Muscle Bomber - the Capcom wrestling series, part 3

Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters had moderate success in the arcade. It certainly had a following among wrestling game fans. Capcom learned a lot from the reception of the first title. They made a few tweaks, added more multiplayer options, and released the Muscle Bomber Duo upgrade. As fun as it was, and as well as the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo version sold they knew that they had to change their approach for a proper sequel. Muscle Bomber had the control, and gameplay of a brawler-meets-wrestling game. If you had played any of the classic Capcom brawlers; Final Fight, Captain Commando, the King of Dragons, Warriors of Fate, Alien vs Predator, etc. then you could instantly pick up and play Muscle Bomber. The downside was that brawler fans were used to fighting waves of opponents, rather than one person for minutes on end. It felt kind of stale in that regard. Of course in the early ‘90s the brawler had also taken a back seat to the fighting game. Capcom needed to approach their wrestling sequel from a completely new angle.

The first thing the studio did was decide that Super Muscle Bomber - The International Blowout needed to be a fighting game. The sprites, control, and animation from the first game were easily adapted for 2D combat. The levels themselves also had to change drastically. In the original MB the matches were supposed to take place all around the world. The problem was that the stages all looked the same with the exception of the colors of the ropes, and ring. In Final Fight, and the other brawlers actually made players feel like they were traveling to new locations. Super Muscle Bomber would have a few traditional-looking rings, however every background was original. For example the British giant Titan the Great fought inside a palace, with the Queen of England in attendance. The Russian Aleksey Zalazof fought in the snow, and the mat was made of ice. The wild Missing “IQ” Gomez fought in the jungle, with ropes made of vines. As with other great fighting games every stage told a story through its details. Unlike the first game Capcom made sure that the audiences were unique in each stage. Some mats were made of metal, wood, or stone, and some of the ropes were replaced with chains.

The other, and more important visual edit that Capcom did was return to Tetsuo Hara’s original designs. They were featured in all of the win, and loss character profiles. Unfortunately there were no makeovers for the original sprites. All of the sprites from the first game were brought over. They were created by the Capcom art team, and had the softer edge of all the classic Capcom brawlers. The new characters introduced for Super Muscle Bomber were much bolder. They had the proportions, muscularity, and shading that we had come to expect from Mr. Hara’s renders. For example the former CWA champion Victor Ortega returned, this time as a playable character. Capcom stuck closely to Mr. Hara’s original design which was previously only seen in the opening animation of the Super Famicom version of MB. For Super Muscle Bomber Capcom created what was arguably the most muscular sprite ever. His proportions were nowhere near the way that they presented him in the ending scene of the original Muscle Bomber. To show that he was competing fairly in the tournament he was designed wearing armored trunks, and not the CWA belt.

Two of the new characters; Rip Saber, and The Wraith were members of the Blood Wrestling Association. They would be joining Astro, and Kimala the Bouncer in trying to takeover the CWA. The BWA characters were reflective of the “hardcore” wrestling movement. This really took off in Japan first in the early ‘90s with promotions like Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW), and then later in the US with Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Many wrestling purists in Japan considered this garbage wrestling. Mr. Hara saw a lot of potential to make over-the-top, almost Hokuto no Ken-type villains, for Capcom with these new BWA opponents.

Hardcore wrestlers were notorious for bleeding in matches. They would use foreign objects at every opportunity to cut each other open. Light tubes, panes of glass, razor wire, and cinder blocks were often used to beat each other half to death. The former soldier Rip Saber was one such dirty character. He would hack at opponents with his combat shovel. He would also toss grenades at opponents, similar to Rolento, one of the bosses in Final Fight. The Wraith was a different kind of hardcore wrestler. He was akin to the original Sheik, or his nephew Sabu. He was a callback to the reckless foreign wrestlers. The Wraith used his height, and ghoul-like powers to absolutely shred opponents. We would see lots of pro wrestling characters over the decades, but Mr. Hara was ahead of the curve when he included hardcore archetypes into a fighting game way back in 1993. We wouldn’t see these types of villains again until Exodus from ARIKA’s Fighting Layer in 1998.

The other thing Mr. Hara was known for was creating eccentric fighters. Hokuto no Ken was known for its hyper masculine designs, and story. There were however many characters that were effeminate, had long hair, and wore makeup in the series as well. They were supposed to conjure images of the glam metal bands like Poison, and Mötley Crüe. In other cases the homoerotic overtones were very obvious, especially with characters like Yuda. That didn’t always translate to anime, but it did let audiences know that sometimes the most beautiful fighters were also the most dangerous. Mr. Hara wanted to throw a curveball into the new lineup with this logic. Missing “IQ” Gomez was the strange character in the first game. Super Muscle Bomber needed another odd character. Thus he gave us a lanky, androgynous wrestler named Black Widow.

