Sprite Analysis | Street Fighter Alpha: A Study of Character Stylization

[@dacq9038]

I can't believe it was 10 minutes, it felt like it was two or three

[@ddduv]

Same

[@jaredjohnston1259]

Time flies when you're having fun and what your watching is interesting to you. I agree 100%.

[@pieerboulos8020]

Same

[@ZEBASS]

Definitely was thinking the same as a reached the end of the video :)

[@Stephanie-69]

This comic book-like pixel art artstyle was always a huge source of inspiration for me

[@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4]

the alpha sprites are anatomically incorrect, they are very marvel comic, not a fan of that art work huge feet huge hands small head and the colours are less realistic

[@Stephanie-69]

@@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4 I usually tend to care about style rather than realism. It's just me though but that's why I tend to like this kinda artstyle more. Idk man I'm just a sucker for unique looking characters with creative designs and proportions but still being drawn with good perspective and shading

[@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4]

@@Stephanie-69 alpha sprites are way too cartoonish, street fighter went backwards after the street fighter 2 versions, if they'd kept the art work on the same level as street fighter 2 and added more characters more moves more audio and music the game would of had great success

[@Luh_katkat]

@@351clevelandmodifiedmotor4 jit trippen. sf alpha rocks, and so does sfIII.

[@moffxanatos6376]

Personally I prefer SNK's more "solid" gradient shading approach to the cell shading that Capcom used, though I could see both sharing the screen. Such as a character that is meant to be rock solid muscle being more SNK like while a softer character being more Capcom like, looking at the Capcom vs SNK 1 and 2 sprites compared to SNK vs Capcom Chaos counterparts there are a lot of interesting comparisons to be made.

[@El_Mac3t3ro_PR]

I like how you explain professionally and in details your analysis of this art.

[@RED-jg6mt]

yeah!

[@thadexverse2259]

One question were characters drawn on paper before they were pixelized digitally

[@yoshinpixels9924]

Man, I think you'd love SF3 Especially in regards to animation, they push the design as far as it'll go. Ryus Hadouken for instance has a couple distinctions in those games as opposed to Alpha. His Gi is BLASTED back, making a spiky, sharp shape to his back before billowing down, really conveying the force. Light is also usually directly above, but the lighting shifts to in front of him for a frame or two, really making the Hadouken itself the focus of the animation. That and Red Earth would definitely interest you, I highly suggest checking em out. They're massive inspirations to me as an artist

[@knightshousegames]

That late 90s-early 2000s era sprite work from Capcom is the pinnacle of sprite work to me. SF3, Marvel vs Capcom 2, Capcom vs SNK 2, some of those animations they had were just insane, they mastered the craft. I'm not sure how much crossover there was with the sprite artists within Capcom, but Breath of Fire IV also had incredible sprite work

[@yoshinpixels9924]

@@knightshousegames gotta check that out then. Honestly, I think MVC2 is kinda visually overrated a tad, most of the characters are weirdly skinny edits of their CPS2 selves Oh check out Red Earth BTW. Red Earth is sexy

[@knightshousegames]

@@yoshinpixels9924 I guess to me I just love the way the 2D blends with the 3D in that game, I just love that hybrid style. I just loved the backgrounds in that game more than anything

[@yoshinpixels9924]

@@knightshousegames very fair. I personally tbink SG handles the lend better And Red Earth has some dope ass Rotoscoping, I think you'd love it!

[@edsonsengo2684]

@@knightshousegames MvC2 sprites are mostly reused so I dont find it compelling compared to SF3. SF3 just has god level sprites man

[@austinreed7343]

There should be more parts to this! * How Alpha handled burning as opposed to SF2 and Final Fight. * The Final Fight characters in general. * The newcomers. * How SNK did something similar with KOF and Real Bout Special.

