I am a stickler for detail, when SF characters are launched I like to find out everything that went into their design, from the colors that are associated with them all the way down to the way they stand. If you remember back to my deconstruction of Abel, I mentioned that many fighting game characters today lack the basic elements that make them look and move like fighters. These are the basic elements that work in the context of Street Fighter. It upsets me to think that the modern designers do not see this, or had not bothered to do any research on the fighting arts.
When it comes to the best games in the SF series and even the most memorable films like the Street Fighter II anime movie, the best material was always pulled from a real understanding of the fighting arts. For example the SF II anime movie had fight advisors and K1 legends Andy Hug and Kazuyoshi Ishii helping with the choreography. Can you name a SF animated project whose fights left as much of an impact? The further the producers and animation directors distanced themselves from the fighting arts and instead focused on fireball spectacles, like the latter SF II V and SF Alpha films, the weaker the material became.
The stance for example is one of the most important features in real martial arts. A martial artist / boxer / wrestler, will tend to stand on the balls of their feet. In this way they can move, turn or strike much more effectively than if they were flat-footed. Even athletes in other sports like soccer, basketball or football know to always stay on the balls of their feet or they will fall during quick turns or get bowled over by the opposition. This detail has been carefully exploited in all of the SF games.
Have you ever noticed that Ken and Ryu stand with a shoulder forward, arms clenched closely to their bodies? How they have a certain bounce in their stance, jumping on the balls of their feet? Or how Dudley turns his shoulder, wrist and forearm slightly as he bounces on his feet, like a real boxer does? Notice how Zangief (used to) have a wrestling stance, Chun-Li a very poised Kung Fu stance or Dhalsim an obtuse yoga pose? El Fuerte has an odd animation style as he dances and places his feet ahead then behind his shoulder width, taking him out of balance. It certainly looks fancy on screen but is not very functional. It also makes his animation cycle from dancing into an attack look awkward. The way the characters stand are little details that the SF team used to put into the series as a nod to the real martial arts.
Please watch this video very carefully, play it back a few times if you can or have the time. Make some observations and lets compare notes.
Here is additional footage of El Fuerte's other moves from YouTube as well. In the video El Fuerte is bouncing all over the screen like a man possessed, of course I think it absurd that Rufus is just as fast as El Fuerte, but again I digress. Something in keeping with tradition is that El Fuerte can bounce off the edge of the screen as if were ring ropes and he also has a very quick splash attack. These moves work in the context of the game and are inspired from reality. Initial posters on YouTube say he reminds them of the ninja Guy. His frenetic pace and ability to jump off of walls would validate those claims. El Fuerte's leaping grapple moves are more "floaty" and rapid, they remind me of the weightless neck slash of Heidern from King of the Fighters. Overall he has a few quirky wrestling attacks but doesn't seem to have any of the great 3D wrestler moves like the spiral DDT of Street Fighter EX character Darun Mister or the unique wrestling attacks from the Muscle Bomber characters, but more on them later.
The biggest problem that I see, the flaw in El Fuerte's abilities, are his special moves. For one of his grapple special moves he grabs his opponent, spins around them without moving them, then suddenly lifts and drops them on their head. This special attack isn't based on any real lucha libre move. Even strong characters should move when a wrestler grabs onto them and flips around their body. Grapple attacks that look good on screen include movement with the opponent. When a smaller SF character like Dhalsim remains solid while El Fuerte swings around him it looks very out of place. This detail was what reminded me of the Heidern neck slash attack.
El Fuerte's super move is comically absurd. He leaps onto the shoulders of his opponent and rolls them into a faceplant. But without explanation he and his opponent are suddenly standing up again as he leaps into the air, pulling his opponent by the head with his feet, where he then flips backward and locks his opponent into Tajiri's signature "Tarantula" (6:30 into this clip) and then flips forward into a tumbling piledriver.
El Fuerte's moves go above and beyond the "willing suspension of disbelief" issues that I brought up while deconstructing Abel. It is beyond belief that El Fuerte can jump on someone's shoulders and pull them into the air with his feet for a grapple. Even more absurd is that he can stop a rotation mid-air and then rotate the opposite way instantly. Through this super attack, as well as some of Abel and Rufus's physics-defying moves it makes me question the current SF team's ability to make the moves as timeless as SF II's.
Granted, like my Abel blog I said that Street Fighter is a universe filled with amazing fighters that can do fantastic things like turn their chi into a fireball or use psycho power to fly around the screen. However at some point in the creation of these characters and their moves there was a real-world inspiration. Ryu's famous tatsumaki senpuukyaku "hurricane kick" was based on the Yoshiji Soeno's aerial triple kick. The characters of Ryu and Sagat were even amalgamations of Yoshiji Soeno, Mas Oyama, Reiba and Black Cobra respectively. Where Street Fighter succeeded was in making caricatures of these martial artists and their fighting arts. Adding some artistic liberties that turned an uppercut into a lethal destructive force that could split boulders in two. The game was not too realistic and also not too fantastic, but a perfect balance of the two. El Fuerte would then need some exaggerated lucha libre-inspired moves to fit better into the universe.
