Over the past few days I have talked about how weak his design and move selections were in regards to the game. Had the design team at Capcom spent a little more time evolving the new lineup I'm sure their debut would have been met with more enthusiasm. Choosing the right name would have been a good starting place. El Fuerte means "the Strong One" in Spanish. It is an okay name by lucha conventions but not a great one. Lucha libre has a lot of symbolism behind it. A character has to be named or represent something larger than himself. Something like La Fuerza (the Force), Estrella Azul (the Blue Star) or Huracan Blanco (the White Hurricane) would have been better. But why invent a masked Mexican wrestler for the SF universe when one had been created for Capcom 17 years ago?
Tetsuo Hara and Buronson's Hokuto no Ken / Fist of the North Star inspired the development of Street Fighter II. As a professional courtesy Tetsuo was asked to design the characters for Capcom's flagship wrestling game, Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters.
In the games Tetsuo Hara showed his knowledge and understanding of wrestling from around the world. He did not go into the development ignorant of lucha libre, puroresu or pro wrestling. He created archetypical characters from all of the major continents and then stylized their moves. Mr. Hara went so far as to add details like managers, tag teams, valets and a ref to this series.
Mr. Hara also gave these characters two competing promotions, those of the Capcom Wrestling Association and those of the Blood Wrestling Association. He even included a heavyweight champion for the CWA, Victor Ortega, the only wrestler more dominating than Zangief. And also a champion for the BWA, Scorpion / Astro, who was an enmascarado that (interestingly enough) moved like Guy. Tetsuo then connected this game into the Street Fighter mythos by including Mike Haggar from the Final Fight series. The multiple endings for Hugo in Street Fighter III: Giant Attack further cemented the existence of these wrestlers and league to canon.
When it was announced a masked wrestler would be in SF IV many wondered if it would be including one of the enmascarados from Muscle Bomber, namely El Stinger. Why go to the trouble to invent a wrestler, his look, background and moves, when many have already been created by a legendary designer? Not only that but a designer that understood wrestling and also the fantastic moves and abilities required for a Street Fighter game?
Sadly the Muscle Bomber characters were looked over as all the new characters in SF IV were completely original. As a life-long fan of the Capcom universe I felt that Mr. Ono and his team were ignoring the legacy and many wonderful characters that could and should have been in Street Fighter IV. including characters from Final Fight and Rival Schools. The most insulting thing to me was how comedic rather than serious El Fuerte was turning out to be. This was from the Capcom press release:
"As of this moment, Crimson Viper and Abel have been the only new characters announced for Street Fighter IV, but the time has finally come to lift the curtain on yet another new warrior! Judging by his appearance and profile, it looks like he utilizes a pro wrestling style. In fact, his style is none other than Mexico’s famous Lucha Libre brand of wrestling! Will we see that style’s trademark aerial acrobatics at work? We can only hope and wait with baited breath… This fiery fighter is a man who divides his professional life between Lucha Libre wrestling and gourmet cooking. His hot-blooded spirit is enough to give even the mighty Red Cyclone a run for his money! Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for his lackluster cooking skills…"
In an attempt to interject the game with humor or possibly a memorable trait for the character Capcom instead ended up mocking the genre and Mexican culture. None of the classic "world warriors" featured an outside gimmick that worked its way into the game. Almost 20 years since SF II the protagonists were no longer characters but had become icons. Anybody that was to be added had to be more than a typical fighting game character and instead live up to that standard. Ken and Ryu represented the peaks of their form of karate. Chun-Li the peak of kung-fu, Zangief the absolute best in wrestling and Honda the best in sumo. El Fuerte was joining a cast that represented the best of the best, so too should he represent the best in lucha libre. The entire cooking gimmick should never have been brought up because it was not relevant. An enmascarado lives, eats and breaths one thing, wrestling.
From the moment he first dons the mask to the day he ultimately loses it. Even while raising a family, the code of the enmascarado is all about wrestling, honor and tradition. There is no time to divide his time over two passions. Granted, some of the older luchadores open restaurants with their winnings, but they never show up to a match with a frying pan. Those wrestlers know to keep their business and their passion separate.
