Street Fighter is a series filled to the brim with amazing and interesting characters, and what is something every good character needs? A character theme of course! This is yet another thing Street Fighter has in bulk. While some people will argue that there was something lost in the remixes done for Street Fighter IV, but I will fight for them. I say that the remixes provide a unique take on the age-old themes, and in doing that brings something not necessarily better to the table, but at least something new. I did have a VGMC over just Street Fighter, but that was all the way back in VGMC 8. So this is going to be a two part special series over Street Fighter IV, in celebration of one of my favorite OSTs in gaming to date.
E. Honda's Theme - Super Street Fighter IV
Seeing a E. Honda is a sumo wrestler from Japan, it should come as no surprise that his theme has traditional Japanese flutes, strings, and vocals. They work really well with the more modern instruments and use of bass. The blasts of bass really amp up the power of the piece, and does well to support the traditional instruments in ramping up the pace. It doesn't feel to serious, but it most definitely has a sort of serious tone to it at times. It might be the sudden blasts of bass again.
Juri's Theme - Super Street Fighter IV
From the scream that starts it off to the array of melodies that makes everything up, this piece has sinister written all over it. Sinister perfectly represents Juri's character. With all the melodies having a sort of sorrowful and serious tone, it feels ever so fitting for a villain. Juri's seductive and and destructive nature is portrayed quite well through all of the booming bass and melodies highlighted every so often with a terror invoking scream. It's instrument choice is also fitting for the spider-like character.
Rufus' Theme - Super Street Fighter IV
Now THIS was my music for reading the first part of Naruto. This theme is just overflowing with power and energy. The guitar amplifies this notion 200%. The use of "Cho!"s and "Ha!"s is perfect when describing Rufus, who taught himself his unique form of karate to work with his weight. The fact that this theme is so surprisingly good reflects perfectly how Rufus is such a surprisingly good fighter. It's melodies played by the guitar aren't exactly catchy, but regardless are still extremely fun to go along with in your head as it plays. It really does my man Rufus justice.
Cammy's Theme - Super Street Fighter IV
Man, I don't think I'll ever forget that piano. If you loved the guitar in Rufus' Theme, you will fall in love with the one here. It plays the main melodies, and really does them justice. They're epic and emotional, crafting such a beautiful atmosphere for such a beautiful character. It's catchy and really sets you in a mood. A rather good mood too. It makes everything seem more epic and emotional than they are. Just let yourself drown in this one for a while, and enjoy it to it's fullest extent. The way it slows, builds up, and simply changes the pace is sublime. Perfection.
Evil Ryu's Theme - Super Street Fighter IV
You can just feel the emotions flooding in when this one starts. Evil is directly portrayed through the use of traditional Japanese instruments, and later nothing but sorrow and pain is flowing directly through your soul. It's perfect for a character such as Evil Ryu! It's emotional, epic, and atmospheric. It's as if it's telling the story of how Ryu fell and let Evil Ryu get up in his place. It's use of dubstep adds greatly to the disoriented array of chaos, but really doesn't support any thing sometimes and feels like it's just wubbing about. It's really the the only problem with this song, and that's only when you focus on it. You probably will from now on, considering how I pointed it out.
Well that's all for the first VGMC in this two part series. The next one will have the themes of these five characters: Blanka, Vega, Zangief, Dee Jay, and Cody. You probably noticed that there is no Ryu, Ken, or Guile anywhere on this list. That's because I did that a (very) long time ago on VGMC 8!