A critic could say that there was no way Capcom could make high flying wrestlers work in the game without breaking the balance between realism and fantasy. They've already tried lucha libre moves in SF with the character Rainbow Mika. To many she ended up coming off cheesy and cartoonish. A wrestling ring would move into frame just so she could do her aerial attacks. This looked very much out of place and confused many players. Doing the same thing for El Fuerte would also be absurd, however he can bounce off the edge of the screen as if it were a top rope. It certainly makes more sense in the game.
The SF Zero / Alpha team at least had some knowledge and respect for Japanese female wrestling. They made sure to let fans know that R. Mika was pure "puro" as the Capcom Secret File for SF Alpha 3 (titled: Sweat Smelling Zero Three) was a parody cover of a popular Japanese wrestling mag (titled: Weekly Puroresu).
I certainly didn't get the same connection and attention to detail while watching some of El Fuerte's other moves. As far as 3D moves go it would be hard not to create a character that draws immediate comparisons to Virtua Fighter's El Blaze, but to think that the Double Hurricanrana is the only eye-catching move that you could assign a wrestler as fantastic and over the top as the Spinning Piledriver would mean that Capcom had not invested enough time studying lucha libre moves.
Rey Mysterio Jr. is not the be-all and end-all of modern luchadores. He is a great enmascarado and extremely popular around the globe but he is using only a fraction of the moves that he used to perform. Due to the danger involved with some of those moves he is now limited to what he is allowed to do with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). It is nice to see that Rey is referenced so much in modern fighting games and nicer yet that Tajiri, or at least some of Tajiri's moves get referenced in SF IV. But it's simply not enough because Capcom (or Sega) could have referenced more high-flyers and incorporate what makes them great. They could have let themselves be inspired by true lucha libre moves rather than make up nonsensical abilities.
There are plenty of great wrestlers that Capcom could be learning from like Mistico, El Sagrado, Rey Bucanero, La Parka, Shocker and Ultimo Guerrero. There are tons in Mexico and plenty in Japan so the dev team never has to travel far. In the USA guys like AJ Styles, the Jack Evans, Matt Sydal and Kid Kash are just a sampling of wrestlers whose high risk moves are more inspired than El Fuerte's.
Something else that Capcom and SF fans should notice is that although the above mentioned wrestlers are "high flyers," they all have different styles. The way one wrestler performs, even in the same weight class and format can be completely different than the way another performs. Yes, El Fuerte could "perform" as a ninja like Guy but I doubt that is what the people at Capcom had intended. Just as Ken and Ryu share one common form of karate each character performs the moves slightly different. Other karate practitioners in the universe have variations of their own. Dan Hibiki studies under the Saikyo Ryu school and Makoto under the Rindoukan form of karate, both of those characters control and play unlike Ken and Ryu. Developers need know the subtleties of a wrestler's style and ability and then bring that across to gamers. The impression of El Fuerte that I get is that of a speedy character that bounces off of walls and can lift people by the neck with his feet. Actual lucha libre moves are few and far between.
A true luchador is adept at a number of grappling techniques such as the mat skills that are more popular in the USA and England. However the defining characteristic for the luchador is the ability to fling himself with reckless abandon, to turn his body into a projectile and make up for his lack of size against larger / stronger opponents. This is what makes lucha libre, which translates literally into freestyle fighting, unique when compared to traditional wrestling or any other fighting art featured in Street Fighter. While purists admire the technical ability of the luchador on the mat, they are critical on the high risk maneuvers that define the culture. To them the risk of performing these moves to win a fight is not "worth it." To enmascarados the risk is everything. If I could advise the developers I would say that El Fuerte should have more of these amazing moves.
El Fuerte would be a better character if he had an assortment of absurdly insane leaping attacks inspired by actual enmascarados. Moves and abilities, that if you think about, have been sorely lacking in the SF universe. Moves that you as a player can activate from a crouch or roll, while dashing or recovering from a fall. Most importantly moves that can be done from a jump. El Fuerte does have some of these attacks but more air-based moves would be welcome in the series. This would change the game from being so lateral in it's left and right limitations and allow players to learn new strategies against or with aerial assaults.
The issues that I see with the look and move selection of El Fuerte are two of his great detractors. What upsets me the most is his purpose. How did the team at Capcom and DIMPS come to include El Fuerte in Street Fighter IV? I agree with all my heart that an enmascarado has belonged in Street Fighter for some time but if he lacks purpose, if he lacks understanding of the art he represents, then Capcom is doing a disservice to the game. Please come back tomorrow for the next part in this series. As always comments are encouraged!
