Hello friends, I am on a mask kick this time. The whole El Fuerte thing still weighs heavy on my mind. Capcom had a chance to create a memorable character with respect to the lucha libre traditions in Mexico. Instead they decided to come up with a personality gimmick first and then slap a mask on the character without fully understanding the culture of lucha libre. Capcom seemed fascinated with the concept of a fighting chef, rather than the concept of a luchador. The pants, and neckerchief always denoted cook. The early concept mask had a knife and a fork logo on either side of it They might not have known much about lucha libre aside from masks with colorful images but honestly, this was the best enmascarado they could come up with?

It is possible that the designers had no idea that masked warriors have been a part of Mexican identity for centuries, extending far back into the Pre-Columbian world. They might not have known that some villages have a tradition of wrestling in jaguar costumes for centuries. Or that centuries after the Caballeros Aguilas, folklore created the tradition of combatants wearing tiger / jaguar masks. These masked rituals predated the masked wrestling tradition that we now call lucha libre. If only Capcom had invested just a little bit more time and energy finding out about the culture rather than basing a character on assumptions and focusing so heavily on the cooking gimmick then maybe he would have had as much staying power as the original world warriors. At the very least they might have made El Fuerte less like Sega's El Blaze and more akin to King from Tekken.

A masked character can be filled with tremendous potential. Gamers and designers can put their own interpretations on these characters and make them as grand or as silly as they need to be. Capcom does not always have to spell out what makes these characters tick. Things like carrying a frying pan into battle betray the purpose of the character. Capcom used to be much better at realizing that. The mask itself is a great tool for artists and designers in fighting games. It gives us the luxury of playing into the unknown. It allows us to interpret the purpose and origins of the character without Capcom telling us. Who is this character and why do they hide their face? We should always want to find out more.

Capcom used to know what to do with masked characters. They were exceptional at designing them and giving them purpose without resorting to silly gimmicks. From time-to-time other studios were able to do one better than Capcom by placing a mask over a familiar template. Today we will go over some of the best "unknown" characters from Street Fighter history and see how the mask motif was used.

The enigmatic clawed protagonist has been part of SF lore for over 20 years. Geki the ninja predated Balrog (sorry, I use the Japanese names) by a few years. Ninjas are inherently cool characters to begin with. Their true face is rarely known, their techniques and fighting style secretive while their methods of assassination have been romanticized in manga, anime and film. There is little that a designer has to do in order to make a ninja fit into the SF universe. Assassins make for interesting characters and can be perceived as awesome fighters. Balrog took the concepts of the ninja in a radically different direction. The Spanish bullfighter made ripples in the game community as the premier assassin for Shadowlaw. Turning him into one of the elite bosses. He had been wearing a mask in order to protect his face, rather than to protect his identity. The large tattoo, bright clothes and ornate claws made him stand out. This look served to be the opposite of what ninjas were striving for. In the case of Balrog it worked to his favor and made him an example of imaginative masked character design.

Changing the purpose and origins of an ethnic identity with a mask turned out to be a good tool for character design. Sodom was a mish-mash of samurai armor and western clothing. This culture clash design made sense in the game and in canon. Sodom was not a very mentally stable character, his obsession with Japanese culture made him take up the helmet and motif of a modern day warrior. Gamers could tell these things when he first appeared in Final Fight and his reputation was cemented in the Alpha / Zero series. He lacked the skills with Japanese language and traditions thus making him even more obtuse. Yet it was that odd sense that made him unique. Gamers do not know and will probably never know his true face and origin. That air of mystery keeps him interesting.

If Capcom were to play the armor serious then they could still have a memorable character. Garuda was a man possessed by an evil force or something else, it was never fully explained. It never had to be spelled out either in order to make him interesting. His armor was a grotesque version of actual samurai armor. The mask, helmet and shoulder pads oozed personality. In a similar way they had done the same thing with the character Bishamon in Darkstalkers / Vampire. Designers at Capcom and ARIKA were able to turn a character that should have been antiquated into one of the most memorable bosses ever. They did so by playing up the unknown aspect, never revealing his true face or purpose and leaving in enough clues to make gamers think that demons could indeed be walking among the Street Fighters.

The masks featured in SF have not always been used to completely cover a face. When used properly even a half-mask could make a person seem more interesting than a full mask. Such was the case for Doctrine Dark from the EX series. His military stylings and origin were created to parallel the military legends from the SF universe, Rolento and Guile. The differences between the styles of fighting that all three soldiers used were in stark contrast with each other. Although D. Dark used trip wire and explosives like Rolento, neither played exactly the same or at all like Guile. The differences between their fighting styles were comparable to how Ryu and Makoto differed in karate. Giving D. Dark a mask helped him stand out among the military characters as Guile already had wild hair and Rolento had both a scar and red beret to make them memorable.

Q was a mystery overkill. He did not dress or move like a fighter. A suit, trench-coat, mask and hat were the polar opposite of the classic designs that had previously been used in SF. An attempt to make him seem unique and mysterious backfired, leaving many gamers confused as to his origins and purpose. Those that grew up on Japanese TV shows saw similarities between him and heroes like Robot Keiji. Sure the character was great for TV but in a fighting game the robotic mannerisms and grunts simply did not belong. But did this mean that henshin or tokusatsu characters couldn't fit into SF lore?

