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; #24

We cannot celebrate 30 years of Street Fighter without also celebrating 20 years of one of the most oddball characters introduced in the universe. When designing Street Fighter EX the team at ARIKA wanted to create a balance between the classic World Warriors, those featured in Street Fighter II and a new lot of fighters. Blanka and Dhalsim were on the extreme end of designs and ARIKA wanted at least one odd character as well. They decided to create a sort of superhero into their franchise.

Skullomania is actually an homage to the classic Japanese super sentai shows. Live action heroes like Kamen Rider and the Power Rangers were wildly popular in Japan. These heroes and their over-the-top villains were the types of characters that the designers at ARIKA grew up with. They figured out a way to incorporate one of these archetypes into the lineup without completely breaking Street Fighter's lore. Skullomania was a salaryman that made some extra money as an acrobat at an amusement park. He stopped some robbers as they stole from the ticket booth and the visitors cheered. He became enamored with the attention and became a real life hero. This premise was very believable. It was the intensity of being a hero that Skullomania took over the top.

Skullomania does not have a transforming car or a giant robot at his disposal, these are only seen as pages in a sketchbook. He has no super-powers, although he imagines that he can fly and change his size. He also does not have any actual martial arts training. Instead he throws his whole body into his attacks. He dives headfirst at opponents and sweeps their feet with his breakdance-like acrobatics. His appearance is odd but memorable, his moves are absurd but also mostly realistic. He manages to be as unique a character as Dhalsim or Blanka but without coming across as fake. Skullomania is a very creative fighter, there is nobody else like him. Today we celebrate the uniqueness that Street Fighter brought to the genre. What do you think about this oddball? Please let me know in the comments section. 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; #25

Hokuto is one of the most interesting characters in the entire Street Fighter universe. In the span of 30 years she is possibly the most complex fighter ever designed. In canon she has actually played both the good and evil roles. Her true nature is only now being told. When she debuted in 1997 she appeared like a kyudoka, somebody that practiced traditional archery. She didn't have a bow and arrows but instead used her spirit force to shoot energy projectiles at opponents. It was a unique mix of classic aesthetic and modern fighting game character. Hokuto came from a cursed lineage, her older brother was Kairi, a fighter suffering from amnesia. Kairi posed a threat to himself and other people so Hokuto was tasked to bring him in or kill him trying. The latter of the two options came in the form of Bloody Hokuto. Her evil personae was much more dangerous and filled with the same murderous intent of Kairi. Hokuto and Bloody Hokuto shared a few similar moves however Bloody Hokuto had a few more lethal strikes including a dim mak or death strike. 

Hokuto was presented as a sympathetic character. She was a young, noble woman that had the bad fortune of having to track down her brother. Audiences knew that the evil energy coursing through her veins was making her do things she did not want to do. Just as Ryu, the star of the Street Fighter series, was battling the dark Hadou energy as well. The designers at ARIKA were actually keeping an important part of her story a secret for 20 years. Hokuto was indeed related to Kairi however they were step-siblings. Hokuto was an illegitimate child. She was trained as an assassin and had been planted into the clan with her memories erased. When the seal was broken she didn't become "Bloody Hokuto" but instead regressed into her true self. She was an assassin named Shirase.

Shirase debuted in Fighting EX Layer. She was a redesign with a mix of good and evil Hokuto elements. The black and white motif on her hair and costume were strong opposites. They were the literal yin and yang, the good and evil fighting within her. With her true potential unlocked would she be able to strike down her brother? Was she on track to be the first female boss in the Street Fighter universe? That was a strong possibility! Audiences were eager to see how the developers at ARIKA changed her relationship with Kairi and step-sister Nanase. At least I wanted to find out what happened next. I can't say I was as interested for how many of the other characters evolved over the years. What do you think? 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; #26

If there were a contest as to who was the coolest Street Fighter universe character ever the front runner might be Cracker Jack, aka C. Jack or simply Jack. The character made his debut in 1996 in Street Fighter EX. Jack was designed to be mysterious and interesting at the same time. The shirt and tie, and even hat were supposed to be reminiscent of Shadowlaw field agents. It was actually an old trope from comics and cartoons. Tough guys like mobsters and sometimes detectives wore the dark suit and tie. Except that Jack was not a bad guy. He was a bodyguard / double agent working for an organization fighting crime. Jack was like a super cop that played by his own rules. 

