'They're leaning into this being completely absurd' — Street Fighter 2026 movie trailer praised by gamers for 'overwhelming nostalgia' and 'over the top silliness'

I have no idea what's going on

17 Apr 2026, 15:39 by https://www.techradar.com/uk/author/jasmine-valentine · TechRadar

News By Jasmine Valentine published 17 April 2026

Ken Masters is looking well. (Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

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First official trailer for Paramount's Street Fighter movie has been released
Stars Noah Centineo, Andrew Koji, Callina Liang and David Dastmalchian
Follows "a 1993 world tournament while uncovering a deadly conspiracy"

Listen up wannabe street fighters: the first official full trailer for Street Fighter (the 2026 movie version) is out now, and you can catch up with it below.

As Paramount tells us, "Set in 1993, estranged Street Fighters Ryu (Andrew Koji) and Ken Masters (Noah Centineo) are thrown back into combat when the mysterious Chun-Li (Callina Liang) recruits them for the next World Warrior Tournament: a brutal clash of fists, fate, and fury.

"But behind this battle royale lies a deadly conspiracy that forces them to face off against each other and the demons of their past. And if they don’t, it’s GAME OVER!"

Article continues below

Not to be confused with the 1994 live-action movie or the animated sequel of the same year, there's nods to just about every element of the franchise — and fans are absolutely living for cinema's return to its silly era.

'It's like they understood exactly what we wanted this movie to be'

Street Fighter | Official Trailer (2026 Movie) - YouTube

Watch On

"If anything else, I appreciate them just leaning into this being a completely absurd movie," one Reddit user remarks, with a second weighing in, "I cried like a baby watching the trailer for the Street Fighter film yesterday... an overwhelming sense of nostalgia completely took over me."

"So it’s a crazy dystopian 90’s technicolor nightmare with absurd fights and a dumb as rocks story? It’s beautiful. They figured it out," a third agrees.

Sure enough, the Street Fighter movie looks... light... on complex narrative. But we're not watching it for that, are we? We want people to get clobbered and look like our toys from the 90s while doing it.

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