The fighting game genre isn't as popular as it was in the early 90's, but given the attention that Street Fighter IV has garnered in the past few months it is safe to say that the fans haven't gone anywhere. Director of SF IV, Yoshinori Ono, believes that the game is like a sleeping giant, ready to be roused from a long slumber with a kick to the ribs. I believe the genre is asleep as well but more than just to be awoken it is ready for a renaissance.
Developers from every corner of the world are going to take notes on SF IV and begin developing fighting titles of their own. I'm certain there are fans ofKiller Instinct ready to pounce on Rare when they see a potential for success. Those old enough to remember Primal Rage will petition to get some closureon the sequel. But those that focus too much on the past will fail to see the future of the genre. The world has grown quite a lot since the 90's. There is a whole new generation ready to test out the fighting genre.
The only guarantee that we have is in Capcom capturing the pure aspect of the fighter without 3D gimmicks. Until SF IV comes out we have to find titles cut from the same cloth. I don't mean a fighter by SNK, Namco, Taito, Sammy or DIMPS, but something more local. The game featured today has a lot of the classic Street Fighter vibe, it's creator inspired by Capcom's greatest, Street Fighter Alpha.
It has been two years and three months since I last did an interview with Scott C. Stoddard. His name should be important to you and everyone here on 1UP, especially those that consider themselves fighting game fans. Scott created a fighting game by himself. Okay, to be fair, his friends Adam Ford (most of the backgrounds and character selection art), Ethan Halvorsen (new music), and Trent and Melissa Halvorsen (arcade dialogue and ending art) helped at the end. Regardless I don't know of anyone else that can claim to have made a good, let alone great, fighting game all by themselves. I'm talking about character designs, backgrounds, models, animation, music, balance... the works. In this age of multi-million dollar development budgets, Hollywood writers and endorsement deals, it is humbling that one man is keeping the genre alive. The name of the game (in case you haven't guessed) is Capoeira Fighter 3. Go on and check out the demo but be sure to come back here.
Capoeira is a beautiful martial art. It looks amazing in videogames like Tekkenand Street Fighter III and doubly amazing on film. A former practitioner of the art, Scott currently works at a game studio but has been filling his free time by plugging away on Capoeira Fighter for near a decade. As a dedicated family man his time is precious, it takes years for his titles to come out. Unlike Capcom, Scott has never stopped working on his series. This most recent release is by far the best and deserves some love on 1UP (and Capcom-Unity).
BigMex: Scott, it's great talking with you again. So tell us are you still with the team at Avalanche? I understand the company is part of Disney Interactive now. How is this working out for you?
Scott Stoddard: Disney is a great employer. I did have to animate Hannah's singing lips for the Hannah Montana Wii game, but I'm lead animator on a cool IP project right now. Plus I get into Disneyland free!
BM: The team at Avalanche (and you) now keep a blog. On the Avalanche Software blog the artists all contribute to monthly themes. Are you going to become more involved with those now that Capoeira Fighter 3 has gone "gold?"
SS: I plan to. I've had a lot of fun with my posts in the past, just been a matter of priorities lately trying to get CF3 out the door. All this coding is turning my brain lefty. I definately need to do more good ol' drawing and painting.
BM: Before we get to the actual CF3 questions is there an upcoming game you are working on with Avalanche that you'd like to mention?
SS: Sorry can't mention anything here, but I can say that it is more exciting to work on than Hannah Montana.
BM: Now let's talk about the genre. The fighting game scene has been pretty quiet these past few years. Everything changed in October when Street Fighter IV was announced. What was your reaction to the announcement?
SS: Loved the trailer. Watched it a few dozen times. The motion and ink effect was fun. The impacts and cloth had a great feel to them. Only hitch was the faces and hair. They look really, I mean REALLY bad compared to what I know Capcom is capable of. They've had so many cool stylized versions over the years, but SFIV looks like they hired a middle schooler to design the faces. Very sad to see them going away from the anime look.
BM: Back when I first interviewed you two years ago, you mentioned that Capcom needs to do a cel-shaded 3D fighter with all the characters from past titles. Your words now seem prophetic as details of SF IV have been released. Were these steps logical for the franchise?
SS: As long as the gameplay stays true to the old 2D version, 3D has some very attractive advantages.
BM: What are the advantages of working in 3D over a sprite-based system?
