We don’t talk about fighting game apparel here on Shoryuken all that often. This is mostly due to the fact that, outside a few outliers, clothing designed for fans of the genre is pretty mediocre, but one shirt has set the bar so low that we are ready to reconsider that stance.
In case you’ve been living under a rock for the last six months, Street Fighter V is almost here. That’s really exciting, so much so that you may be looking for a shirt or two to share that excitement with the world. Luckily, there’s a good deal of source material for hypothetical designs: the game’s official logo, the iconic notation for a hadouken, the characters on Ryu’s gloves, or even something like the ‘FIGHT’ and ‘K.O.’ effects that bookend every match.
GameStop, in their infinite wisdom, took all these ideas, opened up Photoshop, and just went to town.
I’m not going to act like I’m the most fashion-forward individual, and far be it from me to put down anyone for their choice in clothing, but what the hell was GameStop thinking with this one? It’s almost as if they forgot they needed to send Capcom a design and grabbed a kid from the mailroom for a hasty lesson in “what’s hip these days?” Even the model has given up on trying to make it look good!
Oh, and you probably already noticed that they used effects from Street Fighter IV. On a Street Fighter V shirt. Whoops.
If there’s any consolation here, it’s that this shirt won’t be appearing on store shelves any time soon. It’s currently only available as part of GameStop’s Power Up program, which means folks won’t be spending actual money on it. But still…wow.
Be sure to take time out of your day to show folks like BROKENTIER, Eighty Sixed, and Hungry Human some love. They deserve it.
Source: r/StreetFighter