Welcome back friends. I hope your week went well. I'm busy at work myself but am trying to make the time to finish up my thoughts on El Fuerte. I wonder why I didn't mention it yesterday while I was talking about the name of El Fuerte. A simple fix to make his name more meaningful, rather than the convention of placing "El" in front of his name like El Blaze, would be to call him Mascara Fuerte aka "Strong Mask." Many luchadors take their name from what their masks represents, like Mascara Sagrada (Sacred Mask), Mascara Divina (Divine Mask) and Mascara Dorada (Golden Mask). Renaming El Fuerte while still keeping his theme would be acceptable among fans.

I hope that this series opens the doors to understanding between the cultures on Unity and begins discussions on making the series more globally accepted. I hope that my fellow community members think of this series when they begin playing with El Fuerte in the arcade. I hope that Mr. Ono and his team take the time to consider my thoughts and address them in future revisions of the game and universe. I certainly don't mean to assume that Mr. Ono and his team have not carefully considered the development of any of the characters, I would just like to hear that they are being mindful of their global audience from time to time. If there is something they don't know about a culture or fighting style surely there is somebody at home or online willing to help. Consider my resume submitted in case you have a lucha libre question.

When a Street Fighter game is released it sets the standard by which every fighting game is measured. Since this is the first 3D Street Fighter by Capcom it is especially important that everything comes together at launch. When I started this series I said that I don't mean to pick on Yoshinori Ono and the team at Capcom. The reason I create these blogs is to inspire the fans of Street Fighter, to put ideas and observations online and give the SF Team some motivation. If there is perspective that I think might help the team I will put it out there and hopefully someone will listen. This is one of the things that makes the Capcom Community site important. I get a small space to share my thoughts on the series and know that somebody at Capcom is going to take a moment to read the blog. Do you know of any other publishers that keep such an earnest community atmosphere alive?

Mr. Ono and his team keep an eye on the forums, blogs and sites all over the net. Going through hundreds (or thousands) of threads in multiple languages, all while working hard on a game is a chore. Whether it was in Japan or the USA, fans would approach Mr. Ono and ask if there was ever going to be a new Street Fighter. He was able to use these live requests and online followings to show management that interest in the series has never been stronger. Mr. Ono in turn built the "field of dreams" and sure enough the gamers came. For doing this I am eternally grateful. However that gratitude does not mean I am willing to lighten up on my perspective.

I will keep posting my thoughts and observations here. If I think Capcom is doing a disservice to a series, game or character I will call them on it. However I am willing to do something here that I have not been accused of doing on 1UP for a long while. I will take the time to point out the good things that publishers and developers like Capcom are doing and say thank you. It wont be a back-handed thank you either but something earnest and sincere. Those that know me know that I am true to my word so when I say Mr. Ono and his team deserve thanks for Street Fighter IV I mean it.

Thank you for believing in the series.

Thank you for pushing to get Street Fighter IV made.

Thank you for including a Mexican enmascarado with El Fuerte.

Thank you for including an MMA grappler with Abel.

Thank you for including a new female with Crimson Viper.

I'll never thank you for Rufus, but hey, three out of four isn't bad!

Most of all thank you for listening to the people.

- Sincerely, Noe V. aka BigMex aka the dude in the El Fuerte mask

Now in regards to the question, is El Fuerte the best enmascarado in the Street Fighter universe? No... but he could have been worse. The good news is that El Fuerte has room to grow, his look and move selection to evolve and perhaps become an iconic character. Street Fighter IV went from announcement to arcade release in 10 months. It is easily the shortest turnaround in any Street Fighter game and it could not have been possible if the game were sprite-based. The good news is that within this window there is a chance to scrap the chef connection with El Fuerte, add some lucha-inspired special moves and grant him a better "purpose." The same goes for the other new characters as well. Some need just a little polish to make them true icons. There is possibly another 10 months until the console release of the game. During that time expect to see balance issues ironed out as well as changes to gameplay and control. Plus levels, characters and endings will be added plus a surprise or two.

I ask that the designers at Capcom be proud of what they have done but try to be more mindful of their audience next time. New Street Fighter characters are good but can always be better. As far as lucha libre goes there are dozens of great sites that could help inspire the evolution of El Fuerte for the console release. I would suggest visiting the Lucha Wiki page. It is filled with thousands of lucha libre performers plus just about every lucha move ever invented. These pages would serve to give Capcom a better sense as to capturing the look and spirit of lucha libre while still making for a fun SF character.

Hopefully Mr. Ono and the team at Capcom have been listening to this series. We never know what the future has in store but will be eager to see. Thanks for reading I hope you have a great weekend. Please leave a comment if you can.