Rising Sun and Hong Kong Flags removed from Capcom Arcade Stadium

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Fei Long Street Fighter 2

Capcom has removed the appearances of the Japanese “Rising Sun” flag and the Hong Kong flag street fighter IIWhich is included as part of the Capcom Arcade Stadium collection.

Twitter user @pomegd posted the notable differences after first seeing the Rising Sun motif removed from E. Honda’s podium in Street Fighter IIThe stage normally showcases artworks from Mount Fuji with a rising sun in the background, but instead left empty space.

The flag was speculatively removed for its use as the official flag of the Imperial Japanese Army through the Navy until their dissolution in 1945 after World War II. The Japanese military has since been replaced by the Japanese Self-Defense Force (JSDF) which still uses the Rising Sun motif on their flags.

After further investigation, @pomegd also found that Hong Kong-born fighter Fei Long had his flag changed to character choice. Previously, Fei Long had the flag for Hong Kong under British rule in its original 1993 release. This was recently changed to Hong Kong’s official Bauhinia flag in 2018 Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection

It is worth noting that Hong Kong’s status as a “Special Administrative Region” has not changed in the two years since the Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection Speculatively, the flag may have changed in response to the PRC’s tougher stance on Hong Kong in the wake of the protests against the fugitive offenders and the Mutual Legal Assistance Act in Criminal Matters.

China has cracked down on pro-Hong Kong messages since the protests, even going so far as to ban Animal Crossing: New Horizons because of the functions that enable rudimentary communication. Shanghai-based miHoYo developers have also censored the phrases ‘Hong Kong’ and ‘Taiwan’ in their game Genshin Impact

Capcom Arcade Stadium released on February 17 on the Nintendo Switch.

Pictures: StrategyWiki, Wikipedia

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