[@jonesy8700]

I'd watch a 3 hour long Ted Talk of you just explaining all the intricacies of sprite designs like this

[@Justin-TPG]

Something I noticed in the comparison shot at 2:07 is that there's an extremely subtle move from characters being almost entirely profile to more of the sprite being three-quarter. It may in some cases be only a couple of pixels difference in facing, but it's there, and the sprites seem more open and flowing because of it. That transmits more involvement to the player, that they're a third person in this scenario rather than purely observing a diorama.

[@austinreed7343]

Not as pronounced for the Shotos, Chun, or Dictator as it is for the characters added back over 2 & 3.

[@2xhTenchi]

Just FYI, all of these arcade Street Fighter sprites were meant to be squished vertically and not displayed at 1:1 pixel ratio, making them look much thinner than how they look in the video (as a consequence they would also appear less muscular, RE: the comment about M Bison). The SNES sprites on the other hands were meant to be displayed fatter. The channel Displaced Gamers has excellent videos about the CPS1/CPS2 pixel ratios as well as the SNES pixel ratio.

[@BJGpixel]

Ooh that's a good point! I noticed that a bit while reviewing reference material for this, and hopefully the selected sprites are on close enough footing in their 1:1 form for this comparison at least. I'll have to check out that vid, thanks! :D

[@NiGHTSnoob]

I was literally just about to post a long form comment about this and decided to look in the comments to see if someone else had already mentioned it. Glad I did. But yeah the Arcade Sprites are rendered for a total screen resolution of 384x224, the SNES sprites are rendered for a resolution of 256x224, and they're both supposed to actually display on a 4:3 screen. You can see in the Guile comparison specifically just how distorted the two SF2 sprites are, they're exactly the same proportions at 4:3, ie: scaled for height they become the same width. The Arcade sprites width needs to be scaled to 83.33%, and the SNES sprites width needs to be scaled to 125% to get them how they were originally displayed. It's one of those things where it really doesn't matter for the color comparison, but it throws off the talk about posing and musculature a bit since they're distorted. It's not really enough to affect the overall point in this case though since both the SF2 and SF Alpha sprites are distorted to the same degree.

[@andymrb]

@@BJGpixel I hope this helps Capcom Arcade Aspect Ratio (CPS1 and CPS2) kzbin.info/www/bejne/gnnJgXRqo5WHiNE

[@ryuhoshi6970]

@@BJGpixel You should alpha vs cvs (capcom vs snk) style and also sf3

[@ganesh2levrai]

Really interesting ! You even could analyse the stylisation of the SFA3 GBA sprites, since they're even smaller, but convey the same informations

[@grimfantastic1764]

Interesting thought.. i hope he sees this post and adds it to a vid later down the line.. good call!

[@ST-xd5yy]

Salut David ! Bonne continuation ! I think the topic of the ports is an entire video subject on his own.

[@legrandmasmas5727]

AH BAH QUI VOILA

[@WCCXtra]

The Alpha series has the best artwork of all the Street Fighter games imo- with SF3 right behind it. I had the strategy guides for the games and loved looking and the artwork.

[@SebastianVazquezFerrero]

3:58 "Chun Li's colors pack a real kick" I see what you did there

[@Sebastian-gr7jw]

Nice

[@cryostorage1578]

I wish you WOULD go on for hours. :p amazing video as always

[@RED-jg6mt]

fr

[@TomHigson1]

Quick martial arts context: The downward pointing of Ryu's foot (at 3:20) isn't just style, it's a karate concept of limiting the surface area of the foot to have more surface pressure and so do more damage, sometimes referred to as the foot sword.

[@jhodder]

I've been waiting for a video covering sprites in the 80-100 pixel range. I love the idea of using these for original characters and their animations and was hoping to get pointers on constructing one from scratch. Definitely liking and subscribing and keeping my eye open for more videos on this topic.

[@Donotaro22]

I want to do the same.

[@ddduv]

Dude, you *really* deserve a lot more subs, you're amazing!!!