SS: Itteration, itteration, itteration. It is so much easier to fix and change things on a 3D character, or tweak 3D animation. Let's say you want to make Ryu's head smaller (or you want to make it ridiculously small like they apparetnly have for SFIV). In a 3D system, you just open the model, scale down the head, re-export and your done, maybe 5-10min tops. If you want to shrink the head on a 2D character, you're pixel pushing every sprite, probably days, if not weeks of work.
The main thing 2D still has going for it is control. You know exaclty what that sprite is going to look like because it is only ever going to be seen from one angle. In a 3D game, an animation might look great from one angle, and terrible from another.
BM: Is there a particular character that you can't wait to try out?
SS: Mostly I'm just curious to see the gameplay in motion. The screen grabs didn't wow me, but you've really got to see it in motion to judge it fairly. Some of the screens looked like the faces were going to be a lot more animated, which looks promising. I guess I would go for Ryu because it would be easiest to get a feel for the new gameplay using a familiar character, unless of course they include Elena... got a soft spot for capoeiras.
BM: What do you think about the Saving / Revenge system that EGM / 1UP has reported on?
SS: Hmm... I'll have to try it out. Sounded kinda mudddy in the article I read, but might work better in actual gameplay. The idea of keeping the match interesting to the very end is definately a good goal.
BM: Now that we have established your love of the Street Fighter franchise let's talk a little about your title. It's been two years and change since we last spoke, can you guess how many hours you've spent bringing Capoeira Fighter 3 from beta to final copy? Or specific time spent balancing moves and tweaking the engine?
SS: 1,000's easily. Adam Ford who worked on the backgrounds, and had a strong SF background played CF3 with me on our lunch break almost everyday. I also played nights, and my brother John put in quite a few hours with me. Overall I am very satisfied with the final product. There are still a lot of things that other games do better, but I have to honestly say, when I get together with friends that used to play SF, we would rather play Capoeira Fighter now.
BM: How has the reaction been for your title during development and final release?
SS: We've got some diehard fans out there. We're starting to get more fan vids on youtube. That's fun to see what people are doing with the game. I've also invited the shoryuken.com forums to test it out, they have responded pretty positively, and made some very useful suggestions that I implemented. Things are still pretty quiet as the final build is only available on my site right now where it's had a few thousand hits. Shockwave is really where most of the fans play it. I expect things to be more exciting when Shockwave releases the download version in Jan-Feb '08. Usually get over a million hits a month there.
BM: You mentioned previously that once CF3 was finished you hoped that a publisher might bring it to the home consoles. Any luck with that?
SS: I've talked to a few companies about getting it ported to XBLA and there have been plenty of fans asking for a console version. Turns out it's really tough and expensive to develop for consoles, so to answer your question, we're looking into it, and we want to do it. It's just a matter of finding the right company that is willing to port our game instead of working on their own IP.
BM: There are new and expanded modes in your game, ways to cancel out of combos and supers, a story mode, tag team, solo and versus options. Can you highlight the control scheme and these new modes for us?
SS: Yeah, CF3 is um... full featured to put it nicely (bloated is how I was feeling trying to bug test all the little things I've put in over the years), but the final product is very satisfying and much deeper than most fighting games.
As far as the fighting system goes, there are quite a few little polishing tweaks in the final build. CF3 is very combo heavy. Special moves can be linked with regular moves, but cannot be repeated in a combo unless a hyper move is used to cancel the move usage. To balance out the crazy long combos, you can special dodge to escape between moves or to air recover. So you see a lot of situations where one guy gets an uppercut into a jump kick, then he escapes and returns a punishing downward blow sending the attacker back into the ground. The back and forth in the air is lots of fun, and tends to generate gameplay that is more focused on the flow of combos and escapes than any one move by itself.
We also added color coated swooshes to indicate overhead hits so you can tell how you need to dodge.
There are the usual arcade and versus modes, plus a few other practice and minigame modes.
Capoeira Fighter 3's arcade mode is unique in the fighting genre, because of the branching story. You choose one fighter to start, and depending on that character's story, you may or may not start with a partner. The cool thing is that the partner's story is actually part of yours. Half way through you'll have the option to switch partners, or in some cases to go solo, so there are two endings for every character. Trent Halvorsen and his wife Melissa did all the writing and ending art, and they did a great job weaving all 29 character's stories together. It is also possible to play co-op if your fighter has a partner. I've had a lot of fun playing through co-op with my 4 year old son. He can already do most of the super moves.
The other unique thing to Capoeira Fighter is the match types. My brother an I grew up on snes Street Fighter II. We started to get bored after a while, so we set up our own mini games, seeing who could get the other guy against the wall first, or who get past the guy to his back wall first. So when I made Capoeira Fighter, I wanted to put more of that stuff in the game to mix it up and keep the game fresh longer.
