The Street Fighter 6 pre-order trailer, a look at Marisa, the modern gladiator

One of the things that I despised in SFIV, and SFV were over-the-top characters, moves, and animations. They often broke the fourth wall, and turned the fighting game into a series of sight gags. The way that Abel would spin opponents over his head with ease was one example. But also the way Rufus would bounce, or F.A.N.G. would flap his arms, and fly all over the stage. These silly animations took me out of the game. In the previous blog I mentioned that Marisa was a second take on one of the cringiest characters in the franchise. I honestly believe that she was a way to make up for Hakan, the Turkish oil wrestler. Let’s examine the roots of both characters.

Yağlı güreş is an actual form of wrestling from Turkey. It’s among one of the oldest forms of wrestling in the world, and certainly deserves some respect. In Street Fighter IV any appreciation of the art was thrown out the door. Making a joke character out of Hakan was more than likely a call from Producer Yoshinori Ono. His sense of humor colored both SFIV, and SFV. I think it was unnecessary what the studio did with Hakan. If you have a moment I want you to review the idiotic special moves given to the character. Hakan would slather himself in oil, and slide across the screen. He would squeeze opponents until they slipped out of his arms, or roll with them on the ground with the frenetic energy of a Beyblade. Remember the amount of detail that I mentioned went into the judo moves of Manon in the previous blog? Well, none of that went into the moves of Hakan. Instead we have a beet-red character with a strange haircut that continuously breaks the fourth wall with his attacks. I believe that the SF6 team wanted to show more respect to the Mediterranean this time around. While at the same time revisiting many of the same elements that worked for Hakan.

The obvious connection between the two is the area of the world that they inhabit. Turkey, Greece, and Italy share a long history in the grappling arts, we are talking about thousands of years of cross-pollination with the wrestling arts of the East, and West. Their respective cultures helped plant the seeds of modern wrestling, boxing, and even MMA. From a storytelling perspective their body types have to show what type of fighter they are. Both Hakan, and Marisa are very muscular. They do not wear boxing gloves, or boots. So we can tell they are likely very powerful grapplers, with some striking thrown into the mix. Both also have odd hair styles, which are reminiscent of ancient warrior helmets. They also each share a golden lion motif in their design. There is a lion in the decorations of Marisa’s stage, as an actual lion parades in the background while wearing a golden mask. Hakan wore a gold lion on his belt, and his brand of oil featured a lion as well. The ways that each character was presented demonstrated the new direction that the franchise was taking.

Everything related to SF6 shown so far was a love-letter to the series, and the genre as a whole. The developers were not trying to make gag characters, or special attacks this time around. They respected the martial arts that they were trying to capture. At no point were any of the SF6 cast revealed to be joke characters, with silly styles. Yes they could be carefree like Dee Jay, energetic like Kimberly, or flamboyant like Juri, but they were all serious about their craft. Audiences can tell by looking at Marisa that she is heavy hitter. However she is also a multidimensional character whose background shapes her appearance. According to the official bio she is “An up-and-coming jewelry designer from Italy who claims ancestry to ancient Greek warriors. As a child, she was inspired by a vision of the Colosseum in its prime. Today, she seeks glory with a smile—and an eye for beauty.“

In my first take on the character I called Marisa a gladiator. All of the superficial elements placed on her told a story. The cut of her hair, the plates on her shorts, even the sword jewelry all spoke of Ancient Rome. Seeing her in action in the SF6 trailer shows that the team wanted to make her an awe-inspiring fighter. Several of her poses are taken right out of the history books. Her step over grab into a punch was immortalized in Greek statues that highlighted the roots of Greco-Roman wrestling. These were not the only things that we could make out in the pre-order trailer. Marisa is very tall, not as tall as Zangief, but still a titan in build. She’s actually shown picking up an adult African male lion in the footage. These lions weigh over 400 lbs. and are nowhere near as docile as a house cat.

The mythological figure Hercules, father of pankration the original form of MMA, was said to have wrestled the Nemean Lion, the Erymanthean Boar, and the Cretan Bull during his famous labors. These wild animals were bigger, more ferocious, and stronger than their regular counterparts. Marisa is a callback to the Greek hero, and moreover is making the lion motif part of her identity. It makes more sense in her context than as a mascot on a bottle of olive oil, wouldn’t you agree? In her stage we see other warriors, possibly actors, wearing costumes reminiscent of ancient soldiers. The blade logo featured on their shields, as well as the jewelry piece hanging around the neck of Marisa is reminiscent of the Lambda symbol found on some Spartan shields.

I think that part of the reason that the SF6 team went so deep in the creation, and details of Marisa was because of an earlier Capcom game. Shadow of Rome was a title from 2005, that believe it or not was produced by Yoshinori Ono. It centered around gladiatorial combat in the ancient Roman era. It was violent, barbaric, and played very much like a spin-off of Monster Hunter. Both of which I assume shared the same engine. The sights, and sounds of the old world were faithfully captured. The fashion, armor, weapons, and combat of the title were fairly accurate. There was a lot of creative license with many of the encounters, but as a whole it did a good job of turning the brutality of gladiator battles into a fun game. It was forgotten, partly because the original God of War did a better job at recreating the mythical era that same year.