Jack fought with mostly punches in the series. He had an occasional grapple and body slam he could execute but he was a pure striker. He didn't have any fireball or other supernatural attacks to give him a ranged advantage but he did have something that none of the other characters had; a baseball bat. Jack could strike quickly and cut the distance between himself and his opponent. He really controlled the screen with the swing of his bat. He could strike away fireballs from a distance and smash the ribs of an opponent that wandered too close. This no-nonsense brawling that he had made him stand out from the traditional Street Fighter characters which were mostly based on martial arts.

The team at ARIKA that designed the character kept him mysterious on purpose. They were vague on his affiliation, vague on his allies and even vague on his origin. They even made sure to make it difficult to see the face of the character. With his shaggy hair, sideburns and hat you could never get a clear look at his face. In canon the fighter went missing for years. He was found hiding out in the American Southwest. Whether is was to protect his former employer, on stakeout for a top secret mission or just to avoid his past was unknown. His transition from city brawler to fighting cowboy was one of the great redesigns in fighting game history. What do you think about non-traditional fighters in the Street Fighter universe? Would you like to see more of them? Please let me know in the comments. 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!

30 Years of Street Fighter, 30 Days of Characters; #28

E. Honda has easily earned a spot in my list of 30 memorable characters. His look is so bold and his moves so imaginative that it would be a shame to ignore him this anniversary season. The origins for the character are more cartoon than reality. There was actually a sumo wrestler with a painted face that appeared much earlier in the arcade. The look of E. Honda was meant to grab your attention. He was supposed to be an over-the-top character, borderline parody. He was on the extreme end of designs like the wild man Blanka or the skinny yogi Dhalsim.

E. Honda was unique for a number of reasons. Sumo wrestling had not really been covered in early fighting games. This was a chance for Capcom to write a new page in history. In order to work in Street Fighter it had to be an exaggerated version of the real art, just like the other forms represented. We could tell Honda was strong just by looking at him. His muscles could still be made out under a layer of fat. What audiences never expected was for him to be quick and agile as well. Sumo wrestlers could be surprisingly quick despite their size but E. Honda was on a whole new level. 

Sumo wrestling was known for being a contest of strength and force. There was a lot of technique involved but moves such as kicks were off limits. Since Honda was competing in an underground tournament his arsenal was expanded. He could jump and kick, trip opponents, sweep the leg and even throw himself head first into a rival. Sumo wrestlers often fought for position by slapping their opponent's head, neck, chest and shoulders. E. Honda was so good at this he could do it with one hand, thus earning the legend of the Hundred Hand Slap. While it wasn't as flashy as a fireball it was still an impressive move. E. Honda's appearance combined with his library of moves made him one of the best heavyweight characters ever created. I'm glad that the character has been a part of the Street Fighter universe for almost three decades. What do you think about him? I'd like your take in the comments section. 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; #29

Victor Ortega is probably someone that you don't even think about when it comes to Capcom fighting games. This is probably because Ortega has never been in a numbered Street Fighter. He appears in the extended universe, in the Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters series to be precise. This character is important to the history of Street Fighter for a number of reasons.

Victor represents the pinnacle of pro wrestling in the Street Fighter universe. He was the only CWA (Capcom Wrestling Association) athlete to go undefeated in his career. He retired with the belt but came back years later when a new crop of wrestlers sprang up. Victor's design was very much rooted in actual wrestling history. Going as far back as the '70s with bodybuilder-turned-wrestler Superstar Billy Graham. Graham had an amazing physique and was brilliant on the microphone. Some of the best wrestlers were memorable for their interviews rather than their in-ring ability. The Superstar was the template from which characters like Jessie Ventura and Hulk Hogan were cut.

The person that designed the majority of the pro wrestlers in the Capcom universe was Tetsuo Hara. He was the artist and half the creative team behind Hokuto No Ken / Fist of the North Star. I have already mentioned that the muscular boss with facial hair was most likely inspired by the character Toki. Mr. Hara was a big fan of pro wrestling and helped create a variation of many of the top babyfaces (good guys) and heels (bad guys) for Capcom. It stood to reason that the wrestling champion for the Capcom universe would look like an exaggerated version of a real title holder. Victor Ortega had an amazing physique, possibly the most muscular person in the Capcom universe, including Mad Gear bosses Abigail and Freddie.

Despite his age Victor Ortega is impossibly fit but thanks to his age he is also an incredibly experienced. Combining his insane strength with his striking and grappling ability makes him one of the most underrated fighters in the universe. It would be nice to see this undefeated champion make an appearance in the Street Fighter series. Who do you think was the best wrestler in the Street Fighter universe? I'd like to know. 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; #30

Over the next 30 days I will be celebrating 30 characters from the Street Fighter universe. This will not be a ranking of who I think is the most powerful, or who is the best in canon. Instead it will be a look at 30 influential characters and why I find them interesting. First up is one of the most unusual characters in the library. Dhalsim started off like many other Street Fighter II designs. He was a trope based on a certain nationality. In this case he represented the mystical fighter from India, originally known as the Great Tiger.