Honestly, a "hot-blooded" Mexican bringing a frying pan into battle? Giving him an alternate costume of a chef? Making El Fuerte say "super dynamic cooking time!" before his match begins? These things weigh heavy with ignorance of the culture and I dare say call up old racial prejudices. Just like Zangief was Vodka Gobalsky originally or that there was a character boozing it up in the background of Russia's SF II level. Making El Fuerte a masked Mexican cartoon character, that longs for the kitchen, stings of the same type of stereotype.
If you think I'm making much ado about nothing, stop and think about the names of his special attacks; the "Quesadilla Bomb" and the "Guacamole Leg Throw." It could be argued that the lucha libre and cooking theme are tied together with the name of his special moves. In my eyes it just emboldens the stereotype and shows how little the team really knows or cares about lucha libre or Mexican culture. What about actual lucha moves with names like the quebradora (backbreaker) or the plancha suicida (suicide press)? They sound far more interesting than plates of food.
The classic names for special moves in SF were very memorable, even if hadoken is literally translated as "punch wave fist," it still carried respect for the martial arts and their practitioners. None of the classic SF II characters ever had move names that implied some ethnic origin. Zangief did not call his piledriver the Vodka Hangover, or Chun-Li feature a Peach Bun Kick or Dhalsim spray Curry Fire. This cuts into the purpose of other SF IV characters as well. Why show Rufus carrying a bucket of popcorn? What is important about a morbidly obese fighter carrying food? Why is it important that El Fuerte carries a frying pan with him? Why now are the names of special attacks and personality quirks forced to coexist?
Japanese arcade game tradition might be part of the problem. In fighting games it is common that the characters yell the name of their special attack as they perform them. Even in introduction animations the characters say something that frames their personality. In Virtua Fighter these things are plainly obvious, yet also comical. El Blaze kisses his biceps and then yells at his opponents to "Start running now!" In Japan this nonsensical English phrase might sound cool but in the USA it is anything but. Someone as small as Rey Mysterio would never taunt his opponents with a catchy phrase, any wrestler or fighter that behaves that way is either being pretentious or absurd. However this convention has been part of Japanese fighters for a while and has even made its way into SF IV's pre-match introductions.
It turns out that pro wrestling in the USA might is a bigger part of the problem of racial gimmicks. It seems the larger the production the larger the use of stereotype. The WWE is the biggest show around and they haven't changed their tune in decades. Japanese wrestlers, even Samoan-playing-Japanese characters like "Yokozuna" perpetuate stereotypes about the ways the Japanese dress and act. The perpetual losers or "jobbers" Kai and Tai were talented and could out-wrestle most of the WWE talent at the time there but were ultimately marginalized and turned into losers by WWE writers for the sake of comedy. The frustration that I have with lucha libre stereotyping in SF IV is similar to what many Japanese fans must feel about the portrayal of Japanese wrestlers on TV. I refer to one of my favorite manga books, Agnes Kamen by Minoru Hiramatsu, as an example.
Agnes Kamen is layered with tons of wrestling details. Readers can appreciate the entertainment value of the manga as much as the commitment to details, some of which show an ugly side of the business that are also very true. Early in the series Mr. Hiramatsu sums up the rude ways in which some foreign wrestlers behave while in Japan. Wrestlers, especially those from the USA are loved by the audience no matter how insulting they are to the Japanese people and their culture. It infurites the main character the way the fans allow themselves to be insulted.
Near the end of the series there is a bitter moral for one of the Japanese wrestlers. In Japan he is a prize talent but in the USA he is just another foreign gimmick character. Once in the US he is quickly stripped of his pride by an unscrupulous manager and forced to dress up like a sumo wrestler with the insulting name of "Devil Tenpura the Yokozuna." The insulting uniform includes a samurai sword and geta (wooden sandals), which obviously do not even belong. Then when he enters the match he is instantly booed by the audience because he is a foreigner. When the match begins he starts fighting like a regular wrestler, he throws hard kicks and catches the audience off guard. They begin booing harder and throwing trash at him. The culture shock and ignorance that he faces comes as quite a surprise.
Then he remembers that he is supposed to fight like a stereotypical sumo, with a wide stance and using only palm thrusts. When he does this the racially bias crowd begins cheering and clapping, clearly laughing at him. He is thrown from the ring easily because he has no experience fighting in the sumo style, the audience begin jeering and pouring their drinks on him. It was one of the saddest moments in the book but also rang very true from what the wrestling business is like in the USA. It does not matter where you come from as a wrestler, even if you were famous and successful in Japan, the ignorant audiences and unscrupulous promoters abroad will only support their own talent and put down everyone else.