Marisa is a very interesting character that seems to maintain the same level of care that the other new faces in SF6 have. She doesn’t seem to be a joke character, nor does she have any silly moves like Hakan. A bit of planning, and some respect for the subject matter is what it takes to make a good character design, into a great one. These are the things that I believe Mr. Ono was lacking in SFIV, and SFV. As of this moment I will probably main Zangief in the game, but as I did with Alex in Street Fighter III, I will be looking at Marisa to act as my secondary heavy hitter. What do you think of the character reveal? What do you think of the new characters revealed so far? Who are you eager to see, and what are you eager to try in the game? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you 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!

The Street Fighter 6 pre-order trailer, a look at Manon, the graceful judo practitioner

In the previous blog I mentioned that Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama, Producers Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, and Shuhei Matsumoto, and Designer Yusuke Hashimoto were doing a much better job with design, diversity, and inclusion than in either SFIV, and SFV. Although they were working with Capcom on the previous games the final direction of the series was in the hands of Yoshinori Ono, whom as a director I had argued took the franchise into some dumb places. The roots of some great characters were in both SFIV, and SFV, however some of the best ideas seemed left on the cutting room floor. The decision to put Rufus in the game instead of King Cobra set the tone that Mr. Ono would be going with during his time leading the projects. I had mentioned previously that Capcom was able to make a memorable character out of an ugly stereotype in the early days of SFII. Mr. Ono didn’t seem to have the same level of insight that I believe the franchise deserved. I contend that many of the new cast members in Street Fighter 6 are an attempt to redo the plans the staff had much earlier.

In the planning stages of SFIV the team wanted to introduce an androgynous young grappler.The skinny boy in pigtails would eventually evolve into the hulking Abel. The French-raised fighter was a master at judo. The game series had always had a spot open for the various fighting arts, including judo. The decision to make Abel large, and muscular, along with the rest of the cast, was specifically to make him appeal to western audiences. Capcom saw that the most popular games in the USA featured buff characters. Popular FPS titles like Doom, and Gears of War had characters that were more bodybuilder than standard body types. Hence Abel was hyper muscular, as were Ken, and Ryu. Even skinny characters like Dhalsim now had broad shoulders, and developed pecs, and biceps. Not only that, but the game also gave Abel some absurd judo throws to show off his strength.

It was the animation that I found most jarring with the new characters introduced in SFIV. The fact that the obese Rufus could move faster than the skinniest fighters took me out of the game. But that was just a part of a bigger trend. The best grab moves in the series were impossible, but plausible. The fact that Abel would grab an opponent by the collar, and easily swing them around like a Tom and Jerry cartoon made little sense in context with the lineup. It was certainly believable against small, and skinny fighters like Sakura, or Dhalsim, but looked absurd when doing that to E. Honda, Zangief, or Hugo. Plus what exactly was Abel grabbing if the opponents did not have a collar? These were things that the designers did not seem to consider. Not only that but some of his moves lacked the setup that coded the special attack as a judo move. Street Fighter 6 needed a cast whose moves were grounded more in that plausible reality. In order to do that the studio had to literally go back to the drawing board. What they gave us was a new take on the original SFIV plans.

A fighter that we could identify was French was on the menu. Accomplishing this was easy. Using the colors of a national flag was one way that the artists at Capcom would code the lineup. In an early Abel draft, as well as an alternate costume we see him wearing wrestling tights, and a gold medal. Manon’s costume features similar colors, and striping on her outfit as well. In order to make her appear as more of a judoka rather than a wrestler she is wearing a juka top, along with her medal and black belt. Notice however that Manon is wearing her top off-the-shoulders in a very fashionable way. Not only that but her hair is colorful, and stylish. These are all details that support her story. According to her bio she is “A super model and world champion judoka, Manon is an idealist, forever seeking self-improvement in the pursuit of beauty. She struts the catwalk of street fighting to become the world's strongest model.” We can see a bit of her flair in the trailer, and can make comparisons to other fashion icons, and beauty figures like Paris Hilton.

I strongly hoped that Manon was a practitioner of Savate, and with the cut of her outfit even predicted her to be one. It turned out that was not the case, but there was a reason for the tights after all. The range of motion they provided complimented the grace she fought with. We see her spin, leap, and twirl in the air with the ease of a ballerina. If she is a supermodel, then it stands to reason she might be an accomplished dancer as well. Manon might be the most polished model in the genre. No doubt she knows more about the world than other affluent girls that attended a prestigious finishing school.

The SF6 pre-order trailer is filled with many examples of Manon fighting with the grace of a dancer. The moves of Juri, or Chun-Li are focused on delivering strong attacks with their legs, and not so much with their hands. Chun-Li is rooted in sweeping kung-fu strikes, whereas Juri has more open tae kwon do kicks. Manon’s legs are long, and lanky. Her thighs are nowhere as thick, and developed as Chun-Li. This means she does not do a lot of striking with her legs, however her flexibility as a dancer helps her cut down the space between opponents with a leaping kick, while setting up another grapple.