B. Widow had a strange latex-like costume, and mask. She was tall too, 6’ 7” to be precise. This made her taller than most of the lineup including Sheep the Royal. She was a hair taller than Mike Haggar, Kimala the Bouncer, and even Victor Ortega. Of course the game had actual giants. The Wraith was 7’ 2”, and Titan the Great was 7’ 9.” B. Widow was muscular, but lean. She moved awkwardly, and had strange poses. She also had an odd digitized voice that we could hear before, and after matches. These things made her sex, and gender hard to figure out. Every other character had a deep masculine voice in the game. We wouldn’t see B. Widow’s true identity until the end of the game. She took off her mask and revealed that she was the only female in the tournament. As Mr. Hara was well versed in wrestling history I would argue that he based her on Mariko Yoshida. Audiences wouldn’t see another massive female in the Street Fighter universe until 2023 when we got Marisa in Street Fighter 6. She by the way was 6’ 8”.

The new character designs, and stages were welcome, but that there was much more to making a good fighting game. The animation, and balance were decent in MB, but it needed a lot of refinement for Super MB. This was especially true if it were to appeal to fans of Street Fighter. The other thing that the game needed were special attacks. Muscle Bomber wasn’t just a wrestling game, it had to have characters, and moves that were every bit as amazing as the ones in Street Fighter. If Ken, and Ryu were head-and-shoulders above the greatest karate masters ever, then how much better did the Mysterious Budo have to be over other Japanese wrestlers? Or how much more of a high flyer did El Stinger have to be when compared to the greatest lucha libre enmascarados? Thankfully Capcom had answered this right away. Every character in the original Muscle Bomber had a special attack that were plausibly impossible. These attacks were expanded in Super MB. Some characters had sweeps, and tackles. Many had spinning grapples that would have made Zangief proud. Some even had ranged attacks. Black Widow for example had a fireball-like ranged web attack that allowed her to stun, and even draw opponents closer. This move predated Ed’s “Psycho Snatcher” special attack in Street Fighter V.

Capcom, and their fans certainly believed in their game. They made sure to promote it on the convention circuit, and all of the media outlets. The publisher made a few rare collectables, including some posters, and small plastic figures. They even made plush figures that could be found in crane games. These items were mainly Japanese exclusives. Sadly the following that Capcom hoped for never materialized. The bar that Street Fighter II set was impossibly high to beat. Well to be honest, the bar that Super SFII set was high. It addressed the control, combo, balance issues from earlier SFII releases (Champion, Turbo). It was obvious how much better Super MB was when compared to the first edition of SFII. The Muscle Bomber series would build a cult following, but it was not the massive hit that the company wanted it to be. It would remain a fondly remembered title to audiences from the arcade generation. Like Rival Schools, Star Gladiator, Power Stone, and other gems from the studio, the hope for a reboot was the only thing that remained.

I was a big fan of the series. It married my love of the Street Fighter universe, pro wrestling, and the art of Tetsuo Hara. I never collected too may Muscle Bomber items, aside from the guides. I hoped to get all the plush figures someday. The MB item from my collection that I’m most proud of was a poster of the original release. Capcom didn’t design too many posters for it, especially when compared to the number that they released for SFII. Sadly there was never a Super Muscle Bomber poster to the best of my knowledge. I spent years hunting down the Ortega poster because it featured the original Tetsuo Hara art. More important it featured his original design for the CWA championship belt. As an obsessive fan of Street Fighter I made myself a promise. One day I would own a replica of that belt. Going back to 2008 I started work on an illustration of it. Little by little I spent more than a decade on that piece. I recreated as many tiny details as I could pull from screen grabs. This was in the hopes that I could get my vector file to a belt maker someday. I didn’t touch that illustration again until a few years ago. It was because my working conditions had changed dramatically.

The office that I used to travel to had closed down due to COVID-19. Half the staff was moved to Canada. Many friends, and coworkers were let go. Those that remained were put on remote access. After years of working from home I could feel myself going stir crazy. No matter how many games I played, or how much I wrote, or drew it just didn’t feel rewarding. I knew that I needed an extra special treat to break out of the depression cycle. I bit the bullet, and got the blessing of my wife to commission a belt maker. Not long after I was holding the CWA title. It was perfect down to the tiniest detail. I wish I could share with you the feeling that it gave me. One day I hope to go to a fighting game tournament in either Zangief, or Mike Haggar cosplay with it. It would be great to see you there.

I also have a long-term goal. Many years from now I’d like to visit Japan with my family. If there was a chance that Mr. Hara would autograph the belt then I would bring it with me in a heartbeat. I think it’s good to set goals, but it’s also fun to have dreams. If I can get enough people talking about Muscle Bomber then maybe we’ll see some wrestlers turn up in the Street Fighter series again. What do you think? Should Capcom take another crack at this game, or perhaps other fighters like Vampire / Darkstalkers, and Rival Schools? 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!

