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Hugo's New Generation stageWhilst Hugo's sprite appears unfinished in the code for New Generation the artwork for his stage background seems to be fully complete. In fact, it could even be said to be more complete than the finalised version which debuted with Hugo in 2nd Impact as it has two variants (as per many of the stages in Street Fighter III) whereas the 2nd Impact version contains just one. Variant one is extremely similar to the one seen in 2nd Impact, a beer festival in Munich with many revellers in attendance (but note the addition of a table with some sausages). The second round variation depicts the exact same scene but with no crowd whatsoever and the massive beer stein on the ship in the background sways back and forth. Both the unused New Generation version and the 2nd Impact version contain a breakable barrel on the far right side.

Future CopsThe 1993 action-comedy film Future Cops (Hong Kong) was the first to feature characters from the Street Fighter series, albeit under transparently obvious pseudonyms as the filmmakers could not secure the rights to use the actual characters' names. So, for example, 'Broom Man' is Guile, 'Ah-Sing' is Dhalsim and 'Toyota' is E. Honda. The character Kei-On can be seen playing a Champion Edition arcade (Guile vs. Ken). Besides the characters' likenesses and the mimicry of some of their signature moves, the film bears almost completely nothing in common with the storyline of the actual games. The director, Wong Jing, was also responsible for City Hunter, also released in 1993, which featured the first licensed depictions of Street Fighter characters in film prior to the official (live-action) movie starring Jean-Claude van Damme one year later (which was itself quickly followed by the far superior Animated Movie).

Oro's exposureConsidering the scarcity of actual nudity in video games (as opposed to the ubiquity of titillation) and even less so male nudity, it comes as some surprise to discover that the answer to the question, 'What does Oro wear beneath his robe?' is revealed to be, 'nothing at all' by a single sprite in Street Fighter III. As Oro performs his 'strong sweep' attack his robe flares open to denude first his buttocks and then his membrum virile. Whilst no reasonable person could possibly find this offensive (let alone arousing) it nonetheless stands as an unusual level of detail, yet entirely appropriate to an aged ascetic who possesses literally nothing at all, save for the tattered robe on his back.

Educational videoStreet Fighter II: Yomigaeru Fujiwara-Kyou, is a 1995 educational video released in Japan only. Following closely after The Animated Movie, Yomigaeru Fujiwara-Kyou shares a very similar, albeit rougher, art-style with its predecessor. Despite bearing the Street Fighter name, the short film is unusual for containing no violence whatsoever. Rather, it is an educational video commemorating Fujiwara-kyō, the Imperial capital city of Japan between 694 and 710 ad, the first Japanese capital laid out in a grid pattern. The film contains Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and E. Honda.

Street Fighter voice differencesInternational versions of Street Fighter contain different vocals for Ryu/Ken's special moves; loose translations of the original Japanese phrases. So, Hadoken becomes 'White Fire', Tatsumaki Senpukyaku becomes 'Hurricane Kick' and Shoryuken becomes 'Dragon Punch'. This localisation policy was dropped (by and large, see next page) for the sequels meaning that characters retain their native battle cries wherever you live in the world. In Street Fighter IV both Japanese and international voices are available yet the words spoken are the same; Hadoken is always Hadoken, it's only the voiceover artist that changes.

The Storytelling GameBased on the mechanics of White Wolf's World of Darkness games, Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game is an out-of-print role-playing game featuring the cast of Super Street Fighter II. The basic module was released in 1994, shortly followed by five supplementary books crossing over into 1995, including Secrets of Shadaloo which introduced the 'Four Devas'. The storyline strays from the established canon, wildly so with the introduction of mutant hybrids and cyborgs in The Players Guide supplement and the original artwork is, from the very beginning, bewildering and at times laughably unappealing. Nonetheless, testimonials from actual players are largely positive and the RPG remains highly collectable.

Bison's Super endingM. Bison's Super (and indeed Super Turbo) ending where he states that, ‘Not even the "Ancient One" was brave enough to challenge me’ is baloney inserted by Capcom USA and this specific line does not exist in the Japanese version. It seems most likely that it was inserted to generate hype about a hidden character, as per Sheng Long following World Warrior. If, for whatever reason, one wanted to ret-con it, Akuma could arguably be cast as The Ancient One, as he was a hidden character in Super Turbo, and annihilates Bison before the start of the player's battle with the dictator (if conditions are met). So, what does the Japanese original ending say in place of this line? Well, the Turbo Revival port has it pretty close (italics here mine): 'Now there's no one to stand in my way! No one! Kneel down before me! The world is mine!'

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"a weak shell for a weak soul. it was an easy task to separate the two..."

NAME: Akuma

NATION: Japan

HEIGHT: 178 cm

WEIGHT: 85 kg

B/W/H: 118 84 86

BLOOD_TYPE: ---