Strangers in Times Square Controlled Real Fighters Inside a Giant Street Fighter Cabinet

Midtown foot traffic slowed this week in front of an arcade cabinet tall enough to stand inside. Paramount parked it in Times Square to sell the new Street Fighter movie, and the usual field of pixels had been swapped for two people. Stunt performers in Ryu and Ken costumes took their marks behind the glass and waited for someone in the crowd to pick a side.

A Street Fighter arcade cabinet the size of a parking meter “sign” stood out on the pavement, flanked by punch and kick buttons large enough to hit with the palm of your hand. Give the stick a nudge, and one of the game’s combatants will appear, one of the characters best known for the fireball move from the original ’91 cabinet, which is still active today. While the bouts were taking place, the movie cast stepped onto the same set, and Noah Centineo, who played Ken, got into the action with a stuntman and tossed him around in a move straight out of the game. Meanwhile, Eric André began aimlessly punching buttons and managed to pull off a mean combo, which observers referred to as flawless. Curtis Jackson, the 50 cent alter persona for Balrog, was standing nearby with Andrew Schulz and Mel Jarnson, while people kept feeding the buttons to the cabinet, and strangers began waiting up to take their turn while the movie stars were present.

Street Fighter finally hits the big screen on October 16, following a special bonus round screening the nite before; think of it as the audience receiving a sneak preview. Kitao Sakurai helmed this one for Paramount and Legendary, collaborating with Capcom on the entire production. The tale takes place in 1993 and reunites Andrew Koji’s Ryu and Callina Liang’s Chun-Li, as well as Jason Momoa and Roman Reigns as Akuma and Cody Rhodes as Guile, all of whom are paired with Noah Centineo’s Ken. David Dastmalchian plays M. Bison, and you may recall Jean-Claude Van Damme’s other Street Fighter film from a while back, which didn’t really do much for anyone who had actually played the game.

Matching billboards have Ryu’s fireball punching through the printed panel in other cities. Times Square got the version you can operate. Anyone who grew up on Street Fighter II could walk over, slap a button the size of a plate, and watch a headband answer. Studios usually rent a billboard and hope the title sticks, but this one rented a crowd and let them play.