Freeze frame, my poster collection, final part...

I had so many posters in my Capcom collection that I had to break them over several separate blogs. Here's a reminder for any Street Fighter, or fighting game fans in general. If you want to get into collecting the posters then try to track down the game guides from Japan. The gems in my collection came from Gamest. It was the premier arcade magazine through the '90s. When they published guides, which they called MOOKS after Magazine-Book they often included a poster. 

There would even be posters included in US game guides. The one for Street Fighter Zero / Alpha 2 by Versus Books for example was amazing. They printed a fantastic image on both sides, making it impossible to frame unless you had a second copy. 

Some of the posters in my collection I got from events like the E3, the San Diego Comic Con, the Wondercon, and even live events. I cannot remember where I got the massive Super Street Fighter IV poster.

Bengus is, and will always be the GOAT. I was so hyped that he was doing the designs, and poster work for Street Fighter V. My goal before I die is to have an original sketch from the man.

Not all of the rare items in my collection are posters. I am still on the hunt for a Super Muscle Bomber poster by Tetsuo Hara, the man that illustrated Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star. He designed the wrestlers for Capcom, and did the advertising art as well.

Fighting games of every kind mean the world to me. I needed to make sure that I had a Vampire / Darkstalkers poster in my collection. I had no idea that I would get my hands on one for Warzard / Red Earth. This is easily one of the rarest fighting games ever made.

Thank you for joining me on this journey through my poster collection. Many of which I forgot I had. One day I’d like to get most of them framed, and put them on display, even if I have to cycle through them. Were there any you enjoyed? I’d like to read about them 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!

Freeze frame, my poster collection part 23...

I had so many posters in my Capcom collection that I had to break them over several separate blogs. Here's a reminder for any Street Fighter, or fighting game fans in general. If you want to get into collecting the posters then try to track down the game guides from Japan. The gems in my collection came from Gamest. It was the premier arcade magazine through the '90s. When they published guides, which they called MOOKS after Magazine-Book they often included a poster.

My Marvel Super Heroes poster was actually autographed by AKIMAN, the father of Chun-Li. It was at the San Diego Comic Con at the UDON Booth. The booth did not want to honor their commitment to one autograph per person who purchased one of the Capcom hardcovers. I said I didn't want the autograph on the book, but instead the poster. They pushed back until I talked to the managers, then they told the staff that it was okay, in fact that I could get the autograph on my book too for the hassle.

There are two Muscle Bomber posters that I know of. The first is the same as the main art that most people are familiar with. This version I had no idea existed until I saw it pop up in a Japanese auction site. I was super happy with it, and was one of the official drawings by Tetsuo Hara where I could see the details on the CWA belt that I used as reference for the actual belt I commissioned.

I don't believe in wall scrolls since they usually steal licensed art. I bought this Marvel vs Capcom 3 poster under false pretenses, I was told it was an official poster, and was sent a scroll instead. You just can't trust people online.

The Pocket Fighter is too cute, as is this classic illustration of Sakura.

Do you have a favorite game, or character that you wish you had a poster of? I’d like to read about them 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 story of Burnov. Or how to make a fat character work in a fighting game.

Last week I talked about Rage of the Dragons by Evoga, Steel Hearts, and BreezaSoft from 2002 as a sequel to the Double Dragon fighting game by Technōs from 1995. Technōs had created the original Double Dragon as a brawler way back in 1987. It put the genre on the map, and had every major studio making their own clone. Each Double Dragon sequel in the arcade lacked the innovative game play that appeared in rival titles. It seemed that when it came to development they were playing it safe, cheap, and simply going through the motions. A few years later when fighting games were more popular they released their own fighter as well. The game suffered when they tied their SNK fighter to the horrid live action movie. The company did not seem to know how to evolve their own franchise regardless of what format they used. Despite the failings of their fighting game I would argue that one of the best character designs, and certainly one of my favorite redesigns came out of it.

