Playing Street Fighter as a kid growing up cost me at least $120 in quarters over a couple of summers. Soon after, I discovered Mortal Kombat on Sega Genesis and never went back to the arcade. Counterstrike got me through high school and college, and driving around aimlessly in Grand Theft Auto pretty much sums up the majority of my adulthood. Had I never developed a cartoon crush on Chun-Li, I might have done something more productive with my life than sit in front of a monitor pressing buttons in various digital environments. Luckily, I find video games fulfilling and it’s all because of a fictional woman who could fly upside down and bash your teeth in with her unstoppable spinning kick.
Today, I found the diagram below and realized that she might not be fictional after all. In fact, it appears that someone has taken the time to associate every character in Street fighter to a real life MMA fighter, and it’s alarmingly accurate. The only thing we can conclude from this is that Capcom had a time-machine back in 1987 and they derived all their fighters from twenty years in the future. They knew I’d find this diagram and my childhood would come full circle on this Friday afternoon. Bravo, Capcom. I applaud you bringing closure to my youth. [Source]
