (reimagined as an action set piece) and the various Super Street Fighter rips.

Cammy: Street Fighter II Alph-Lyla with Yuji Toriyama: Remembrance ~Cammy Stage~

This was like Sophie’s Choice. McVaffe’s London Drizzle grooves like no other thanks to understated beats and a sexy piano lead. Alph Lyra’s Remembrance attacks with an instantly addicting rockified take, unleashing a face-melting solo before gliding it home nice ‘n easy. The choice, as tough as they get, is Remembrance – and maybe it has something to do with the fact that SF’s best arrangement album should get more than one track.

Deejay: McVaffe – Carribean Soul

Entered with low expectations for Deejay’s theme, but was mildly surprised that there wasn’t tripe across the board (even for Jose The Bronx Rican’s Spanish rap on “Blood). The clear best? McVaffe, who made his bones remixing SF tracks back in the day. I wish the beat were a little less heavy-handed, but the raga flute and piano are pure gold.

Vega: Street Fighter Tribute Album: Balrog Stage

First, let’s remember that what was Vega in the U.S. (the masked guy) was Balrog in Japan, hence the name discrepancy. As for Vega’s theme, a veritable Spanish guitar showcase leads to many worthy choices. Yasuhisa Watanabe’s arrangement, appreciably down-tempo and noticeably less guitar-reliant than the rest, wins the competition.

Zangief: Nesshou!! Street Fighter II ~ Instrumental Version: Terror! Vacuum Man!!

Merits selection just on track name alone. This is admittedly a liberal riff on Zangief’s theme, with tribal voices, pan flute and big-band horns adding a exotic flair to what is considered (given the locale) a grittier track. But it is equally inspired as it is incongruous.

Balrog: Street Fighter Tribute Album: M. Bison Stage

More name confusion. I imagine the Tribute Album rendition to be a controversial choice. Yuzo Koshiro takes Balrog’s theme into straight trance/techno territory, which just isn’t some people’s cup of tea. But damn if it isn’t catchy – particularly the delayed melody, which arrives in the second half of the song with a vengeance.

Ryu: DJ StarBLaSt: Tatsumakisenputronic OC ReMix

The series most heavily arranged theme (14 tracks to choose from in my coffers) offered a wealth of options. DJ StartBLaSt’s arrangement excels by taking risks: slowing down the pace, adding loads of atmosphere – and letting a haunting piano lead do the heavy lifting. Consider me sold.

Jam it back in, in the dark.