Nash in alpha get killed by the traitor chopter but we don’t know Bison did’nt wanted him killed in that moment
In ASF Bison was going to kill him, but Nash just did his kamikaze thing
In ASF he was going to finish Chun, but Cammy jumped in saving her and they ran away (he did’nt bothrted follow them)
He exterminated FANG’s clan, if he was weaker will be dead too.
Seen he survived, Bison gave him a job
Destroyed Seth as a broken toy, Juri finishing him was just the cherry on top
Killed a bunch of peoples (like Chun’s dad), is just that main characters get a no-death script to keep them avaible in next games or you will see more deaths
Akuma was more a bushido guy, he will engage in duel to death with other fighters but that’s it, he will not kill random people, death is just part of his martial arts path
As main villains did’nt counted Urien, who’s more a sub-boss. He will kill as soon he get triggered indeed
On same vibe did’nt counted Nevalli neither, who’s even more and will eat any fighter he defeat
Was thinking Bison, Gill, Seth and Akuma (maybe G in future if we know more)
Bison doesn’t wrap up his evil in false wrappings of nobility and honor. He knows he’s evil, revels in the power it can give him and will seek more by any means necessary. Martial arts? Cool. Technology? Sure. Diet & exercise? Bring it on. Body possession? Awesome.
Bison is honest. He’s evil, to be sure…but honest about what he is and what he does. Does he still want to challenge himself as a warrior? Sure but he’s a win by any means necessary sort of guy.
Akuma?
Akuma is a coward deep down inside. An insecure brat that can’t stand that his brother is legitimately better than him as both a martial artist and a man. He surrounds himself in an air of noble warrior hogwash while he kills people with his bare hands because he thinks it makes him an edgelord bad-ass. He isn’t honest with himself. He tries to play at being a “warrior” but he’s too ignorant to understand the limitations of his own path because he wants more more more now now now. The quick and easy path.
A true warrior doesn’t just take the quick and easy path.
Akuma did and does.
He wields his fist recklessly and for self-aggrandizement. He claims its to test himself but a warrior doesn’t have to kill to test THEMSELVES. He’s trying to prove himself over and above others by permanently removing them from the playing field and, in doing so, forever limiting himself since his opponents can’t learn from the encounter.
There’s a reason Bison is the grand villain of so many characters stories but Akuma is basically a hidden speed-bump to Ryu’s own path. That said, both are good characters and fulfill their archetype well, I just have far more respect for an individual like Bison.
I agree with you wholeheartedly, but I will say this: Akuma sparing Ryu’s life in SF5 is IMO the start of a redemption arc for the character which I am looking forward to. I do think Akuma will probably end up killing a few others, chief among them is Gouken, before he finally succumbs and is defeated by Ryu.
In The Ties That Bind, which takes places 6-9 months before the actual SIN tournament, Ryu does defeat Seth. But it was Bison most likely who ultimately destroyed Seth in the end, and unofficially won the SF4 tournament.
If they progress Akuma towards Ryu Final Akuma where he realizes he has failed and can be nothing more than a useful stepping stone for Ryu, then that is good progression and a good arc.
Akuma isn’t meant to play the part of the grand villain. He was only meant as the antithesis of the hero. The answer to the question of what happens if the hero of the story turns into the villain?
The whole point of him in the story was to push Ryu into this end.
The thing that changes in SFV is that Akuma isn’t pushing Ryu into being the villain and seems generally interested in Ryu’s new power. So he spares killing him in order for his new power to grow. The thing is he probably knows Ryu’s new power won’t be a means to killing him, Akuma will end up killing himself but in order for Ryu to stand up against Akuma in their final fight he’s basically going to have to be strong enough to stand against to Akuma’s SnH long enough that he burns himself out since he won’t stoop to killing him.
Though Akuma would have a choice in the matter. He could let his pride get the best of him and let the SnH take control of him and take the Oni path or he can keep his humanity.
