How a 1984 jazz song sets the structure for possibly the most popular piece of Street Fighter music ever.

File this under “you might not have heard yet”; however, it has been known for a couple of years now that Guile’s spectacular theme from Street Fighter II wasn’t the first song to go with everything. Japanese jazz-fusion band T-Square (called The Square at the time) released what sounds a lot like–at times, nearly identical to–the Air Slasher’s jam on their album Adventures in 1984. The song is called “Travelers,” composed by Hirotaka Izumi.

In the video below, you can hear a direct section-to-section comparison making clear how much “Travelers” inspired the Street Fighter II theme for Guile–that would be carried forward through different remixes into Street Fighter IV and V, too!

Here’s the full version of “Travelers” by T-Square for your jazz enjoyment:

And here’s the original CPS-1 arcade board version of the Family Man’s music:

Thanks to Jeremy for the tip!

Sources: Flying High; papaleon01; Video Games Music Zone