Manon's moves are more plausible for the character, and more important, are more believable for a judoka. Unlike other martial arts judo, and ju-jitsu are not about size, and strength. Certainly a large person with a grasp of the martial arts could do some serious damage. Judo is not about strength, it works through leverage, balance, and a fulcrum. A smaller opponent can easily flip a larger person. Anyone that has tripped over a bench could tell you that gravity does most of the work of falling over. We see these things in action in the SF6 footage. Manon may have dance-like moves, but she also grips her opponent like an actual judo practitioner. In all of her throw moves we see her drop her hip under the opponent’s center of balance. Then she sweeps the leg, and flips them upside down. She grabs their wrist, and controls the landing. It doesn’t matter if the character has a collar to grab onto or not, she is simply tipping them over. They may be exaggerated attacks, but these are fundamental judo moves.

Unlike the cartoonish moves that Abel was given in SFIV, the ones that Manon employs are grounded in actual judo. She doesn’t swing opponents in the air, or toss them like rag dolls. Her throws do not require her to be overly strong. Even massive characters like Hugo, and Abigail would flip head over heels if someone tripped them over their center of gravity. The best moves in the series are inspired by actual martial arts, whether it is a karate uppercut, Muay Thai knee, boxing punch, or wrestling suplex. They can all be made to look fantastic, while not breaking the suspension of disbelief for the audience. In paying attention to all of these elements in the costume cues, moves, and animation of Manon I think that the SF6 team has created a fighter that has more staying power than Abel. The thing that Capcom does better than most studios is exaggerate the method, and outcome of the attacks in animation without going overboard. This is the magic of creating Street Fighter special, and super attacks.

I have established that Kimberly is another take on the Guy template, JP follows closely on the heels of Falke, and that Manon appears to be a new version of Abel. What about Marisa, the other new character revealed in the SF6 pre-order trailer? Is she a new take on an existing character, or is she an entirely new idea? I would argue that Marisa was a redo of one of the cringiest characters in the series. I will explain how, and why in the next blog. I hope to see you back for that. I would like to hear your take on any of the new characters slated for SF6. Who are you going to main when the game drops in 2023? Let me know in the comments section. As always if you 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!

The Street Fighter 6 pre-order trailer, a love letter to the series, and a look at JP

Thank you for dropping by the blog. We have a lot to talk about with the release of the Street Fighter 6 - Pre-Order Trailer. Make sure to watch it if you haven’t already.

   

There is a tremendous amount of new information revealed about SF6, including official reveals of some new faces. One of the things that surprised me was the re-introduction of bonus stages. Ways to earn extra points, learn skills, and practice special attacks have been a part of the SF franchise since the very first game in 1986. In fact one of the earliest bonus stages involved board breaking. After 35 years this returns in the game. Long-time players would spot nods to other classic bonus stages, and even new challenges.

There was a shot of the player character chopping the tops off of glass bottles in one bonus challenge. Those of us old enough to remember would know this bonus was first used in the Art of Fighting in 1992. The SNK game directed by Hiroshi Matsumoto, and Akashi Nishiyama was a sort of updated take on the Street Fighter formula. The duo had developed the original SF before leaving Capcom to join SNK. They took with them a number of their martial arts influences, and translated them into game form. I have written a lot about Mas Oyama, and his influence in the creation of fighting games. The “God Hand” of karate could legit kill bulls with his bare hands. He was the basis for Mr. Karate / Takuma Sakazaki, arguably the most power karateka, and one of the top bosses in the SNK universe. Oyama would put on demos where he would cut the tops off of bottle with a knife hand chop. SNK used the bottle chop as a bonus stage in the original Art of Fighting. This skill now gets a nod in the SF franchise as well.

I have said it before, and it bears repeating. Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama, Producers Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, and Shuhei Matsumoto, and Designer Yusuke Hashimoto have all demonstrated a better understanding, and love of the culture than the previous director Yoshinori Ono with every SF6 update released. The game is not only pushing the genre forward, it is also a love letter to the games that came before. These influences are from Capcom, and from other studios as well. I am not going to focus on Dee Jay this time because he is a returning character. Instead I want to talk about the new faces revealed. Let’s start off with the sharply dressed older gentleman. According to the official bio “JP is the head of an international NGO (nonprofit organization, designed to address social or political issues) responsible for many successful investment projects, and the man behind Nayshall's present prosperity. Has a beloved cat named Cybele.” I did a quick look at JP earlier on the blog. As far as his look, and use of weapons is concerned there is a lot of precedence in the series.

The gentlemanly fighter Eagle was the top British striker in the original Street Fighter. He dressed sharply, and fought with the use of two sticks. JP is a continuation of other well dressed fighters who use a weapon in combat. The closest one that I compared him to would be White from the Fatal Fury sequel Real Bout Garou Densetsu Special: Dominated Mind. It could be considered fair for him to use a cane because JP was an older gentleman competing against fighters half his age, and twice his size. Of course as with any fighter in the franchise looks were often deceptive. JP was more than just skilled with a cane, in the trailer we can see he harasses some sort of psychic ability. The purple glow of “psycho power” had been featured as early as 1991 through Vega / Dictator, as well as in later games with Rose, Menat, Ed, and Falke.