[@brenoteodoro9626]

love to see how you can define why one feels better than the other that way. I couldn't put it into words, and it's amazing to see you verbalizing what my gut was trying to tell me

[@GameArts1]

This was really well done, especially comparing the arm of Ryu was cool

[@InnoVintage]

An interesting martial arts detail on ryu's sprite is that the gi is more blue, suggesting that he's in his competition gi, instead of the worn yellow white gi of SF2.

[@VilaToro64]

Sprits got something magical that 3d models don't got idk if that's nostalgia talking but I look at metal slug and that games animations still hold up every well to this day

[@FantasticMrJack]

Since I found out about your channel I have been watching it non-stop. You really inspire me to put more effort into creating the sprites for my videogame!

[@Bumblebreeze]

I love your depth of analysis. Not only do I appreciate the choices the artists made in rendering the sprites for the game, but you've broken down the concepts to where I can apply them to my own work too.

[@erockbrox8484]

Basically its a transition in style in art. You have to remember that back in the day, when these guys were making games, to make art using pixels was a relatively new art form so they didn't even really know what they were doing. They were just trying to make something.

[@Adidaas]

Really awesome and informative analysis. I'm always happy to see more videos looking at fighting games sprites as someone who loves the genre and the techniques they use in the art department to sell their animations. Looking forward to possibly more fighting game related content in the future!

[@Yes12ok]

I'm glad to see people doing reviews like this one! Never seen before. Sprites stuff were always something interesting to me. Thanks!

[@georgekristhian]

those analysis are so good it helps me so much please keep doing it

[@xirtus]

I can't imagine what it would be like to only have school and no youtube lessons, I feel like without youtube I would know virtually nothing at this point except how to make lego military robots. Thanks Brandon

[@TonyTheTGR]

6:50 really brings out the monstrous quadriceps!! XD That three-color thing you mention has been the basis of the "three color challenge," a coloring thing I've been doing with my kid across various doodle books for characters. If you factor out the skin tones, it's pretty much the premise of just about every fighting game character up until recently.

[@TwilightArts]

Just stumbled upon your video due to the KZbin algorithm. This attention to detail and appreciation for spritework is outstanding. Instant sub after one video. Keep up the good work! 👍

[@macsmit7302]

cant wait for the rolento video

[@javierortiz82]

I’m not an artist but I’ve always wondered how do some people create new frames for Mugen that look just like the real deal. NowI have a better idea. You might want to explore that in the future. Also, if you like Rolento’s idle animation, I imagine you live every single frame of Chun Li on SFIII. Great video btw.

[@jvogler_art4708]

Great video. I'm designing a game and am hugely inspired by this era of gaming. I think the main thing i take away from this video is that simplicity and readability of design can be better than trying to render everything out realistically. SF2 is a great looking game. Timeless, but your example with M. Bison's cloak, and how they tried to add so much detail to every fold looks good, but when contrasting against a busy background, it doesn't pop the same way a huge block of a single color would. Also the silhouettes of the characters in Alpha are so much more bold and convey the character's personality so much more than SF2. I think this video reminded me to not spend so much time focusing on every detail of a character and just focus on creating bold yet memorable designs with as few colors as possible.

[@em0cia]

Thank you for this video! Please keep making more about the CPS2 fighters, I'm really interested in analysis and breakdowns on their sprites!

[@tariku-san]

LOVE the constructive approach and how the visuals are displayed. Keep the great work coming.

[@yi2126]

I love coming back to this video and feel inspired to create my own pixel work :) Great commentary!!

[@Hyde209]

I've been a gamer since the late 80s and I teach art for a living. That combo really drew me into your video. Love what you do here. New sub 👍

[@exeacua]

Great video, I think it is also important to acknowledge that the pixels of the sprites were almost never square depending in the console or system. This is why, for example, Guile looks with different proportions in the snes and arcade versions of street fighter 2 when presented with square pixels, the arcade version is actually a little bit thinner and snes version a little bit wider.

[@sharkdude7]

I might be a bit biased, due to him being my favorite character; but Vega’s Alpha sprite was awesome! It contained vibrant colors and the animation of his flips and movements were awesome

[@pandsaurr2963]

More street fighter analysis please!! 💖💖 The alpha series of sprites are also my favorite, and these were super interesting!!