The original Double Dragon brawling game was set in a post apocalyptic future. Although there were still big cities, cars, and modern amenities there were also roving gangs, mutants, and bad guys that terrorized even the police. It was up to people to take the law into their own hands. This was the context that stars of the game Billy, and Jimmy Lee fought in. Abobo was one of the giant characters in the first game. Those massive bruisers changed a little in the sequel. One of the larger bad guys was a masked former wrestler-turned-villain. Burnov made his debut in Double Dragon II: The Revenge. His look in the game pulled elements from pro wrestlers, but more specific the gangs featured in the Mad Max movie series. The films by director George Miller started in 1979. The wild characters, armor, and vehicle designs by Miller influenced the mangas Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star, Trigun, Battle Angel Alita, and the game franchises Twisted Metal, Carmageddon, and even Street Fighter II.

Burnov had a metal mask in his original form, and long stringy hair. He was most likely inspired by the Lord Humungus from the Road Warrior sequel to Mad Max. He appeared as a level 1 boss in Double Dragon II. He was much taller than the Lee brothers, and even came with his own stage music. If you got too close to this boss, or tried to grapple with him then he would pick you up by the head, and punch you in the face. It was a brutal but equally cool attack. This character would turn up again in the various sequels, and reboots to the franchise. Shortly after his debut the character was made a considerably fatter. Contrary to popular belief I didn’t have a problem with fat fighting game characters. I had an issue with fat being used as a punchline. Bob in Tekken, and Rufus in Street Fighter being introduced as joke characters. They diluted otherwise great ensembles.

Some of the best designs for brawlers, and fighters were obese wrestlers. Almost a decade ago I talked about how Burnov, and Kimala the Bouncer were two of the best characters ever featured in a game. They happened to be massively fat, but underneath that fat was a large amount of muscle as well. They had power in spades, as some famous fat strongmen had all throughout history. I had a low opinion of the Double Dragon fighting game, and especially the movie, but thought that Burnov’s new look was brilliant.

I was surprised at how fat he had become, especially when compared to his original look. He was proportionally much fatter than any other character used in a fighting game. This list would go beyond sumo wrestlers, and into the realm of fantasy characters like Avu, Sheik Maherl, and Karnov. With the exception of Buchu from Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu (1984) it was Karnov (1987) that became first breakout game star that was also fat. I had mentioned his status in the blog about representation a decade ago. 

Aside from Kimala the Bouncer, the closest design that you compare him to would be King Heart from Hokuto No Ken. Both were obese boss characters from a post apocalyptic world. Yet like Heart this character was also absurdly muscular as well. It turned out that it was more than coincidence that their designs were so similar. Kimala, Burnov, and Heart (and especially Karnov) were all inspired by the pro wrestler Abdullah the Butcher. The “Madman from Sudan” traveled the globe brutalizing his opponents. He wore a keffiyeh, curled toe boots, and Arabian pants as part of his outfit.

Technōs had the WWF (WWE) license for arcade games in the late '80s, and had created the wrestling games WWF Superstars in 1989, and WWF Wrestlefest in 1991. Abdullah was supposed to be in the game. He was in the design stages, but his sprite, and animations were never finished. So the developers instead changed his skin color, added some armor, and a mohawk. Thus the sprite that would become  Burnov was born. His strikes were still based on wrestling moves, chops, tackles, and leg drops. His special attacks were fire-based, like the Arabian characters mentioned above. Everything about this character worked surprisingly well, especially in the context of the Double Dragon universe.

Burnov was created as the second bruiser in the game, a sort of rival to Abobo. His girth, strikes, and special attacks were a perfect counter to Abobo’s height, and power moves. Remember that Abobo was a literal giant. He was over seven feet tall, and 336 lbs. In order to hold his own the shorter Burnov had to be massive, weighing in at 495 lbs. The game referred to him as the Muscle Bomber Man. I'm not sure if they were calling out the Capcom wrestling series Muscle Bomber intentionally. In any instance it was completely believable that he could bulldoze through all of his opponents. In fact I thought his Dynamite Tackle was one of the most awesome moves in all of fighting game history. 

His super attack saw the man nicknamed “The Human Bomb” become engulfed in flame, and just plow through his enemies. It wasn't a fireball, sonic boom, knife, or other kind of projectile attack. Instead it was a man that weighed a quarter-ton simply running full speed at his opponent. I ranked this attack above Vega’s Psycho Crusher from Street Fighter II, especially when it came to believability. Why would I think so? When I was younger I studied karate with my big brother, and our friends. It was hard for me to find an equal sparring partner given my height, and weight. I was 6’ 7”, and around 330 lbs. at the time. Our sensei appreciated how hard I was working to learn the proper forms, and strikes. He revealed that in an actual fight these moves were impractical for me.

