The Street Fighter Plot Canon Guide development thread

So I guess we have a bit of a decision to make. Vasili will release Tiamat’s final version as a base to work on in a few weeks time if Tiamat doesn’t object (which seems pretty unlikely). This begs the question how we should proceed from here.

Should we start writing from scratch, and merge whatever we write into that version later? Or start with Tiamat’s version 4.4 now, and merge to his updated version later? Or just put a hold on all changes until we have everything?

What do you guys think?

I do not mind either.

I am willing to start from scratch.

I suggest waiting for Tiamat’s answer (and Saiki’s full reply) and then use 4.4x or 4.4 if he says yes or does not reply.

It would save lots of time, and I think that once he carefully reads the past events he will/would allow a new version of the guide in some way (maybe choosing a head for the project even if it’s a joint effort? whatever). He’s a nice and open guy who loves the Street Fighter story and its community.

Also there’s this quote which is quite insightful:

"The SF story is too convuluted and on crack for just one person to handle ^_~ "
Tiamat 11/12/2001

In the mean time, I’m scouring the main thread for references, sources and challenges to stuff in the plot guide that Vas shot down to see if there is more stuff we should be considering for the guide. I figure it’d be best if we try to take into account claims or challenges other folks who might not still be around might have made against content in the guide. That way we can consider more than just what we all think.

So far I haven’t found anything outside what we’ve listed really…though it is an infuriating process in light of recent events.

Though it’s also good for laughs occasionally…found this gem…

Vas - “Gouki I can see as culturally based on the ashura, but CJ says that visually he’s based on the deva”

Me - “Ashura are one of the types of Deva’s”

That always makes me giggle. I’ll continue my work. Getting a bit bombarded on Unity too from people coming out of the woodwork to try and challenge stuff in the guide. Not super bombarded, mind you…but enough. A lot of it is stuff we’ve already got in there so no worries.

What about the books? I think we should make a list of what we have until now… I can provide scans or pictures if needed.

I’ll make my (short, as I don’t have that many) list as soon as I get home.

Ah that is a good idea as well.

One thing I found was…Bison’s shoulder pads channeling Psycho Power from the Psycho Drive…I’ve never seen that substantiated anywhere.

I can take a catalog of my books tonight…and actually should have another book arriving today

Man, this is one of the few instances I regret not visiting this forum more often. I’ve had plot guide 4.4 since forever (as I said in the main thread, it was the last version I was able to read properly) and could have provided it sooner. Oh well.

Bring on Saiki’s post!

So if we don’t hear back from somebody by end of the weekend, I think what we should do is I’ll put up empty files back into the repository with the same outline structure as the guide. People can start adding stuff to those, and they will be easily mergable into the guide if and when we get permission to do so. And if for whatever reason we decide to start over, that work will still be a good beginning for that.

Don’t really know who (i.e. which group of individuals) is gonna handle the new plot guide, but I think it’d be a good idea for anyone who knows Japanese to try their absolute best to translate in English that flows well. That would really be a tremendous service to the community. Could establish a checks and balances system, if you know what I’m saying.

I definitely agree with that. Getting translations that are functionally gibberish are not really that useful.

So many things to write about I don’t even know where to begin…
Regarding the SGS. I do agree with the notion that the SGS is a physical attack since it’s clearly stated in SF4 now. If anything, my assumption will be that the SGS is more like how it was described in the manga Ryu final.
Regarding Charlie Nash’s name, it’s in game so that’s his full name.(Most likely it was Capcom not wanting to create two seperate scene’s for each version and just made Charlie Nash his full name to make it easier)
I couldn’t find the reference I had regarding Vega’s shoulder pads channeling his powers. I do recall reading it somewhere. The closest I could find was in the Street Fighter Memorial official fanbook that states his armor is channeling/powering up his powers.

I am quite a bit out of touch with the story in SF4. I kinda lost interest since a lot of the characters that died were brought back to life.
Somewhat curious about all these supposed mistranslations that happened tho…
Anyways, I’ll try to post as much as possible and contribute

Saiki just made my heart grow three times this day!

…which is probably a serious medical problem but I don’t care! I’m walking on friggin’ sunshine!

Glad to see you posting Saiki! I’ll be glad to post my findings. Right now, I’m just going through the history of the thread for on going items that were either unresolved or translations that seemed off. I’ll be done in about a week or so and then I’ll make mention soon after that.

Tiamat recently responded and graciously allowed the use of his file found here: http://www.sendspace.com/file/b7vff3

However his first recommendation remains the same as mine: you’re better off starting from scratch. End.

do you know it’s impossible to find that Alpha Movie interview I was credit for in the old guide now? it’s been so long that now it’s gone, so trying to find it on the net would be a waste of effort.

It’s mostly that the translations are only barely readable because of broken English grammar.

Also for a long time Vasili claimed that some of the Japanese quotes were quite explicit in saying that Gouken and Gen were not alive for real, and then Azrael came to this section and said there wasn’t the slightest hint of that. From what I see, that had to do with Vasili wanting to see way too much into those quotes, not because he made a faulty translation of them (other than the broken English as usual).

Indeed. There was also the blatant misrepresentation of the events of Gouken & Gouki’s epilogue’s in SF4 in order to further support the “ghost” argument. There’s also inaccuracies in the guide regarding the Shen Long situation.

The shear illegibility of the translated quotes is what most people talk about though…they make some of SNKs worst engrish look positively Shakespearean.

I was CCed on one of the E-mails so I can confirm that we have been in contact with Tiamat at least. He’s not dead hooray! Lol!

For what it’s worth me and vasili10 will continue the CFE Faq bit by bit. I won’t make a big thing about it on Warrior’s Fate. Just check my sig whenever it changes, probably a month or two from now. Any questions on quote translations feel free to PM me.

A couple of folks have already mentioned items that are important for the new plot guide and I’ll mention a couple too… Are we going to keep the JP names or go with the American names? Personally for posterity alone it’s good to have the JP names. Gouki’s name really defines who he is… Someone with a strong spirit. Akuma? Techincally he isn’t an evil spirit. Powerful yes. But not demonic though.

What is the exact aftermath of SF2? Did dictator get SGS’d by Gouki, was the SF4 C. Viper trailer the end of the tourney, or did both of those things happen? Not aware of anyone asking Ono-san this, so I’ll give it a go.

Any chance of retranslations of Vas work, especially pre SF4? To his credit lots of stuff he had right. But many things he’s put together ain’t that easy to understand.

Is Zangief gay? Personally I don’t think so. Lol

Personally, I really loved Tiamats guide, and I’m not sure you even really CAN start from scratch and still contain a lot of the more interesting information in it, since a lot of it comes from personal sources that you won’t likely be able to find reference for anywhere else on the internet.

That was always my problem with it. Back in the Tiamat days, the guide for me, was how I familiarized myself with the entire SF mythology. And I spent hours reading it and all the translated information was fascinating and informative.

Once Vas took over, all the translated sections suddenly read like they’d been fed through Googletranslate.

Yeah, it was probably a much more literal translation, but it became much worse at it’s intended purpose of informing people about SF because just making sense of it became a complete chore.