If you've ever wanted to emulate Ryu from Street Fighter, but don't have the time or patience for all that training, discipline, or martial arts mastery, then we have the perfect thing for you.
Premium Bandai, Super Complete Selection Games, and Capcom have partnered up to release a special pair of sparring gloves, designed after Ryu's from Street Fighter V (as spotted by Siliconera!). These gloves have been made to be an accurate recreation of their in-game counterparts but they also feature another key selling point that will likely appeal to Street Fighter fans.
As outlined in the announcement video, they contain the technology inside them to be able to interpret a bunch of your movements and play a collection of corresponding sound effects, to help you unleash your inner Ryu. Some of the accepted movements detailed in the video include standard punches, in addition to Ryu's special moves (such as the Hadouken, Shoryuken, and the Hurricane Kick).
The gloves also come with a playable fight mode (containing a bonus stage), and a training mode too, giving you more to actually do with them than simply stand around and look good. Though, it's worth highlighting that the included modes won't be akin to a real Street Fighter game, but are as Siliconera suggests, more like a Bop-It type of deal where you have to match an input to a particular sound effect that is being played.
Premium Bandai put the gloves up for pre-order yesterday on July 20th for ¥9900 (which is roughly around $70 or £54). And they will be available to order until September 15th, 2023. Sadly, for the moment though, it doesn't seem like Premium Bandai is allowing international orders for them, so you may have to use a proxy service if you're intent on purchasing them yourself.
What do you make of these gloves? Let us know in the comments!