My teacher knew that I was a passive person, and not the type to look for trouble. Anyone foolish enough to pick a fight with me was probably carrying a weapon. They were looking for a reason to shoot, or stab somebody. This was especially true if they could claim self defense, or hide behind stand-your-ground laws. He advised that if I could not avoid a fight then I should literally run through that person. "In a life or death situation don’t try to punch, kick, or grapple." He said "just bowl them over, and get out of there." They wouldn't be able to stop me from doing so. Even the best martial arts practitioners could get trampled. Burnov was really good at doing exactly what I was taught. The fact that he could run down the Double Dragon sub-boss Duke, and boss Shuko was proof of this.

The next version of this character in a Double Dragon title wouldn't have the same impact. Jae-Mo Kang was a fat South Korean wrestler that appeared in the Rage of Dragons. He was a silly homage to Burnov. According to the designers at Evoga "Kang was one of the last characters to join, since we decided to include Mr. Jones I thought on a "Laurel & Hardy" team, so at first his name was McGuire, a Pro Wrestler and Businessman, later on during development we were told that we needed to change his nationality ot Korean for marketing reasons, so I asked for advice about a good Korean name..." Sadly Evoga missed the point of Burnov's redesign. This was evident when they insisted on making Kang, and his partner Mr. Jones into stereotypical caricatures. 

Burnov was the type of over-the-top character that added color, and personality to fighting games. He had a shocking appearance in the vein of Blanka, and Dhalsim, mixed with the entertainment factor of Skullomania. Like those characters he was also effective against the various martial arts styles. He was fun, and energetic, but not a joke. He was the fat fighter done right. He was a template that should be learned from for all the budding game designers out there. Were there any fighting game characters that you thought were well done in otherwise forgettable games? I’d like to read about them 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 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!

30 years of Street Fighter, 30 Days of Characters; #23

Today we celebrate Birdie, one of the original Street Fighter characters. He is one of the select few that appeared in 1987 and was brought back a few times as a playable character. Those old enough to remember the original game also recall that there were only two playable characters, Ken and Ryu. The duo traveled the globe and fought masters of various martial arts. Birdie was significant for a number of reasons. His size was one of them but aside from that he had a strong look. His mohawk haircut, leather vest, pants, and spiked bracelets let people know that he was a punk and not afraid of a fight. Also Birdie didn't represent any style of fighting, he was a legitimate street fighter. He swung his massive arms wildly and headbutted his opponents. There was nothing graceful about the character but he was very good at what he did.

Birdie wouldn't return again until 1995 with the debut of Street Fighter Zero / Alpha. When audiences saw him again he had a radical new look. Actually his look didn't change as much as the aesthetic. The legendary Bengus redrew all the characters and greatly exaggerated their proportions. Birdie was always a physically strong character, only now he appeared absolutely massive. His arms were now as thick as his legs. His mohawk, leather vest, and brown boots all returned. He had a few new accessories; jewelry, a tattoo, handcuffs and a chain all solidified his makeover. Of course the other thing that audiences noticed was his skin color. Birdie went from a white guy to a black guy in the span of eight years. The moves that he had in the original Street Fighter were preserved. He still relied on his club-like punches and headbutt. He could even use the chain on his arm as a makeshift lasso. The style wasn't pretty but it was very effective. 