The character was alarmingly racist with his many arms and Ganesha costume. Even the name Great Tiger was a call back to an earlier trope were citizens of a certain country were identified by the local animals. Indians were sometimes identified with the animals native to South Asia; elephants, tigers, cobras, etc. The designers at Capcom went back to the drawing board. They wanted to make the character really stand out and not necessarily by relying too heavily on those caricatures. That was part of the reason they left the turban behind. One of the ways they improved on the Great Tiger was by recalling a fantastic villain from the film Master of the Flying Guillotine. In it there was an Indian character that could stretch his limbs. This film and the earlier One Armed Boxer helped shape the development of the Street Fighter cast. In pop culture some Indians were said to have had mystical powers. A few of them were the gatekeepers to ancient magics. This stereotype was repeated in film as Chinese actors wore brown face and pretended to be Indians that could teleport, stretch their limbs and even be impervious to stabs. The stereotypes about Indians were ugly but they became ingrained in pop culture.

If there was a real person that helped cement the idea of a fighting Indian in pop culture it would be professional wrestler Jagjeet Singh Hans better known as Tiger Jeet Singh. The Canadian-Indian started wrestling the '60s and developed a memorable gimmick that carried him for decades. Tiger Singh was never a technical wrestler, he didn't perform power moves or take risks by leaping off the top rope. Instead Singh was known for having violent matches that ended with lots of blood. He would storm the ring while swinging a sword over his head, kicking chairs, pushing audience members around and shouting like a madman. He began wrestling in Japan in the 1970's. The developers at Capcom and other studios were incorporating elements from the things they grew up with in their games. Popular comics, cartoons, movie and television characters from the '70s influenced the designs in the '80s. The '80s influenced the '90s and so on. An example of a character that was not far removed from trope was The Great Tiger. The Indian boxer wore a tiger-skinned robe, a jeweled turban and had a magic ability that allowed him to teleport around the ring. This character was featured in the arcade version of Super Punch Out!! (1984) and the NES console version of Punch-Out!! (1987).

Capcom started with a turbaned fighter not far removed from Tiger Singh but then stripped away the unnecessary elements. They ditched the turban, the clothing and even facial hair. When they were done the character looked more like a beggar than a brawler. Dhalsim worked because he didn't look like a traditional fighter. It was easy to think the rail-thin, half-naked man didn't stand a chance in a tournament. Then you saw how far his range was and how he even breathed fire. Suddenly he became very interesting. Players wanted to find out more. Capcom decided that he was a yogi that was humbled by tragedies in the past. That was when he gave up most of his worldly possessions and shaved his head. He carries the burden of his people and fights to give them a better life. Dhalsim is far from a perfect character in terms of representation but he is certainly a memorable one. That is why I am bringing him up for the 30th Anniversary of Street Fighter. 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!

The rise of Falke, or how military design works in fighting games...

The newest Street Fighter V character has just been announced. A former Shadowlaw / Shadaloo super soldier that goes by the name of Falke. She debuts on April 24, 2018 as part of Season 3. In this blog we're going to break down the character, her powers, inspiration and the military motif being used in the genre.

Falke has some very unique powers. As a former Shadowlaw soldier she was subject to experimentation and fight training. This gave her the ability to use "Psycho Power" the psychic energy that allows organization leader Vega / M. Bison / The Dictator to fly, teleport, and even shoot fireballs. Ed was also experimented on and uses his psycho energy to generate awesome punches and even psychic webs. Every major Shadowlaw character in the series uses psycho power a little bit differently. Falke actually channels her energy through a fighting staff which she nicknames Harmony. She can send projectiles of psycho energy through the air, as if they were bullets. She can also fill the staff with psycho energy and use it as a sword. This makes her game play style very unique in Street Fighter V. Her effective distance for strikes is increased over regular hand-to-hand fighters thanks to the staff and because of her psycho power she has the ability to shoot psychic projectiles at range.

Falke's fighting staff seems to be made in sections and out of a unique composite material. It seems to be metal and not really flexible. If you look at it closely you can see where the staff is screwed together. Also when an alternate costume is selected the staff changes shape slightly as well. It looks collapsible now, almost like a walking stick. Also this variation of the staff has a muzzle diffuser,  these are the small holes that would normally be seen on the tip of a rifle. Perhaps this acts as a blast diffuser, a feature on some firearms that helps focus the energy of a bullet forward instead of out to the sides. In the case of Harmony the diffuser could focus psycho energy in a specific direction. Little details like this help reinforce the overall military look that the designers at Capcom were going for.  