We ended up with 6 match types, all of which I enjoy (Adam hates the money game). Knock Out is the regular beat-up-the-other guy match. Then there is Ring-King, where you can damage your opponent by keeping them out of the center of the arena. Ring of Fire has a fire pit where you can score extra damage knocking the other guy into it. Money Game plays like capture the flag, and finally Ring Out is a quick match where the first guy to be hit out of the arena wins. You can also set it to switch randomly every round which keeps you on your toes.
Minigame Mode allows you to record scores for each fighter in things like the most damaging combo, the longest combo, busting targets etc... It's a great place to master combos.
BM: The roster of fighters has really expanded. In addition to the fantastic library of capoeira fighters you now feature a lineup of fighters from all over the world. I spy an homage to Street Fighter II as well as at least one character inspired from a popular movie. Can you introduce us to the new faces and some of the new fighting styles presented?
SS: Yeah we felt like the game needed some other styles to balance it out. We ended up building almost half of the 29 character roster with non-capoeira martial artists. Among my favorites are Jimmy Zappa who plays like a classic fireballer, except that we replaced the fireball with a lunging sweep kick. Panda is bubbly asian school girl that happens to be very good at tae kwon do. There's Aleron, the English boxing champ with small man syndrome and his nemesis, Angus, the Irish street fighting soccer player in a kilt. We also have Helicopter the German break dancer, and your monkey kung fu fighter Macaco (AKA Avery).
BM: You have some unique faces in the lineup, Arubim and Saryn aren't human, these are cameos from another game you created, right?
SS: Yes, Saryn and Arubim are from Guardians of Altarris, Spiritonin's take on a Final Fight style game. We needed two more characters to fill in the blank spots on the selection grid and we thought it would be a fun and completely non-logical mix. They are definately some of my favorite characters to play.
BM: The CF3 design a character contest brought in some interesting designs, I was lucky enough to be one of those selected as was Pantera by a younger artist. Did you have fun coming up with moves for these characters?
SS: Yes! They both turned out to be very fun and different from the other characters in the game. They each have very distinct personalities that come across in their vocals and attacks.
BM: The fighting game genre is a hard sell for publishers. If your game is not a license, MMO or a GTA-clone then you really can't pitch it. This is where the life long gamer takes things into their own hands. You are a member of a small group keeping the genre alive. The new, unique, fighting games are not made by the big studios these days. Tekken and Virtua Fighter are becoming carbon copies of the other. 2D fighters (not made by SNK) are few and far between Subtle Style from Japan was made by a small team and distributed on PC before it caught the attention of the industry. Now an arcade version is being released to great reviews. In Korea a one or two person team is making Chosun Musa, a fighter based on mythical Korean warriors. Here in the states you've been plugging away single-handed at Capoeira Fighter for years. How does it feel knowing that you are one of the small global developers keeping the genre alive and unique?
SS: As someone who got into video games because of games like Street Fighter II, it's sad to see the genre displaced in today's market. I made Capoeira Fighter so I could have my own engine to try out new gameplay concepts and see if I couldn't offer something worthwhile to the genre. The PC is a very small market for fighting games, but Capoeira Fighter has proved popular and profitable so far. My hope is that the fighting community give it a serious look. I don't think they'll be dissapointed.
BM: Do you think people in the industry should devote more time to building these small games in a variety of genres rather than focusing only on their work project?
SS: I think a lot of guys do that already. Maybe not on the scale that we have attempted here, but you see lots of games on the web that are developed on the side. It's definately good for me and has helped me understand the industry better.
BM: Do you think that the industry could invest or support these developers by offering release time, stipends or distribution?
SS: It would be nice if console development was more friendly to small developers. From the research I've done, it's pretty daunting to get a game on a console, time, resource and expense wise. Even with something like CF3 that would be a simple port, it is still more than my small team could handle for a console.
BM: Do you foresee a time where digital distribution will replace traditional publishers and give you a chance to gain a wider audience and / or monetary compensation?
SS: I don't see publishers going anywhere, they will adapt. I still rely heavily on publishers for the majority of my profit because they handle all the marketing and ad sales etc...
BM: Any fears that Street Fighter IV will cause the other publishers to have a kneejerk reaction and begin creating bad fighting titles rather than investing in yours? For reference think of the horrid fighters that flooded the market in the 90's after the success of Street Fighter II. We had to wade through Fighters History, Shaq-Fu, Blood Storm, Time Killers, Thrill Kill, Rise of the Robots, Pit Fighter, War Gods, etc...
