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Dan's style of fighting is Saikyō-Ryū karate, his own blend of Gouken's teachings and Muay Thai. 'Saikyo-Ryu' translates as 'the strongest style', a delusion that Dan persists via the founding of a dojo in that name in his Alpha 2 ending. In his Alpha 3 ending Dan demonstrates to his friend Blanka (who he calls by his proper name, Jimmy) a rolling attack and proclaims Blanka a 'student of Saikyo style'. The friendship is reaffirmed in IV as each character appears in the other's story. Despite her superiority Sakura is also a student of sorts and, notwithstanding her frequently hospitalising her 'master', she and Dan appear to share a cordial relationship. Although Dan is presented as a weak and comedic fighter, his deficiencies are relative to the 'World Warriors' around him; compared to regular fighters Dan is indeed a skilled martial-artist.
C. Viper's daughter is named Lauren, she is seen, for instance, in The Ties That Bind feature bundled with the 'Collector's Edition' of Street Fighter IV and in Viper's Super IV ending. This revelation makes Viper the first mother to be a playable character in the series. Guile, Dhalsim and, later, Ken are all fathers. Viper's profile states that she 'keeps her emotions in check at all times' but her maternal instinct and love for her daughter threatens this camouflage and is a cause of emotional turmoil as she vacillates between her duties as mother and as double-agent.
Sodom's truck in the background of his Alpha 2 stage is reported to change to become Americanised once in every 4096 matches. In this version of the stage all Japanese characters become Latinised and the man on the side of the trailer is wearing sunglasses and smoking a cigar! Regardless of the validity of the rumour that this variation appears in Alpha 2 it very much does appear as Sodom's background in Zero 2 Alpha (a.k.a. Alpha 2 Gold or Alpha 2'). Not a huge amount of text gets changed here anyway: from left to right, 'Shogun', 'Power', 'Cat' and 'Wild'. One very subtle change, however, has Mt. Fuji replaced with a triangle and the letter 'S' on the top of the truck's cab.
In the wake of the popularity of World Warrior a number of bootleg versions of the game were ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System. The most famous of these are Street Fighter II (Yoko Soft, 1992), title-hacked as Master Fighter II (XOXO Soft, 1992) and Street Fighter III (unknown developer and not to be confused with the legitimate sequel). Street Fighter II and Master Fighter II feature Ryu, Chun-Li, Guile, Zangief and M. Bison (spelled 'Viga' here and non-playable). An updated version, Master Fighter III, allows the player to select M. Bison. Street Fighter III reportedly plays a lot better and features nine playable characters (Ryu, Blanka, Guile, Ken, Chun-Li, Dhalsim, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison). It should be pointed out that 'Ken' is actually Ryu wearing a pink gi, perfecting the concept of Shotoclone!
Astonishingly, the box art for the NTSC version of Final Fight 2 (SNES, 1993) contains characters that are lifted verbatim off the box art for Streets of Rage (1991) and Streets of Rage 2 (1992) produced by Sega's AM7 division for the Mega Drive/Genesis. This 'borrowing' is best understood as Capcom's acknowledgement of the perception that Sega had ripped them off in making the Streets of Rage series; great games in their own right but nonetheless clones of Final Fight (1989). In addition to the green creature emerging out of the sewer, the man leaning out of the right-hand window and the knife-wielding man falling backwards, the women delivering the flying kicks (Blaze and Maki, in theory) are in identical poses.
Released as part of the 15th anniversary commemoration of the series, the Street Fighter Tribute Album contains new interpretations of each World Warrior theme, mostly in a dance/electronic style. Takenobu Mitsuyoshi's take on Ryu's theme, here entitled 'Fist of Wavemotion', is particularly notable for the inclusion of lyrics. In glorious 'Japanglish' Mitsuyoshi sings (and it's brilliant interpretation by the way):
I want to know how tough it's / I want to know the place where my soul is burned out / In order to draw two and the simple answer which is not / I continue following an endless way
The hair waving in the scorching biting wind / The body flickers slowly like a flame / It's prevention about feeling intense to quiet inside / Nobody can stop the blow the wave motion emitted / The days which shed each other blood mutually start again [Chorus]
It has run through fighting to the extent that it cannot finish counting / Am I tough? Can I become how far tough? / The again same throught is only repeated / The dream of the dragon which rises in the heavens is seen [Chorus]
The wave motion emitted / The days which shed each other blood mutually start again [Chorus x2]
T. Hawk's stage background in Super is unmistakably the Hospicios Cabañas in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. The Hospicios is a World Heritage Site and was founded in 1791 by the Bishop of Guadalajara to combine the functions of workhouse, hospital, almshouse and orphanage. The structure was designed by Manuel Tolsá and the interior is decorated by a series of monumental frescoes by José Clemente Orozco.