It was established in previous SF games that psychic powers could be funneled, or rather focused through objects. Menat used a crystal ball for example. Falke used a military staff. The vast majority of characters in the SF universe fought with their bare hands, but a select few fought with weapons. These characters helped add balance to roster. From a storytelling perspective it made sense that a Mad Gear boss like Sodom would fight with a weapon. But it also worked when smaller fighters, or older fighters, were allowed to use weapons in combat. To learn more please read the blog on Falke, and how military design works in fighting games.

The other two fighters revealed in the Pre-Order Trailer were more interesting to me. They seem to cement the idea that a lot in the online community had. Namely that the SF6 team was trying to redo the characters introduced in SFIV, to redo not only their looks, but also their over-the-top, cartoonish special attacks. Let’s do a recap of what we know, and then what we can infer. Many SF fans learned that the rival to Ken was not originally planned to be the obese, and stupid Rufus. A young Black, “breakdance kung-fu” fighter named King Cobra was going to be his arch-rival. Audiences felt this was a very strong design, one with tremendous potential. Producer Yoshinori Ono insisted on adding a “fatty” for comedic effect instead. The world was robbed of a potentially fantastic design.

Of course no great idea really dies. At least not at a major studio. I believe that the fighting style originally planned for King Cobra was instead assigned to Jamie, the rival to Luke in SF6. The idea of giving a strong balance, or younger upstart to compliment to a franchise character was expanded on with others in the cast. Chun-Li as you may know finally had a worthy rival with the villainous Juri in SFIV. Juri’s design I believe had finally been perfected in SF6. Although we have not been introduced to A.K.I. officially as of this writing, many online also believe her to be a redesigned version of F.A.N.G. from SFV. One who loses the silly personality, to become a much more sinister archetype. Not every new face in the series is designed to be a rival to an established character. For example, Kimberly is the young ninja that is designed to be the understudy to Guy.

Guy was a featured character in the 1989 hit Final Fight. He was originally designed to be the replacement for Ryu in the Street Fighter series. As Cody was designed to replace Ken as well. The wrestler-turned-mayor Mike Haggar was the prototype for Zangief. But I digress… The sneaker-wearing ninja was certainly cooler than Ryu in design. Bringing just a hint of urban fashion into a traditional martial arts world. Kimberly carries a lot more of that same forward thinking. Mr. Nakayama, Mr. Tsuchiya, Mr. Matsumoto, and Mr. Hashimoto have gone all-in on incorporating the western influences that helped create the SF series. In doing so they expanded the diversity, and more important, created much better representation than in either SFIV, or SFV. They understand, perhaps better than the majority of Japanese designers, that Black culture is pop culture in the west. Not only that Black culture is the backbone of pop culture the world over. Using the fashion, the music, and art of Hip-Hop without including Black characters would have been a disservice to the community. The two other women introduced are other great examples of representation. I will dig into those on the next blog. What are your thoughts on everything revealed with SF6 so far? What are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments section please! As always if you 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!

Is Dhalsim a fan of curry? A rare Street Fighter collectable from Japan turns up on my birthday!

I got tons of goodies for my bday. Games, comics, toys, and lots of Disney stuff, including Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. My favorite gift is something that’s been on my radar for almost a decade. Capcom had a cross promotion with CoCo Ichibanya to celebrate the release of Street Fighter X Tekken. They sold a limited number of spoons featuring the stretchy armed Dhalsim. The restaurant serves Japanese style curry in case you haven't heard of it. It's super tasty if you ever get a chance to visit it.

Dhalsim is Indian as you may know, and seen eating a plate of curry on the spoon. When the promotion started I asked the manager at the Torrance California location if they would be getting any. He gave me the strangest look. I never forgot about the spoon but it would only pop up intermittently on bidding sites. Anyhow, it’s finally off the checklist. I’ll keep it with my official Charlie Nash dog tags, Chun-Li bracelet, and Balrog/Claw mask. Do you have any odd Street Fighter collectables? I'd like to hear about it in the comments section. As always if you 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!

Style Wars, looking at Kimberly in Street Fighter 6, and Isla from King of Fighters XIV.

I think we should have the conversation about Kimberly, about culture, and the developers at SNK, and Capcom. I had previewed Kimberly when she was leaked a month or so ago. Most of my observations turned out to be accurate. The internet has absolutely fallen in love with her, posting fan art, and cosplay pics following the reveal trailer including the updated Juri. The thing I think we have to acknowledge is that Kimberly has themes that were seen in SNK characters much earlier.

There were at least three SNK characters that Kimberly follows in the footsteps of. Zarina was a Brazilian conservationist, fan of Samba dancing, and kicker of crotches. She debuted in King of Fighters XIV, in 2016, along with Bandeiras Hattori founder of the Brazilian Ninja Arts Dojo. The minority characters were introduced as members of Team South America. The King of Fighters series is wildly popular in Brazil, and other South American countries, and it made sense that SNK would design a team in order to appeal to them. On a surface level Kimberly is young, and energetic, like Zarina, she even has a similar outfit. On a deeper level Kimberly is obsessed with the ‘80s, and ninjitsu. In her debut trailer we see her using a bunch of over-the-top ninja moves.