SS: Yeah I remember buying all those games looking for another SFII experience and being sorely dissapointed every time.
It will be interesting to see. I don't think anyone is going to do anything serious until they see SFIV do really well. Grade A console games cost so much to make now. If Capcom's strategy to return to the SFII roots proves successful, and the fighting genre regains popularity, we will definately see more fighting games. It's all about the money.
BM: Do you hope that SF IV sparks interest in your fighter as well?
SS: I hope anything sparks interest in my fighter. It will be interesting to see if any of the bigger developers use any of my ideas like the match types and abilities attached to hyper combos...
BM: You said that your back would have healed while you were working on this title. Is it well enough for you to return to practicing capoeira with your friends?
SS: Been thinking about that seriously. I do need to get back in shape, but my family also needs me back. I think I'll be taking it easy for a few months.
BM: You are a dedicated family man but does your wife ever have to pull you away from the computer and say enough is enough, especially now that CF 3 is out? Or are you just thinking of things for CF 4?
SS: My wife is very supportive, and she keeps me balanced. Plus she did the voices for several of the girls! She is very excited to have a full time husband + dad back, and I am excited to be done. I imagine a CF4 is inevitable, but there will probably be a few more itterations of 3 with some characters added and a few more features that we wanted to get into it. I hope the game does well. Thanks for the interview!
So there you have it, the first interview of the new year. If you are a fighting game fan then you should support the dream and buy a copy. Even if you aren't big into fighting games then you should at least give the online version a spin at Spiritonin or at Shockwave.com. Scott deserves some exposure for his hard work so do me a favor and please, please, please tell a friend. Tell the editors at EGM and 1UP to shine some light on the small developers. Street Fighter IV is still a long ways off, so how about putting some hype behind a homegrown fighter for a change?
I'm keeping a very keen eye on King of Fighter XII. The website has some great screenshots, check it when you get a chance. I've not been a die-hard fan of the series since KOF 95. I think that the SNK games play a tad stiffer than the Capcom fighters and whose character designs aren't as timeless as those from Capcom. I will concede that in the past few years I have admired the way SNK has handled most of their 2D properties. They've made some poor decisions in that time, trying KOF, Samurai Spirits and Metal Slug in 3D for example. But they have more than made up for it by maintaining a viable 2D wing when every other company has moved away from the format, naming monetary reasons as why.
The high-rez sprites of KOF XII are costly and laborious to produce, the end result is nothing short of pure digital awesomeness. With SF II HD Remix as the answer from Capcom USA I can't help but think that it exemplifies the approach that both companies are taking with their respective titles.
Capcom has been out of the fighting loop for a while. Capcom USA in particular is tapping heavily into nostalgia for the series by including the classic sounds and music along with some remixes. They are rebalancing the characters and redrawing the sprites but everything else is pretty much the way you remember it. Above all they are very much marketing this game, and SF IV, to those that grew up on SF II. The music they've used in the campaigns are a testament to the era.
The Karate Kid song is great, if you remember the film, as was Epic by Faith No More. I kind of liked the parody song and level of "You're the Best" in Capoeira Fighter 3 more. I think is was well done homage while at the same time updating a classic karate fighter for the series, but I digress...
Where does Capcom USA go from here? Have they marketed themselves into a corner by appealing almost exclusively to the core crowd, to those 30-somethings that get the importance of the series? Or is this campaign only meant to get SF rolling again in the US market and future versions will be designed and marketed in a more contemporary fashion?
SNK has acknowledged that their series is getting older as well, placing a discreet KOF 15th Anniversary icon on their site and in their marketing. They have also released an updated version of KOF 98 recently as well as included several versions of the KOF games on their anthology disks. They haven't marketed the game by appealing solely to nostalgia but have let it market itself with continuous sequels.
Lesson learned, Capcom should have never stopped developing Street Fighter games. Now they are forced to outsource the SF II Remix sprites to Udon, who in turn also had to outsource some of the work themselves. Not to mention that DIMPS is also helping Capcom with SF IV. SNK has not had to outsource any of their KOF XII work in that timeframe.
In recent years games like Guilty Gear and Blaze Blue have elevated the status of the 2D fighter. They have made it more contemporary and hip, yet neither have penetrated the market as deep as KOF or SF. The return of SF II and creation of SF IV is a good thing marked with a lot of nostalgia and fan service. However the next version of KOF has piqued my interest slightly more... Never thought I'd ever say that. Hell must have frozen over.
