Hiding the master in plain sight, the genius of SNK's character design... part 5

SNK had exploded on the scene in the early ‘90s. The success of the Neo Geo console in the arcade, and the steady stream of fighting games made sure they would be around for the long haul. I had mentioned previously that the success to their school of design was based in hiding the masters of the martial arts in plain sight. A karate master didn’t have to be Japanese or wear a gi. This was demonstrated in the Art of Fighting (AoF); Robert Garcia was an Italian playboy that drove exotic cars, wore thousand-dollar shoes, tailored suits, and could go toe-to-toe with the ambassador of Kyokugenryu karate, his friend Ryo Sakazaki. King was a Muay Thai goddess but you would never have suspected it as she dressed like a high-class bartender. Shinkiro and the art team didn’t have a chance to create these plain-clothes masters for every new release but that didn’t stop them from experimenting. Before they found their groove they were as guilty as the other developers of following the trends. Boxers Michael Max, Axel Hawk and Micky Rogers were very generic designs. Pulled in part from real-world fighters Mike Tyson and George Foreman. All of that changed in 1994 when the studio released King of Fighters ’94 (KOF). From this point on it was almost mandated that the figures looked like cool manga characters instead of martial artists.

 

Manga and animé were very influential to the design of early fighting games. The team at Capcom were influenced by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara’s work on Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star. The people at SNK were influenced by Katsuhiro Otomo’s science fiction masterpiece AKIRA. The people at SNK were so influenced by the book that it shaped the story of later KOF games. The entire plot revolving around clones and the paramilitary government organization N.E.S.T.S. was roughly pulled from the plot of AKIRA. Even the character K9999 from King of Fighters 2001 was eerily similar to Tetsuo, the antagonist in AKIRA. The likeness was so much so that publisher Kodansha took SNK to court and got them to remove any likeness of the character from future releases and official publications. I would argue that the imposing Heavy D, mohawk, square jaw and all was based on Colonel Shikishima from AKIRA as well. Thankfully SNK made him a dark-skinned character so the comparisons wouldn’t be as obvious. From that point forward the artists at SNK were taking very bold creative chances.

 

Heavy D started the trend of non-traditional boxers in the KOF universe. His street fashion, paired with his leather jacket and wild haircut made him look like an intimidating opponent. His was the type of look that audiences expected from SNK. It was their follow-up that was even more unique. One of the most unusual boxers in the SNK universe was Rick Strowd. He first appeared in Fatal Fury Real Bout 2 in 1998. I say he was unusual because of his appearance. He was as physically strong as any other character but that wasn’t unusual. He was actually a Native American character although he didn’t look like a typical one that we might have expected. Rick had pale skin, long white hair and bright paintings covering his body. His white pants and blue gloves were solid color choices, they matched the markings painted on his chest and back. He was not rooted in any actual native group, nor were his markings reflective of any tradition. The inverted skull painted on his back looked a bit too cartoonish for example. SNK was experimenting with different influences, different stylistic choices and different ways of presenting a traditional fighting art. They figured that they could shake things up by presenting a unique looking character and call him a Native. Their decision worked for the most part. From that point on the studio realized that boxing was not the only thing that American characters could represent.

 

The other thing that the artists at SNK, and a few other Japanese studios, realized post Rick Strowd was that boxers did not all have to be big black guys. Two leaner blonde boxers made their marks after 2000. Namco introduced the fighting community to Steve Fox in Tekken 4. The British boxer had an athletic build and not too bulky. Most Tekken characters were nowhere near as swollen as the Capcom or SNK fighters. Fox had long slick blonde hair and most of his costumes in the series were street outfits. Even his “traditional” costume broke the mold. His boxing trunks were actually long training pants. His most unique element were the enormous scars covering his arm. He wasn’t sure how he got them or what their purpose was, making it an interesting side story for the character. Not to be outdone SNK dropped Shen Woo into KOF continuity in 2003. This blonde boxer was cut from the save cloth as Fox but his look and style were even more street. The Shanghai native was mostly a self-taught fighter, similar to Terry Bogard, and had gained a reputation as one of the most dangerous men in South China. Many of the tournament stars in the KOF series were young cool guys with street clothing so Woo fight right in. If the design had any failings it was that SNK had started relying on the street look too much. Prior to Woo the company had introduced a boxer that I would consider one of the best designs in the past 20 years. This character was named Rob Python from Buriki One.

