Celebrating the release of Super Street Fighter IV this week, I’ll be looking at one of the tracks from Street Fighter IV: the main theme that plays on the menu screens. ”The Next Door (Indestructable)” is a catchy J-Rock (that’s Japanese Rock) track, performed by EXILE, in both English and Japanese (you can get the Japanese version playing in the menu if you set the language in-game to Japanese, pretty neat eh?).
It starts off with a little synth-riff and some hip-hop scratches and beats, with the guitars coming in during the verse. The lyrics are a bit saccharine: talking of self-confidence and destiny in that odd way that occurs when a Japanese track is exported to the English market; slightly odd, but making some sense, however completely different to the original (I think, though this is unsubstantiated as I don’t speak Japanese, I’m just going by the number of syllables in each of the two versions), and some might say that it’s a bit homoerotic, or indeed slightly sexual, depends on your mindset I suppose. I never noticed it that way until it was suggested…It’s not heavy, it’s not hard, rather like pop-rock, and it’s got some hip-hop and electronica influences, so it’ll appeal to most people.
It’s a solid track, no doubt, but it does get a little bit grating after a while. Plus, it’s ther ONLY track to be played during the menu screens, so you’ll be hearing the start of it A LOT! As far as in-game tracks go, it feels a bit tacked on at the last minute, to give the game a bit more flavour; making it edgy and cool for the new gaming generation (seriously, who were Capcom trying to kid with this one? Street Fighter. The name alone sells bajazillions of copies on launch day. Street. Fighter!), apparently a bunch of anime-obsessed teenagers who’ve been deprived of Street Fighter 2 (the pinnacle of the series).
Check it out if you’ve been deprived of Street Fighter (you poor child) here: English Version || Japanese Version
Now, go play some Street Fighter! You’ve got no excuse as SSFIV is only twenty smackers, and SFIV will probably be a bit less, so what ya waitin’ for? An invitation?
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