Fellow Capcom-Unity member Shadawho suggested that I reprint my Bengus blog from 1UP here. I'll do one better and post all three Bengus blogs here for all you Capcom art fans...
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Of all the artists, cartoonists, illustrators and animators that have ever lived, there is one artist whom I would rank in the top 3 each time, every time. His name is Bengus. While you may not know the name, if you have picked up a comic book in the past 10 years or played a videogame then chances are his work has influenced what you see.
The presence of the Capcom art and design staff cannot be understated. Shoei, Bengus (aka CRMK), Sensei, Ikeno, Akiman, Edayan and Nishimura Kinu are among the most revolutionary artists in the game industry. In particular Sensei, Akiman and Bengus' work in polishing the Street Fighter II characters (in 1991) set a standard by which all character designs were to be measured against. These designs became international symbols for fighters and although characters like E. Honda and Guile were added to give Western audiences someone to play or laugh at, in the end all of them were embraced by the global gaming culture.
The Street Fighter character has evolved in style and presentation through the series. One thing is certain; the person who has made the largest contribution to the character design is Bengus aka CRMK. He has given the SF characters a certain style that has rarely been duplicated. Bengus' design work has gone on to influence manga, videogame and anime character design in Japan as well as internationally. The Vampire (Darkstalkers) game was the first fighting game in which the characters closely mirrored his original designs. These fresh-looking sprites caught the attention of the game community.
Although Bengus has been designing characters and art for Capcom since the first Street Fighter in 1987, it was not until SF Zero in 1995 (following his work with Vampire) that a SF game series had been rendered with the characters looking almost identical to his original designs.
Above the many styles of Bengus 1987 to 2000. From left to right: Mike from the original Street Fighter, Ryu from Street Fighter II, Ryu (colored by Shoei), Gouken pencil sketch, Dee Jay, Gouki and Karin. The media Bengus has used has evolved with his style, including pen, marker, paintbrush, pencil and computer. His characters have gone from comic-book, manga, classic, exaggerated to anime in the span of almost 20 years. No other videogame artist has reinvented his style yet been as consistently good.
For the original SF II, Capcom greats Akiman and Sensei had designed stylized, almost proportionally realistic characters, Bengus was at the opposite end of the spectrum. The fighters personality spoke through the character designs. Muscles were exaggerated, hands and feet were disproportionate to the body, the good and bad guy archetypes were easy to identify and the animation perfectly complimented the design. The art and design was unlike Japanese manga art and at the same time unlike Western comic book art, it was a perfect hybrid of the two. Bengus has never been hung up on creating Japanese pop inspired characters but rather fresh and unique ones.
The Zero series went on to influence a number of contemporary designs in other fighting games, however none could equal the work of Bengus. The sprites used in SF Zero were so well done that they were used in almost 10 games altogether. Many who played the SF series grew to learn and love the characters and the art. Many players ended up becoming artists in their own right (myself included). Today many Western artists have borrowed or learned from the many styles Bengus has demonstrated over the years. Without a doubt the artists at both Udon in Canada have learned a great deal as the Street Fighter comic book art is patterned mostly after Bengus.
Other popular comic book artists such as Humberto Ramos, Joe Maduera and Jeff Matsuda have also borrowed from his style. Even professional illustrators Jason and Heather Martin have stated that Akiman and Bengus are some of their biggest influences.
Studying the evolution of Bengus' work is like tapping into the mind of an art god. In his latter designs Bengus wanted to incorporate more Western design to try and capture that audience's imagination. Jim Lee was the most regarded artist in comic books at the time so in the release of Street Fighter Zero (Alpha) 3 and all of the following Street Fighter vs Marvel and Capcom vs Marvel games Bengus created character art and advertising art with a decidedly Jim Lee pencil style. At the same time he turned around and created very cartoony designs for the Power Stone characters.
Nobody knows what happened to Bengus following the last 2D releases at Capcom. Was he absorbed into the fold once he had mentored Capcom artists like Edayan and Shiido?
Their styles so closely mirror Bengus that maybe there wasn't a need for his services anymore. Maybe Bengus just walked away from the scene once Capcom went strictly 3D. After all, Bengus is just another creative genius that doesn't fit the mold of managment, either you are with the vision that every game has to be 3D or you are put out to pasture.
Wherever you are Bengus I bow to you. You are the reason that I became a life-long fan of Street Fighter. You are the reason that my characters look the way they do. You are the person that designed the baddest videogame character ever.
