Street Fighter Pop-Up Cards & the History of Street Fighter with DSRA Podcast

Over the past year, I’ve been introduced to fighting game culture by my husband, who has been a lifelong Street Fighter fan. I’ve watched him and his friends battle it out with online Street Fighter tournaments, and we even attended a video game competition in Philadelphia where tournaments were held for several fighting games. I’ve watched numerous video game documentaries with my hubby, and after all of this, I suddenly found myself being interested in video game culture and its history.

And boy, oh boy, was my husband ready for me to join the bandwagon. He even bought me my own arcade stick to teach me how to play Street Fighter the “right way.”

With Street Fighter now celebrating its 30th anniversary, its apparent that what was once a somewhat underground culture is now a mainstream phenomena in the video game scene.

A Special Collab with Dragons, Sexy Robots, & Adventures: A Nerd Manual

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Street Fighter, I’m excited to share that I’ve teamed up with DSRA podcast to bring you an action-packed Street Fighter collab.

DSRA podcast, aka Dragons, Sexy Robots, & Adventures: A Nerd Manual, discusses the history and production behind new nerd creations, with topics ranging from movies, TV shows, books, comics, and video games.

Whether you’re a high ranked player or new to Street Fighter like me, you’re going to love this episode covering the history of fighting games and the creation and evolution of Street Fighter 2. Listen to it here!

I started listening to DSRA several months ago, and with each episode I listen to, I’m amazed at the information that Claire, Kyle, and James share. I often find myself wondering, how long did it take them to research all of this?! But I’m not complaining. DSRA makes me a more knowledgable geek. 🙂

Looking for a suggestion on which DSRA episodes to listen to first? I have a few favorites… okay, I have a lot of favorites.

• Ep. 82: Street Fighter’s 30th Anniversary – with Popcorner Reviews!
• Ep. 76: Magic the Gathering’s 25th Anniversary
• Ep. 75: Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird’s American Family
• Ep. 72: The Dark Knight Returns – Claire’s Birthday Spectacular!
• Ep. 69: Avengers Infinity War – The Kevin and The Crossover
• Ep. 65: Annihilation – Aliens and Adaptations
• Ep. 64: Black Panther – History Reimagined in Hope
• Ep. 57: Justice League – Dreaming of the Golden Age
• Ep. 56: Thor: Ragnarok – From a Dark World to a Cosmic Comedy
• Ep. 55: Blade Runner 2049 – Do Androids Dream of Film Noir?

Make sure to listen to the new Street Fighter episode and leave the DSRA podcast team a review on your favorite podcast subscriber! You can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter, where they share lots of great resources that coincide with their recent episodes.

Now it’s time to get into DIY mode. I’m sharing a new tutorial on how to make your own Street Fighter pop-up cards that are sure to pack a (dragon) punch.

Make Your Own Street Fighter Pop-Up Cards

Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Purchases from these links may provide a small commission to me to help support my blog. There is no fee or charge for you. 

What You Need:

• Downloaded files
  • Ryu silhouette png
  • Hadouken fireball – large piece, medium piece, small piece
  • Japanese flag background
  • Hadouken commands – arrow and punch symbol
  • Hadouken logo (optional – used for second card option)
• Card stock paper — white, black, red, and three shades of blue (for your fireball!)
• Scissors
• Glue stick
• Double-sided tape
• Cricut Explore Air II and cutting accessories (mat, weeder) — please note, if you do not have a Cricut, you can still create your own pop up card by cutting out each piece by hand

Cutting Your Pieces

To start, download and upload all png files to your Cricut Design Space.

Starting with the main pieces of your card, cut a 5×10 inch rectangle out of white card stock (for the inside of your card) and a 5.3×10.6 inch rectangle out of black card stock (for the outside of your card).

Cut out your Ryu silhouette, sized roughly at 2.5×2.5 inches.

Cut out the three pieces of your Hadouken fire ball. Cut the large piece out of dark blue card stock at approx. 1 inch width. Cut the medium piece out of medium blue card stock at approx. 0.8 inch width. Finally, cut the small piece out of light blue card stock at approx. 0.6 inch width.

Cut out three arrows for the front of your card on white card stock, sized at 1.25 inch width.

Cut out the punch icon for the front of your card on white card stock, sized at 1.5 inch width.

Cut out the Japanese flag background on red card stock paper, sized at 5×5 inches.

Assembling Your Card

Take the large white rectangle, which will serve as the inside layer of your card, and fold it in half to create a square, being careful to align the corners when folding to have a clean, crisp shape. Once the inside of your card is folded, glue your Japanese flag background to the top square of the inside of your card. If the stripes of your flag hang off the edge of your card, trim them to have a clean edge.

Next it’s time to make cuts in your card to create two pop-up tabs. Once your glue has had a chance to dry, close your card. Along the spine, create a guide to where you plan to make cuts by lightly drawing marks at the following measurements.

For your first tab, you’ll want to make a cut on the spine of your card that is 1.5 inches in from the left edge and that’s 2 inches long. Make another cut that is the same length, 1/2 inch to the right of your first. For your second tab, make a cut on the spine of your card that is 1.15 inches in from the right edge of your card, and 1.5 inches long. Make another cut that is the same length, 3/4 inch to the left of your previous cut.

Open your card and carefully push out your two tabs (see image below). Note — if any piece of your red flag background falls off due to the cuts of your tabs, just re-glue them back in place.

On the larger tab on the right, use double sided tape to attach your Ryu silhouette (see image below).

Next, assemble your Hadouken fireball. Glue your small pieces to the medium piece, lining up their curved edges on the left. Next, glue the combined pieces to the large piece, lining up their curved edges on the left. Once your fireball has dried, use double sided tape to attach it to the top of the tab on the left.

Set the inside of your card aside.

Next, take the large black rectangle, which will serve as the outside of your card, and fold it in half to create a square, being careful to align the corners when folding to have a clean, crisp shape.

On the outside of your card, line up your three arrows and your punch icon on the center of the square (see image below).

Once you have the placement you like, glue the pieces in place and let the card dry.

Attach the inside white card to the outer black card, using double sided tape or glue to secure the pieces together.

Use the white space at the bottom of your card to add your own message — making this the perfect card for any occasion.

Looking for another pop-up card option? Switch your white insert to red, and cut out the Hadouken logo (find the file listed above) for an altered design.