The book is not all heavy-handed in its assessment of pro wrestling in the USA. It does an even job covering the inconsistencies with managers and wrestlers in Japan also. At the same time shares the love of the culture with the audience through a series of battles and memorable characters.
I applaud Mr. Hiramatsu for making the wrestling fan confront the issue of race, bias and stereotype. He knows that it is not the same in every promotion and there are in fact great wrestlers, fair managers and good promotions to work for. Smaller promotions and fans of those promotions, like Pro Wrestling Guerilla on the west coast or Chikara on the east coast, treat wrestlers from all countries with equal respect. Unfortunately the smaller companies are never shown on television and the global talent never permeate into the mainstream consciousness. The big promotions and "old school mentality" wrestlers that refuse to change are the people that Agnes Kamen warns us about. The biggest of the promoters in the USA are guilty of refusing to change with the times.
Stereotypes have been with and continues to be a part of WWE's branding identity. The Japanese are not the only ones that have to put up with stereotypes either. Irish wrestlers wear green cloverleaf singlets, carry around a shilelagh and are accompanied by leprechauns to the ring. Mexican wrestlers drive low riders (or lawnmowers) and lie, cheat and steal to win. Texans wear large hats and ride in limos with bull horns on the hood.
The WWE has chosen to distance themselves from the sport of wrestling and instead focus on the entertainment value. This only serves to weaken the core of their promotion and wrestling in general. A couple of great essays regarding the way in which the masked wrestler has been exploited and marginalized by the US wrestling promotions appear in the book Mondo Lucha a Go-Go. It does not seem that WWE has any plans to change their approach to "talent development" and as a result this inappropriate racial pandering has come back to bite the lucha fan on the backside. The use and perpetuation of stereotypical images on WWE programming, as seen all around the world, is more than likely the reason why the people at Capcom and DIMPS thought it appropriate to have a Mexican character show up with a frying pan or chef clothing to a match.
In Southern California it is a strong stereotype that all the menial jobs go to Mexicans, especially landscapers, pool cleaners, field workers and day laborers. One stereotype is that the majority of a kitchen staff are Mexican because the restaurant owner will exploit undocumented workers for cheap labor. I'm not certain if Capcom of Japan realizes the racial issues that they raise by making El Fuerte a chef, gourmet or not. If they were aware I'd rather that they rise above the stereotype, to oblige themselves to lucha libre culture without resorting to gimmicks. To tap into their own legacy of Muscle Bomber, to present the gaming audience an awesome enmascarado even if pro wrestling in the USA does not return the favor. This would raise the status of Capcom to the Spanish-speaking community as well as the audience that grew up playing classic games like Final Fight, Muscle Bomber and Rival Schools. It would harken back to the true legacy of Street Fighter II. The legacy that says that only the best of the best are competing, the gimmicks all stay at home. If El Fuerte is in the game then he has to be the absolute best enmascarado in the Street Fighter universe.
Is El Fuerte the best enmascarado in the Street Fighter universe? Come back tomorrow for my response and as always, please leave a comment.
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.
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!
Welcome back friends. Before we begin this part I have to mention how this Spanish Capcom fan-site broke down the origin of El Fuerte months ago. If you cannot read Spanish I will make many of those same observations here. I would like to mirror some of what was said on Capcom-Town.es and enlighten you as to how important it was for Capcom to present a masked wrestler right. Let's start with the most obvious thing, the appearance of El Fuerte.
El Fuerte breaks from traditional lucha libre designs in a few, not so obvious ways. Some of these changes are acceptable given the evolution and look of the modern-day wrestler. Rey Mysterio Jr. is undoubtedly the template for popular enmascarado designs in fighting games. He does have classic lucha libre training and is considered one of the best high flyers of all-time. His look is very contemporary, as he wears pants instead of tights, sports an open mouth mask and is covered in tattoos. Traditional enmascarados would never dress or present themselves in this way. El Blaze from Virtua Fighter steals the most cues from him.
