Retro Gaming Moves: Spinning Bird Kick

In 1987, Capcom created a new winner with the Street Fighter series. Knowing the demographic, they went for teenage boys with the desire to play fighting games in the arcade in competitive fashion. But is a good fighting game without some eye candy?

Chun-Li was the star, with her Spinning Bird Kick. Actually, Chun-Li never saw the first Street Fighter title… only Ken and Ryu (mainly Ryu) were available in the first series installment. This got our taste wet for battle, and Street Fighter II introduced us to a whole range of great moves and character designs.

Out of all the characters, Chun-Li held her own as a cute skinny yet muscular female with moves like no other. Her Spinning Bird Kick would allow her to flip upside down and whack the opponent upside the head a few times as they fall to their back on the stone.

Chun-Li, or “spring beauty” in Mandarin, was famous for her sexy anime legs and their spinning doom. Gamers would perform the move that the worse possible time for their opponent, such as in mid-jump when your opponent had nothing but death and peril awaiting their landing.

Ken and Ryu had spinning kicks too, but without the inverted impossible moves of Chun-Li it fell short of awesome. When it comes to animated violence, perceived hot chicks and young boys battling for ego and rights to be the winner, the Spinning Bird Kick and Chung-Li was a great choice.

The British rock band Arctic Monkeys have an instrumental song titled “Chun Li’s Spinning Bird Kick” and was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance (wikipedia).

It does without doubt, every Street Fighter II player remembers the crazy spinning kicks of Chun-Li and this is what makes her have retro gaming moves!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?Are Game Controllers Too Complicated?

The same company that brought us the NES Advantage has proven the Wii control scheme isn’t as bad as critics speculated. The beauty of adding the “waggle” technology is limiting your button count to a reasonable level without overwhelming gamers.

We’re seeing casual gaming on the rise both in the press and in the public. Yet, each “next generation” console brings new features and functionality to the consoles, games and accessories. Since NES birthed the SNES we’ve seen button count increase on controllers.

Nintendo has usually been conservative on buttons, trying to work “shape” over sheer volume of buttons, barring the C button count on the N64 controller. Nintendo controllers change shape with each generation and they’ve evolved, not innovated, their way around with the Wii control scheme. Each function of the controller exists, on its own, in other products but nobody has built a fully functional controller in such a way for a game console until now.

Sony took pieces of this concept in their PS3 controller and its ability to detect “tilt.” Xbox 360 stuck with the beefy controller with lots of buttons and analog sticks. Not just a D-Pad but two analog sticks and a ton of buttons to press, some pressure sensitive as well. What of our next-generation console? Maybe a few new buttons?

Or, maybe a few new motions? Wii evolved the control scheme and Sony validated their decision, what’s next? Are the controllers just too damn complicated in today’s world? Or, perhaps limiting the buttons brings in more gamers, like Grandma and Grandpa, to play your console as well.

(more…)

Episode 418: Potter RageEpisode 418: Potter Rage

This week’s episode runs pretty long as TJ Denzer returns from his bowling trip. Scott goes ballistic over the Harry Potter franchise with Twilight, and other than that, a lot of pop culture discussion.

This week’s news includes:

  • Nintendo deletes every stage by prominent Mario Maker speedrunner
  • Telltale’s take on Batman will be M-rated, launches this summer
  • Original Diablo design docs show it was to be a classic turn-based rogue-like
  • 30 launch titles for Oculus Rift revealed, each with “Comfort” ratings
  • Mass Effect developer wore new IP on T-shirt, says no one noticed

This week’s Question of the Week, “What game editors have you used?”

Episode 355: E3 Swag Bag Part 3Episode 355: E3 Swag Bag Part 3

This is the final week of the E3 Swag Bag giveaway, which includes a The Sims 4 bag, a The Sims 4 T-shirt, The Sims 4 sunglasses, and some other goodies like a Dragon Age: Inquisition T-shirt, a Farming Simulation 2014 cow, and so on. Paul is unavailable this week but Jordan’s wife Jennifer guest hosts, with the famed Kingdom Hearts being the Gaming Flashback.

This episode also includes the following news items:

  • Report: PS Vita no longer available at major retailers
  • No women allowed at upcoming Hearthstone tournament
  • Lindsay Lohan files suit over GTA V allegedly using her likeness
  • Sources: Crytek UK’s staff no longer going to work
  • Riot closing League Of Legends’ public chat

And once again, the Question of the Week: “What was your biggest takeaway from E3?”