Despite his odd appearance Birdie was a sympathetic character. His friendship with Ryu was explored in the Street Fighter Zero manga. He also happens to be a character that bridges together the various continuities. Birdie helped connect the Street Fighter and Street Fighter II timelines in Street Fighter Zero. He also helped bring wrestlers into the fold as well. Mike "Macho" Haggar, the mayor of Metro City, was one of the stars of Final Fight (1989). Most people know that he also appeared as a pro wrestler in the Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slammasters series. In the game they mentioned that the giant Titanic Tim aka Titan the Great was the tag team partner of Birdie. This became canon when the official team art was released for Street Fighter Zero. Birdie was always a fun character to play as. Up close he could mangle opponents with his "Murderer Chain" and he could even leap across the screen for a surprise beating. I'm not fond of what the designers at Capcom did to him in Street Fighter V but I will nonetheless remember him for how unique he made the Street Fighter universe. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

30 Years of Street Fighter, 30 Days of Characters; #27

The Wraith, like many of the characters at the start of my list of 30 is on the extreme end of designs. He exists in a group with characters like Blanka and Dhalsim. These fighters are designed to be visually shocking. They are used very sparingly by Capcom otherwise they lose their impact. As the list of Street Fighter universe characters I'm talking about gets smaller expect them to be more normal looking. But I digress... The Wraith as you can guess was never in a numbered Street Fighter game. He exists in the extended universe. He appeared in the game Super Muscle Bomber / Ring of Destruction: Slammasters II (1993). This character, like the others in the series (except for Mike Haggar) was designed by Tetsuo Hara, the artist behind Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star.

As I mentioned previously Mr. Hara is a huge wrestling fan. He knows the wrestlers from different eras, different countries, and different organizations. He created exaggerated versions of real people and in some cases amalgamations of several different performers for the Muscle Bomber lineup. For the Wraith he wanted to make a nightmarish villain. He used Mark Calaway the wrestler known as the Undertaker as the template. The Undertaker in the WWF / WWE had a very strong gimmick, he was a giant of a man, seemingly undead with great strength and purported supernatural powers. The Wraith pushed that concept even further, he was a green-skinned giant (like Frankenstein's monster), moved like a zombie with long red claws. He also had supernatural powers. He could breathe fire and produce snakes from his head! The Wraith was also from India, but his look couldn't be any further from Dhalsim or any other Tiger Jeet Singh archetypes.

The Wraith was a very memorable Street Fighter universe character, not only for his look but also for what he represented in canon. He could have been interpreted as a wrestler that painted himself green and used some sort of showbiz magic to conjure snakes, or this guy was genuinely a death cultist that happened to be a wrestler. Like many of the best Street Fighter characters he was open to your interpretation. That was something that I really loved about the most iconic fighters. It was up to you to fill in the blanks. What do you think about over-the-top characters like Dhalsim, Blanka or even the Wraith, do they make the Street Fighter universe more or less interesting to you? The next character in the series also happens to be a mysterious fighter. I hope to see you back for that. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

A look at the big man, where did the Capcom giants come from? Final Part

Hugo was a true giant, and a template for many of the great design elements that used to be a part of  the Street Fighter series. He was the second largest ever Street Fighter. At 7' 10" he was just a hair shorter than Abigail. The developers used a number of tricks to make him appear larger-than-life but still relatable. Even when they weren't playable characters in a game the giants were hard to ignore. Andore along with a few Mad Gear members appeared in the ending for Sodom in Street Fighter Zero. Both Andore and Abigail appeared in the Metro City background in Street Fighter Zero 2. To make them appear more imposing they were set apart from each other and framed by their surroundings. Andore stood by himself on top of a stack of I-beams, adding a few extra feet to his presence. Abigail was headbanging at the end of a dark alley, his fellow gang members squatting down next to him so he appeared taller. Even though they were in the distance they remained menacing.

   

These stages also served to tell a story. The events of Final Fight happened during the timeline in between Street Fighter Zero (SFZ) 2 and 3. Jessica had not been kidnapped during SFZ1 and 2. Cody was in jail for throwing Belger out of his skyscraper during SFZ3. Fans of the Final Fight games remember the bad blood that the Mad Gear gang had with Cody, Haggar and Guy. The subtext of having everyone on the level gave audiences a strong sense of nostalgia. At the same time Andore was getting tired of being a mid-level Mad Gear member. He wanted to be recognized. Poison Kiss, a fellow Mad Gear member, decided he should be a pro wrestler and became his manager. The stage backgrounds evolved from Andore sulking in the background to eventually show Hugo as a star on a billboard. The groundwork was set for his debut as a full blown pro wrestler in Street Fighter III. A US development team even took a crack at making a Final Fight fighting game with a similar narrative. Final Fight Revenge was released in 1999.