However I do see something added for the sake of the game instead of lucha libre. The sash worn as a belt for both El Blaze and El Fuerte was added to show movement in the game engine. Not many wrestlers wear loose garments like that as it is very easy to get tangled on a rope during a high risk maneuver. As far as videogames go a sash is a way in which our eye can be drawn to motion. The pants of El Fuerte are odd, as they are neither traditional tights nor Mysterio pants. They look more like gaucho pants than anything. Perhaps the people at Capcom were going to give him the pants of a matador only to realize that they had already given those design cues to Balrog / Vega. For whichever reason, the designs of El Fuerte's costume are not consistent with lucha tradition. His mask is obviously the most important part of the look and if Capcom didn't get that right it was going to hurt the impact of the character.
The mask is the identity of the wrestler, it is the source of his pride and his power. Enmascarados spend as much time as they can protecting their mask and identity throughout their career. Very few last long enough to retire with their secret intact. Most lose their masks to the next generation of superstar in the legendary mask vs mask match. This is done in order to help them build a reputation.
The mask of El Fuerte doesn't ring true to the heritage. Although on the surface it seems to be consistent with the popular idea of enmascarados, it is actually bland and borderline comical in lucha circles. It is very plain and unassuming in white with simple details around the eyes and mouth instead of a contrasting color. Aztec warrior masks and helmets wore bright contrasting colors so they could be picked out in battle. In the case of a lucha libre mask, the contrasting colors and designs were so that fans in the cheap seats could keep an eye on their favorite luchador. Three tiny stars are the only decoration on the otherwise plain El Fuerte mask. The ponytail sticking out of the back of the mask is non-traditional, very out of place. There are open-top masks in lucha libre and lucharesu however not many with little holes for a ponytail. The only popular wrestlers that I can remember as having ponytails were puro stars Takuya "Yo****une / Shanao" Sugi and the Great Hayabusa.
Seeing a ponytail on an enmascarado makes me think that the designers were grasping at straws, ways to make the mask unique, or they were using the hair as a way to show movement like the dreadlocks on the new Bionic Commando. The shape of the eyes and the use of stars on his mask are either by divine intervention, or dumb luck. They harken back to the days of the legends and the "chosen ones" of lucha libre.
El Santo "the Saint" was the biggest wrestling superstar of all-time. He was one of the few enmascarados to be buried with his mask on, never losing it in a match. He created an iconic character that still resonates with many Mexicans and Mexican-Americans today. His nickname was el enmascarado de plata (the silver masked man), his mask and silver outfit became a trademark and currently his son keeps the tradition alive. The upturned eyes on the mask of El Santo seems to be mirrored in the mask of El Fuerte. Although his mask, like that of El Feurte's, did not have a contrasting color around the eyes, nose or mouth it was still a glittery silver. It was not the matt white of El Fuerte's mask. It was easy to spot El Santo from a mile away because his mask sparkled.
While Fray Tormenta (Father storm) is not the true heir to the Santo legacy, he is a bit of a literal "spiritual" successor. Fray as you might know was the basis of the movie Nacho Libre. He was an actual priest that wrestled to raise money for his parish. The movie isn't nearly as interesting as the true story, and if you ask me quite an insult to the legacy. But I digress, Fray wore a mask of gold with red lightning trim. Something of a balance to El Santo's silver.
A couple of generations later a new high-flying enmascarado showed up on the scene, the new chosen one was not Rey Mysterio as many believed, he was Mistico and he was "ordained" by Fray Tormenta. His mask was an equal mix of gold and silver, his title "the Prince of the Silver and Gold mask" was a way bringing the iconography of both legends together.
I cannot overemphesize the importance of the faith that these masked men stood for. They weren't simply "technicos" but absolutely represented the best qualities in humanity. Some, like El Santo, Fray Tormenta and Mistico had a lot of spirituality behind their look and name. They represented the ideal qualities of man and acted as living symbols of faith. El Sagrado (the sacred one) and Mascara Sagrada (the sacred mask) were other wrestlers that purported a spiritual path. Their roles were to be great performers and never succumb to the dirty tactics of the rudos. El Sagrado in fact was supposed to be the modern "chosen one" but he did not seem ready for the limelight so he was held back until fans warmed up to him. Mistico was an instant hit with audiences so the torch was passed to him instead. But I digress...