Muscle Bomber - the Capcom wrestling series, part 2

Through most of the ‘80s, and ‘90s there were many gaming magazines in Japan covering all of the latest releases. Famitsu was among the biggest covering the entire industry. Then there were the magazines that focused on specific consoles, like the Famicom / Nintendo Entertainment System, Mega Drive / Sega Genesis, Playstation, etc. These magazines often featured interviews with the developers, in addition to previews, and reviews of the latest releases. One of my favorite magazines was Gamest. It was focused on the arcade industry. The best part of the magazine was how it did deep dives on each game, and would write detailed strategy guides. These magazine-type guides were called Mooks, for magazine-books. Gamest also had a monthly manga series where many of the fighting games were serialized. These were among the earliest places where fans could find out the canon of their favorite games. Not every game got an official guide for the arcade, and even less had its story fleshed out, and universe explained.

I was able to pick up a lot of material on fighting games from the local import bookstores in the early ‘90s. I was a fan of Hokuto no Ken, and was fascinated with Tetsuo Hara’s design work for Muscle Bomber. Especially since it was an extension of Final Fight, and Street Fighter, which were highly influential to me. Unfortunately it was hard to find any information about the game when it was in arcades. As far as I know there was never an arcade guide published, however when it came to the home consoles I managed to hit the jackpot. Various publishers in Japan would cover console guides. Sometimes there would be small guides, or previews in their magazines. Shonen Jump (Boy’s Jump) comics had a video game journal called V-Jump. It mostly covered home releases. I was thankful to have been at the right place, at the right time. I was visiting the Japanese bookstore in Little Tokyo with my friends, and brothers in the ‘90s when I spotted a gem. V-Jump was previewing Muscle Bomber for the Super Famicom, and covering the various changes between the arcade, and home versions. Shortly after they published a formal guide where they revealed the entire story. I managed to pick both up on sale, and held onto them for the next 30 years.

Final Fight had a very specific set of heroes, villains, and story. It would be canonized over several games by Capcom. Street Fighter by comparison had a more open-ended interpretation. Which characters actually fought against each other? Which ones had crossed paths, who were friends, or enemies? These things were explored in various game endings, manga, anime, and comic books. Some stories from Japan contradicted other stories from China, or the USA. This made a definitive timeline of events hard to agree on. Muscle Bomber on the other hand actually had an entire mythos planned out. It all started many years ago. There was a merger between various wrestling organizations, and the Capcom Wrestling Association (CWA) was born. The very first champion was Victor Ortega. The massive wrestler steamrolled his opponents. Once he ran out of competition he simply disappeared.

With Ortega out of the picture there was a power vacuum between the different organizations. To make things worse there was a rival group called the Blood Wrestling Association (BWA) that was trying to take over the sport. This group was founded by illegal gambling outfits. Leadership of the BWA was assumed by a masked wrestler called Astro. He was literally from parts unknown. He knew various forms of marital arts, his body glowed with electricity, and no one knew his true identity. He was arguably the coolest wrestler ever featured in the SF universe. His number two was the massive Kimala the Bouncer. The 440 lb. bruiser loved nothing more than making his opponents bleed. The duo had entered themselves into what was called the Crash Carnival.

It was decided that each league would send their best representative in order to determine who would become the new CWA champion. There were fighters from around the world; El Stinger from the MWA - Mexican Lucha Libre Association, the Mysterious Budo from the AJA - Asia Japan Wrestling Association, Missing “IQ” Gomez from the AWF - American Wrestling Federation (Dominican Republic / Santo Domingo), Lucky Colt from the NWA - North American Wrestling Association. As well as Kimala who I just mentioned. You can imagine that each person fought their way to the top of the ladder in their native country. Who knows how many other memorable characters were waiting in their various organizations, or if Capcom was ever planning on featuring them?

Then there was Aleksey Zalazof from the RWA - Russian Wrestling Association, the sadistic Sheep the Royal from the OWF - Oceana Wrestling Federation, our favorite mayor Mike “Macho” Haggar from the AWF - American Wrestling Federation, Titan the Great from the EWF - England Wrestling Federation, and Astro the champion from the BWA. There were a lot of different personalities on display. Tetsuo Hara created a good cross section of the different wrestling archetypes. There were brawlers, technical performers, high flyers, hardcore, and submission experts in the lineup. It was up to the players to learn the nuances between each of the characters.

Matches observed the traditional rules of pro wrestling. The majority of the fighting took place within the confines of the ring. Players however could roll under the ropes, and take the action to the outside. There they could make use of foreign objects. A match could be won by a three-count pin, submission, or if the opponent was counted out of the ring. There was a referee in the matches, the highly respected Harry Hicks. Harry would be traveling the globe with the finalists of the tournament, and help crown the new CWA champion. He wasn’t the only supporting member of the Crash Carnival. Mike Haggar was accompanied by his daughter Jessica who had been nicknamed the Pretty Doll. We had last seen her in Final Fight, when she was rescued by Mike, Cody, and Guy. The other valet was a bit unusual, a cute monkey named Freak. Missing “IQ” Gomez (relabeled King Rasta Mon in the US) was a wild man that lived in the jungles of Santo Domingo. He had a short fuze, and was known for freaking out in the ring. His wild nature served him well. He lived with the apes, and one in particular named Freak was like a brother to him. It turned out that Freak was a genius, he had an IQ of over 200, and could understand most languages. He helped Gomez come up with strategies against his opponents. All of this was explained in the official Crash Carnival program.