Ryu Final is the worst case scenario for the Akuma story arc as that basically means the end of Akuma and the rise of the Oni who basically removes himself as the secret boss character and hands the title over to Ryu and then they both become sort of an enigma. Akuma’s last act of humanity was to set up Ryu as the last connection to the past and future of his art and he accepted this fact. He told Ryu to send him his new generation as a confirmation that he be the torch bearer of the old arts to the new gen.
Akuma keeps his humanity and you have a sort of SF Alpha generations ending where Akuma over comes the SnH through Ryu’s ki purication.
They both continue thier rivalry but Akuma is free from SnH and goes to get stronger by his own means.
Ryu purifying the SnH in Akuma is plausible given he purifies Bison’s Psycho Power and I’m not sure it would destroy him like Bison unless he would fully give into the SnH. Akuma does still hold onto a sliver of his humanity which could end up saving him in the story. He stays Akuma because he won’t throw his humanity away. It would be interesting to see that as there really isn’t any progression left for Akuma as the villain as there’s the Oni which is his own darkside. Oni is basically Akuma if he would become the true villain in every sense with no humanity left.
Akuma is more interesting as the darker aspect of the hero, because there are stories of him in the back story where he is painted as a hero who saves innocent lives of a lost child about to be killed by falling tree, and even in Ryu Final he saves young Ryu from a wild bear who Gouken knew about and still let the young Ryu wander off in the wilderness in a stubborn attempt not to train him initially.
When Akuma is explored more as the dark element of the hero he’s a much more interesting character because it does show that element of humanity that you don’t see from him in the fights he takes place in.
I prefer Akuma also as a fool believing SNH is the best and final outcome of a warrior and an ansatsuken practitioner because of misunderstanding the true nature of SNH and not knowing the complete nature because of him indulging fully to it’s power. This ends up Akuma being consumed and dependent solely to SNH as the road to betterment, disregarding other ways of self empowerment without knowing the consequence and dangers that Goutetsu thought. While Gouken ends up trying to save his brother but Akuma denies and ignore him believing that he is just giving him limitation, because he saw Gouken as devoted follower of their Goutetsu.
It was confirmed by AAC that after Zero was implemented, Sagat wasn’t a member of Shadaloo. However, I don’t see why he couldn’t enter the tournament. Also, some SF2 sources mentions that he can’t stand Vega/Bison’s foul play methods any longer. And AE Sagat SF2 ending also fixed that.
Cammy discovered about her past during or at the end of the World Warrior tournament. Whay I really would like to know is how she saving the Dolls and being recaptured played out. From what I can see, she became aware of herself either by Dhalsim (Z3 arc) or by Rose (Z2Gold) intervention. She rebelled against Vega/Bison and Shadaloo, so Balrog/Vega was sent after her. He didn’t terminated her as was Vega’s orders, but brought her back to Shadaloo. She managed to convince the Dolls to break free from the brainwashing and fixed them with the Psycho Drive. (Z3 arc) Cammy came face to face with Vega, got defeated. Vega, realizing that she wouldn’t be a viable host body, brainwashed again (Z2Gold ending) and sent her to the British Intelligence as a spy. However, a landslide during a stormy night made a generator near the British Intelligence base explode, and Cammy lost her memory but was found by Delta Red (SSF2 Gamest backstory). Now I also wonder if she spent 3 years with Delta Red before SF2 just like the original story. If so, her rebellion against Vega/Shadaloo happened around 1988.
The Shadaloo base in SFV is ALSO in Thailand. Vanilla SFV globe displayed it’s localization pretty near the Temple Hideout/Ramayana Stage. I don’t know if the Temple is in ruins or not.
If memory serves me right, the buddha statue which houses the Psycho Drive laser and the one at the Sagat SFZ2 and SF2 stages aren’t the same. I think this was noted in AAC.
Yep correct. And SFIV totally ignores Honda in SF2.
Fun Fact: Fei Long’s movie was called “Street Fighter” in the overseas version of SFZ3 while the japanese text called it “Street King”. His movie in the japanese version of Vanilla SFIV is called “Street King 2”, the same movie name in SFZ3 Double Upper but with a added subtitle: “Street King 2: Three Dragons” also starred by Yun and Yang. “Street Tournament 2” is the movie’s name in the overseas version of Vanilla SFIV.