Of course the first thing that many people commented on when Falke was announced was how because she fought with a staff she seemed to be the new Rolento. Well let's talk a little bit about this. Using a staff or any other weapon in Street Fighter is not a new idea. In the original Street Fighter (1987) the ninja Geki had a claw and threw shuriken aka ninja stars. In England the fighter named Eagle used two fighting sticks. The name Falke is actually German for Falcon. I doubt she is related to Eagle because his name was a golf pun. The other fighter from the UK was named Birdie. But I digress... Maki from Final Fight 2, Street Figher Zero 3 fought with a tonfa. Ibuki from Street Fighter 3 (1997) also threw shuriken. Rolento returned in Street Fighter Zero 2 (1996) but he originally debuted in Final Fight (1989) as a boss for Mad Gear. He appeared a few more time in the series, always fighting with his staff and throwing grenades at opponents. These moves were adapted into Street Fighter. The first female to actually use a staff in the series was Nanase in Street Fighter EX 2 (1999). 

Nanase was the younger sister of Kairi and Hokuto, the two main characters in the story arc of the EX series. Nanase was being groomed to lead the Mizugami clan in the event that anything happened to her elder siblings. Of course in storytelling fashion they both disappeared and she was thrust into the spotlight. She had to track them down and prove her worth in the EX tournament. Because she was a kid it wouldn't have made sense for her to compete hand-to-hand against adults no matter how talented she was. This was why she was designed with a weapon in hand, a bo to be exact. It was a regular wooden bo, nothing special like Falke's staff. Nanase might have been half as big as Ryu but with the staff she had more range than he did and the ability to hit almost as hard. In the updated version of the EX story she is a little older, her memory of Hokuto is wiped but she remembers her fight training. Now going by the name Sanane, an anagram of Nanase. Falke did not move or fight like Nanase, or for that matter any other weapons-based character from the Street Fighter universe. 

Falke focused her psycho energy through Harmony. She didn't really thrust with it like Nanase, or spin it quickly as with Rolento. It was an extension of herself rather than a weapon. The precision with which she used it was done in a very militaristic fashion. She squared Harmony with her shoulder as if it were a rifle when firing bolts of psycho energy. Without it I don't know how effective of a fighter she would be or if she could even control her psycho power. Ed on the other hand knew how to box, trained by former champ M. Bison / Boxer. He could also use his psycho energy in hand-to-hand combat. In canon fighters like Rolento and Nanase would not be at a loss without their staff. They still had training to fall back on. I wouldn't guess the same thing could be said of Falke. Like Rolento however her design worked in the series because it kept up the military aesthetic. Shadowlaw was made up of mostly soldiers. Looking at the cut of Ed and Falke's uniform you could tell they were not soldiers but officers. Shadowlaw, or Ex-Shadowlaw operatives wore armor and what appeared to be leather. They were fit for operations in the northern hemisphere, especially Eurasia. Rolento was not a member of Shadowlaw but instead a contractor. As a mercenary he did a lot of travelling. He wore khaki's and no armor, his uniform was suited for the tropic or desert climates. The color, cut and fabric of a costume did a lot of storytelling. It was something that every studio could take advantage of.

If you are working on a fighting game and want audiences to recognize a character as a serious fighter what do you do? Do you give them a facial scar and tattoos? Do you give them a flat nose and huge muscles? Or do you begin with the most obvious clue to audiences? The easiest thing you can do is put them in a costume. Look at some of the game characters through history and see which were the easiest to identify as a fighter. Those in military, or military-inspired costumes stood out. The best part for designers was that a military uniform could be given to a man or woman. Thanks to history we associated military training with martial ability. This was why characters like Heidern, Leona and Whip stood out in the King of Fighters series. We didn't need to know if they studied a particular form of fighting we just knew that they could fight. If they were members of a special forces team, which they were, then they weren't just good they were lethal. The Ikari Warriors were notorious in game canon as being the most skilled mercenaries operating abroad. They were able to topple regimes, steal secrets or just lay waste to an entire battalion. The two most famous Ikari Warriors, Ralf and Clark, made their debut in 1986. This was a year before the original Street Fighter was released.