[@TylerMalad]

I love catching the puns lol. "set of vibrant colors that pack a real kick"

[@BJGpixel]

😁

[@ragingdwarf]

Also "Cape Fear" for his Bison window. I also got a nice chuckle out of Ryu's window name.

[@didnt_ask_for_handle]

Please make a patreon. The porduction quality on every single video is just astonishing and come out on a regular weekly basis. It's also informative or creative. Each video is like a treat, filled with little effects and cut to the bare minimum of what needs to be said. Compared to 90% of other youtubers who's videos are mostly talking over an unedited timelapse or a power point presentation of static images it's like watching a fun little short. Also you should definitely make some online courses for that extra passive income in case you ever feel you need a break from youtube

[@dudumoser4516]

man i love sprite art and its great to find such good content about it!

[@ctoledomyou]

Aweome work, thank, I though that I was the only one obsessed with the sprite details

[@edu_moonwalker]

One of the best channels I've ever had discovered!! Great content!

[@banredassaultsuvs361]

youre missing street fighter alpha 3 gameboy advance sprites and street fighter alpha 2 super nintendo sprites. both were reworked palates for your collage at 0:42 excellent and fun vid man

[@ThePseudonoob]

The bits about exaggerating proportions and using fewer colors to suggest form and shading could be applied to any visual art form. I'm no pixel artist, but I just think it's cool to see the overlap in principles. This video made me further understand what makes the art style so cool. Thanks for that.

[@felipecerpaaguila892]

Your work is amazing, elegant and well explained! thank you for this analysis !

[@ClexYoshi]

I'm of the opinion that Street Fighter 3 ook the ground work laid by the ALpha Series and RAN with it, using that exaggeration and strong use of palette to make incredibly striking character design the likes of which the Alpha games wich they could measure up to. Look at ANY given frame of animation on Hugo or Dudley and you can see how they break the model or create intricate points of motion to convey appeal in everything. Heck, going to your Hadoken example on the shotos. it's not just ryu's headband and belt getting in on it, but it's as if the motion and force of him thrusting his hands forward pulls the whole Gi after him.

[@Lmpy]

third strike was my favorite style, but alpha definitively established the "hip" and modern art style 2d street fighter was known for.

[@Apemopo]

simplifying the colours for alpha was interesting! :o cool stuff m8

[@EnricosUtLP]

Before watching this video I didn't really like the Alpha sprites, but after this analysis, I think these are now my favorite Street Fighter sprites! I never realized how well designed they are.

[@YouGuessIGuess]

Rolento's idle animation is one of the best ever imo. It's got a unique silhouette, conveys quiet menace, and the fingers drumming on the stick draw attention to his defining characteristic--that he has no qualms about bringing weapons to a fistfight. I'm also a big fan of Sodom's sprite--the extreme bulk and roundness of his shoulders and torso contrasts nicely with his comparatively slim legs. It sells the idea that he wants to make himself look bigger and tougher but goes about it in a somewhat slapdash way. On the other hand, I always thought Bison's exaggerated beefiness was a little silly. I know it's meant to communicate that he's stronger at that point in the storyline but myself and my friends were so used to his slimmer proportions in SF2 that we imagined he had padded his uniform in an attempt to look scarier. That works perfectly for Sodom but it turned Bison from a Darth Vader to a Dark Helmet. We called him "fat Bison" or "marshmallow Bison." It grew on us eventually though.

[@twinkpeaks9993]

The Alpha sprites are so beautiful, I really love the anime-like designs. The character designs and sprites are honestly one of the reasons that the Alpha series is my favourite SF series

[@paladinwolf]

Loved this video, thanks for bringing this up!! I hope I can get it into some ideas I have been playing around. I was amazed by the fact that both series used almost the same size

[@BJGpixel]

Right?! I expected the Alpha sprites to be appreciably larger, but they match up quite well to the SF2 arcade sprites, more like a re-skin 😅 Thanks, and best of luck with your pixel art!