Muscle Bomber introduced a number of elements into the Capcom fighters that would be expanded upon in future games. Since the birth of the genre a character would typically appear on each stage, and start fighting once prompted. They might walk in from off camera, sometimes there was a ref, sometimes there wasn’t. Most titles from Capcom, and their contemporaries started the action in a similar fashion. The Crash Carnival was treated like an actual wrestling show. Before each match we had the rivals talk about what they were going to do to their opponent. Then we saw a ring entrance, reminiscent of the biggest promotions. There were pyrotechnics going off, fireworks, smoke, and lasers lights flashing as the wrestlers walked out of the backstage area. After the match the crowd would go wild. If you were playing as Mike Haggar sometimes Jessica would run into the ring, and celebrate with her father. We even had commentary from the victor, and loser. Again these things were very similar to what was shown in actual wrestling shows. These special intros, and animations predated the elements that would appear in Street Fighter’s IV, V, and 6 by years, if not decades.

I would argue that working on Muscle Bomber, and its successors Muscle Bomber Duo, and Super Muscle bomber really affected the approach that the Capcom art team had with stages, animation, game play, and especially character designs. They saw firsthand that the more a character was stylized the stronger the reaction was from audiences. Aesthetics had a lot to do with how players responded to the game. If a design was bold, and unlike the work from rival companies, then it would help the game stand apart from the competition. The hyper muscular wrestlers in Muscle Bomber demonstrated that. The question was how would that lesson be applied to Street Fighter? We would get our answer as BENGUS became the lead on SF Zero which was being developed during the tail end of working on Super Muscle Bomber. Nobody had seen work as brilliant as his. This was doubly true when Vampire / Darkstalkers was released. The exaggerated proportions that BENGUS used in SF Zero would not only influence contemporary studios, but also the animation, and comic book industry for years to come.

The publisher also wanted to make sure that audiences understood the relationship between Street Fighter, Final Fight, and now Muscle Bomber. Every game was taking place in a shared universe. It wasn’t enough that Mike Haggar had appeared in all three games. The company wanted to make sure that stages reflected locations visited in the various games. Places like Metro City, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, and Thailand were all revisited in Zero, and its sequels. Even in rare character art it was revealed that there was specific overlap between games. For example Birdie was a British punk from the original SF. Titan the Great had actually partnered with him for tag team matches in the EWF. The duo were known as the 500 Million Trillion Powers.

A more direct connection was made during Street Fighter III: Giant Attack. The wrestler Hugo was scouring the world looking for a tag team partner. His manager Poison accompanied him at each stop. At the end of the game he finally settled on a match. The game actually gave us four possible endings depending on who the last person was that he fought. Ryu, Necro, Gill, and Elena were all possible tag members, each with a unique tag name. The ending even mentioned that they were in the CWA Tag Tournament, against one of two teams. The US, and Russian team of Aleksey Zalazof and Lucky Colt, or the team of Mike Haggar and Black Widow. B. Widow was the only female Muscle Bomber character designed by Tetsuo Hara. She would appear in Super Muscle Bomber. This inter-gender team was used if Elena was Hugo’s partner. But I digress…

The original Crash Carnival event was designed to crown the new CWA Champion. In the ending of Muscle Bomber your character was given the belt, and also a few tournament trophies reminiscent of actual championships. In any other game that would have been the end of it. Some wrestling games would usually have you defend your title against all of the other characters one more time before the actual ending. This title was a little different. Mr. Hara, and Capcom were keenly aware that a good storyline is what kept pro wrestling fans coming back. Just as your character was celebrating a new rival popped up. Victor Ortega, the former CWA champion had returned from the shadows. He was wearing a decorated cape, and standing ringside. He said that in order to claim the title you had to defeat him.

Microphone drop moments like this were expected in every major wrestling promotion. Fans would tune in every week for years on end just to see how the story for their favorite wresters shaped up. For the case of Ortega his return was an unexpected surprise. He also had a valid point. He was never defeated in the ring, he simply disappeared after all the worthy opponents had dried up. The organization assumed that he had abdicated the belt. Technically he was still the true CWA champion. This was when Capcom revealed that the first Crash Carnival was just to determine the qualifiers for the CWA championship. They traveled the world finding the best from the various promotions. Now with Ortega in the mix the battle for the actual CWA title would be decided in the next tournament. We would find out who the true king of the ring was in the events of the arcade sequel called Super Muscle Bomber.

We will explore this title, and the legacy that Capcom left in the next blog. Did you ever play this game? Were you a fan of the series, or pro wrestling? 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!