If lucha libre represents the eternal fight between good and evil then fans would want to see the absolute best representing the path of righteousness. Wrestlers like El Santo, Mistico and El Sagrado were famous because of their ties with the Catholic faith. They were very popular in the highly religious small towns of Mexico and even more so in the secular big cities. I mention these legends because there is a chance that El Fuerte takes some hints from them with the color of his mask and shape of the eyes. Whether Capcom understood the cultural significance of them or not has yet to be determined. More likely El Fuerte has only a passing resemblance in regards to the legends... but what about those stars? Where did the stars on the mask come from?
If you know your Street Fighter history then you remember that a masked wrestler was on the drawing board while SF II was in development. They had at least two separate looks for this "Maskuman" (Mask Man) early on. One that looked very much like the legendary Tiger Mask and one with a more generic star mask. Undoubtedly Tiger Mask was a character that many of the developers had grown up with, especially since he was a masked wrestler that started off as a bad guy and became a good guy. Tiger Mask proved a popular character in manga and even had his own anime series.
Japanese culture provided a lot of the SF II character influences, Ryu looked more like Kenshiro from Hokuto No Ken than Mas Oyama. It was easy to imagine that the designers wanted an over-the-top masked wrester in the game that had as much personality as any of the characters or bosses in the SF II. Read the InsertCredit.com Making of Street Fighter II feature to see some more concept art. El Fuerte sports some stars on his mask and also on his pants. It is possible that these details are an homage to the original masked man.
Here is where Japan's wrestling influence, and especially the masked wrestler variety differ from the enmascarado; Japan does not have the cultural relevance of the enmascarados. It would be very odd to see a masked person walking around the streets in Japan, unless it was a surgical mask to prevent the spread of colds. They do not have the same cultural significance as the luchadores have in Mexico. They do not have the same religion, myths and folklore that support the symbolism and tradition of elaborate masks. To them a mask is just a mask and it is the wrestler that defines the character. During the development of Street Fighter II Capcom was just drawing masked characters from pop culture without really understanding their origins.00 Possibly for this reason Maskuman never made it past the planning stages.
As the lucha style began gaining popularity in Japan in the late 1970's-early-80's so too did the masked wrestler. Possibly just as famous as Tiger Mask was Jushin "Thunder" Liger. The look of the masked wrestler in Japan began to evolve to fit their culture. Since they could not draw cultural significance from the masks or costumes of Aztec warriors they instead began taking cues from henshin and sentai, the popular superhero and science fiction characters. The look of Thunder Liger is somewhere in between Ultraman and a Power Ranger. Interestingly enough in Mexico the enmascarados like Psicosis also began experimenting with this new look.
However these masked men in Japan did little to preserve their identity or maintain kayfabe (the illusion of their character). They did not go to extreme lengths to preserve the sacred title of an enmascarado because the cultural significance had no precedence. Even one of my favorite masked Japanese wrestlers of all-time, the Great Hayabusa, would remove his mask after matches so photographers could take pictures of his face. The ego had superseded the symbol in Japanese wrestling.
The wrestlers that wore face paint were closer to capturing the spirit of an enmascarado. They were a little closer in recreating the ideal following in Japan. Some of the most famous Japanese wrestlers, like the Great Muta, wore face paint and sometimes masks during their matches. Many wrestling fans believe that this was because Japan had a well established tradition in theater. Kabuki theater in particular with the dramatically painted faces of characters was an easy comparison. This translated well to Street Fighter II.
Look at how the kabuki paint was used on E. Honda. From my understanding this was to make Japanese characters more appealing to US audiences. Many sumo purists saw this as a slap in the face, as wearing makeup in the sumo ring is almost sacrilegious. However E. Honda managed to win over enough fans to become the iconic sumo in the universe. As Maskuman ended up on the cutting room floor, he was compensated in some way by a kabuki-painted sumo wrestler, a more "theatrical" traditional athlete.
As you may know from reading the InsertCredit.com feature, there were many characters designed for SF II. Most didn't make the first round of cuts and some of the icons evolved with a few changes. The Russian sailor Vodka Gobalsky was turned into a wrestler, like E. Honda, the newly formed Zangief picked up some of the wrestling slack from the missing Maskuman. The sailor theme wasn't lost to Capcom as a similar character named Drake ended up in Final Fight 3 a few years later.
A lot changed in the 18 years since SF II went into development. The face of puro changed dramatically. Lucharesu captured more and more fans in that time and eventually the audience began to recognize the importance of the enmascarado and their secret identity. Possibly the most famous Japanese enmascarado, who worked on keeping his mask on at all times, was the Great Sasuke. Even when he won a spot in politics he still kept his mask on to preserve the honor and tradition of the sport.