[@sirreginaldfishingtonxvii6149]

Always thought Capcom's games around this time were absolutely beautiful. Especially in motion, there's just so much great stuff in there. Animation which I think in many cases hasn't been replicated in the series since. Sf3 Oro, for instance, was and remains the greatest depiction of his character yet. (This isn't nostalgia talking, I promise. I hadn't even been born yet when that game released). And one of Akuma's supers from that game I have saved as a gif on my computer to reference when I animate. Anyways, animation fanboying aside... Great video man! Very high quality. If you're not careful you're gonna get me into doing pixel art again!

[@SlipthePsych]

I could legitimately watch a 3 hour version of this video

[@sonimatic]

My mans gushed about Alpha sprites without even getting into how well they're animated, impressivs!

[@legrandmasmas5727]

i'd also like to see you talk about Third Strike's sprites, i think they're the best art style street fighter has ever had!

[@SatoshiMatrix1]

Awesome work. I'd love to see a follow-up analysis on the animation of the Street Fighter Alpha games, including the dropped frames of the Saturn and PS1 versions to the GameBoy Color version of Alpha 1 to the GBA version of Alpha 3. I think it would be a great video for you!

[@t4d0W]

Basically the Darkstalkers/VSAV series were a testbed to take those interesting concepts to their mainstream games (SFA/Zero series) and the Marvel collabs that were a product of its time (COTA, XvsSF, COTA, MSH and so forth). The cool part is seeing the influence but seeing the series stand out on its own as well. What even helped add to the 'anime' exaggeration of the Alpha were not only the 'bigger' animation effects to some of the special moves. But also the system mechanics that made the game feel faster than SF2 iterations like Alpha Counters, roll recovery, air dodging and custom combos.

[@austinreed7343]

Red Earth would also count as a testbed for SF3. These days, SF6 is the only fighter Capcom is making, and it isn’t clear what they would do for a secondary fighter alongside SF.

[@Mickey377]

Truly fascinating stuff. Thank you!

[@neuecoldworld7255]

This could be on Netflix. Amazing content.

[@OsiEOE]

Subscribed! Love the breakdown. I've always loved pixel art and only really recently am trying to teach myself how to make sprites. Thank you for these type of videos!!

[@alenezi989a3]

I love this so much, please make more in depth about what goes on during the creation of these sprites the styles the lighting/shading and animation. As a personal opinion I think Capcom was the best at creating very beautiful pixel sprites and animation during 90s and early 2000s.

[@270jonp]

Love these Sprite analysis videos.

[@LucasKelleher]

This video was awesome, exactly what I was looking for today. Thank you!

[@prestonowens4594]

This is a great video. As someone that also wants to make an art-related channel, I appreciate your presentation, and your knowledge on the subject is very apparent. I find it inspiring. Indeed, It’s got me thinking about that time when Capcom almost switched art styles to a more realistic aesthetic for Street Fighter V. While I still really enjoy the now established Street Fighter Aesthetic; I do kinda wish we could see how much more realism we could visually inject into the design of these characters whilst still keeping their iconic designs recognizable. Really just as a design experiment more than anything. I think a lot of it would come down to economic color choices and posing as you described, but balanced with more realistic anatomical design and coloring. It does seem like it’d be difficult to make the characters adhere more to realistic anatomy whilst still maintaining clearly defined silhouettes. Im honestly not sure how I’d approach that issue. Anyway, I think it’d be cool to see the results of a such a reimagining at least from an artistic standpoint. What do you think?

[@CaptainNow2]

Very very cool video. Really well made and very interesting indeed. I am old school, it's interesting to see how such old sprites are interpreted by more modern audiences and pixel artists. Liked and subbed.

[@briggasnax8575]

i originally thought the title was "Fighter analysis: sprite" and I was like 'mf a can of sprite got inna smash bros????'

