Reason behind lowpoly in Street Fighter EX

[Thermoptic]

Hehe I found this flyer on The Arcade Flyer Archive. Remember how lowpoly and "blocky" the characters are in Street Fighter Ex? Seems that that is a reason for this Would love to get this flyer translated!


(rightclick and choose "view image" to see it in fullsize)

[AppleQueso]

That's hilarious and kinda terrifying.

Reminds me of that Nintendo Power cover where the world is slowly turning into Tetris blocks.

[Original_Name]

My Japanese skills are good enough to recognize the symbols, but not to do a true, honest translation yet. Here's the big red text and the long exposition beneath it -- you can throw it into Google Translate if you like, or wait for someone who's a bit better at Japanese:

戦りつ！カクカク人間あらやる！！
"Horrors! Wrought by the microscopic Jaggy Men!!" (Compensating for some slightly context-based language here, not a 1:1 translation.)

ある日、突ぜん、束の空に出現したなその飛行船から、数人のカクカク人間が、大阪の泄にあり立った。そして、その中の一人が、街にいたストリートファイターたちに、全ての生物をカクカクを化する、特しゅなガスを、ふりまいたのだ！彼らの目てきは、いったい何なのか？彼らの正体は？果たして、敵か、み方か？（ゲーム「ストリートファイターEX」から）

Chun-Li: 泣きさけぶチュンリー。
"Chun-Li cries out in distress."

Ryu: カクカク化してやく自分の両手を見て、さけびを上げるリュウ。「なんじゃ、こりゃあ？」
"Looking down at his hands as they become jaggy, Ryu cries out, 'What th-!? Oh shit!'"

The microscopic polygonal things on the bottom left which are causing all of this are called "カクカク化ガス", or "Jaggy Gases". Could also be translated as "Jittery Gases" or "Jerky Gases", but I didn't want to accidentally give the impression that there was an anxiety-inducing or meat snack-related gas.

Pretty funny way of handling the jump to 3D -- I guess when you're as masterful at 2D as Capcom was in those days, you had to be pretty self-aware of how much detail was being lost to that awkward transition, so they made up a ridiculous plot about a plague of Jaggy Gas to explain their new low-poly look.

If I get the chance, and if no one else beats me to it, I'll gladly attempt to translate the rest of it. I'm still sub-conversational though, so I may have to resort to educated guesses and paraphrasing from time to time. Thanks for the study opportunity!

[CD AGES]

Because the arcade version ran on a ZN-1 Board which is a essentially PS1 tech. It's sequel EX2, look much more refined with smoother polygonal models and some actual textures drawn into them mostly as a result of the game running on a ZN-2. Regardless of how blocky and sedated the visuals looked in EX1, the game had really vibrant colors and looked pretty for its time (even though other offerings in the 3D fighting genre looked a step ahead).

[Thermoptic]

Thank you Original_Name for the translation! And yes its really fun that Capcom made up this plot to explain the low-polygon graphics.

My thought when i looked at the poster was that a virus - the "Jaggy Gases" - transformed all the characters to these lowpoly versions. And why are there spaceships in the top corner? Did aliens bring this virus? Anyway, this is really fun

Btw why does Guile have a hammer in his hand?

[hashiriya1]

ある日、突ぜん、束の空に出現したなその飛行船から、数人のカクカク人間が、大阪の泄にあり立った。そして、その中の一人が、街にいたストリートファイターたちに、全ての生物をカクカクを化する、特しゅなガスを、ふりまいたのだ！彼らの目てきは、いったい何なのか？彼らの正体は？果たして、敵か、み方か？（ゲーム「ストリートファイターEX」から）

There are couple of errors in this passage. Some kanji and hiragana were not copied accurately from the flier.



Anyhoo, this is the direct translation of this passage from the flier, not this typed version above. If you are studying Japanese, use the text from the flier.

"One day, suddenly, from the eastern sky, an aircraft carrying the jagged men appeared and landed in Osaka. Then one of these jagged men sprayed gas onto the street fighters, turning them into jagged beings. What's their purpose? Who are they? In the end, are they enemies or allies?"

Then the part in parenthesis says "from the street fighter ex team"

[Thermoptic]

"One day, suddenly, from the eastern sky, an aircraft carrying the jagged men appeared and landed in Osaka. Then one of these jagged men sprayed gas onto the street fighters, turning them into jagged beings. What's their purpose? Who are they? In the end, are they enemies or allies?"

Thats very cool! Thanks for helping the translation. This clears things up with how the virus was spread.
I wonder why D. Dark had a big spraycan in is hands. and why guile has a hammer

Very funny of Capcom to add this bizarre story

[arion]

Oddly enough out of all the Street Fighters available i liked EX the most

[Thermoptic]

Oddly enough out of all the Street Fighters available i liked EX the most

Same here! Of all the Street Fighter games i have played - and i guess its most of them - my favorite is Street Fighter Ex Plus Alpha for the Playstation. I have two original copies of it and play it now and then with my friends and its always a blast!
I guess real hardcore Street Fighter players would laugh at the EX series. But for some reason i find them more fun than Sf4 etc

[arion]

Oddly enough out of all the Street Fighters available i liked EX the most

Same here! Of all the Street Fighter games i have played - and i guess its most of them - my favorite is Street Fighter Ex Plus Alpha for the Playstation. I have two original copies of it and play it now and then with my friends and its always a blast!
I guess real hardcore Street Fighter players would laugh at the EX series. But for some reason i find them more fun than Sf4 etc

I'd say the Ex series is greatly underrated and i only found out about it when i was messing around with the Zinc emulator which emulates the arcade versions. And i spent a surprising amount of time playing both Ex and Ex 2. Its the best Street Fighter for a non Street Fighter fan