SF25: The Art of Street Fighter
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Other Media
SF25: The Art of Street Fighter Details
The king of fighting games gets the ultimate art book with SF25: The Art of Street Fighter, collecting over 25 years of Street Fighter artwork! This 448-page behemoth of a book collects pin-ups, character designs, crossover artwork, rare concept art, and more. SF25 features over 100-pages of new material, including tribute art from top Japanese artists, never-before-collected sketches and game art, and all-new interviews with the people who created the legend that is Street Fighter!
Reviews
This is mainly a comparison review, noting the changes from SF20 to this release, SF25. Skip down a few paragraphs for that.SF25 is a behemoth 446-page, nearly four-and-a-half pound book. It is a remarkable collection of art spanning dozens of games and is the best SF book in my decent collection of over a dozen such titles. It features art from a plethora of excellent artists, presented in solid binding and printed on high-quality paper. While I’ve seen better bindings, my copy of SF20 has lasted five years with no trouble (same quality) and the paper is wonderful.It is, without a doubt, a must-have for anyone interested in SF art and has been offered at a tremendously-reasonable price. I used to pay twice as much for half when I was importing Capcom books from Japan.This is a five-star purchase and the only reason to doubt would be if you already own SF20. If you don’t, buy this book. If you do, however, let’s compare…The page count has risen almost 130 pages (from 320 to 448). While that is a hefty tally, realize that still means 320 pages are identical or almost identical. What is added is almost entirely newer games.Among these added pages you’ll find 18 pages of interviews, 8 new illustrator sections, and 28 new pages of Polygon Pictures art. The latter has all the newest Super Street Fighter IV (and SSFIV: Arcade Edition) art and a ton of Street Fighter x Tekken art. You will not find the newest Ultra Street Fighter IV art here.The intro has fourteen pages of exclusive art (7 two-page spreads featuring new works by the likes of Kinu Nishimura, Bengus & Shinkiro, etc. all fantastic). Also littered throughout are recent calendar artwork and a few bits & pieces missed from SF20.If you own SF20, this isn’t necessarily a must-buy. It’s excellent and wonderful but you have to gauge if 130 pages is worth the cash. If you already have SFxT Artworks, you likely have a lot (but not all, I don’t think) of that art. If you own the SFIV + SSFIV Official Complete Works, that book has most of this, but not the AE characters (Yun, Yang, Evil Ryu & Oni) and some of the art specific to the AE upgrade.If you have both SF20 and SFxT Artworks, you might want to pass.If you just have SF20, weigh the price tag with the additions. I had no trouble plunking down the cash; the book is spectacular. But almost 2/3rds of this is the same as the last release. What is new though is certainly high-quality and the cover/back and spine are all wonderful. It sits on my shelf, massive but perfectly placed. This book is amazing.