[@BJGpixel]

lmao his intro line: "...anyone order a can of whoop ass?" 😎

[@goofyahhsergio]

@@BJGpixel Very gamer doe ngl 😳😳😳

[@benjamintchang3923]

@@BJGpixel lol

[@BenRangel]

I realize I've always somehow thought the Alpha sprites were higher resolution. They LOOK more high res than originals just due to the art style.

[@austinreed7343]

They actually are slightly bigger.

[@sawyeryoung7849]

Your content is awesome! Would love to see more character design vids.

[@environmentenjoyer782]

exactly what I needed, thank you so much

[@tackywacky99]

ive only recently gotten into pixel art. its amazing the amount of quality you can fit into such a limited amount of pixels.

[@1991zabel]

Some amazing stuff right here, definitely subscribing. Great video.

[@matte.309]

I've always loved the alpha series - but I could never put my finger on why. the analysis was really eye opening.

[@matthewbrookeart]

Ryu’s kick pose in alpha his foot angle is more inline with a real karate side kick, using the blade of the foot rather than the bottom. Ace video really nice breakdown of the style

[@Tuxosaurus]

Nice video, maybe one thing I would have loved you to focus on are the new moves added to Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo (like Honda's special throw), which probably have been done by the same guys also working on Darkstalkers/Xmen/Alpha. A few frames of Alpha art style among the aging SF2 sprites. Not sure why they dropped the original style, it definitely feels weird (I'd love a mod of the game with sprites closer to the original)

[@austinreed7343]

New Legacy does redraw some of them.

[@pmmbb3344]

Very interesting analysis, inspiring as well!

[@swarth8632]

Awesome video as usual! I've been taking a lot of tips from you while designing my own characters lately!

[@grandqa]

I'm so happy I found your channel.

[@Anderson_101]

Brilliant analysis, and entertaining too.

[@chekeichan]

I could watch hours and hours of this!

[@Xagura]

I'm playing SFA again, thanks to this video. Excellent Work Dood!

[@CKTDanny]

This is such an interesting video about stylization! I feel like this can be applied to so many video games lately, where the players values refreshing stylization over photorealism. 😁

[@BJGpixel]

Thank you! That's an interesting point; and I honestly feel like I tend to prefer heavier stylization because it kind of activates your imagination a little more in order to process what's being shown to you 😁

[@CKTDanny]

Brandon James Greer Yeah, I think so too! Plus, stylization is the only way you can achieve a look that's "better than real life", haha!

[@freakx198]

thanks for detailed educational analysis

[@t1g049]

my day is always a little better when u upload :D

[@RED-jg6mt]

Awesome video Brandon!

[@realchoodle]

This was a treat to watch

[@flikkie72]

Man, I'm learning so much from your videos! Also really cool to have SF Alpha as a topic, since I played the crap out of that on my GBA as a kid!

[@CondePablo]

this is gold!

[@Kenshindegozaru]

Very nice analysis. Thanks.

[@FCEngine]

Back in 1995, I remember being insanely mesmerized by X-Men COTA, Darkstalkers and SF Alpha sprites

[@knightshousegames]

Apparently, Chun Li's design with the sweatpants and sneakers was her original intended design from the character designer, but they had him change it. Honestly, I like that design for her more. I wish I could find the video of that designer talking about his work on Street Fighter, they actually show clips of him looking through his original character designs on the graph paper they used to use to design sprites, which is just a cool piece of history

[@Gsmi87]

Awesome content. I love pixel art in games

[@WQ_11]

It would be incredible if you did a sprite/style analysis of Metal slug. A lot of the animations and styles especially of the bigger ones like huge hermit are just so stylized. It'd be terrific to see the evolution of the sprites as well.

[@andresm3729]

Great video! I really learned something new!

[@benjamintchang3923]

awesome video. love these sprites

[@ClJNT]

Great vid as always

[@AngryhammerGames]

Alpha2 = best for me. Nice video thanks!

[@tarquinnff3]

Great video. I'm glad I found your channel.

[@ShoHidari]

YOU DID IT YOU MAD MAN THANK YOU