If you're a 90s child like me, you most likely spent countless hours of your youth sitting in the living room battling it out with your friends on Street Fighter II.
You know, something like this
image source: Reddit
While some characters' war cries, like Guiles Sonic Boom! are quite easy to understand, There are others that don't even sound like words, for example, have you ever wondered what the character Ryu is saying when he does his legendary hurricane kick?
Well, wonder no more, because I'm about to reveal what he's saying and what it actually means.
But first let's watch this skit from The Pete Holmes Show with guest Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Ryu:
That's right! not even Ryu knows what the heck he's saying! 🤣
CAPCOM, the company behind the creation of Street Fighter II is Japanese, so it would make sense if some of the characters said Japanese words when doing their special attacks. Fortunately, while conducting my research, I also ran into this other very helpful video, where an actual Japanese native speaker, Mrs. Eats, breaks down what they're actually saying in Street Fighter II.
The lack of detail in 8 bit sound as well as all the noise of the stages, punches, kicks and background music al contribute to making speech hard to understand.
In Japan, there is an actual word for this which is Soramimi (空耳) or "Thought to have heard". And there's a hilarious example of this where Japanese speakers try to repeat English phrases. I rolled over laughing watching this!
But we're doing Street Fighter II Soramimi today
Let's get into it.
HADUKEN (波動拳)
The first one is Ryu's famous fire ball, the Hadouken. Which is performed by doing the following button combination
The word Hadouken! can be broken down in Japanese as follows:
HA = Wave
DOU = Movement
KEN = Fist
So it actually means something along the lines of Waving motion Fist or Fist of Surge
Shoryuken (昇龍拳)
This attack, is more like a flying upper cut.
The meaning of the Shoryuken attack can be broken down in Japanese as follows:
SHO = Rising
RYU = Dragon
KEN = Fist
So Rising Dragon Fist !
And finally, the most mysterious phrase of them all...
Tatsumaki Senpukyaku (竜巻旋風脚)
No it's not Ha!qt tat tat fruuuket even though I NEVER in all my childhood knew what he was saying!
This is actually pronounced Tatsumaki Senpukyaku and can be broken down like this:
TATSUMAKI = Tornado
SEMPU = Spinning wind
KYAKU = Feet
so... "powerful spinning leg kick like a tornado" lol easy right?
If you're a 90s child, like me and never knew what Ha!qt tat tat fruuuket meant, NOW YOU KNOW! and knowing is half the battle. (Yeah, that's another 90s thing 😎).
Thank you for taking this journey into Japanese (And Street Fighter II) with me. I might some day visit this amazing country and maybe even be able to communicate without completely embarrassing myself.
