Lightning strikes over a road, but even in the middle of the night, two warriors are fighting each other. They exchange punches and kicks.

These two fighters are Ryu and Sagat, both masters of their own respective styles. As they continue to battle, they are unaware that both are being monitored. Ryu's stats are taken down and recorded, just as Sagat attacks again.

Sagat also has his stats recorded, moments before he charges up energy between his hands. He throws out a projectile at Ryu, but Ryu jumps up to avoid being hit by it.

Ryu resumes his attack, and does a spinning kick that knocks Sagat down. However, Sagat gets back up, and kicks Ryu down.

Sagat leaps up high into the air, and then heads down with a kick to finish Ryu off. However, Ryu charges power into one of his arms and, just as Sagat is about to strike, he leaps up into the air with his ultimate move: the shoryuken!

Sagat's chest is ripped open, and he crashes back down onto the ground. After a few seconds, he gets back up again, and slowly makes his way back towards Ryu.

As Ryu charges his chi energy, Sagat starts to run towards him. The monitor reads that Ryu has a potential fighting capacity of 3,620.

Ryu creates a ball of energy between his hands, called the hadouken. Sagat continues to run, but before he can get close, Ryu unleashes the hadouken against him.

In London, Minister Albert Sellers leaves a building, having talked about doing away with drugs and keeping them away from children. Everyone seems happy with his work, but as he heads to his car, a woman wearing a red cloak is watching.

Just as Sellers is about to get into his car, the woman removes her cloak and runs forward, single handedly taking out several bodyguards in the process. Sellers tries to run, but doesn't get very far. The woman grabs him, then leaps up...

..and snaps his neck, before landing behind him and shoving her knees into his back, killing him instantly. She tries to flee the scene, but more bodyguards appear and eventually pin her down. This event had all been a recording, which is paused by Interpol officer Chun-Li.

Chun-Li is giving a report to her superiors, regarding the terrorist organization, Shadowlaw. She states that the name of this terrorist is Cammy White. Cammy is a special agent who works for MI6, and is currently being interrogated, but is claiming to have no memory of the past three years. Chun-Li believes she is being controlled somehow, and that Shadowlaw is creating its own terrorists by manipulating the victim's subconscious. They're currently trying to work out how this is being done. Another Interpol agent says that they detected that Shadowlaw must be gathering information on street fighters across the world, which let them produce a deadly agent like Cammy.

Chun-Li says this man, Sagat, is a champion Muay Thai fighter, and is adored in Thailand. The next man, Bison, was banned from boxing due to his violent temper. There is also this Spanish fighter, the savage psychopath, Balrog. All three have been recruited by Vega to be special soldiers for Shadowlaw.

The other agent says that Shadowlaw's crimes are getting bigger and more daring. He thinks they must destroy Shadowlaw immediately. Chun-Li says that are going to conduct a joint investigation with the US military. Later, at a US airforce base...

A guy tells Major Guile that someone from Interpol is here to see him. Chun-Li introduces herself, but he doesn't take her up on her handshake. She says she's here to discuss the joint investigation into Shadowlaw, but Guile just says he's going to be the one who destroys Vega. Chun-Li asks what he means, and as he starts to walk off, he says it means he doesn't need any help to beat him.

Chun-Li says this is a decision made by US forces, but all Guile has to say is that the aim is to defeat Vega -they do their best, that's it. As he walks off, Chun-Li is left annoyed.

Meanwhile, above a jungle, a large jet is heading towards a mountain. On the side of the mountain is a face carved into a cliff, which splits open. The jet flies into the hidden base behind it, and the face forms back together again.

After the jet lands, Shadowlaw's leader, Vega, steps out. Sagat, Vega and Bison follow him, and they head to Vega's lair.

Once they arrive, Senoh, Shadowlaw's top scientist, appears. Senoh welcomes Vega back, but Vega tells him to hurry and show him it now. Senoh has a monitor cyborg walk out. He calls it a masterpiece of computer technology: the ultimate high performance monitor cyborg.

He says the images it captures will be beamed to the computer at headquarters via their satellite. All of the older, obsolete surveillance robots have been replaced with this cyborg model. The monitor cyborg walks off, and Vega asks Senoh if he's found the man he's looking for.

Senoh says he has not. Vega say anyone strong enough to beat Sagat is someone he wants to find. Senoh says his men are getting information on the fighters in each country, but he wonders if Ryu has a great a fighting capacity as the computer suggests. For most fighters, the value of their potential fighting capacity is rarely more than 2,000. He still can't believe Ryu's detected capacity was as high as 3,600. Vega tells him to find Ryu as quickly as possible -look everywhere, and send cyborgs everywhere.

Meanwhile, out in the Himalayas, Ryu stands alone at the edge of a cliff, practicing his dragon punch. As he lands, he thinks back to an event that happened in his past. His master once asked -"Ryu, what do you see beyond your fist?"

Several years ago, Ryu was training with Ken, another fighter who was taught the same style as himself. Their sparring fight is one sided, with Ken doing most of the attacking, but Ryu keeps blocking and avoiding his attacks. Their master, Goutetsu, calls out from inside the small temple and says that is enough for now. He tells them to take a rest, and then before breakfast, go and get some water from the valley. Before they go, Ken grabs onto Ryu and asks him why didn't he try to hit him more -was he going easy on him?

