Street Fighter: Stereotype Origins

[Sotenga]

I keep looking back on the original Street Fighter, and while that game's pretty damn wonky on controls, I gotta give it credit for kickstarting the entire fighting genre. To my knowledge, it was Karate Champ that introduced it, Yie-Ar Kung Fu that brought it popularity, and Street Fighter for making it legendary... strike that last one, for being the prequel to Street Fighter II, which made it legendary. :P

Anyway, I just wanted to denote some of the standard varieties of fighters you can find in games today that were introduced back in 1987. I'm not entirely sure with a few of them, so I may need a little help. Alrighty then...

Ryu: The Hero (The main character in the story...)

Ken: The Rival (... and the most prominent oppisition of the hero.)

Retsu: The Middle-Aged Warrior (I'm not really sure on Retsu's place here... most fighting games do have an experienced fighter who's about in his 40's or 50's... or maybe Retsu's just original.)

Geki: TEH NINJA (Because every fighting game character needs a ninja. )

Joe: The Cocky One (Another stereotype I'm unsure of, but Joe seems to have that oh-so annoying personality that certain fighters possess, such as Joe Higashi or Kazuki Kazama.)

Mike: The Boxer (Not every fighting game character has a boxer fighter, but enough do.)

Lee: The Unorthodox Style (Another type of fighter that I'm not really clear on, but at least one fighter has a really odd style that classifies him as an expert character. Until recently, I couldn't really get the hang of Dhalsim...)

Gen: The Old Geezer (The really old guy that can still kick ass is almost as integral to fighting games as the ninja. :P )

Birdie: The Big One (Every single fighter I know of has at least one HUGE fighter with a figure larger than most of the other characters and relies on pure muscle to win, AFAIK.)

Eagle: The Weapon User (At least one fighter carries some object that gives him or her a slight advantage. Vega's claw, Billy Kane's rod, and right here, Eagle's Kali Sticks.)

Adon: The Sub-Boss (More often than not, there is an appetizer to the final battle. However, the sub-boss battle(s) is still pretty damn tough, regardless.)

Sagat: THE BOSS!!! (The end of the road, that especially cheap last opponent that usually possesses some extra edge, giving him a frustrating advantage over you. In this case, Sagat's Tiger Shot does insane damage. Only two and you're down for the count.)

Any comments on this little analysis? I don't really have all of the concepts down... Retsu's place in the fighter's universe is especially baffling to me.

[Queen Of The Felines]

Well it's still missing the Tiny Fast Chick That Can Somehow Throw the Big Giant Guy Across the Screen.

Kristine

[VinnyT]

Of course, who can forget Cammy being able to toss Blanka through a crate.

Quick poll: Choose the hottest female Street Fighter character.


I go with Cammy.

[Sotenga]

Kristine: I wish, Cammy's one of my favorite characters.

Unfortunately, Capcom was patriarchal in the early days, and did not include any female fighters in the original SF. This is one reason why Chun-Li became such a fan favorite, one of the first girls ever in a fighting game. Only Star and Fan from Yie-Ar Kung Fu predate her legacy, AFAIK.

Vinny: My vote goes towards Elena. Hehehe...

[AB Positive]

Uh... Rose anyone? Buxom Tarot-card reading gypsy vixen? Maybe it helps that I'm sitting next to the real life counterpart next to me, although my Rose's hair doesn't quite go so crazily.


Although if she ever quick-changed into that sexy "Perfect Victory" outfit from Alpha 2, with the card betwixt her bosoms, I'd marry her on the spot.



Sotenga, get bored without your #1 opponent online?



-AG

[Funkenstein]

I'm an old sentamentalist. Vote me a Chun-Li man.

And you forgot the Pro Wrestler Archetype. (My personal favorite.)

[§ Gideon §]

Sagat: THE BOSS!!! (The end of the road, that especially cheap last opponent that usually possesses some extra edge, giving him a frustrating advantage over you. In this case, Sagat's Tiger Shot does insane damage. Only two and you're down for the count.)

I thought that M. Bison was THE BOSS!!! of Street Fighter II...

Oh, and you forgot black guy. He's an important character in any fighting game.

[Quintracker]

Sagat: THE BOSS!!! (The end of the road, that especially cheap last opponent that usually possesses some extra edge, giving him a frustrating advantage over you. In this case, Sagat's Tiger Shot does insane damage. Only two and you're down for the count.)

I thought that M. Bison was THE BOSS!!! of Street Fighter II...

Oh, and you forgot black guy. He's an important character in any fighting game.

I think he was going by the original street fighter, not street fighter 2, though i could be wrong

[§ Gideon §]

In that case, I'm even more confused. I thought the original street fighter only had two characters.

[Ze_ro]

In that case, I'm even more confused. I thought the original street fighter only had two characters.

You could only play as Ken or Ryu (and I think Ken was only even available if you played a 2 player game)... but there were plenty of enemy characters that you fought against. Unless I'm mistaken, all the characters Sogenta gave were characters from the original Street Fighter, and in fact, I think he listed all of them.