   

Kinu Nishimura and Daigo Ikeno worked on a number of the Street Fighter III designs. They wanted Hugo to be the new powerhouse, the new Zangief, since only Ken and Ryu were originally meant to return from Street Fighter II. This giant was supposed to use a different play mechanic than Zangief. He was going to play different, move different and thanks to Kinu and Ikeno he was going to look different as well. The basic appearance of Hugo would be the same as it was in the original Final Fight. His look had actually changed a little over the sequels. In Final Fight 2 he sported overalls and in Final Fight 3 he had a white tank-top and dread-locked hair. The pink leopard print tank top and pants returned from the first Final Fight. The large mane of hair, a nod to the early hairstyle of Andre the Giant, had also returned. His inclusion was supposed to rekindle a sense of nostalgia for the legacy characters. Most people didn't notice the number of changes the studio actually made to his design.

   

The new details that Capcom placed on the character were actually enhancing a few elements of his original look. Most Street Fighter characters wore gloves or taped up hands. Hugo was given a studded wrist guard to make his arms look less bare. The chain on his belt became much thicker and more industrial. It now looked more like a heavy duty towing chain, or anchor chain. The most overlooked details were his pants and boots. Hugo was not only tall but he was very heavy. His pants and shoes were actually two large pairs that were sewn together so they could fit him. The cuffs on his pants had belt loops and a belt to highlight that his ankles were as thick as most people's waists. His boots were split down the middle because they were a left and right pair combined to fit each foot. As with all of the great character designs, Hugo's costume told a story.

   

Although Hugo was supposed to be in the original Street Fighter III: New Generation (1997) his sprite wasn't ready until Street Fighter III: Giant Attack later that year. After the events of Street Fighter Zero/Alpha he had accomplished his goals of being a top draw on the wrestling circuit and leaving behind the Mad Gear persona. He achieved a number of championships as a pro wrestler during the events of Street Fighter III: Third Strike in 1999 and Final Fight Revenge. The character had greatly evolved since his debut in 1989 but when a new development team took over at Capcom things changed. When Hugo reappeared in Street Fighter X Tekken (2012) and Ultra Street Fighter IV (2014) he had mentally regressed. The new developers made a conscious decision to dumb him down considerably. Poison had done most of the talking for Hugo but at the same time he could still form his own ideas and opinions in the series. Almost overnight he was turned into a bumbling idiot, like Abigail, and that was a shame. Being a dumb brute was never part of their original designs.

   

The people working on Street Fighter IV and V did not always preserve the character's original designs while updating their look. In some cases they haphazardly slapped together elements that had nothing to do with the fighter. Just look at the changes they made to the character Birdie. Compare the newer costume details placed on Hugo with those placed on Abigail. To let audiences know he was a punk rather than a wrestler they gave him a spiked collar (he originally had a chain around his neck). To show off his size they put truck tires around his biceps. Then hung car tires from his belt and gave him rings made out of small tires. They even printed tire marks on his pants, as if someone tried to run him over. Stealing a page out of Hugo's design they put a belt around his ankles. None of these things were part of Abigail's original design, none of these things were functional in battle and none of these things had the same subtlety of the other Street Fighter costume designs. Remember that Abigail wasn't always a moron. He was a fighter, and he had a temper, but he wasn't an idiot. He was very high up in the chain of command, only Rolento outranked him in Metro City's Mad Gear organization. But you know... tires!

   

Another major difference between Hugo and Abigail in Street Fighter was seen with their inclusion. Abigail was a huge 3D model that was put in Street Fighter V as a spectacle. He took up so much space on the screen he was hard to ignore. His mass offset the scale of the rest of the cast, including Zangief. But Hugo was presented with more forethought in Street Fighter III, he didn't detract from the rest of the lineup. In Final Fight he battled while standing perfectly straight. This made him appear much larger than his opponents, which he clearly was, but it wasn't practical in a fight. He didn't have the flexibility or range of motion of his opponents. Guy was way more agile and even Mike Haggar could run circles around him. In SF III he was only shown a few times standing straight up, these were in some introduction poses and in the ending screen.