Japan had come full circle and had earned the respect of Mexican enmascarados.
Like Liger before, the Great Sasuke had a contemporary in Mexico named Octagon. The newer generations of masked wrestlers began influencing each other. It was becoming okay to wear karate gi's and even pants in place of tights for these "martial arts" superstars. I can't say for certain which came first, I do know that both Sasuke and Octagon worked well in Mexico and Japan and their design is what I emulated in my "Karateka" illustration.
Unfortunately it seems that the look of El Fuerte lacks a complete understanding of lucha libre or even lucharesu. Which is sad because the team at Capcom and DIMPS had much more wrestling tradition to draw from. They could have dug much further into the culture than any developer before them ever could. What they seemed to do with El Fuerte was update the masked wrestler to fill our current tastes and what the arcade fighting scene looks like.
Tiger Mask was an epic character 20 years ago but today he is a dated legend and would not work in Street Fighter IV. Putting him in the game would be an anachronism, akin to putting Gorgeous George or El Santo in the lineup. To appease fighting game fans and a new generation of gamers, the character has to be more relevant. Thus the template comes more from the high flying Rey Mysterio Jr. than a character from the days of black and white film. Unfortunately after El Fuerte made his debut many gamers only saw an El Blaze clone.
El Fuerte could have worked better in the context of the game had his uniform looked more like a traditional luchador. It would have put some distance between himself and El Blaze if he had looked more traditional. The classic world warriors all had uniforms that were simple and in keeping with the fighting arts they represented. For example Ken and Ryu wore traditional gi's, Sagat wore boxer shorts and Zangief wrestling trunks. El Fuerte should have been dressed like a straight-forward enmascarado. Lose the ponytail and sash belt, do not allow any hair to poke out from under the mask, use a contrasting color around the eyes, nose and mouth and replace the gaucho pants with tights. Keep the star theme consistent on his mask, tights and boots as well.
Notice that the blue and white motif works because it is very traditional. A blue-themed wrestler is obviously the opposite of the red-themed Zangief. This explains why Rainbow Mika, the female masked wrestler in SF Zero / Alpha 3 wore blue. However Abel is a powerful mixed martial arts figure that was also assigned blue in SF IV, using the same color combination on two characters in SF IV would be redundant. Plus, years earlier, the blue and white color scheme was used for the Mexican enmascarado El Stingray / El Stinger from Muscle Bomber / Saturday Night Slam Masters. Three grapplers had been done with the same palette so the artists at Capcom assigned El Fuerte more white, deep red, black and gold coloring.
White is a weak primary color for a costume, apologies to Ryu. Had the artists done just a little more research they could have given El Fuerte a silver and gold palette instead. Those in the know would see the El Santo / Mistico homage while casual fans would be grateful that he does not look like El Blaze. Gold and silver are also regal colors and would make El Fuerte seem like an important wrestler from Mexico. If he is important, if his mask and costume has some unique qualities to it, it makes him special. Then the player has a reason to want to know what he looks like underneath the mask. These are the suggestions that I would have made in the design stages of El Fuerte. What are your thought on this?
Aerialgroove over at FightingStreet.com clued me in to the creation of Street Fighter II, the World Warrior. He has an interview with SF II producer Noritaka Funamizu where he mentions that 35-40 people worked on the game and 20 people were designing the characters. 20 on characters is an absurdly large number for a fighting game. However the more eyes looking over the designs, the more insight each could bring to the process and help evolve the look. This explains why the characters, their moves and appearance were timeless in SF II yet seem to lack that impact in IV. I am not certain how many people were working on SF IV characters, but 20 would probably be far over budget. I am not convinced that any of the artists, or the main artist on SF IV, Daigo Ikeno, were truly familiar with lucha libre. As such El Fuerte has missed the "look" in my analysis. This is only part of my complaints with the character. What about the moves themselves? Does El Fuerte have the moves of a lucha libre star? Please come back tomorrow for the next portion of this series. As always comments are welcome and encouraged.