Bandeiras is also a huge fan of ninjutsu. He’s even invented his own form, and is actively trying to recruit students. He’s an absolute geek for Mai Shiranui, the most popular ninja in the KOF tournament. To be fair who wouldn’t be a fan of Mai? Kimberly by the same token is also a ninja super fan, she’s a follower of Guy, the most famous ninja in the Street Fighter universe. Kimberly has natural ability, making traditional fighting game style strikes with her own flair. Both Bandeiras, and Kimberly have lightning quick dashes to punches, and kicks. Ninjas in 3D fighting games often have a lethal move where they suplex their opponent onto their head from a tremendous height. Kage-Maru from Virtua Fighter helped start the tradition way back in 1993. Both Kimberly, and Bandeiras keep the tradition alive almost 30 years later.

Dark-skinned ninjas, and ninja apprentices aside, there was another character that predated Kimberly. Isla aka the “Dreaming Brilliance” was a Chilean KOF contestant. She was set up as a parallel, and rival to Shun’Ei. She debuted in King of Fighters XV in 2022. Her trailer premiered on Sept 30 2021, almost one full year before Kimberly’s first trailer. It is entirely possible that the new developers working on Street Fighter 6 were keeping tabs on every new face appearing in the KOF series. I would say that they challenged themselves to create characters better than the new faces introduced into the previous two KOF games.

Isla was another South American. SNK was going all-in on making their cast appeal to the community. She was not a dark-skinned character, and her fighting style had nothing to do with ninjitsu or any other traditional art. She has mysterious psychic powers, floating hands nicknamed Amanda help her fight. These are similar to Shun’ei’s psychic hands. Where Isla overlaps with Kimberly is in the use of spray cans. Isla is a graffiti artist, and social media star. She uses the spray can in several of her special, and super attacks. Spray cans, especially those favored by graffiti artists are highly pressurized, and dangerous in certain conditions. In addition to spraying colors capable of blinding an opponent, they are also flammable. In both Isla, and Kimberly’s trailers audiences saw the cans used as explosives. Isla adding them to her kicks, and Kimberly to her punches. If I didn’t know better I would say that the Street Fighter developers simply mixed elements from Bandeiras, and Isla in order to come up with Kimberly. This would be an oversimplification of how her character evolved.

We need to take a step back from the minority ninja-meets-graffiti artist design behind Kimberly, and dig in deeper to how Hip Hop culture influenced the development of fighting games. When a game studio wants to ground a Western character as being “urban” or from the big city what visual cues do they give us? In the case of Guy, Kimberly, or the previous ninja female from the SF universe Maki, it was very subtle. They were wearing sneakers. Aside from that their outfits had elements of traditional ninja uniforms. Perhaps it was a mesh vest, pants, or a top pulled from classic designs. Then to ground it into the modern world they would be wearing modern sneakers. When the studios wanted to ground the universe, and presentation to Western audiences, or let international players know the world was set in a gritty western environment then what else did they do? Perhaps they showed landmarks in the distance. The Statue of Liberty, or high rise buildings that looked like the Empire State, or Chrysler Building from New York instantly told a story. Up close these streets, and environments were covered in graffiti. Graffiti decorated a number of stage backgrounds in many Japanese developed fighting, and brawling games.

Graffiti is a way of storytelling, and is one of the few visual languages that is almost universally understood. It is one of the four pillars of Hip Hop culture. Graffiti is the visual art of the culture, b-boy (breakdancing) is the style of dance, emcee (rapping) is the style of singing, and dj (turntablism) is the style of music. Hip Hop was born in New York in the ‘70s, and became a globally recognized culture over the next 50 years. That means that a Hip Hop practitioner can come from anywhere. They can breakdance to music in a different language, and write graffiti using a non-English alphabet, and it is still recognized as part of the culture. Graffiti was used in stage backgrounds, and intro screens on video games, and is still used in game design. When graffiti is used with supporting details, such as additional tags, trash, and weathered textures then it helps ground the audience to a particular era, culture, or economic class.

When graffiti is used without supporting context then it can be interpreted as a superficial element, as the developers do not fully grasp the culture they are trying to recreate. Poorly done graffiti doesn’t really help sell the game, or even ground the player. I would argue the superficial use of graffiti applies to Isla, and the train tunnel stage in KOF XV. The tunnel is coded for subway cars, however it features a freight car, which rarely, if ever, use the electrified tracks of a subway system. Also the graffiti covering the walls, and pillars of the tunnel are very clean, and stylish. They are not surrounded by illegible gang tags, trash, or other elements that are often found in living, breathing cities. SNK is very good at introducing characters into the KOF universe based on Western pop culture. The trade off is that these characters sometimes appear to only have a surface appreciation of the culture, and not a deeper foundation. Duck King for example appeared in 1991. He was the first b-boy-turned-fighting game character. His appearance was memorable, but as far as pop culture went it demonstrated that Japanese developers were behind the curve. 