Ryu throws Ken off him, and says he'd never go easy on him. Ken says he was just kidding, and then tackles him. But Ryu throws him off. As Ken lands, he says that they'll have to depend on fighting like this for real one day.

Back in the present, Ryu thinks about what Ken said to him.

Meanwhile, in Seattle, Ken Masters is driving to a dock in his Porsche. Ken has become a champion fighter and he meets up with his girlfriend, Eliza. Ken apologizes for being a little bit late, but he's been in the finals of a championship, and the last opponent was a little bit tougher than he thought he would be. But Ken still won, so Eliza is happy for him.

In Suzhou, China, a film crew are waiting around. The director asks where Fei Long is, as they can't shoot a film without the main actor.

The main actor, Fei Long, has gone off to an underground fight ring. A bookmaker there tells him this is entertainment -some mouthy customer is getting dragged into the ring now. Down below, Ryu is being taken to the ring, although he says he didn't say anything. The two guys with him say otherwise, and shove him into the ring.

The bookmaker asks Fei Long why a famous actor like him likes watching fights in a place like this. Fei Long says the guy down there looks like a good fighter. Down in the ring, Ryu faces his opponent, Senou. Senou grabs him and starts shaking him around, so Ryu responds by headbutting him.

Senou is defeated, and Fei Long says that wasn't bad. He jumps into the ring, and tells Ryu he'll be his next opponent. He asks him what his name is, and Ryu tells him. Ryu says that he's just a Japanese traveler, watching a fight.

The two go into their stances, and then the fight begins. Fei Long does several fast punches and kicks, and manages to hit Ryu in the gut, knocking him down.

Ryu gets back up, and starts his attack. He hits Fei Long several times, but Fei Long comes back with a few more kicks.

Ryu manages to catch Fei Long's foot, and smashes it with an elbow strike. Fei Long tries to punch him, but Ryu grabs his wrist, and throws him to the floor. Fei Long's arm has been broken, but he says they're not finished yet -he'll show him.

He rolls forward and jumps, and then starts spinning around. One of his legs is surrounded by flames, as he uses the shien kyaku. Ryu is hit by it, and crashes to the ground. But as Ryu watches Fei Long come in to land...

...he gets back up and kicks him in the head, and then does a series of spinning kicks: the tatsu maki sen pu kyaku. Fei Long is knocked out, and Ryu has won the fight.

Some time later, Ryu and Fei Long walk together through the city streets. Fei Long has remembered about a Ryu he heard of several years ago, a man who disappeared after beating the Muay Thai champion, Sagat. He realizes the Ryu with him now must be him. Fei Long says he'd heard that Sagat was being trained by the Shadowlaw organization. Ryu asks what Shadowlaw is, as he's not heard of it.

Fei Long says it's a crime syndicate which distributes weapons and drugs all over the world. Ryu apparently doesn't care very much for Fei Long's company, as he goes off in a different direction without a word. Fei Long notices, but decides to let him go. But as he watches him leave, he says one thing: they will meet again.

Back in Seattle, nighttime has settled in, but a fight is taking place in a warehouse by the docks. A monitor cyborg watching from outside uses a special vision mode to look into the warehouse, and sees Ken trying to avoid fighting T. Hawk, a large warrior from Mexico. Ken says he doesn't do street fights like this any more. Hawk says it doesn't matter where a warrior fights. He knows Ken has obtained high titles as a fighter, so it is an honor for a fighter to defeat a man like him.

Ken thinks that's a bad reason, and thinks he's stupid for thinking he can beat him. Ken says no fighter can defeat him, except Ryu. Hawk has heard of Ryu, and says he's a drifting fighter who has been missing for some time. He tells Ken not to compare such a lowlife to him, and resumes his attack.

Ken tells him that when you ask for something, you might just get it. He starts fighting back, and hits Hawk with a jump kick. He then follows it up with a shoryuken, and Hawk is knocked down. Hawk manages to get back up, but falls again after taking a few steps. Ken is preparing to use the hadouken, but stops.

As he walks off, Hawk asks him what's wrong -why isn't he finishing it? Ken just ignores his questions and leaves. He goes back to his car, and wonders where Ryu could be now -they have unfinished business. He starts up the car, and leaves the docks.

NOTES

-The Japanese trailer for the movie reveals some footage of Ryu's battle with Sagat was cut out -the trailer shows Sagat repeatedly kneeing Ryu before throwing him. In the movie, only the throw is seen.

-The part where Ryu throws a hadouken towards the screen is a reference to the introduction sequence of Super Street Fighter II.

-The name of Vega's organization is spelt "Shadowlaw" in this movie, although characters pronounce it as "Shadaloo". It seems that at the time of the movie's release, a consistent spelling hadn't been chosen yet -in the Super Nintendo manual for Street Fighter II Turbo, it's spelt "Shadowloo". In the SEGA Genesis manual for Special Champion Edition, it's "Shadow Law". The manuals for Super Street Fighter II, on both Genesis and Super Nintendo, have it as "Shadowlaw", which is what the movie uses. However it would later be changed again in the games and other media, and is consistently now spelt as "Shadaloo".

-In this movie, the name of Ryu and Ken's master is not said by anyone. But in the script, and other material, his name is listed as "Goutetsu". In the games, this would later be changed so Ryu and Ken's master is called Gouken, whilst Goutetsu was Gouken's master.

-Senoh or Senou aren't named in the movie either, but they are named in the Street Fighter II Movie game.