Hello friends, this marks my first original series for the Capcom BBS rather than a reprint from my 1UP blogs. I hope you don't think this deconstruction as pretentious but I am just passionate about character design in videogames, especially in Street Fighter. I don't mean to pick on Yoshinori Ono or Capcom as much as I want to see the best from him and his team. The Street Fighter series is so epic that I am fascinated with the influences that went into it and how they are reflected to the gamer. I am a firm believer that Street Fighter can always be better but in order to find room for improvement we have to be willing to recognize that our window into the world, the avatar, or fighting game character is the most important design element that Capcom creates. If I spot an inconsistency I will call Capcom on it. I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about character designs and the martial arts but I do have enough insight to know why a character doesn't work for me. I will do so by deconstructing El Fuerte as featured in Street Fighter IV. There are three reasons why I feel the design of El Fuerte fails my SF universe litmus test. Those three things are his appearance, his move selection and his purpose in the game. As part of the deconstruction we have to look at the history of not only the game but also of lucha libre, for which El Fuerte represents.
In case you couldn't tell from my illustrations and blogs here on the Capcom BBS I am a big fan of wrestling and have been following its inclusion and evolution in the Street Fighter series. When it was announced that there would be a luchador in Street Fighter IV I was both excited but also skeptical. Just because there was a masked wrestler in the game and just because he was Mexican, it did not make him a true enmascarado (masked luchador). There are a few things that Capcom of Japan, Capcom of the USA, and developer DIMPS should recognize about wrestling culture in order to make El Fuerte "right."
Most people don't realize that there are many different types of pro wrestling. The pro wrestling seen in the US has many variations, from traditional to bloody and violent "hardcore." Those are slightly different than the high-flying lucha libre seen in Mexico. In Japan the style of wrestling they perform is a little stiffer, as in the hits they perform are a little harder and they go through more "finishing moves" than either the US or Mexico. They even have a unique name for their format of pro wrestling called puroresu or puro for short. Japanese puro has been heavily influenced by both the USA and Mexico formats. Japan's love of lucha libre even resulted in the creation of lucharesu, a combination of lucha libre and puroresu. What makes the sport unique is how different cultures interpret it and make it their own. I feel that El Fuerte is not consistent with true lucha libre, or even lucharesu. I think that Capcom and DIMPS introduced a character based on a surface knowledge of the sport and masked athletes rather than a deep understanding of it. Let's get under the mask of El Fuerte and understand the ideals of lucha libre, how or why the character came to be and what he should represent.
The most obvious distinction of lucha libre are the masked characters and high-flying acrobatics. To many in the US they view these "gymnastics" with disdain, saying that pro wrestling has a history connected to trapping and grappling of catch wrestling and of course classic Greco-Roman wrestling. The type of wrestling performed in Mexico is seen as too acrobatic or choreographed to be taken seriously. Lucha libre as we know it is around 80-years-old and no, not every luchador wears a mask. Salvador Lutteroth is the man credited to bringing wrestling to Mexico. He saw some matches in El Paso and noticed how a masked performer worked well with the crowd. He thought this secret identity would be very important and go over well in Mexico. Needless to say he was right! I would suggest you watch a short but very well put-together lucha libre podcast from the George Eastman (as in Eastman Kodak) house explaining some of the history and charm of these masked characters. Lucha libre certainly has a long and established tradition that deserves some respect, especially in videogame form.
The closest thing that I could compare the masked luchadores, the enmascarados in the USA to would be superheroes. The elaborate masks, tights (and sometimes capes), are all part of their costume. Their secret identity is as important to them and their fans as it is to the fictional characters in comic books. A true enmascarado never, ever goes out in public without his mask and protects his identity to the best of his ability. He never does anything to bring shame to his name or his mask. An enmascarado does not go into the lifestyle casually but with all his heart and conviction. Believe it or not the true enmascarados in Mexico never leave the house without their masks, even when they are out with their friends and family. To the public it's all part of tradition and they do not think twice about seeing a masked man.
The reason for what we would consider "odd social behavior" is actually seeped in tradition.
These men are seen as daring fighters, mythical warriors. The physical ability to perform all sorts of crazy moves is part of the spectacle but the bond between the audience and the luchador goes deeper than performance fighting. The good guys are called "Technicos" they fight by particular guidelines and always have to uphold the rules of clean combat. The bad guys are called "Rudos" and are free to use every dirty trick in the book. The matches they engage in are very much a live battle between good and evil.