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It's been a while since I last talked about THE MAN. I bet most of you are wondering what ever happened to Bengus. Well I managed to track him down and interview with him over some coffee and donuts... okay not really. I have no idea what ever happened to him but I can at least talk about the evolution of his style. Take for example a sampling of his Ryu illustrations, in chronological order from earliest to most recent.
It is interesting to see how he adjusted his proportions for the character, how the pen or brush strokes varied on each character and even his coloring techniques. Of all the Capcom artists I think Bengus' style has evolved the most over the years. Some of the changes in his art weren't obvious. You have to be able to look at the breadth of his work to get a firm appreciation for how he evolved as an artist and how he influenced a generation of artists working in videogames and comic books. For example, the earliest illustrations of his that were recognizable were the character designs from the original Street Fighter. Gen for example was one such character that he started and ended his career with. Even though he was a principal artist in SF II, he shared the spotlight with other greats like Sensei, Akiman and Shoei. Bengus would not return to the front until SF Zero, which was his stylistic peak. He had just finished creating the characters for Vampire / Darkstalkers with his style when he was put on character designs for SF Zero.
On the original SF Zero, Bengus had created the SF archetypes in a unique fashion. To me these were the characters at their most memorable. Their proportions were exaggerated, done so that the main characters could look younger. Ryu and company were barely entering adulthood, as such they still had the lanky features of teenagers with the muscle definition of a grown-up. The large hands and feet made them look gangly and awkward but also fun. The style was definitely not anime but also not comic book. The look was all his and it worked great for a fighting game. The rest of the Capcom staff created illustrations for SF Zero and Zero 2 following his template very closely. I contend that his proportions were copied by contemporaries for games like Guilty Gear, Rumble Fish and Garou: Mark of the Wolves. However something happened when he created the principal art for SF Zero 3. His illustrations were completely different from the style he had been using in the series. Compare if you will the original versions of Sakura and Rolento, on the left with the ZF Zero 3 versions.
The change in his style was even more noticeable when he created the art for the third Vampire game.
His proportions had changed dramatically. The heads, hands and feet of his characters were less exaggerated. The strokes and angles he used were more rigid. The way he presented detail and shapes in the clothing had changed. Even his dramatic poses, another Bengus trademark, had become obtuse in SF Zero 3.
So what could have happened between the first two SF Zero and Vampire games to the third in each to have caused such a radical departure in his style? My belief was and is that his work on the Marvel games and Power Stone were a large reason why his style changed. The first two installments of SF Zero and Vampire came very close. This is why the art featured in both games and their advertising looks consistent. Shortly after Capcom was working on their epic Marvel vs Capcom crossover and they needed a lot of art to go with that series. Rather than go to Marvel for some art they created their own. The staff carefully studied the art of Marvel comics and their most influential artist was Jim Lee. Bengus created a great amount of art for the game in a similar style, with similar proportions and even inking styles as Lee. Running parallel to that was the development of one of Capcom's rare 3D brawlers, Power Stone. As the principal artist for that game Bengus had to create archetypes in a very classic Japanese anime style. He had to use soft curves, large eyes and bold colors, the polar opposite of the art in the Marvel game. I contend that having to draw the art for these two games, concurrently, changed his style.
No sooner was Bengus finished on the art for MvC and Power Stone than he had to create the art for Vampire 3 and SF Zero 3. His style did not "rebound" from those games and instead ended up with a unique hybrid for his next illustrations. Study the evolution of his Zangief to see what I'm getting at. On the top row from left to right, top to bottom, are the chronological presentations of the character. The one on the left is from SF II, the one in the middle (my favorite period) was from SF Zero and the one on the right is from MvC (very Power Stone, wouldn't you say?). The bottom figure is how Zangief was presented in SF Zero 3. Knowing what you know now, wouldn't you agree that his style has become a hybrid of his previous games with a dash of anime and Marvel thrown in? The head and face of Zangief for SF 3 were consistent with SF II. While 'geif wasn't as rounded as he was for MvC, Bengus preserved the simplified fingers, muscles and outline.
My brothers and I weren't fond of his dramatic change. We were much bigger fans of his art to every game prior. But we have to appreciate his evolution as an artist. Art is subjective, what I like you may loathe. Bengus, like Pablo Picasso, had a clearly defined style early on into his career. Both artists "peaked" into maturity and both continued to evolve in a similar fashion. They both sought to streamline their style and get the most across with the least amount of detail. You may not agree but that is what I see in his evolution.