Muscle Bomber - the Capcom wrestling series, part 1

The developers at Capcom that brought us the early hits were heavily influenced by pop culture. The movies, manga, and anime that they grew up with helped shape the creation of their games. One of the most influential manga, and anime shows that influenced the creation of Street Fighter (as well as World Heroes, and many other titles) was Hokuto no Ken (HNK), better known in the USA as Fist of the North Star. The manga issues were published by Shonen Jump from 1983-1988, it would be collected, and translated into multiple languages over the next 30+ years. It was so successful that it got a 109 episode TV series from 1984-1987, and an additional 43 episodes from 1987-1988. Not to mention an anime movie in 1986. It should not be understated how important that series was in shaping the tastes, and presentation of games coming out of Capcom.

For those unfamiliar with HNK, it was a post-apocalyptic story that revolved around Kenshiro, the master of Hokuto Shinken. It was a fictional martial art that allowed practitioners to control the pressure points, or meridians of a person. Kenshiro wandered the wastes, righting wrongs with his bare hands. He could cause body parts to explode with a few touches. His victims, often marauding gang member had grisly deaths. Their arms, and legs would break backwards, heads would split open, with bones, and brain shooting in every possible direction. The violence in the series was very graphic, even with a lot of censorship, and selective edits the anime shows were almost as gory as the manga. The series was more than just violence, a very colorful cast of heroes, and villains were as memorable as the biggest comic book stars. Most of the characters influenced the designs coming from Japan, and the West for decades.

The series was illustrated by Tetsuo Hara, and written by Buronson. The duo didn’t just create a fantastic manga, they shaped pop culture for years to come. Hokuto no Ken ranked among the most successful properties ever created. As far as brands went it had generated some $22 billion in revenue. This was of course split across licensors, and not the creators themselves. The comics inspired many games over the years. I had discussed Hokuto no Ken in the history of the brawler. There were even a few fighting games in the arcade, and home consoles based on HNK. The most successful franchises however were influenced by the series, rather than based on it. Nowhere else was this more apparent than with Capcom, and the development of Street Fighter.

The first Street Fighter was inspired by the real world adventures of master karate fighters Mas Oyama, and Yoshiji Soeno. The karate hero had a redesign for SFII, and had become more of an action star. Early concept art had Ryu ditch the karate gi for a costume more like Kenshiro’s. The similarities didn’t end there. The giant characters in Hokuto no Ken influenced the creation of giants in the Street Fighter series. Even the villains like Rolento was inspired by Colonel from HNK. Meaning the series had influenced the world of Street Fighter, and Final Fight through the ‘80s, and early ‘90s. Some of the influences were subtle, and others were very overt. Look at the official art for Vega / Dictator, he was posed just like Raoh, the ultimate rival to Kenshiro.

In 1991 Street Fighter II put the fighting genre on the map. Capcom couldn’t release updates to the game, and begin developing home ports fast enough. At the same time they wanted to strike while the market was hot. The publisher wanted expand their library of fighters, but without cutting into the success of SF. They were successful, and experienced with brawler games, but needed something that played more than a fighter. They were indebted to Tetsuo Hara for his influence on their biggest hits. They decided to work with him on a new project. The publisher looked at what might work in that format, but wouldn’t take people away from their hit. The wrestling game was an obvious solution, and Capcom owed Tetsuo Hara some work. They asked him to design the cast of characters. These fighters would be set in the shared universe of Street Fighter, and Final Fight. The game would be called Muscle Bomber (MB). It would spark the creation of a trilogy.

Muscle Bomber - The Body Explosion came out in 1993, Muscle Bomber Duo came out later that same year, and Super Muscle Bomber - The International Blowout debuted in 1994. Muscle Bomber Duo was an expansion to the original game, sort of like Turbo was for Street Fighter. Duo added tag team matches to the story of the original. The first two MB games in the series were not well known to many arcade visitors. The mix of wrestling, brawler, and fighting game moves didn’t capture the magic of Street Fighter. The third game in the series Super Muscle Bomber played more like a traditional fighting game. It was a rarely seen cabinet, and not really known to the majority of first generation SF fans. When the games were being brought over to the US the studio renamed it Saturday Night Slam Masters. This was most likely due to the popular late night WWF (WWE) show Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Capcom made sure to get the collaboration in front of as many gaming outlets as they good. All of the magazines, and even weekly manga anthologies made sure to write about the father of Hokuto no Ken creating a library of wrestlers for the Street Fighter universe. The stakes for this new franchise were pretty high after all. During development of SFII Capcom had more people working on designs than at any other point in time. Each employee poured their heart, and soul into a the fighters. Countless revisions were made in order to ensure that The World Warriors were as strong as they could be. They built a following in the few years they were around. The challenge was whether or not Mr. Hara’s style worked for the genre, and if he could make anybody as memorable. Audiences were worried that his style of art, his character work had become dated. After HNK the artist worked on a feudal-era piece called Hana no Keiji / The Flowery Keiji, between 1990 - 1993. It didn’t have the same impact as his previous series.

