Miscellany Vol. II: Victory Icons, Handhelds and SF IV Cameos
Volume II looks at cameos in Street Fighter IV and Mega Man, the symbol system of an Alpha game, and some oddities from home ports.
Who rides the S.I.N. plane
On the Small Airfield stage in Street Fighter IV, a large S.I.N. aircraft lands, and if the round runs long enough someone appears at its door and raises a fist. Normally that is Balrog. If Balrog is fighting, Vega takes his place, and if the match is Balrog against Vega, M. Bison himself stands there. Sagat is excluded because by this point in the plot he has no ties to Shadaloo or S.I.N.
A Chun-Li lookalike on the news
The intro to Mega Man 9 (2008) shows a double of Chun-Li reading the news. It is likely a joke on the live-action Street Fighter film, which made “Chun-Li Zang” a reporter instead of an undercover Interpol agent. One of her Third Strike win quotes addresses the confusion directly, with Chun-Li protesting that she is a fighter, not a news reporter. Although it came out on seventh-generation hardware, Mega Man 9 deliberately imitates the 8-bit style of the franchise, with graphics and sound in the spirit of the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Senoh, from the first animated movie
The scientist in the background of M. Bison’s Alpha 2 ending is named Senoh. He was brought over unchanged from the first animated movie, where he is a senior member of Bison’s team on the mind-control research. He speaks to Bison several times and is treated with obvious contempt.
Reading the victory symbols in Zero 2 Alpha
Street Fighter Zero 2 Alpha shows a different symbol under the winner’s life bar depending on how the round was won:
- V: a normal attack.
- S: a special attack.
- Z: a Zero Counter (an A for Alpha Counter in the international version).
- Lightning: a Super move, with one to three stars according to strength.
- Lasso: a throw.
- Cherry: a light punch or light kick.
- Cheese: chip damage, with an S or star for a special or super finish.
- Hourglass: more health than the opponent when time ran out.
- Custom Combo: each character has their own icon.
- Ten symbol: Akuma only, for Shun Goku Satsu.
- Mobi-chan: a taunt that attacks, possible only for Akuma, Birdie, Chun-Li, Rolento, Sakura and Sodom.
A letter P is added next to each symbol, except Mobi-chan, for a perfect victory.
Chun-Li’s classic costume
The Street Fighter II outfit is available in both Alpha 2 and Alpha 3 but is easy to miss. In Alpha 2, put the cursor over Chun-Li, hold Start for five full seconds and then confirm. In Alpha 3 it is picked automatically whenever she is combined with the X-ism style, and since most players choose A-ism, few ever see it.
The weakest port of them all
Among conversions of Street Fighter II, the Tiger Electronics LCD handheld is arguably the most reduced, though it is collectable. Its six characters (Guile, Ryu, Ken, Zangief, Blanka and E. Honda) are rendered in simple liquid-crystal graphics and share little with the console or arcade versions beyond names and artwork. A Super Street Fighter II sequel exists with Guile, Cammy, Fei Long, Dee Jay, T. Hawk and Ken, and there is an even rarer Tiger game watch that appears to offer only Guile and Blanka.
Edited intro in Final Fight CD
The Sega Mega CD release, Final Fight CD, shows how international versions were altered to avoid complaints from pressure groups. The Japanese intro has Jessica stripped to her underwear, which hints at an attack, while the international one dresses her in red. As in the first Super Nintendo ports, Sodom was renamed Kitana, Damnd became Thrasher and blood from weapon hits was removed. Unlike the Nintendo version, Poison and Roxy remained, in tamer clothing than in Japan.