What ever happened to Bengus? I really don't know. The last art that I know he did was for SF Zero 3, 10 years ago. I hope that he's waiting in the wings, toiling away in some corner of the world, creating a cast of characters for a true SF IV. If he's retired from videogames then I wish him the best. The world is a better place because of his contributions. Very few game illustrators can claim that rep.
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Friends, I shouldn't have to say one more word about Bengus, but I will. Only because I got my hands on concentrated awesomeness last weekend. If you like the Vampire / Darkstalkers series and you like Bengus, honestly, who doesn't? Then you have to get your hands on a copy of the Vampire Graphic File, ISBN978-4-86233-124-3.
For those that aren't familiar with the game, it is to the classic monster genre what Street Fighter was to legendary fighters. Capcom decided to include as many classic archetypes in the game as they could. There was a succubus, a vampire, a wolfman, Frankenstein, mummy and even gill-man. However the ones featured in the game looked nothing like the classic Universal movie monsters. The Capcom dopplegangers were kung-fu werewolves, wrestling bigfoots and undead samurai. Crazy by anyones standards.
Bengus wrapped those archetypes around his head and came up with designs that were just as unique and memorable. They also included slight nods to their original inspirations. I'm only going to show a small sampling of the illustrations. Below are his pen illustrations of the original Vampire character art compared to his final portraits years later in Vampire Savior.
Notice how bold he was with his shadows in the original Dimitry and Morrigan art. Now look at how far he had refined his style by the time he was finishing his stint producing art.
The style was clearly Bengus and yet there was the sublime genius of DaVinci behind his technique. With nothing but one color Bengus simply shines. Look at the shadows and highlights of his figures. Look carefully at the subtleties of his crosshatching technique.
Even on the more fantastic characters like Felicia and Anakaris he managed to remain playful and iconic at the same time. Look carefully at the expressions on the characters for his original art and then his latter art.
Is Felicia meowing? She has depth and weight, shape and substance. The Anakaris piece is as epic as any classic movie poster. It is part Boris Karloff and part Alex Ross and yet something else entirely. Look at the way he created the illusion of multiple sources of lighting on the head of Anakaris!
MY GOD!
There isn't an artist working in videogames that has ever filled me with such awe. Not any of the greats at Sony Santa Monica or Incog Inc. Not anybody at Nintendo or even Sega. And just when you think that Falcoon, Hyung-tae Kim or the artists at Udon are getting close you go back and reference this art. That is when you realize that the other artists aren't even in his league. Bengus set a standard. Scratch that. Bengus is the standard. He breathed life into the characters featured in Street Fighter and Vampire. He put his stamp on history. If you ever doubt that he was anything more than a cartoonist just look at this illustration of Lei-Lei and then get back to me.
I hope you enjoy this perspective on my favorite game artist of all-time!
Heya friends, we've made it to another Friday! I did feel like venting on Capcom and Street Fighter some more but since I had already raged on Fei Long this week I thought it might be too much. So I'll just let you figure out where the hate is pointing at
There's been only one great Street Fighter animated film and a lot of poor films made on the franchise... Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah-blah, blah. Not staying true to the source material, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah!!! Hollywood crapping on the franchise, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
The Street Fighter II was the best because, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Closer to the canon of the game, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blippty, blah, blah, blah. Just enough mature content, blah, blah-blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Fights were choreographed by MMA legends. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Level of detail has not been repeated with respect to the martial arts. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
The misconceptions from poor translations, and weaker memories from fans blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. The west couldn't take anything seriously. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. BLAH, BLAH, BLAH, MUTHAFCKNBLAH!!!
The US show managed to get a lot of character to look right and even incorporated SF Zero plots but blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. T. Hawk and Dhalsim were flying in the credits. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Just like a GI Joe episode. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. If Capcom really wanted to, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah
Even the direct-to-DVD films failed to capture the magic of blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah-blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah
Invented characters and plot reminiscent of SF V. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah-blah, blah, blah. Villain was a cyborg reject from Fist of the North Star. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Ryu's brother? What the heck was that about? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, insipid. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Don't they wonder why, blah, blah, blah? Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
Hello friends, today brings us to another blog about Street Fighter. I'm not going to talk about the first screens of Gen, Dan Hibiki or Cammy. I'm sure you've seen them all by now. It would be pointless for me to say anything about Capcom failing to get the legacy right and noting that Gen looks more like Pai Mei than himself. Or that Sakura hasn't aged a minute or that Dan is all swollen. Nope, today I'm going to focus on Fei Long.