It turned out that Mr. Hara was more than up for the challenge. He let the various outlets know that he was a huge fan of pro wrestling. He wasn’t just familiar with the happenings in Japan, but also with international wrestlers as well. It was apparent that many of the villains in HNK were based on actual wrestlers. For example King Heart was inspired in part on Abdullah the Butcher. This deep understanding translated to the game. Sheep the Royal was based on Big Van Vader, and Victor Ortega was inspired by ‘70s wrestling icons like Superstar Billy Graham, Jessie “the Body” Ventura, and Hulk Hogan. Fans of Mr. Hara’s work noticed that although his concept art was used in magazine articles, and the game cover, it was not seen in the actual game itself. All of his work was redone by the staff at Capcom, I think it was Kinu Nishimura in a number of portraits. I’m sure these changes disappointed Mr. Hara. I’d like to think there was a backlash for this change from fans, as well as some of the developers when the game was published. When the game was adapted for the Super Famicom / Super Nintendo, they made sure to go back to all of the original art.

This was not to knock the Capcom art team. After all they had Akiman, SHOEI, Sensei, Bengus, and other icons. However the wrestlers that they presented were watered-down versions of what had been promised in previews. Mr. Hara stood out from his manga, and even US contemporaries, by creating hyper masculine figures. He predated, and influenced Karate Apocalypse, Berserk, JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Grappler Baki, and Toriko to name a few. His heroes, and villains were not only strong, they had bodybuilder physiques. They were far more swollen than any other heroes on the market. It was no where more apparent than with the introduction of Victor Ortega, the first Capcom Wrestling Association (CWA) champion. He was featured in the intro animation.

In the arcade he was strong, but not absurdly huge. The original arcade intro version of Victor seemed anemic compared to what Mr. Hara had designed. The studio not only returned the original character profiles from Mr. Hara in the Super Famicom version. They also redid the intro animation to match Mr. Hara’s vision. The story, and characters of Muscle Bomber were fleshed out by Mr. Hara, and Capcom in far greater detail than either Final Fight or Street Fighter. Audiences wouldn’t know the full story until the game hit home consoles. We will dig into this in the next blog. Did you ever play this game? Were you a fan of the series, or pro wrestling? 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!

Martial Myths; the dangers of the dark path and the dim mak. A 1UP classic from April 5, 2012

In adventure stories there was usually a great warrior or even king that had exceptional martial prowess. What made them important were the qualities that they demonstrated to audiences. These heroes were brave, kind, clever and acted as a moral compass for a society that had lost its way. In the adventure traditions there were usually villains that were morally opposite of everything the hero stood for. What made these villains scary was that they usually had far more martial prowess than the heroes and were willing to kill. In wuxia legends the heroes and villains mainly fought with their hands and occasionally a weapon. These archetypes followed the classic traditions, powers and origin stories.

What made Street Fighter special was that it brought the wuxia tradition to game players. It gave a generation that may not have been exposed to the same comics or films as the SF developers a way to experience the heroic traditions. It was more important to the traditions because it gave audiences a chance to play as the archetypes. By tapping into fighting mythology the developers at Capcom were able to create heroes and villains that could withstand the test of time. The heroic tradition has many parallels in Eastern and Western storytelling. What makes it unique in wuxia was in how circular the stories were. The basic plot goes as follows: tragedy begets a quest for revenge, the heroes are hopelessly overwhelmed by the villain and driven out of society, along the way the heroes train brutally and learn the techniques required to defeat their nemesis. The hero grows into a powerful martial artist and returns to redeem their name and fulfill the vow of revenge. This template was taken almost verbatim in martial arts cinema, manhua stories as well as in the origin story of Street Fighter.

As the Street Fighter universe was fleshed out through the 1990's the traditions of wuxia were used to make the characters more interesting and plot more dramatic. Ken and Ryu were the introduction to the universe. At first gamers did not know much about the characters, how they got such awesome powers or what they were fighting for. The designers at Capcom had actually been fleshing out the characters well before the first manga was ever published. 

"I wanted to add depth with a story. It just happened to be a fighting game, but I wanted there to be a story so it would feel like a movie. We even conceptualized details for the characters that we didn't put in the game itself -- what the characters might like to eat, do they have sisters, other family members, etc. Street Fighter was different from prior games in the amount of depth we gave the characters." - Takashi Nishiyama, the designer of the original Street Fighter.

As the universe was explored in manga and animé the classic themes began coming up. Ken and Ryu were part of a martial arts tradition. Their master was named Gouken, he along with his brother Gouki were taught by a kung-fu master named Goutetsu. It was not karate as many fans of the series had assumed. The main characters were learning but a form of Antsasuken, or an "assassins fist." Goutetsu brought this over from China and had distilled the most lethal techniques into an unstoppable fighting art. In manhua the setup was very familiar. Two gifted youngsters, raised as brothers would be trained, one with a level head and another more impulsive. The more impulsive one would tend to get himself in trouble with the master and disobey orders. In the Iron Marshall the master was Tienway Champ, the level-headed youngster was Iron and the impulsive one was his adopted brother Duke.