Plenty of other cliches have sprung up over the years though, such as the apprentice character (Sean, Rock Howard, etc)... the corrupted hero (Evil Ryu, Orochi Iori, etc)... the army guy (Guile, Charlie, the Ikari guys from KoF) and so on.

--Zero

[Quintracker]

Don't forget my favorite class: The Oddball. Animals, Robots, Aliens, etc. Blanka rules all.

[§ Gideon §]

In that case, I'm even more confused. I thought the original street fighter only had two characters.

You could only play as Ken or Ryu (and I think Ken was only even available if you played a 2 player game)... but there were plenty of enemy characters that you fought against. Unless I'm mistaken, all the characters Sogenta gave were characters from the original Street Fighter, and in fact, I think he listed all of them.

Nice. I've had my history lesson for the day!

What about the dirty slut? Dont forget her! But, the only character in that category I can think of right now is Mai...

[Sotenga]

Adam: You don't know the half of it, buddy.

Funkenstein: I count pro wrestlers to be under the Big One stereotype, though there are a few exceptions to that, such as Ramon from King of Fighters. I could snap that twig boy in half, I could...

Quintracker: Yep, I'm going by the very first SF for this, though, Bison is arguably more popular as the final boss than Sagat. Hell, SF2's more popular than SF1 in general. But Geese Howard was the original SNK boss... wouldn't Sagat be a more suitable rival for Geese in Capcom vs. SNK 2? But then who would match up to Bison... Wolfgang Krauser, maybe... GAH, I dunno. This is starting to become a rant, so I'll shut it now.

Gideon: Yes, two characters, but that's only counting playable fighters. Including Ryu, Ken, and the opponents you fight, the roster is twelve characters strong, the same amount of fighters in SF2. Neato, huh? Unfortunately, none of them are playable, to my knowledge. And Mike would be the black guy in the first SF.

Ze_ro: After the... umm... for the lack of a better term, "success" of the original SF, plenty of other stereotypes rose in the fighting universe. Let's check out the originals...

Chun-Li, Street Fighter 2: The Heroine (Now, fighters have both males and females in them, but there's usually one who's more popular than them all. Chun-Li, except for Star and Fan in Yie-Ar Kung Fu, was the very first.)

E. Honda, Street Fighter 2: SUMO! (Okay, to be fair, not every fighter has a sumo. In fact, the only ones I can think of now are Honda, Hinako, Ganryu, and Taka-Arashi. Did I mention that I'm probably one of the few fans of Hinako's design? "Be my Yokozuna, baby!")

Blanka, Street Fighter 2: The Freak (An outcast is obligatory. Look to Freeman, Basara, and Voldo for other freakish persona.)

Guile, Street Fighter 2: The Patriot (One of the fighters is usually all-American, and more than likely works for the army. Or is just from America, whichever.)

Balrog's the boxer/black guy, Vega's the ninja/weapon user... hmm... I'm running out of stereotypes here... HALT!

Dan, Street Fighter Alpha: The Goof-Off (These jerks don't take fighting all that seriously, and they usually get their arses whomped as a result. They also often emulate (poorly, might I add) the style of another fighter in the game.

Cammy, Super Street Fighter 2: The Innocent Girl (Deceptively adorable (and perhaps hot) in looks, agile and brutal in fighting ability.)

Hmm... that's all I can think of... other typical varieties of fighters are welcome for addition!

[Jorpho]

Hmm... Let's see, what would Mortal Kombat have...

Ah, yes, the freezing guy! Sub-Zero and whatshisname from Eternal Champions fit the bill. (I wonder why Capcom or SNK never had one of those? I guess it would slow the gameplay down.)

[Retsudo]

Speaking of stereotypes, I wasnt surprised when I found out Deejay was designed by an american working for Capcom. Dont really want to get into details, but the African American people on this forum know what Im talking about. ...or maybe they dont

[§ Gideon §]

I'm not, so I don't.

[Funkenstein]

Not just Ramon though, you've got King in every Tekken, Raiden in Fatal Fury. A sub-stereotpe to "big guy" perhaps. You might need a geneology-style tree to keep track of this.

[Richter]

Although if she ever quick-changed into that sexy "Perfect Victory" outfit from Alpha 2, with the card betwixt her bosoms, I'd marry her on the spot.

that the one where she's in a Victorian style dress?

[13u1313a]

3 Characters ive not seen in here yet

Charlie (later became Blanka)= also a Guile-esque American Patriot

Necro= A blue Voodoo guy. Dunno what he's supposed to be

Remy= Pretty standard Punk-Fighter, never played as him though

If someones already talked about any of these then thats my fault for not reading the forums

Cammy is best female.

[Richter]

Charlie (later became Blanka)= also a Guile-esque American Patriot.

Charlie was never Blanka. Blanka's SSF2T(?) ending has him being called Jimmy.

that SF Movie probably imprinted that info into people heads o.o