Miscellany Vol. II: Wrestlers, Bushin-ryu and Odd Cameos
This page gathers wrestling fandom, martial-arts lineage and cameos across several media.
A close-knit wrestling world
Wrestlers in the Street Fighter universe seem to know and admire each other. Rainbow Mika idolises “The Red Cyclone” Zangief, who is a rival of Haggar, while the masked luchador El Fuerte is an open fan of Mika. In Udon’s Street Fighter IV mini-series her image decorates his cooking apron, and his restaurant in Mexico is packed with Mika merchandise: a poster, lunchbox, mug, mask, postcard, figurine and portrait. Mika’s trainer is Harmageddon Yoko, who can be seen on her scooter in some of Mika’s Alpha 3 win poses. According to the World Warrior Encyclopedia, Yoko is a former professional wrestler who had to retire with a back injury.
Guy and the 39th master
Guy’s Alpha 2 ending suggests he kills his teacher Zeku, the 38th Bushin-ryu master, to become the 39th. Only one master exists at any time. A master need not die to be succeeded, since Zeku evidently took over peacefully from Maki’s father Genryusai, but Guy and Zeku were ready to fight to the death to decide who was worthier. This is stated in the book All About Capcom Fighting Games but is missing from Udon’s encyclopedia, which only says Zeku tells Guy to “Overcome all” before Guy leaves to train in America and Zeku disappears.
Profiles written for Street Fighter V add more: Genryusai’s Bushin-ryu focused mainly on ninpo techniques, whereas Zeku took a range of hand-to-hand attacks and developed them to the point where they were practical in real situations.
A poster in Resident Evil Survivor
Among the least obvious Street Fighter references in the Resident Evil series is in Resident Evil Survivor (PlayStation, 2000). In Lott’s room hangs a poster drawn in the manner of Shuko Murase’s designs for the first animated movie. Ryu, Chun-Li and Cammy are easy to identify, T. Hawk is at the bottom right, Dee Jay may be in the top-left corner, and Fei Long is probably the figure beside Cammy.
Bison on the 3DS
M. Bison appears in the game room of the Japan-only Nazo Waku Yakata, a 3DS title that uses all of the console’s inputs. In the mini-game Street Fighter Nazo Waku Edition, you beat the Shadaloo dictator by shouting voice commands into the microphone. The game has been compared to WarioWare for its mini-games and unusual controls, but it has gone largely unnoticed outside Japan.
Street Fighter II V
A second animated series, made by Group TAC, began airing in 1995. Unlike the American cartoon, Street Fighter II V targets older viewers, and it shares an art style with The Animated Movie, since Gisaburo Sugii directed both. It adapts the Street Fighter II story loosely and changes many characters. Cammy, for example, becomes a devout Roman Catholic assassin in black with a crucifix choker. Like the American cartoon and live-action movie, it makes Zangief a Shadaloo henchman. Charlie Nash looks nothing like his game version, which makes sense because the series came before the Alpha games in which he became playable. E. Honda, Blanka, Dee Jay and T. Hawk are absent from the plot, and Akuma only has cameos.
Maki in Final Fight Revenge
In Damnd’s Final Fight Revenge ending, the blonde woman who has buried him up to his neck in Caribbean sand is Maki, a lead character in Final Fight 2. She is the daughter of Genryusai, the 37th Bushin-ryu master, which makes her a rival claimant to Guy’s title, and the sister of Rena, Guy’s fiancee. Her reaction to Damnd’s chat-up lines shows as a red slap mark on his cheek.
A Haggar lookalike in a role-playing brawler
Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom (1993) has a double of Mayor Haggar. After you choose your character, an unnamed innkeeper who looks like Haggar asks you to sign his guestbook and wishes you a good night’s sleep. Tower of Doom is the first of two side-scrolling beat ’em ups Capcom made from the classic tabletop role-playing game. Appearing some six years after Final Fight, it shows how the genre advanced, with more technical play including blocking, strong and turning attacks, dashing, crouching and evading, plus spells alongside found weapons. Its sequel, Shadow of Mystara (1996), was the second-to-last 2D arcade side-scrolling brawler from Capcom, followed only by Battle Circuit (1997).