MC Hammer was a famous US rapper, and also an exceptional dancer. He popularized the oversized “genie pants” in the late ‘80s. However by the early ‘90s he was already waning in popularity in the west. Trends traveled much slower before the internet became commonplace. The Japanese developers at SNK thought they were beating the trend, and compared to other studios they very much were. However in a broader sense they were simply exploiting a trend, and not really invested in the culture. It was apparent as Duck King was a relatively minor character in the Fatal Fury timeline. It wasn’t the first time that a Japanese studio appropriated Hip Hop culture in a game. Kaneko released DJ Boy in the arcades in 1989. The brawling game featured an early attempt at recreating the culture for international audiences. It didn’t make much sense for people from the US, but I’m certain that audiences in Japan assumed that rollerskating gangs were everywhere in New York City.

I had posted earlier on this blog that the genius of SNK’s character design was in hiding martial arts masters in plain sight. When the characters were done right, like Terry Bogard, or Kyo Kusanagi, who wore stylish street clothes they were as memorable as the Capcom school of design which favored fighters in more traditional costumes. However not every character was as well regarded. When you look at the design notes from the art team you can see how much they were trying to pander to western audiences. The concept art for Team USA in the King of Fighters ’94 looked like a Hip Hop dance troupe. The mix of spandex, and oversized coats was a popular trend in the late ’80s, and early ‘90s. By the time the team would be introduced the fashion would be outdated in the USA. Thankfully the studio went with a football player, basketball player, and boxer all wearing street clothes. These designs wouldn’t necessarily lock the team into a specific era. Capcom wasn’t immune to the trends from the west either. The original Street Fighter starts with a brick wall covered in graffiti. The Capcom logo is stylized in the original title screen, as well as the SF6 reveal trailer some 35 years later. 

Western pop culture from the ‘80s was all over early video games. Just on the influences of cult movies there would be no Metal Gear Solid without Escape from New York. There would be no Final Fight without Streets of Fire. The difference between how Capcom approached Kimberly, and how SNK created Isla demonstrate the different schools of design, especially with regards to appreciating Hip Hop culture. Kimberly is an energetic Black girl, as enthusiastic as Sakura was when she debuted in Street Fighter Zero. Both characters wore traditional costumes, Sakura dressed like a schoolgirl version of Ryu, and Kimberly dressed as a Black girl version of Guy. Both in sneakers, both essentially modernized takes on the iconic fighters. Kimberly is layered with additional details. Successful Black athletes have to blaze their own trails. In order to stand out from their peers. They have to be bold. Being Black, and successful in the USA means to live with more than a third of the country hating your existence for no reason other than the color of your skin. If you are going to be hated for everything you do then why not then flaunt your greatness? Audiences can see that Kimberly is a blindingly fast fighter, she is impatient as well. Doing running warmups before each battle. I do not think this was a throw-away detail.

Kimberly is obsessed with the ‘80s. In that era there were many standout Black athletes. One of the most flamboyant was Florence Griffith Joyner aka “Flo-Jo”. The Olympian was a world class track star, that also happened to design her own stylish track suits. She became an icon on, and off the track. Most Black athletes were also subject to a lot of scrutiny. Flo-Jo was such a dominant figure on the track that she was accused of being on performance enhancing drugs. She was rigorously investigated, and subject to far more testing than her white contemporaries. She tested clean every single time, much to the chagrin of racist judges, and spectators. Sadly she passed away in 1998 from an epileptic seizure in her sleep. To this day we see shades of Flo-Jo with young Black track stars. The most recent of which would be Sha’Carri Richardson. The Olympic hopeful was sadly disqualified from the Tokyo Olympics for testing positive for marijuana use. To be fair she was self-medicating following the death of her mother. Of course other athletes, mostly white, did not receive such harsh criticism for recreational drug use. Kimberly has a gift for fighting, and at the same time she is also a young Black athlete. She reflects Hip Hop culture. She is a graffiti artist, she uses a classic cassette player to listen to music. Along with Jamie, the kung-fu b-boy, she is the second Hip Hop influenced character appearing in SF6.

Isla by comparison appears to have cultural elements placed on her, and doesn’t necessarily represent Hip Hop. Not unlike Duck King when he debuted. Isla is focused on being a social media influencer, but SNK didn’t push anything about her art, or upbringing. They instead kept her past ambiguous, focusing less on her art, and more on her strange powers, and rivalry with Shun’ei. SNK could have at the very least associated her with Valparaiso, the street art center of Chile. Or made her an activist painting political street art in South America. I doubt that the current owners of SNK would be willing to put an anti-authoritarian in the game. I am glad that the studio is focusing on adding South American figures to the series, however any character could be placed in street fashion with splashes of paint, a respirator. It doesn’t mean they are a graffiti artist, any more than they represent Hip Hop, or Black culture. If they paid attention to what Marvel, and Sony Animation did with the character of Miles Morales as Spider-Man then they would know how much bigger graffiti art could define a character.