Actually… the Psycho Drive posed both a medicine and a venom for Vega. While it healed his body, he also used it to increase his power, which in turn, damaged his body. The true reason Vega wants Ryu’s body is because of the SNH inside Ryu. It’s the ultimate form of Psycho Power (Sagat and SNH Ryu Z3 story and endings). Without it, Ryu’s completely useless to Vega. Now, interesting, during the Zero arc, Vega was able to pull out the SNH with the Psycho Power. It seems that he can’t do the same now according with his winning quote to Ryu in SFV.
Actually he did… on his way to face Vega.
That’s an interesting one. Even though Guile knows that Nash is dead, he doesn’t mentions this in his ending (not even in his Revival ending). But he does mention about meeting Vega before and Vega confirms it. Who mentions Nash being dead is Julia/Jane. Either Guile fought against Vega during the maneuver that destroyed the Psycho Drive and freed Ryu from the brainwash/SNH state, or… it was during the episode where Guile tried to bring Vega to justice in court.
Now, in Zero 3, Guile saw the base exploding right in front of him, and yet, he believes that Nash is alive? I always thought that it was some kind of solace that Guile was speaking about Nash still being alive… but in spirit, not in the flesh anymore.
Now, for sure, after Nash being killed by that chopper, for sure someone at the army found the dog tags, and gave them to Nash’s relatives mentioning that he was dead. I think that Guile never believed that, and, after seeing that the air force wasn’t putting much efforts in finding him, and that his superior was calling off the search for the Liutenant, he decided to do that on his own.
Well, tah’ts what Capcom showed us with that timeline, also, Vega didn’t destroy the Psycho Drive, but several fighters did (Read, whoever you choose is the one who destroyed the Psycho Drive, just like the SF2 winner answer even though they already spilled it out it was Ryu ¬¬).
Some things do overlap, others are entangled and some are still the same, just like Vega and Ryu fighting twice (without counting SFV), one at the end of Zero arc, and the other at the SF2 final.
Nope. Vega didn’t enter the SF4 tournament. That was a mistranslation for the overseas version…
I’ll read it tomorrow, gotta wake up early (4:30am). Crap! #Rosefeelings
Also, what’s the conditions to make the “new challenger” appear in each of the ladders?
I know that Zero, SF2, SF4 and SFV have new challenger, but what’s the trick? I already stumbled with G in the SFV ladder just after my third battle (I had the 1 round setting), and he also appeared after the 7th batlle (didn’t use any continue). For SF4 ladder, I faced Shin Gouki after the final stage by just winning 2 perfect rounds and no continue. However, I can’t make it happen with the Zero and SF2 ladder. Any help?
SF current form of narrative doesn’t really fit having a tournament. I hope Capcom would really just erased the tournament confusion and make it just encounter, fights and challenges. The only thing that has something significant is Sagat vs Ryu and Gill vs Alex in the plot. While the rest of the encounter isn’t that required strictly to happen within a tournament settings. SF needs to look into how Samurai Showdown story goes. During SF2 the story fits something like Worldheroes but as thing progress it doesn’t and ends up more confusing and questionable.
Most of the game even SF2 doesn’t feel like a organized tournament other than individual looking for stronger and better opponent to challenge. The confrontation feels personal and stage seems empty unlike how KOF games vibe does entirely from fight transition, intro and stage environment. What makes SF feels a tournament is SOLELY the endings which is like SF2 and SF1 the rest was just a personal journey like a score to settle, to discover and to change or sometimes against the big bad.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate Akuma as a character…I hate the kind of person he is.
I also hate people somehow thinking he is actually noble or honorable when he is actually a shameful affront to the true spirit of enlightenment sought via self improvement.
Same here. I just meant that most other places I go, whether Tumblr or Twitter, people defend his actions and justify it.