As always we have to put the game in context with culture as well as with the history leading up to it. The major theme over this blog is the way in which the developers approach the game. Every change or addition to the game will have an everlasting impact on the IP. This much is certain. However only time gives us the perspective that is necessary to understand how a game works, why it was successful and how to best approach future versions of the title. There is almost 25 years of Street Fighter history and Capcom has been responsible for the successes as well as failures with the game. They are responsible for making sure the properly grows or burns out from overexposure. We are here to get to the heart of the Street Fighter that could have and should have been.
This blog takes a critical look at the job of the director and producer as well as the character designer and animator. Most importantly is takes a look at how fans have raised the series to a place of great distinction, while at the same time have ignored the missteps, inconsistencies and bad decisions surrounding it. Most of the people reading this blog have good memories when it comes to Street Fighter. Whether it was the craze of the 90's, the combo pornography of the "VS" titles, the chibi reality of Puzzle Fighter or the calculated strategies in SF III, we all share some common ground. Apologies to my 1UP friend Red Swirl but I mean it when I say that a character like Fei Long should have never been put in the series. He was not a good fit for the game for a number of reasons. His look, purpose and move selection betrayed the legacy characters and their respective designs.
I should make a distinction between the character as he exists and the character in concept.
Fei Long is fun to play as or against. He has some great moves and creative combo abilities. However Fei Long is also symbolic of how little Capcom respected the name of the franchise during its peak years. Fei Long set a precedent that developers should inject concept characters into the middle of a current game rather than be allowed to frame them within a proper sequel. Super Street Fighter II begat a legacy of rehashed sprites mixed in with all new ones. Fei Long is one of the concept characters whose moves, look and purpose had not been refined when he was placed in Super SF II. He was a character that would be forced into canon and game engine. The same would go for his contemporaries. They represent a cast of a characters introduced before their time, they represent a dramatic shift in the fictional universe as well as the real world. A world where Capcom was pushing the developers further than the dated SF II allowed and as a result forever changed the potential for the series. We can understand that era and even trace that path through the character of Fei Long.
Fei Long was written and illustrated as one of the cornerstones of the SF universe. He is an implacable hero thanks to the Super Street Fighter IIX Gaiden book created by manga artist Itoh Mami for Gamest Comics. Chances are you've not seen this story of Fei Long, it is the one version of the character that my brothers and friends believe to be the definitive one. Let me share it with you.
The story begins in 1972. Fei Long has established a reputation as both a martial artist and movie star.
After a day of filming he takes some time to try and contemplate his purpose. He is already a well established martial artist and now action hero. But seems to lack a bigger purpose, something that extends beyond himself and his abilities. He is eating at a restaurant when he sees a crisis unfolding on the television. It seems that some criminals have taken a busload of hostages. They are surrounded by the police but seem to be very desperate. The hostages are not far from the restaurant and Fei Long is at. He springs into action.
He knocks out a police officer that was going undercover as a delivery man, to give food to the hostages. He goes to the police chief and gives him the gun, he wants to go in unarmed to avoid a possible shootout. As Fei Long approaches the bus the criminals draw on him. Fei begins fighting back, knocking down one hostage-taker after another.
Fei Long moves much faster than thought humanly possible. He makes his way through the bus and hits the criminals before they can get a shot off. A young boy in the back sees the entire event take place. Fei gets all of the criminals off of the bus and continues fighting them outside. The police chief and his men notice that it's movie actor Fei Long and not a cop that is fighting them.
Before the police can react one of the downed criminals manages to grab a gun and shoot Fei Long in the side. Fei dispatches with the rest of the criminals before succumbing to his injury. The police rush in but it is too late. Fei Long catches a glimpse of the young boy on the bus. He dies with a smile on his face, content in the knowledge that he was able to save all the hostages.
Fei Long is remembered now mostly in cinema rather than as a true martial artist and hero. Save for that little boy who is now an adult. Years later he visits the grave site and leaves flowers for Fei Long. There is the noise of a fight going on not far from him.
He walks over and sees a young martial arts master moving with the speed and agility that he had seen once, decades before. It is Ryu fighting some unknown person. The young man is reminded of the great Fei Long and feels a sense of sadness. Fei Long was the best the world had ever seen but did not live long enough to see his legacy grow.
That was the end of the Fei Long story. It is the version that I think does the most for the character than any other licensed or fan-fic has ever accomplished.
