Street Fighter's bonkers trailer features fireballs, uppercuts, and vintage MTV

The trailer takes us to the ‘90s—you can tell because MTV is still relevant—and is focused on a washed-up Ken Masters trying to make a comeback via the World Warriors Tournament. Much like in the games, this contest offers a good excuse to have a colorful cast of characters from around the globe punch and kick each other. Of course, David Dastmachian’s Bison (definitely one of the more sensible choices in a very strange cast) or Roman Reigns’ Akuma are probably up to something behind the scenes, because that’s how Street Fighter works. Series lore experts will probably be a bit puzzled over why Chun-Li (Callina Liang) seems to be helping orchestrate the tournament, but that confusion is likely by design.

Street Fighter has a relatively rough history on the screen. There’s the infamous 1994 live-action film, mostly known these days for Raul Julia’s killer performance as Bison and the not-so-killer everything else. The series has also produced a whole bunch of animated features, which are admittedly a more natural home for its fantastical antics, like Bison’s Psycho Power, than live-action. Those movies still aren’t great for the most part. If nothing else, the marketing team behind the new film is certainly leaning into the crazier elements of the series, while wisely giving the controversial comedian Andrew Shulz, who will be playing the serial dork Dan Hibiki, as little screen time as possible. We’ll find out if the trailer’s madcap sensibilities extend to the full thing when the Legendary/Paramount-produced film comes out on October 16.