Augmented reality experiences are oftentimes a dud, and the really mind-melting ones require hardware that costs a shit-ton of money. But Abhishek Singh seems to have figured out a way to make AR both accessible and really fucking cool. His latest project brings the classic arcade game Street Fighter II to life as a multiplayer game people can play in the real world.
Singh built the game—Street Fighter II: Real World Warrior—using ARKit in Unity and told Gizmodo that people can play it on an iPhone. Singh said the name of his game is a riff on the arcade game he used to play, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Meanwhile, all the models and elements in the game are in 3D because he “wanted people to be able to walk around the ring and the characters.”
To play, one person sets up the game on a flat surface. (In the video, you can see people playing on the street and on a table.) The second person can then join the game. A match begins once both players choose their fighter.
“It’s kind of like a real life Mexican standoff except you have your virtual gladiators fighting in this ring between you,” Singh said. “So it really is a live multiplayer AR experience, fully functional and playable.”
You may have seen some of Singh’s other AR projects. The programmer recreated the first level of the NES version of Super Mario Bros. in AR (rad as hell) and also the scene from The Ring in which the murdered girl crawls out of the TV (absolutely not). For now, you’ll have to enjoy the video of Street Fighter II: Real World Warrior that’s also posted on YouTube. Singh says he hopes to do a public release but needs to figure out some copyright issues first.