But if there’s one thing that’s bad about Akuma as a character IMO, then it’s the fact that they “used him up” too quickly. SSF2T and the first Alpha built him up as this powerful character but with the rest of Alpha and SF3, all that mystery was quickly used up leaving him losing that speciality about him by SF4. Though that’s more of a understandable blunder on the writers part.
My take on the chronology is pretty literal and close to the games: Ryu beats Sagat in SFI, then a small timeskip, then Alpha 1/2 and its endings see Bison recruiting Sagat and the backstories of most characters develop, then a small timeskip, then Alpha 3 has Shadaloo being defeated for the first time by the combined effort of several warriors, then an at least slightly bigger timeskip because Cammy needs some time to end up in Delta Red’s custody and become one of their operatives, then in SFII the World Warriors fight Shadaloo again under slightly different and unclear circumstances compared to Alpha 3, then Seth and S.I.N. take over Shadaloo’s remnants in IV only to be defeated by a resurrected Bison, then another non-insignificant timeskip because Mel needs time to grow up (although, it doesn’t feel like a lot of time passed for everyone else), then in in V Shadaloo gets beaten for the third time, then one last pretty considerable timeskip into SFIII.
And yeah, it feels like Alpha 3 and SFII sometimes repeat the same plot points twice, but in my opinion that is caused by the fact that SFII was extremely light on plot when it came out and Alpha was the series meant to expand upon the story and lore of Street Fighter, to the point it ended up expanding on a few SFII plot points too even though it was supposed to be set in a different time period.
Capcom then never bothered updating SFII’s storytelling even after a million re-releases and even after the additions to the story made by the Alpha series (the most glaring one being Sagat, who apparently got sick of Shadaloo as early as Alpha 3 but in SFII he will always be portrayed as one of the four Kings).
People say that Capcom uses retcons a lot but my impression is different, they actually seem pretty reluctant in changing or talking about the events of old games.
I used to like Akuma for everything he was in ALPHA, 3S and especially in ST, but not in SFV.
I want him to be something that never obsesses on convincing Ryu. I prefer him into looking stronger opponent like he was before. The more he focus on concerning on Ryu the more he becomes another shitty cliche and boring villain that never suites his aesthetic and former bad ass representation.
Seeing this for the first time was…
He was badass.
He doesn’t need to kill Bison or Gouken to be respected and look upon to… the thing is he is to talkative nowadays that he needs to talk with Ryu.
Nowadays, It’s like he needs to PROVE something to Gouken and Ryu. It’s like he is asking for validation that SNH si strong or this and that… whatsoever. It’s like he doubts himself that he even needs Ryu as a validation to his chosen path.
He should be someone waiting for the strongest and willing to challenge not someone that seduce Ryu to be like him and fight him.
Rugal is pure bad ass he doesn’t give a shit, that makes him consistent for who he is he doesn need to kill know KOF character to be bad ass the thing is his not trying to convince he is badass.
I think they’re very different archetypes to begin with, to the point they got nothing in common beyond loving dat negative-ki
Bison is aware
He rep the modern archetype of evil/villain through the image of a our days WW2 nazi into human experiments, advanced tech, esotgeric shit and so on
He’s also a martial artist being into a SF game
He’s painted to be a villain in it’s pure form
Bison laughing in his death was cool because fit well a such self-aware char
Akuma represent corruption of martial art
Take what’s good about the martial arts path in it’s highest expression (wich Ryu is walking) and Akuma is the opposite of it… and the most pathetic thing is he does’nt realize it, he’s sure to be following some highest old school warrior way
While Bison “died” sticking to his opinion, Akuma will have to face the fact he’s been wrong all the time, dedicating his life, soul and body to an error
The coolest part is that will be Ryu, who’s younger, to show him that
What kept Akuma noble was avoiding to take advantage of Gen’s status that was a good thing they did before but now in SF5 his meh. They made him kill Gen? and made him concern to Ryu making him an inconsistent.
The one that should convince Akuma is Ryu not Akuma is convincing Ryu. Ryu should be the one that needs to seek Akuma and not Akuma waiting for Ryu.
Akuma should be waiting for the strongest warrior to challenge him not specifically Ryu.