   

When the match started in Street Fighter III he actually squatted down and got into a sort of grappling pose. He lacked the techniques of veteran wrestlers but it showed that he had gotten much better at fighting since his Final Fight days. Hugo was still a little bit clumsy in Street Fighter III. Audiences could tell this in his animations. He shifted his weight awkwardly as he advanced. His steps were heavy and flat-footed. He didn’t move on the balls of his feet like a pro fighter would. He relied on power rather than technique. If he had the experience of somebody like Zangief or Darun Mister then he would have dominated the Street Fighter tournament. But since he didn’t there were ways for smaller and faster opponents to get the best of him. When he wasn’t fighting the developers liked to remind audiences of how awe-inspiring the giant was.

   

When Hugo stood straight up the top of his head almost touched the top of the screen, none of the other characters were even remotely this tall. Audiences could tell the character was big but they didn’t realize how big until they saw his game ending. In SFIII Giant Attack he had four alternate endings. In each one he was partnered up with a different opponent; Ryu, Elena, Necro and even the boss character Gill. Each tag team even had a unique nickname. For example Hugo and Elena made up Beauty and the Beast, whereas Hugo and Ryu made up the Soul Brothers. When the characters stood side-by-side it appeared as if Hugo were twice as tall and four times as heavy as his partners. His back was as broad as a double door and quite muscular. The stylized art helped sell the incredible scale of the figures while still keeping them consistent with the universe. This was the benefit of two-dimensional art. The designers could play with the proportions of the characters without losing the sense of realism. It was a trick that they picked up from manga and animé.

   

Tetsuo Hara introduced a number of unique manga rules in the Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star series. Something he showed artists was that the scale of a character did not have to be consistent as long as it served the story. In the post-apocalyptic series Kenshiro often ran into roving gangs filled with giants. The scale of these villains was flexible. In some panels the bad guys looked like they were 10-feet tall, then a page later they appeared as if they were 30-feet tall. Mr. Hara would jump back and fourth between the different sizes depending on what he was trying to convey. In many instances he would highlight just one physical feature. There would be a close-up of a giant head behind Kenshiro so that it looked like he could bite the hero in half. Then in another panel it might be the hands of the giant engulfing the main character.

   

Often times when Kenshiro beat the giant the scene would be drawn from a distance showing that the bad guy wasn’t really the size of King Kong. These visual tricks made the odds seem greater for the hero of the story. Masahiko Nakahira wrote and drew a number of Capcom’s greatest Street Fighter stories in Japan. He was clearly aware of how influential Tetsuo Hara was to the development of Street Fighter II and III. In the Ryu Final manga he used many of the same techniques when featuring Hugo. In some panels he appeared to be several stories tall, capable of stepping over buildings. Then in other panels he seemed closer to his in-game size. Mr. Nakahira wanted to show how easily a giant could manhandle Ryu by messing around with the scale of the character. The thing that saved Ryu was his superior techniques. His relentless training could overpower any opponent, especially since Hugo lacked discipline.

   

The Street Fighter games could never take the same artistic liberties that Mr. Hara and Mr. Nakahira used. Audiences would be furious if characters changed size in between rounds. The distorted scale of hands and feet during special attacks made Street Fighter EX and Final Fight Revenge seem awkward. But that did not stop the designers at Capcom from pushing the envelope with massive characters. The company created a library of giants through the ‘90s. The studio learned that they could create bosses with different body shapes. Yes the majority were hyper-muscular but take a closer look at them. Some had a broad torso, they were as wide as they were tall. Others stood up straight or were hunched over masking their true size. The majority of these people appeared in the Final Fight series. If you look at the size of the heroes and villains you’ll notice that they didn’t always match up. Mike Haggar for example was the tallest and strongest of the good guys in the Final Fight trilogy. He stood 6’ 6” and weighed about 233 lbs. In Final Fight 2 just about every boss was larger than him even though they were listed as being smaller in the official material.