 

Python represented a break from tradition, he was reflective of the next-generation fighting black superstar. His look was inspired in part by actual MMA fighters Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Kevin Randleman. They were wildly popular in Japanese tournaments. SNK knew that audiences had outgrown the clean-cut look of a young Tyson and the aging Foreman. They had been playing Neo Geo fighters for almost a decade and wanted new blood. The next boxer had to ooze personality and in the case of Python, he also had to ooze a sense of danger. He was among one of the most dangerous fighters in the Buriki One tournament and also the rival to Gai Tendo, the star of the game. Python was an understudy of Silber, whom I had mentioned previously on this series. Python’s tattoos were as much a part of his costume as his gloves or shorts were. No character before or after had ever looked as imposing. The enormous pair of Colt revolvers tattooed on his chest were meant to intimidate his opponents. It was assumed that he spent time in prison where he had learned of Silber. SNK, and in particular the talented artist Hiroaki, had changed the formula yet again. Python was not a fighting master hidden in plain sight, instead he was a killer masked as a boxer. It would take Capcom almost 17 years to reinvent the boxer by going full circle as well.

 

In 1991 M. Bison had pretty much set the standard that other boxers were compared against. There wasn’t a fighting game in the ‘90s that wasn’t compared to Street Fighter II. Every boxer was compared to Bison. His look had stagnated in the late ‘90s while SNK was committed to experimenting. Capcom finally conceded and created their own hidden master with Dudley in Street Fighter III (1997). The aristocratic boxer had a unique library of moves but long-time fans of Bison had a soft spot for tradition. Senior Capcom artist (and personal hero) Bengus was called in to work on the Street Fighter V (2016) designs. While he did not develop the original M. Bison, that was more likely AKIMAN and Shoei, Bengus was responsible for the new look. He wanted Bison to have the same big, brash personality but with an updated costume. The Capcom style of design was rooted in making traditional fighting archetypes. Their karate masters had to look like karate masters, their kung-fu masters had to look like kung-fu masters, and their boxers had to be boxers. Bengus went full-bore Americana with red white and blue trunks but then wrapped everything in a red, white and blue robe, with torn sleeves and gold jewelry to boot. The “Crazy Buffalo” now sported elements of the street, elements of real pro boxers and even cartoonish archetypes. He was still classic layered underneath modern accents.

 

This was not to take anything away from Rob Python and all of the work that SNK had done with boxers over the past 25+ years. Their fighters had been among the most unique, most colorful and most diverse ever assembled. I honestly wish that they would revisit their Buriki One cast for the future installments of the KOF series. With that said they still managed to break new ground. One of their most stylish boxers debuted in 2000, right on the heels of Python. The new fighter was a mysterious special agent named Vanessa. She had taken up boxing when her lover was killed. Like King she was a master hidden in plain site. Her pants and suspenders were a nice touch under her sleeveless shirt and tie. The look was very chic. It wasn’t the first time than SNK had explored the dangerous femme. Vice and Mature, the valets for early KOF sponsor Rugal Bernstein were assassins in disguise. Vanessa was a hero using a similar fashion aesthetic. The trio predated and were more than likely the inspiration behind Crimson Viper in Street Fighter IV.