In order to create dramatic tension there had to be a terrible accident or a murder witnessed by the young students. In the Street Fighter mythos it was Gouki that assassinated his master. His brother was a witness to this terrible crime. Years later Gouki assassinated Gouken while Ken and Ryu were witnesses. Iron ran in on the assassination of Tienway by Duke. These things left the characters with emotional and in the case of Iron, physical scars. The tragic events galvanized the heroes' resolve and put them on a path toward revenge. This was difficult for the young martial artists to accomplish now that they were masterless. In order to become better fighters they must seek out new challenges and learn the difficult lessons without the aid of a mentor.

Similar tragedies were the origin stories for Western heroes like Batman, Spider-Man and Superman. It was a great plot device which helped hook the reader and made the hero sympathetic.

In the wuxia tradition, if a fighter was lucky they came across another master who was willing to teach them new techniques. More often than not however the fighter had to learn by teaching themselves. They had to fight masters of every style and learn how to defeat that style along the way. This made for great adventure writing, and a chance to explore the various martial arts schools. However for the sake of a self-contained story rather than adventure serial the fighter had to come across a new master.

The heroes of the stories were usually gifted fighters to begin with. They knew all the techniques and secrets of their original master and could quickly build onto these things in a relatively short amount of time. This helped speed up the plot and allowed audiences not to have to sit through months of training and humbling lessons.

Years after the death of Tienway Champ, and hot on the pursuit of the Bloody Duke, the Iron Marshal was aided by a hermit named the Great Thor. He promised to teach Iron his trademark Thunder techniques. These techniques could take a great fighter decades to master but Iron picked them up at a rapid pace. Similarly the SF games allowed for both classic wuxia traditions to be explored over the course of multiple games. Characters had new or more powerful moves and those techniques did not have to be explained, players assumed that they were becoming better fighters as the years went by. Story-wise Ken and Ryu travelled the world looking for challenges and becoming stronger fighters in the first two SF games. By SF III it seemed that the characters had reached their potential and could fight Gouki. At this point in the story the elderly fighter Oro decided to take Ryu under his tutelage. It seemed that the young master still could become more powerful and thus fill an even greater presence in the universe.

The manga and manhua stories would often take an aside to show the characters becoming stronger by highlighting the training regiments they endured. It was supposed to be inspiring but almost sad to see how characters had to suffer during these periods. Characters could sometimes be degraded and tortured just to become marginally better. Perhaps the writer and artists of the stories were a bit sadistic but in actuality were reinforcing the understanding that mastery of the martial arts required constant hard work. The end result would be worth all the struggles especially when revenge was involved (think of how Beatrix suffered under the cruel tutelage of Pai Mei in the Kill Bill movies).

These characters often learned secretive techniques known only to a handful of people. In many cases it was only the master and the one or two disciples that were privy to the ancient techniques. This exclusivity made the heroes and villains unique. They could do things that regular people, or masters of the traditional fighting arts could not do. The trust that the masters had in their pupils had to be absolute. There was often a danger associated with teaching these techniques to inexperienced or corruptible students. In the SF canon Gouken was once infuriated with Ryu with the nonchalance that he put behind the techniques. In one story Ryu recalled the first time he performed a variation of the Shoryuken, or rising dragon fist. Ryu had split a boulder with the punch to which Ken was bragging about what a powerful fighter Ryu was becoming. Instead of being pleased with his disciples Gouken was infuriated, he struck down Ryu. The two were being shown extremely dangerous moves, some were techniques that were not used for fighting but instead for killing, the fact that they did not treat the moves with more reverence had caused Gouken to react the way he did. Ryu recalled this lesson as he was on the verge of defeat at the hands of Sagat following their first encounter.

Ryu staged a miraculous comeback against Sagat thus becoming the greatest fighter in the world. This story became the stuff of legend in SF canon. It highlighted how a perfect technique could topple even the most powerful fighter in the world. When Masahiko Nakahira revisited the fight in the Street Fighter Zero manga he took a closer look at what was driving Ryu and it was neither brave nor honorable.

Ryu exploited that same killing technique he used to split the boulder on Sagat. The Metsu Shoryuken or "Destroying Rising Dragon Fist" was supposed to be a killing blow. If Sagat were not equally powerful then he surely would have been killed by the punch. The encounter had repercussions in the continuity of the universe. Gouken was trying to convey the gravity of the moves his pupils were learning. They should be taken in all earnestness and never used casually in a fight. Ryu could have accepted defeat and acknowledged that Sagat was a better fighter when they first met. It would have been his pride that would have suffered the most. He could have returned to fight Sagat in the future, older wiser and stronger. Instead Ryu gave into the temptation of exploiting the most powerful strike even if it would have turned him into a murderer. This made for a much more interesting story, especially for a jumping off point as the sequel had developed. Sagat returned as a boss character but had a grisly scar across his chest.

