call for help out to Capcom's Street Fighter fans

[vasili10]

Hello! I'm a newbie here so please excuse me if I posted this in the wrong place.

Anyone here like/understand/can dig the story of Street Fighter and all its extra material as presented by Capcom of Japan? I'm currently researching and translating for this topic, and I'd like all the help I can get. I'm aware of The Street Fighter Plot Guide made by Tiamat, in fact I'm one of the top contributors right now. Being able to read Japanese, I can confirm many things that have been said by other people that just aren't heard from much nowadays. But I haven't been able to prove everything yet, and that's why I'm asking for a hand.
Are you able to read Japanese? Got a bunch of Japanese books or manga on SF? Lots of old Japanese game magazines or arcade pamphlets? Maybe rare sketches or other official artwork, or even some Street Fighter doujinshi? Got a scanner? Do you feel you know something that the guide should and doesn't seem to mention? I'd greatly appreciate hearing from you if you can answer yes to any of these questions.

Thanks for welcoming me to the Japan Forum.

[CBT1979]

Hi, I hope that I can help you out a bit =)

Ken and Ryu are apprentice of Martial Arts Master Shenlong. while Ryu became a street fighter without home, Ken returned back to the US and isn't a poor guy at all. M.Bison(US)/Vega(JP) is the leader of a mighty criminal organization who is responsible for the death of Chun Li's father and Guile's comrade Charlie/Nash. Those are the main characters while others are not that much bounded to the SF mainplot. By the way, Sagat's wound on the chest was inflicted by Ryu's shoryuken/dragonpunsh in Street Fighter 1.

[vasili10]

Thanks CBT1979. Everything you said is pretty much true, except for Sheng Long. He was created mostly as a joke by a USA gaming magazine. Capcom of Japan as far as I know has never said that he's a real character. Ryu & Ken's master is known today as Gouken both in Japan and everywhere else.

However, if you feel that you can prove me wrong on this or anything else, please feel free to show me.

[Satsui]

Go read Adon Street Fighter / Street Fighter II comic & watch the 3 movies.. the game's storyline got screwed up so bad in SFAlpha3

[vasili10]

Udon's series you mean? Yeah I've read those and seen all the anime. Why do you say Alpha 3 screwed up the storyline?

[CBT1979]

Shenlong was not only mentioned in the Street Fighter 2 games (including the original version "the world warriors", "Champion Edition", and "Hyper Fighting". I think it is Ryu who says "You must defeat Shenlong to stand a chance" once you won a match.

Shenlong appeared in the Street Fighter Alpha/Zero Anime as the master of Ryu und Ken. So I doubt that it was a creation done by US gaming magazines but an unclear background character by Capcom.

[vasili10]

Shenlong was not only mentioned in the Street Fighter 2 games (including the original version "the world warriors", "Champion Edition", and "Hyper Fighting". I think it is Ryu who says "You must defeat Shenlong to stand a chance" once you won a match.
Shenlong appeared in the Street Fighter Alpha/Zero Anime as the master of Ryu und Ken. So I doubt that it was a creation done by US gaming magazines but an unclear background character by Capcom.

Do you understand what Ryu meant by "sheng long"? The rising dragon punch, or shoryuken. "Sheng long" in Chinese means "rising dragon." Players saw the quote and thought Ryu was talking about a person when he actually wasn't. The magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly started out by saying that "sheng long" referred to the dragon punch, but later on created a believable hoax in SF2 which fooled even Capcom USA. They began to say Sheng Long was Ryu and Ken's master while Capcom Japan knew there was no such character because they had not named him yet. After EGM pulled the same joke once again for SF3, Capcom USA decided to call Ryu and Ken's master by the same name Capcom Japan gave him when SSF2X came out and remains today: Gouken.

Gouken briefly appeared in the SFZ/SFA anime, no matter if you hear Japanese or English. Again, no Sheng Long.

[Satsui]

Cammy was a copy of Bison
Dan Hibiki was an old friend of Blanka and understands Blanka's language

I havn't played with all characters. . are there any other weird storylines I should check out on SFAlpha3?

[CBT1979]

So the name of Ryu&Ken's master was Gouken?
Didn't know that because they always only say master and no names in the anime I watched.
Sheng Long is by the way also the artist name of Jacky Chan in Cantonese :-)

[vasili10]

Satsui:

Did you think that Cammy was a naturally born girl before Zero 3/Alpha 3 came out? Many fans, manga, etc. assumed that, but Capcom never said so. Her birthplace was listed as unknown from the very beginning, and her birthdate was only hypothesized by Colonel Wolfman of Delta Red. All that's happening in Zero 3 is blanks being filled in.

Blanka before Zero 3 was stated to have been taught human language by someone, and Capcom decided to make that someone Dan, again more blanks filled.

CBT1979:

I think you meant to say the SF2 Animated Movie is what you saw. In that, Shadoloo calls their master Goutetsu, and in the movie credits he's just called an "old man," and like you said Ryu and Ken just call him "master." But yes, today he's known officially as Gouken in both Japan and overseas.

I didn't know that Sheng Long was a Cantonese reference to Jackie Chan. Cool. Thanks for letting me know.:-)

[CBT1979]

you're welcome.

But yes, in Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, China and Taiwan, they all call him Sheng Long "rising dragon" since he was popular with his KungFu movies in the 1970's. I forgot his real Chinese/Cantonese name, but it sounds non-spectacular. Even HongKong actorAndy Lau has been always called with his artist name Lau Dak Wa instead of Lau Fuk Wing I think.