Now Showing: Street Fighter (2026)

Y’all, I know this is a weird way to start my thoughts on the new Street Fighter movie, but hear me out: there’s a connecting thread here—I did not like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, like, at all.

That sentiment only got stronger on a rewatch, especially when I compare it to Illumination’s first pedestrian take on Nintendo’s flagship Plumber. I’m not so deluded as to discount that I may have just been a dweeby curmudgeon about DreamWorks’ production because hey, I’m not really the target audience for the movie—kids are the demographic here. So, through that lens, yeah, 2023’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie was, at its worst, a harmless romp with a flimsy origin story, paraded with a huge production budget, and propped up by a bunch of talented voice actors and Chris Pratt.

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a whole different stool of shit, though, for what I have affectionately coined to be Super Mario Brainrot ™; the movie moves at an erratic pace to mask its lack of a compelling story with nonstop spectacle of back-to-back action sequences or glamor shots that are more concerned with Easter eggs and references—and none of it is endearing—it’s just hollow and corporate.

Street Fighter (2026) brought up a lot of those same feelings, only somehow worse. Some of the references are deep-cut footnotes buried inside another Easter egg, like some weird Inception-ass nonsense where you need Joseph Gordon-Levitt to give you the kick back to reality, where things are organic and not so forced that it hurts. Street Fighter (2026) isn’t just bad fan service that’s also hollow and corporate like The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is—it’s way more cringe than I had bargained for, and unlike the second Nintendo and Illumination joint, this film IS aimed at me—I AM the demographic. As such, I’m way more comfortable talking about how my overall experience with the film turned out to be a few kernels of fun sandwiched between a whole lot of poop from a butt.

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QCF: Street Fighter V

hen Street Fighter IV was initially released, it far exceeded all expectations among its casual and hardcore fans—and even then, it didn’t last long before Capcom squandered a majority of that good will, with some ill-advised decisions towards the direction of the entry, and it’s content.

Decisions that have prompted the brand to take a different path with the fifth entry, a path that will better speak to the modern sensibilities of content expansion for games today.

Sadly though, Capcom screwed the pooch right out of the gate on this one, and the results make for a solid core game, that’s trapped within a lazy framework that does very little to drive the engagement factor of that core—something that feels oddly unfinished, and rushed.

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PPR 6th Year Anniversary Special: Street Fighter Commentary

Six years may not seem like a long time for some folks but, that’s quite time stamp when you really look at it, that’s 312 weeks, which is also 2,190 days, made of 52,590 hours; that’s impressive for a podcast driven website that has never literally shit itself—I can’t say the same from a figurative standpoint though.

So what better way to celebrate than what we normally do; Sitting down and goofing up a storm on what may possibly be one of the biggest film flops of the nineties—that’s how. Starring Jean Claude Van Damme, Raul Juliá, that one lady from Agents of Shield, and more, it’s Street Fighter, the movie based on the game…that’s now a movie—adapted from the hit video game (is this this getting through yet?)

In this anniversary commentary special, we bear through all of Van Damme’s cringe inducing dialogue, reminisce about all the Nickelodeon game shows that donated their stage sets to the production of this film, Love Boat, and more—strap in and prepare yourselves.

I know we’ve said it before (and will most likely say it again the actual anniversary podcast), but the countless nights of editing, writing, laughing, and crying would not have been possible without you guys—I’m sincerely grateful for everyone who has supported us. The T-shirts and posters are still being made but will hit the store really soon (we’re really sorry about the wait!) I’m truly blessed to have PPR, all of us here are, and it’s all thanks to you lovable shmucks.

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on our Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

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PPR Presents Play Play: Street Fighter X Mega Man

t’s no secret that we’ve seen the Blue Bomber make appearances within a slew of fighting games like the latest Super Smash Bros for example, but only once have we ever seen a group of brawlers ever step onto Mega Man’s turf; and boy did Capcom make a day out of it.

We pull out our keyboards and USB controllers to navigate the Super Fighting Robot as he challenges the World Warriors of Street Fighter fame and the PPR gang gathers around.

George has some second thoughts about his initial impressions around the game when it first launched while Gil argues that the game is more charming than it ever was if anything else, and Ser is just happy to hear the jarbled nonsense of what a “Shoryuken” sounds like when ran through emulated 8-bit sound processor and more!

Mail us at our new email Mailbag@presspauseradio.com, leave a voicemail at 469-PPR-TALK, and be sure to stop by at our Forums if you haven’t already registered and post your thoughts about the show. Finally, make sure to rate and subscribe to us on iTunes and YouTube, follow us on Twitch page and Twitter, and finally take part in our Facebook and Steam group!

Short Films Offer New Dimensions in Gaming Tributes

n the past few years we’ve seen plenty of artists and moviemakers recreate their favorite video games in the form of smaller YouTube segments. For fans and by fans, we’ve witnessed everything from Chell’s life after Aperture to an unfortunate reality for Mario.

These videos only become more sophisticated as time passes. More independent studios look for ways to portray their favorite games and add more lifelike effects to them. And though some become more exaggerated or overly ambitious in the process, we've still experienced some amazing productions.

On that note, the following segments represent what’s truly becoming a culture of its own.

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QCF: Street Fighter x Mega Man

ega Man has been all but a whimsical phantom during 2012. 2011’s cancellation of Mega Man Universe followed up by Capcom terminating the sequel to the Mascot’s cult-favorite franchise, Mega Man Legends 3, had many Capcom supporters and players scratching their heads as the 25th anniversary of the blue bomber was fast approaching. Reality for Mega Man only seemed grimmer since Keiji Inafune left Capcom, and the only significant appearance the beloved character made in 2012 was in a cross-over fighting game cameo that went a step further to depict him in a parody that caricatured a particularly unfavorable appearance from his past.

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Life Through the Pixel Glass-12/12/2012

o for those of you who follow the site regularly, you may already be familiar with Life Through the Pixel Glass. This feature belongs to Catie (and it still does, so no worries needed) that focused on the art and culturist aspect of the video game community, and it still does for the most part. We’re currently experimenting with the feature and adding more, like links for other things involving independent studio spotlights or Kickstarter endorsements. We’ll be doing a little bit of both and try balancing the feature to basically be something fun that we can do with the site in order to interact with the listeners and readers of Press Pause Radio.

Life Through the Pixel Glass will be authored by either yours truly or Catie, as we take turns in order to work with each other’s schedule. The goal is to post one every Wednesday since it’s just that awkward day in the week where nothing really happens. Throw in some feedback if you guys have any. We’re totally open to some crowd sourcing for future content. Enjoy!

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