Street Fighter 6 Director Takayuki Nakayama, Producers Kazuhiro Tsuchiya, and Shuhei Matsumoto, and Designer Yusuke Hashimoto have all demonstrated a better understanding, and love of the culture with the footage they’ve released so far, and in their interviews. I doubt that the previous direction under Yoshinori Ono would have gotten it right. Perhaps that was why King Cobra never appeared in the game, despite the strong audience reaction. This is all of course my opinion. I’d like to hear your take on Kimberly, or the other fighters I’ve mentioned in the blog. Do you think Isla, Bandeiras, or Zarina were as well received by the fighting game community as Kimberly? Let me know in the comments section. As always if you 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!

Garou Mark of the Wolves, the manhua part 2

The first half of the Garou Mark of the Wolves manhua from 1999 was a retelling of the events of Fatal Fury. They gave audiences the history of stars Andy, and Terry Bogard. The villain Geese Howard, his relationship with half-brother Wolfgang Krauser, and estranged son Rock Howard. We also get to see several other major players from FF canon including Joe Higashi, Raiden, Mai Shiranui, Tung Fu Rue, Billy Kane, and Yamazaki.

The first few issues had Rock as a kid, and the later issues had him as a young adult. With the rise of new villains like Grant, and his uncle Kain R. Heinlein founding a new KOF tournament Rock is drawn into battle. He has grown as a fighter, and no longer wants to run from his legacy. He feels that he is ready to confront his past, and question his uncle.

Since a decade has passed since we last saw Rock, and Terry it stands to reason that the rest of the cast has also grown, and matured. In the first few issues Ryo Sakazaki was chasing down Geese Howard, and an actively fighting in Southtown. However his father Takuma had retired from teaching his patented Kyokugen “extreme limit style empty hand” form of karate. Ryo was the new master of the dojo, and helping keep the family business alive. He didn’t really venture out of the school.

Marco Rodriguez aka Kushnood Butt raids the Sakazaki dojo with some thugs, trying to prove they were the best fighters. Ryo annihilates them, and Marco becomes a convert to the school. He spends the next decade studying under both Takuma, and Ryo. We see him now as a black belt. He’s practicing in the woods, and fighting a bear, a nod to the legendary exploits of Mas Oyama, and Willie Williams.

He crosses paths with an older Terry Bogard, and gets into a fight with him. The issues do not spend too much time with the rest of the cast, but at the very least they do get an introduction. This includes Kevin Rian, Hokutomaru, and B. Janet. Their purpose for entering the Maximum Mayhem tournament is explained. Grant is introduced as the big baddie of the tournament, and Terry gets into a fight with him.

The series ends after the introduction of the major players, and how they changed over the years. It doesn’t actually cover the events of the tournament. Which I think is actually the best way to tell the story of a fighting game. When you spell out each, and every battle you end up forcing the canon into a very specific direction, which may, or may not be the intent of the developers. Instead the writers of the manhua let the audience meet the cast. Show some of their backstory. Let a few non-tournament battles take place, and allow the game players to explore all the possibilities, and outcomes in the game.

With the announcement of Garou 2 I can only hope that there is a manga series, and possibly manhua series in the works as well. Either way I am eager to see how the game turns out. It will be about 24 years after the original came out in arcade. The generation that remembers it now has children, and even grandchildren that want to experience the game.

What about you? Are you eager to find out what happened with Terry, and Rock? Do you hope the game is sprite-based, or will you be happy if its 3D? Is there a character you look forward to playing as? Please let me know in the comments section. As always if you 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!

Garou Mark of the Wolves, the manhua part 1

Recently I discovered that there was a manhua, a Chinese comic series based on Garou Mark of the Wolves (MOTW). There were 10 issues in total. The books came out in 1999, the same year that the game debuted. I got them from a collector in California, and thankfully didn’t have to pay a lot. The first thing that I noticed when they arrived were that they were much larger than standard comic books, or manhua. The standard comic book size was 6-5/8 inches wide by 10-1/4” tall, the Garou MOTW books were 7 1/2” wide by 10 1/2”. These issues were almost as big as magazines.

The issues were a great primer on the main players in the Fatal Fury (FF), and Art of Fighting (AoF) series. Specifically focusing on the villains Geese Howard, and the protagonist Terry Bogard. The first several issues actually got us caught up on the events that happened across the first few Fatal Fury games. I’m not certain if there ever were licensed AoF, or FF comics in China in the early ‘90s. There may have been, and like Street Fighter there may have been several unlicensed comics as well. In all my years doing research, surfing bidding sites, I’ve never seen a collection of classic SNK comics from China prior to 1997. I know there were many from the King of Fighters series, and the various games, including KOF 98, 2000, SNK vs Capcom, and KoF Maximum Impact. The fact that the Garou MOTW manhua retold the plot of the first few FF games, including the creation of the KOF tournament helped get audiences up to speed. The events of Garou MOTW are set a decade after what happened in the first FF game.

The series actually begins with a look at the battle between Geese, and his half-brother Wolfgang Krauser, head of the Stronheim family. Geese had long sought revenge on Wolfgang, and his father Rudolph, because they abandoned his mother Maria, and left her to die penniless in America. As a long-time fan of fighting games this was the type of action, and storytelling that I looked for. The panels were filled with lots of action, and we got a chance to see each character use their trademark special attacks.