Some costumes, even military ones, can still be ambiguous. A person wearing a karate uniform might be a karateka, but they can also be a judo or jujitsu practitioner. That is why designers give them supporting details. Ken and Ryu for example had striking gloves so you could tell they were more likely karate fighters than judo grapplers. Ralf and Clark are obviously military fighters but what type? They don't wear stripes on their sleeves, or sleeves for that matter. We can tell that Rolento or Heidern are officers because of their full uniforms. Ralf and Clark are different, just look at their supporting details. They carry ammunition and explosives on their vest and belt. They look more like jungle mercenaries than servicemen. Based on their size we can tell that they are immensely strong. Since neither carries a weapon we can tell they are going to be strikers or grapplers in the King of Fighters. 

Something that was pointed out on Twitter this week was how somebody at Capcom has a certain fallback when designing alternate costumes. Specifically for blonde female characters. See if you can spot the costume detail they like to add. Aside from that Falke is an interesting addition to the Street Fighter lineup. She seems to be on par with Ed as far as introducing new game play mechanics and shifting the focus to a new generation of characters. Capcom has done a decent job of focusing on new female characters through Street Fighter IV and V. The focus on the story is particularly unique. Ed is the founder of Neo Shadowlaw, a group assembled of former or discarded Shadowlaw experiments. With Falke revealed as a new recruit audiences are eager to find out who the other characters shown in the story mode are. Also if this organization had anything to do with the Illuminati featured in Street Fighter III.

It seemed that Ed and Neo Shadowlaw would soon be confronting The Dictator and his Shadowlaw generals. This was a solid story push and something not entirely new to Street Fighter mythology. Many years ago in the manhua, or Chinese comics, of Street Fighter Zero there was a showdown between two factions fighting for control of Shadowlaw. We'll see how Falke and Ed figure into all of this. Of course the ramifications of any betrayals or sacrifices will ripple down to the rest of the universe.

So what do you think about Falke? Do you like her design? What do you think about her powers? Will you be playing as the character when she is released? Are you siding with Shadowlaw or Neo Shadowlaw in this update? I'd like to hear your take in the comments section. 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!

The six degrees of dancers and Dragon Ball.

Dragon Ball FighterZ has really captured the eyes of the fighting game community. I couldn’t be happier. I’ve been saying that the Street Fighter series has lost its way for some time. Questionable decisions have really detracted from the roster. I felt that it was only a matter of time before there was another game to dethrone it in terms of popularity. I think part of the reason why the Dragon Ball game has been so well received is because it manages to recapture the spirit of the earlier Dragon Ball Z: Butoden games that appeared on the Super Famicom in the early ‘90s. By keeping the mechanics 2D rather than being able to fly around and fight in 3D, as in the Dragon Ball Budokai series, players can focus on a more traditional fighting game experience. I look forward to seeing the return of classic characters as this series develops.

I hope to see some of the rare characters that were used one time in the various Dragon Ball Z films. One of the more interesting characters ever to appear in a movie was Android 15. The spunky little fighter debuted in the 1992 film Dragon Ball Z: Super Android 13! I’m not going to sugar coat the character. He was very much coded as a black trope. The dark skin, big lips, earring, and outlandish costume all signaled of black stereotypes. I wouldn’t call Dragon Ball creator Akira “Dr. Slump” Toriyama a racist however, instead he was reflecting the pop culture that he grew up with.

 

Son Goku was based in part on the myth of Sun Wukong the Monkey King. He was also based in part on Superman as he was the last survivor of a doomed alien planet. These characters and legends existed well before Dr. Slump was ever born. The things that he saw in pop culture helped inspire many of his creations. Android 15 for example had been in the back of his mind for some time. The character was most likely inspired by the Lockers dance crew. The dance team was formed in 1971 and was a sort of west coast response to the breakdancing trend that started in New York. Breaking, popping and locking all evolved out of street dance in the early ‘70s. These trendy dances and dancers were featured on shows like Soul Train. The most popular of the Lockers was Fred “Rerun” Berry (rip) who appeared as the comedic relief on the show What’s Happening’

The outlandish costume, the big hat and bright colors of Android 15 was most likely based on the costumes worn by the Lockers whenever they appeared on television. Trends moved slower back in the '70s and ‘80s than they did today. Without the internet it took a long time for fads to catch on in other states and especially around the world. Dr. Slump was incorporating designs in the ‘80s on things that had been popular in the US in the ‘70s. He wasn't the only one. The people working at Capcom also used the things that were popular to them in the late '70s and early '80s when creating the Street Fighter line up. Mad Max, Streets of Fire, Master of the Flying Guillotine were just some of the movies that helped shape the Capcom legends. The stories and characters from the '80s helped shape the '90s, the '90s helped shape the '00s and so on. Pop culture, comics and movies all shaped the look of the fighting game icons. I want you to remember that the next time you fire up a fighting game. Ask yourself where the character came from, chances are there was somebody that inspired them. 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!