   

Freddie for example possibly had the broadest chest and thickest torso of any Mad Gear boss. This mercenary stood 6’ 4” and weighed 408 lbs. but his sprite was almost a head taller than Mike. Then there was Bratken, the Mad Gear boss that looked like Frankenstein’s monster. He was one of the largest sprites in the game but according to cannon he was 6’ 7” and 434 lbs. One inch of difference between he and Haggar meant a lot to Capcom of Japan. Then there was Won Won. Another of Mad Gear’s tallest bosses was 7’ 4” and an astonishing 450 lbs. Yet he was so muscular he couldn’t stand up straight, similar to Abubo in Rage of the Dragons. So his sprite was actually a little shorter than Bratken. Audiences could tell that the curve in his spine robbed him of his true size. Freddie was a tactical fighter whereas Bratken was a reckless brawler, locked away until he was needed. Won Won ran the streets of Hong Kong and chopped those who opposed Mad Gear in half with his cleaver. None of the bosses were ever presented as being stupid. There was too much at stake for betraying the gang. You couldn’t be stupid and be a boss at the same time.

   

From a design standpoint making someone gigantic worked best when used on the bad guys. From a storytelling perspective it also made sense. Audiences rooted for the underdog. It was hard to make someone like Abigail the main hero in Final Fight because he could steamroll his opponents. This rule worked especially well in the Street Fighter series. Just look at how intimidating Sagat was by design. A seven-foot, dark-skinned, bald, eyepatch-wearing, Muay Thai monster. People couldn’t help but cheer for the tiny Ryu. It took a change in designers to turn things around. Tetsuo Hara worked with Capcom on a couple of projects. He showed the studio that a good guy could also be gigantic. Hara designed the cast for the Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters series. Mr. Hara was a huge wrestling fan, he knew the history of the sport and major players in the USA as well as Japan. He also knew that the Street Fighter characters were more than average fighters, they needed special moves and abilities. So he created a large group inspired by real world wrestlers but each with a unique back story and collection of special attacks. These people would become the backbone of Capcom’s wrestling universe.

 

The tallest wrestler in the series turned out to be a good guy. Titan the Great aka Titanic Tim stood 7’ 9” and weighed 432 lbs. He was the third tallest character in the Street Fighter universe. But of those three he was the one with the most wrestling experience. The real world inspiration for the character were the 6' 6" Rick Bogner aka the Big Titan and 6' 5" Mike Awesome aka the Gladiator. The duo ran roughshod over the wrestlers in Japan during the early '90s. Titan the Great was an amalgamation of these two monsters. He did not have solely power moves in his arsenal but was a well rounded striker and grappler as well. He was agile despite his size. This was necessary when facing opponents that were blindingly quick. Titan was a British native and would sometimes team up with UK underground fighting legend Birdie. The two seven-footers were known as the 500 Million Trillion Powers.

   

Whether good or bad the giants deserved to be in the Street Fighter universe. With that said I was not a fan of the direction of the current Street Fighter series. I have said it before and will continue to say it. The silly mannerisms of certain characters, the constant breaking of the 4th wall during super attacks did not really make sense and detracted from the cast. Think about how absurd each of Hakan’s super attacks appeared on screen in Street Fighter IV. The opponent would be squished between his thighs and then shoot off into an invisible barrier. These invisible barriers also showed up in Abigail’s special as well. He could suspend his opponent in the air and then use them like a punching bag. Honestly, an opponent just floated at the top of the screen, defying gravity like some sort of Warner Bros. cartoon character. Then there was the absurd notion that Abigail couldn’t talk but instead made car noises like an infant that had lost his toy. All of these silly elements betrayed the designs of the earlier Street Fighter and Final Fight games. They simply weren’t a part of the legacy. Capcom used to know how to create fantastic giants, the template was there but they seemed to ignore it after 1999.

   

The goofy antics were all relatively new to the franchise. When Yoshinori Ono took on production duties they seemed to be part of his idea of what Street Fighter should be about. While nostalgia for the older characters is still in my heart I’m also afraid of what would happen if the studio decided to add any more legacy characters. I’d be embarrassed to see what they would do with the Muscle Bomber cast or any other fighter they had previously done. Giants in the Street Fighter universe should be feared and respected, as the majority were boss characters. Maybe someday the studio will remember that but I’m not holding my breath. I hope you have enjoyed this series, please leave a question or comment and I'll try to get back to you. As always if you enjoyed this blog and would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!