Seeing the fights in print was a way to determine which parts of the game were canon, and which were pure speculation. Not every fighting game gave us concrete answers, or tied up the plot points. More often than not they read as a sort of “what if?” series of events, that were loosely connected. For the longest time I fancied Wolfgang as being the stronger brother. He was older, and much stronger, but Geese had greater fighting experience. After a fierce battle Geese took out Wolfgang to take control of the family assets. With that taken care of he returned to Southtown to run it from the shadows, and sponsor the King of Fighters tournament.

It actually takes a few issues of the Garou MOTW manhua before we even get past the original FF timeline. We actually get a chance to inhabit the complex web of characters, and their relationships. We get to see Toni Sakata from FF Wild Ambition making a cameo when he meets with Geese. We get to see Andy Bogard training with Mai Shiranui, and Jubei Yamada. We also get to see the fallout from the first time an adult Terry Bogard, and Geese Howard do battle. Geese shows him no mercy, and defeats him with relative ease. Terry is bruised, and beaten. Marie, Geese’s estranged wife nurses Terry back to health, and introduces him to a young Rock Howard. The two live in a modest home away from Southtown.

Terry worries about Rock, the legacy he hails from, and what his future might hold. Marie has a rare medical condition that she keeps from Rock. She asks Terry to watch over the young Howard, especially in the event that anything happens to her. Terry promises to take care of him while he continues training, with the hopes of getting a rematch with Geese.

We get to see Terry pick up training with Tung Fu Rue, arguably the most powerful elderly kung-fu master in the entire KOF universe. Tung is attacked by an upstart master named Gato.

Terry tries to intervene, but he is still not at 100%. Both he, and Rue take some punishment from Gato. Rock steps in, and tries to get Gato to leave them alone. Gato retaliates by strangling the boy.

Terry is out of commission for several pages. The story uses that time to look at the history of Terry, and his younger brother Andy. It shows the reader the origins of their vendetta against Geese. We get to see the orphan brothers trying to protect their adopted father Jeff Bogard as he gets pummeled by Geese. We get to see them being trained how to fight in different schools, both before, and after the murder of their father.

We see that Terry blames himself for not being stronger, for not being able to protect his brother. Eventually the two part ways in search of a master. Their relationship strained. Andy decides to study under the same masters that their father studied with, in the hopes that he could defeat Geese.

Terry on the other hand learns to fight in the street. Living up to his lone wolf reputation.

Terry eventually snaps out of it when he realizes that Rock is about to experience the same trauma that he, and his brother endured. He digs in deep, and turns the tables on Gato.

As all this happens Rock discovers that his mother is dying from her condition. He knows that his father is rich, and powerful, and he goes to him to beg for help. Geese wants nothing to do with him or his wife. Rock calls him a cold blooded devil, when he realizes that Geese probably could get Marie the medical attention she needs, but doesn’t care enough to do so. Rock vows never to beg him for anything again.

Andy, Terry, and their good friend Joe Higashi are now older, and more experienced. They decide to challenge Geese in the same high rise building that Rock had visited. They are ambushed by Geese’s hired goons, including the wrestler Raiden, yakuza hitman Ryuji Yamasaki, and stick master Billy Kane.

The next part of the story was new to me. The version of the events in the Garou manhua had Ryo Sakazaki as the first to reach, and do battle with Geese. Ryo was from the Art of Fighting game series. In the original game he was hunting down the man that kidnapped his sister Yuri. It turned out that the kidnapper was a masked man known as Mr. Karate. The end of the original AoF reveals that Mr. Karate was actually their father, Takuma Sakazaki. Takuma was forced to work for Geese as an enforcer under the threat that his children would be killed. This leads us to AoF 2, and the chance for Ryo to take out the kingpin.

Ryo follows the clues right up to Geese, and gives him a decent fight. Unfortunately it isn’t enough, and the young Sakazaki is defeated. The battle rages on outside with Andy, and Joe barely holding their own against Geese’s best men.

Terry eventually makes it to Geese as well, and they have the battle made famous in the first Fatal Fury. Terry knocks Geese off the roof of his building, seemingly to his death. Of course it turns out that it’s not that easy to kill him.

On the other side of town Marie was in the final stages of her disease. We see Rock, and Terry with her when she passes away. Terry promises to take care of Rock. Marie dies peacefully on her bed, and is buried not far from her house. However according to Kain R. Heinlein Rock's mother is still alive. So if the events of the manhua are canon, that means the lady that was buried may not have been Rock's actual biological mother. It would explain why Geese was so indifferent to her, especially since he had also been abandoned as a boy, and knew Rock's pain. At least that's my theory.

All of this carries us through most of the Garou manhua. However as you may know there are new faces, and changes to existing characters when the King of Fighters Maximum Mayhem tournament is created. The tournament organizer Kain R. Heinlein, the brother of Marie, and uncle of Rock is trying to recruit Terry, and Rock into his organization. He wants to rule Second Southtown following the power vacuum when Geese is defeated.

Those that have played Garou know that there were many new characters introduced in the game, and most get at least a panel or two of an introduction. We’ll look at the events in the remaining issues on the next blog. I hope to see you back for that. As always if you 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!