30 years of Street Fighter: 30 years of Characters #15

If you plan on going into battle make sure you are ready for war. Today we celebrate Rolento; the Mad Gear boss that is actually a mercenary and one of the most wily Street Fighters that you will ever come across. Rolento is easily one of the most memorable characters in the universe for reasons you might not be aware of. I had previously mentioned how military design works in fighting games. With the introduction of the character Falke in Street Fighter V I spoke a little bit about other military-inspired designs in fighting games. The Ikari Warriors; Ralf and Clark. Leona, Whip and Heidern all had military cues. Heidern specifically had something in common with Rolento. Both characters were a call out to a villain from Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star. A deranged mercenary known as the Colonel was terrorizing post-apocalypse survivors. He had a beret and wore an eye patch. He moved stealthily, leaving a trail of shadows behind him, he was also a master of hand-to-hand combat. There were other military characters in the series like Sargent Mad but the Colonel seemed to leave a lasting impression on the designers at Capcom and SNK.

Rolento made his debut in Final Fight. He was the top ranking Mad Gear boss, second only to the founder Belger. Rolento fought with a staff and moved very quickly all over the screen. He would leave a blur of shadows in his wake, just like the Colonel, before dropping a dozen grenades on his opponents. This made for a difficult fight when compared to the previous bosses. He turned up again in Final Fight 2 and the fighting game Final Fight Revenge. His unique library of moves carried over into Street Fighter Zero / Alpha 2, when Rolento officially entered the Street Fighter tournament. Rolento was possibly the most proficient character in the universe with a weapon. Whether it was a knife, staff, tripwire or grenade, he could use them all with deadly precision.

It was Rolento's mentality that made him stand out in the universe. He approached every fight with a win-at-all-costs attitude, even when battling young girls and pro wrestlers that weren't a threat to his rule. He was a fighter with lethal efficiency that made use of his weapons and environment. He could ambush his opponents with a wire and strangle them, the move was called Take No Prisoners. Fellow mercenaries and Mad Gear members El Gato (sometimes written as El Gado) and Holly Wood waited in the rafters with a hook and knife to help trap opponents. Rolento was the type of madman that worked well in the Street Fighter universe. That is why I'm happy to bring him up for this 30th anniversary series. I hope that someday in the future his rivalry with Doctrine Dark and Guile is reignited. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!