Street Fighter Movie Gives Guile's Theme a Guitar Solo Upgrade

If there is one thing the upcoming Street Fighter movie needed to get right, it was Guile's Theme. Going by the new version of the track, the filmmakers understood the assignment.

The film's score comes from Leo Birenberg and Zach Robinson, the pair behind the music for Cobra Kai. Their take on the tune doesn't wander far from what many consider fighting game soundtrack perfection. It keeps the main melody front and center and lets it carry most of the weight. What it adds is a guitar solo and a handful of cinematic tweaks that give the theme a bigger, more theatrical feel.

The original was written by composer Yoko Shimomura for the 1991 arcade release of Street Fighter II. It went on to become one of the great internet memes of the late 2000s and early 2010s, the tune that supposedly goes with everything. Its meme peak has passed, helped along by a flood of ten-hour uploads, but it remains instantly recognizable to gamers and non-gamers alike.

Birenberg and Robinson say the game music shaped them as musicians. In a press statement, the duo said that as young composers they listened to Shimomura's theme "probably more than Raiders of the Lost Ark," and hoped fans would hear "the love and reverence" they hold for the music in their own arrangement.

The full Street Fighter soundtrack runs to 39 tracks and lands on October 16, the same day the film hits theaters. It should be available on the major streaming services, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Deezer and Tidal.

Everything released so far suggests the movie is embracing the absurdity of its source material rather than running from it. WWE performer Cody Rhodes plays Guile, and the marketing has followed suit. There is an official popcorn bucket shaped like Guile's famously gravity-defying hair, for anyone who wants to cosplay at the cinema.

The film also arrives about a month after another Capcom adaptation, Resident Evil, reached theaters. That Zach Cregger-directed movie has been a critical hit and is still breaking franchise records commercially, which gives Street Fighter a hot streak to follow. Capcom's film slate looks healthy, and if the music is any indication, Street Fighter is at least starting with the right energy.