 

The most recent boxer in KOF canon was a mix of traditional and modern. Nelson debuted in the King of Fighters XIV, also released in 2016. He was a dark-skinned Brazilian and up-and-coming phenom. The young fighter was involved in a hit and run leaving the gym one night. He lost an arm and his girlfriend was put into a coma. A secretive sponsor paid for his cybernetic replacement arm and saw him enter the KOF tournament. SNK embraced his back story and and incorporated the tire tread motif on his boxing gloves and workout gear. His scars were very bright and spread across his face and torso, giving him the look of someone with the skin disease vitiligo. While I think there may have been too many color choices and design elements placed on the character he worked within the series. Like Vanessa he was a progressive character. His appearance might have appealed to people with disabilities or those recovering from amputations. I would like to see how SNK builds on their library moving forward. Speaking of which, some of the more recent entries in the KOF universe were also a mixed bag of design choices. We’ll look at these in the next blog. 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!

Copycat Culture, part 1...

Thanks to my long-time readers for putting up with my long tangent on cars and space shooters. I think I got it out of my system, at least for another week. Right now the pendulum is swinging back to fighting games, I know, big surprise! I wanted to preface the news on the fighting game front with a bigger theme. Every form of entertainment is synthesized from the human experience. The collective culture, interests and life lessons that every creator had was part of the creative cycle. You might remember hearing that there were Seven Basic Plots to every great or even not-so-great story. The ways in which that story were presented were also remixed in infinite ways. Perhaps the story was told in a poem or through a song. Perhaps the story was on a stage, a television set or a movie screen. For our generation the video game was the biggest medium for exploration in each of those seven basic plots. For the first time in the history the audience got a chance to take an active role in the plot. They no longer had to imagine what it would be like to be a part of the story when they were instead the central figure. A well assembled team of designers, programmers and artists could point audiences in the right direction, give them tools to succeed and provide just enough challenge to make the players think that they did everything themselves. It was the invisible hand of a producer that made sure all of the pieces worked well together so that audiences never felt disconnected from the action on screen. These game creators could not separate their own influences from seeping into the games they designed. The stories, comics, cartoons, music and movies that they grew up with and continued to enjoy colored the games they produced. In turn the games they released influenced their peers and the next generation of artists, designers, programmers and composers as well. It was a circle of storytelling dating back to the dawn of civilization. The only thing that changed was the format in which it was consumed.

Several of the most successful franchises were influenced by many sources. Some of these influences were subtle and others were very overt. The earliest video games mirrored the content of popular movies, comics and cartoons. Back in the early days the developers sometimes did not try hard to cover up these influences, especially where the Japanese designers were concerned. International copyright law was a different beast in the '70s and '80s. Characters, levels, in-game art and even box art in early arcade, console and PC titles were often poached. The developers and publishers knew they could often get away with it because they changed enough elements as to define an entirely new work of art. Of course for sharp-eyed audiences could pick out what the developers took from other sources. Hardcore Gaming 101's big writeup on gaming "influences" was a perfect site to see these game comparisons. The site displayed a bunch of art that was pretty much stolen and featured in Japanese, US and European games. Audiences tended to overlook the poached content so long as the game itself was well done. Many of the small companies that relied on outside inspiration for their first console hits eventually turned into publishing giants. Konami, Namco, Capcom and Sega were just a few of the companies that managed to grow exponentially during the '80s and '90s despite some poached art and designs. The entire library that each company produced was still very original and completely surpassed the few instances of stolen art that they got away with. The only reason that I bring this up is because poached art and design was at the heart of the Chinese gaming boom. The fastest growing economy in the world would soon be telling the developers and publishers from Japan and the US what they wanted to see in mainstream media. Since the entertainment companies seemed more focused on a profit rather than original content they would probably acquiesce to the Chinese demands. Yet what the Chinese gaming consumer wanted was at the core not much different than what the Japanese, US, UK or Europeans wanted. They longed for a great experience that was original and memorable. What they got instead were often rehashes of a popular genre.