There was a fine balance between characters inspired by Japanese programming and those that could work in SF. Skullomania was even more outlandish than Q but he worked for several reasons. Players could tell this was a person in a costume with outlandish moves, clearly pretending to be a hero. He did not move or behave like a robot or try to create a false sense of mystery. This was just an oddball that broke up the consistency in the series similarly to Dhalsim or Blanka. However even this formula could be pushed too far. A powerful villain named Shadowgeist pushed the themes explored by Skullomania beyond their limits. The person in the costume was large, strong and wore a cape, akin to Vega (again, the Japanese name) and powered through the levels without rhyme or reason. He was neither a parody nor homage to Japanese programming but trapped in a sort of mix between comic book and tokusatsu ideology. He was unique to play but like Q, he had little staying power.

The hardest type of mask to pull off is done in plain sight. Dan, Ibuki and Cracker Jack are three characters that have been presented in various stages of subtle secrecy. Before Dan's origin and purpose were written into canon Capcom kept his look under wraps. They couldn't decide if he should look more like Robert or Ryo from the Art of Fighting, so they kept his face partly covered in the earliest character art. This lack of detail made him seem mysterious. Gamers couldn't wait to try him out and find out his origin. Ibuki succeeds as a ninja because she at least tries to keep her face covered. She respects part of her ninja tradition, yet as an inexperienced fighter she is also eager to relax once in a while and pull down her mask. These little personality quirks go a lot further than bringing a frying pan into battle.

Cracker Jack has long sideburns and a hat. You would think that gamers know his facial features after three games. However neither ARIKA or Capcom have ever released official art showing his profile. His hat is always pulled low and head is usually turned away, even in the game, so that players can never really get a good look at him. Hiding behind a hat and hair is a very clever way to mask a character. It is a disguise worn in plain sight. It allows gamers to speculate on why he is so secretive and what is his purpose.

I firmly believe that if the designers at Capcom think they are running out of ideas then perhaps they should revisit the use of a mask. For example, in the earliest designs of Dhalsim he was presented as some sort of elephant-masked character. This was quite silly and insulting to the Hindu religion, which venerates an elephant-headed deity known as Ganesha. Not that a stretchy-limbed yoga master was any more sensitive to the culture... They kept the elephant themes throughout the various stages and endings of Dhalsim in SF but not on the man himself. Capcom wisely ditched the mask and ornaments and made a memorable character by simplifying his look. Could the mask have worked if they revised the look and purpose of an Indian fighter?

What if Capcom had taken a more massive character, a wrestler like Darun Mister and then had combined the masked elephant theme to him? Capcom had already incorporated the proud Indian elephant into his championship belt design. A lot would have been lost if the facial features of Darun could not be compared to that of Zangief, yet I cannot deny that if done right a mask could have worked on Darun and have fit into SF continuity. Perhaps he would have looked something like Shouten from the parody shooter Cho Aniki.

Shouten is large and bulky like Darun, carries the classic elephant theme and makes for an interesting wrestling character. Those familiar with fighting games could interpret that this masked wrestler was a play on King from Tekken fame. Sure they had a speedy jaguar in their game but he was nowhere near as regal or intimidating as an elephant. This masked character could have served as a worthy rival to Zangief without being a stereotypical masked wrestler. Thankfully ARIKA modeled their character after the Great Gama. Whose influence, looks and larger-than-life exploits made him a perfect balance for Zangief.

This should not stop Capcom from exploring their options. Great masked characters are out there, some of which would work in SF and can be considered a different way of approaching a specific archetype. Since I am a huge fan of wrestling then some of the comparisons are more obvious than others. T. Hawk and Tizoc are two characters that could have been based on the same template. A slight change in the design approach, a new way of looking at the characters gave SNK somebody more memorable than most of the wrestlers in fighting games.

A mask does not an enmascarado make. Like karate was a fighting culture that embodied traditions and philosophies so too did lucha libre. Had Ikeno and company invested a little more time understanding the history and traditions then perhaps El Fuerte could have been an even more iconic character. Capcom should be mindful of how they use masks for their character designs. A character that lacks a certain spark might be made better if given a mask, or a hint of mystery. It allows players to assume the role of their character more easily. After all, how many of us claim to play a "godly" Ken or a "beastly" Zangief? This is because we play through the characters and the more that they leave open to interpretation the easier it is to relate to them.

A character that lacks a lot of details, visual cues and origin myth can be adopted easier into canon and the series than a poorly designed martial artist. There have been several "blank" templates used through the years that incorporate the moves of other characters. 12 from SF III, the Cyborg from the rarely-seen SF II anime movie game and the Cycloids from the EX series. These all predated the creation of Seth. I believe the Cycloids and Cyborg to have fit better into the titles because they borrowed openly from in-game moves. 12 instead moved and behaved like an anime character and could suddenly transform into a character he was facing. This connection was strained and had nothing to do with fighters or the series at all.

Perhaps the next Street Fighter game might make better use of the masked character. Capcom has been making some of the best mystery characters for decades. Many of which have already been featured in the SF series. Of course it wouldn't hurt them to also recognize the contributions from rival studios and learn from them as well. Masks have been part of human history since the dawn of culture. In the martial arts they take on a place of great distinction. Tengu masks, ninja hoods and samurai helmets, they defined the earliest characters and are due to make a return. After all, aren't you curious to see what could have become of those devil-masked ninjas from Hokuto's ending in Street Fighter EX?