Feature-length documentary movie ‘Here Comes A New Challenger’ has just been released, presenting an insight into iconic ’90s arcade game Street Fighter 2.
It’s been co-written and directed by UK-based YouTuber and filmmaker Oliver Harper, of Harper Film Productions Ltd, and tells the origin story of the Street Fighter series to evaluate its lasting impact on the gaming industry, players and wider popular culture.
Backed by successful Kickstarter and IndieGogo campaigns, Here Comes A New Challenger also features guest interviews with Ryan Hart (UK fighting game legend and one of the region’s most decorated players with 300+ tournament wins), Capcom’s Yoshiki Okamoto (Producer, Street Fighter 2), James Goddard (Co-lead Designer, SF2 Turbo), Jeff Walker (Executive VP, Sales & Marketing) plus SF2’s music composer Yoko Shimomura, to name a few.
Here Comes a New Challenger has been cut together with cinematography and VFX from DoP Christopher Stratton, along with music from Deadly Avenger and Si Begg.
Filmmaker Rob James of Final Film – who has a collection of vintage video games including Street Fighter 2 – was also involved in the project.
Oliver Harper is a UK-based writer, director, film producer and YouTuber, with his channel having 225,000 subscribers. Still a huge Street Fighter 2 fan, Here Comes A New Challenger is his love letter to a coin-op classic, which has of course gone on to become a fully fledged fighting game franchise and competitive tournament title, in events like the Street Fighter League Pro Europe 2023.
Us at Esports News UK are old enough to remember when Street Fighter 2 first landed in the ’90s, and there was a level of hype and support for the game that’s hard to put into words. This documentary aims to highlight that.
Here Comes A New Challenger is a Harper Film and Final Film production in association with Retro 84 Films.
It’s priced at £29.99 and will also air on digital streaming services later this year.
Featuring deleted scenes and an audio commentary, the 154-minute documentary movie Here Comes a New Challenger is available now on limited edition (2,500 copies) region-free Blu-ray.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