Valve's Team Fortress 2 was a runaway hit with PC gamers. It was only a matter of time before imitators came out of the woodwork to poach the art style, character classes and gameplay of the first person shooter. None were as blatant as Final Combat. The Chinese title did very little to distinguish itself from its US inspiration. The studio went so far as to release trailers for each class of character as Valve had been doing over the past few years. Certainly the Chinese PC gaming market was starved for a quality FPS but was this really the way to go? The country had put a ban on console systems and arcade games in 2000 and did not lift that ban until 2014. This meant that a generation missed out on the formative years for both the Playstation 2, Playstation 3 and Xbox and Xbox 360. Audiences could still purchase modified consoles sold as home computers rather than gaming consoles. These hybrid PS2/3 and Xbox systems often came with Linux and a few dozen games pre-installed on the internal hard drive. Of course these modifications were done without the approval of Sony or Microsoft, the respective manufacturers of the consoles. Those that played PC titles could find a way to download the hottest games from the West but were always eager to play comparable experiences created at home. Games that reflected Chinese culture and tastes instead of being force-fed a diet of what was hot according to the west. Rather than invest in new technology, experiment with new formats or trust the designers to come up with an original idea the publishers often chose to copy what worked. The developers did an exceptional job of copying and running with it. It was good for a quick profit. It explained Final Combat and a number of other copycat titles that China developed. To be fair the idea of poaching popular games was something that the neighboring nations of Taiwan and Korea also had a hand in. Those other countries mixed and matched popular western culture to suit their needs.

The fighting game genre was no different than any other. As one of the more popular formats of gaming the Chinese were starved for an original fighting game that spoke to the community. What they got was a game that was as innovative as any fighting game released in the US or Japan in the past decade. The reason for that was because it also took tremendous influences from the characters, mechanics and balance from numerous different franchises. I had talked about Xuan Dou Zhi Wang aka the King of Combat on my 1UP and Capcom-Unity blogs previously. The game was worth revisiting because it continued to grow and evolve. It certainly was not the same game now as it was a year ago and would be a different experience next year. Every few months the publisher Tencent would roll out a patch that fixed the online gameplay, balanced the roster and introduced entirely new characters into the mix. One of the more recent was a Movin' In Circles from Ridge Racer Type 4. I sincerely doubt that Namco was paid for the use of the song.

Players would have a relatively short learning curve with Andrei because they could use many of the earlier set-ups and tactics from Street Fighter. Yet Andrei and the other fighters in the game were unique because they did not only borrow attacks from the Street Fighter series, they also borrowed elements from the King of Fighters, Tekken, Virtua Fighter and Guilty Gear. To be completely honest there were even elements of Blaze Blue, Capoeira Fighter 3, Sengoku Basara X and JoJo's Bizarre Adventure in the series as well. The addition of moves and attacks that were previously only seen in 3D fighting games and sword-fighting games was a welcome change of pace. Although King of Combat was rendered in 3D it followed the mechanics of 2D fighting games very closely. This blending of formats was handled very well, although some in the community could not get behind the game because of how blatantly it had copied the characters from other titles.

It wasn't enough to dissect the way that Andrei played. Audiences were looking for some originality in his design. A light-skinned playable boxer hadn't been seen in a 2D fighting game for some time. Most had been black characters, which was only fair since they reflected the legacy of actual boxing champions. Yet to say all of the great heavyweight champs were only black would be a slap in the face to some of the more recent champs. Ukranian brothers Vitali and Wladimir Klitscho were light skinned as well. Between the two they held every heavyweight title through most of the turn of the millennium.

In 3D fighting games the black boxer was not the trend. Steve Fox from Namco's Tekken series was a fair skinned British boxing champ. He had some devastating attacks but what really set him apart from his contemporaries was his lighting-fast defense. He was designed to take advantage of some unique dodges that left opponents wide open for a counter-attack. Andrei did have a touch of Steve in his design but also the other British boxing champ Aleron from Capoeira Fighter 3. Even the non-playable Joe from the original Street Fighter could have been an inspiration to Andrei. The original arcade boxing hero was Little Mac from Nintendo's Punch-Out series was the one that started it all. There was a hint of the baby face and haircut of Little Mac in Andrei's appearance as well.

The studio has actually gotten a lot better about masking the influences from other fighting games with the debut of Andrei. The previous character that Tencent had introduced was so blatantly stolen from another IP that many in the community were wondering if the company had any shame at all. The next blog would look at this character and what he meant for the series. 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!