A shortcut to winning battles was not what Gouken was protecting his students from. By going for the lethal arts Ryu had exposed himself to the corrupting influences of techniques based in dark hadou, or evil chi. The philosophy is similar to the "dark force" from Star Wars mythology.

Again, to use an example of turning to darkness here was another quote from the Star Wars series.

Yoda: Yes, run! Yes, a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will, as it did Obi-Wan's apprentice.
Luke: Vader… Is the dark side stronger?
Yoda: No, no, no. Quicker, easier, more seductive.
Luke: But how am I to know the good side from the bad?
Yoda: You will know... when you are calm, at peace, passive. A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, NEVER for attack.
Luke: But tell my why I can't...
Yoda: No, no! There is no "why".

Once a person set toward the path to the dark side it was all but impossible to find the path back. In doing so the hero would become exactly like the villain. For Star Wars Luke would symbolically become Vader. In Street Fighter Ryu would become Gouki. In wuxia traditions there was good and evil chi as well. The meridians in the body cycled through energy that could grant strength or heal. If a person succumbed to evil then they generated dark chi. This energy was poisonous and could grant practitioners tremendous strength but could also turn them into monsters. Tapping into this power could make a hero as powerful in a villain, but by doing so the hero could become just as reviled as the villain.

The martial arts myth did a good job at exploring the variables in the revenge plot. If a main character succumbed to darkness then they could become very powerful, but the cost of that is the humanity of the fighter. Getting revenge on an assassin by becoming a murder undid the purpose of the hero. It was the classic "two wrongs do not make a right" or "an eye for an eye" parable that was being explored in wuxia. The temptation to steer away from the honorable and righteous path was a constant in literary form. The hero was defined by being able to overcome strife and adversity without succumbing to temptation. In the SF mythos Ryu had to face the challenges of his own dark side. This storyline was explored in the SF Zero / Alpha series.

When a fighter became evil they traded in their humanity and compassion. The core of the martial arts was not learning how to fight, per-say, but how to defend from attacks. Even Shaolin Quan was created as a form of exercise to combat the fatigue of sitting for extended periods of time in meditation. It was also designed as a means for monks to fight off wild animals. The techniques and philosophies were designed to make a practitioner mentally stronger as well and make their spiritual cores healthier. In qigong this meant keeping the meridians clear and connected to the elements. By focusing on developing a higher consciousness the practitioners could see the importance of the fight, not to win or lose but to become examples of righteous living. By showing mercy to an opponent, even those who sought to fight for the wrong reasons, could often turn them into allies. This plot was explored in many wuxia legends and even contemporary Hong Kong films.

A hero defending his life from an assassin would not always seek to kill his opponent but to grant him mercy instead. The assassin, if he or she did not poison themselves, would give up crucial information to the hero. For the villains however this was the complete opposite. They were often cruel to opponents and demonstrated a lack of compassion. Mercy was for the weak and there was a great temptation to keep exploiting the most dangerous techniques that they knew. The most powerful of the evil techniques could often kill with a single strike. This legend was based on martial arts fact.

In the classic martial arts the lethal strikes were called the dim mak. These were death touches or death punches delivered to vital organs, or major meridians. The five point palm exploding heart technique from Kill Bill was an example of a dim mak, the metsu shoryuken was another. In manhua and manga the dim mak was often delivered in a spectacular fashion. Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken for example punched villains in their pressure points and then walked away exclaiming that they were already dead. When a villain did this it had to be delivered more brutally. They wanted their opponent not only to die, but to suffer in death as well. In the Iron Marshal, the Bloody Duke performed a dim mak to the chest of a fighter named Elephant. This punch crushed Elephant's heart and went clean through his torso.

In the SF series the final punch of Gouki's Shun Goku Satsu aka "Instant Hell Murder" traveled through the opponent. He was not the only character to possess this technique in canon. Those that could perform moves like that were evil characters, such as Evil Ryu, Dark Hokuto and her brother Kairi from Street Fighter EX. What made the move awe-inspiring in the comic format was that the technique exploded in the shape of kanji, or traditional calligraphic characters. Street Fighter fanatics might be surprised to learn that this had been done years before SF in manhua tales like the Iron Marshal. The Bloody Duke did not only cause a heart to explode into a single character, he actually wrote out a challenge to the Emperor in blood, using punches and sword strikes on his opponents.

These techniques were exploited by the villains in wuxia epics to strike fear into the hearts of opponents. However what it did to the practitioner of the dark arts was even worse. This was the cautionary tale that went back thousands of years. It was shared by every culture around the world in poetry, spoken word, comic book, and film. As summed up by the character Harvey Dent aka Two Face in the 2008 film The Dark Knight; “You Either Die A Hero, Or You Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain.”  Were there any hero origins, major villains, or cautionary tales that you grew up with? I'd like to hear about it 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!