Audiences are drawn to these morality plays like moths to a flame. With the good guys and bad guys so clearly defined it becomes hard not to choose a side. Kids will their heroes to overcome the obstacles and win the fight even when faced against insurmountable odds. A huge reason why enmascarados go over so well in Mexico, as opposed to in the USA or Japan, is because of cultural relevance.
Mexico is predominantly Catholic but with lingering traditions, including folklore and myth, from the natives. The battles between good an evil are an every day occurrence for those with strong superstitions. The warriors that perform in these battles harken back to the pre-columbian world. The masks themselves are inspired by iconic images. The Aztec warriors went into battle with brightly colored uniforms and headdresses so that generals could watch their exploits in battle. These were known as Caballeros Aguilas (eagle riders) and are symbolic of the fiercest warriors of ancient society. The design of the caballero aguila can be seen on the mask of the villainous Dr. Wagner Jr and Canek "El Princepe Maya" (the Mayan Prince).
One of the most famous and successful of all wrestlers, Mil Mascaras (a thousand masks), even has a costume in the jaguar pattern, similar to what the ancient warriors would wear in battle. Here is an excerpt from the Sun interview with enmascarado El Hijo Del Santo explaining the origin and importance of the mask.
"The Sun: Can you describe the importance and history of the mask to Mexican wrestlers?
El Hijo Del Santo: I believe that when lucha libre started, it all began with a wrestler that came from the American circuit.
He [the masked wrestler] got a lot of attention from the Mexican crowds and as Mexican wrestling is a war of good v evil, the masks have an importance with the roots of our culture, like the Aztecs, Olmecs and Teotihuacans. They always wore masks of animals when at war, the most significant were the jaguar, wolf, the eagle, snake, as they believed they would get the animal’s powers in combat. I think lucha libre adopted this belief and the luchador looks for a name that suits his personality from say nature, animals, the heaven like El Santo or hell like Demon. Many years ago, my father Santo took the mask off Black Shadow in a match with wagers, that day the importance of the mask took a new dimension, to lose a mask became very important and an opportunity for promoters in Mexico to present something new that doesn’t happen in the USA."
Unless you were raised in this culture it is very hard to identify with the wrestlers and understand why their masks and style of wrestling is important or why lucha libre means so much to Mexico's cultural identity. This is why when I heard that a Mexican masked wrestler was being added to the lineup of SF IV I was hesitant. Did Capcom add him knowing the history, legacy and importance of enmascarados? Or did they add him as a "flavor of the month," a character to balance out the popular El Blaze from Virtua Fighter? I was not certain in either regards but after a few months of reading about him, and thanks to the Street Fight Club, finally having a chance to play as him, I learned that Capcom and DIMPS had not gotten the enmascarado 100% right. Please return tomorrow for part 2 of this series and leave a comment if you have any questions about lucha libre.
Hello friends, I'm writing to let you know what went down at the Capcom booth during the San Diego Comic Con 2008. I stopped by on Friday to see the sites and get some video. Didn't really capture any footage of Street Fighter IV, but I did manage to get three clips for Capcom fans in general.
The one I'm most eager to pick up, aside from Street Fighter IV, is Bionic Commando. Honestly, who doesn't love a good game with just enough science fiction and gunplay to keep things interesting?
The "swag" that I got were some posters for Bionic Commando and Street Fighter IV. The SF IV poster is autographed by Producer Yoshinori Ono. Artist Mark Brooks and colorist Christina Strain were autographing Friday as well so I made sure to pick up their fantastic poster as well.
I took an issue of Arcadia Magazine with me to get signed as well. Some might not remember that one of Mr. Ono's original titles for Capcom was the fantasy army fighting game known as War of the Grail. It was the first time I had seen him interviewed in print and wanted to show him that I had been keeping tabs on even rare Capcom arcade titles.
Mr. Ono was kind enough to oblige the audience with a Q&A session. I didn't catch all of the questions as I was playing some Street Fighter IV but here is what I did get for you.
Last but not least were some of the cool people that showed up for the cosplay contest. You'll be seeing more pics turn up on the Community site over the next few days as well as on the Moderator RedVirtue's CapCosplay Blog. I did promise Mr. Ono to deliver a special El Fuerte blog for the team and community to ponder. I will finish that up shortly and have it ready no later than Monday. In the meantime I hope you have a great weekend and look forward to seeing y'all again next year!
