The Thousands

STREET FIGHTER 2: WORLD WARRIOR was originally released in arcades in 1991. It was sort of a big deal. Re-inventing the fighting game genre, it introduced a generation of boys to the wonders of Chun Li’s digital thighs and quarter circle wrist flicks. (Hadoken!) Over the next few years the game would become a genuine pop-cultural phenomenon and spawn every piece of merchandise you can imagine. Hell, they even made a movie starring Jean Claude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue.**Eighteen years later, the series is getting a re-boot with STREET FIGHTER IV hitting Xbox 360 and PS3 this week – Friday to be exact. If that doesn’t get you all kinds of excited then maybe the associated art book will float your (metaphorical) boat. Released by Udon, it features over 200 pages of artwork inspired by the series. Incorporating both professional illustrations and fan art from around the world, the book portrays your favourite STREET FIGHTER character in pretty much every art style you can think of: oil paintings, anime, cartoons and realistic renders. In the immortal words of Ryu, "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance".