Kotaku
Reader Pon Zu reminds us that there is another game with the roman numeral IV in that we are terribly excited about by pointing us towards Famitsu, where the latest batch of screens from the game reveal two new characters, M.Bison and Balrog. Better known in the states as Balrog and Vega, these two are at completely opposite ends of the fighting spectrum, with one being all about speed and finesse and the other focused solely on brute force. M.Bison knows not how to kick, and Balrog looks like more of a woman than Chun Li. All is right with the world.
『ストリートファイターIV』四天王の存在が明らかに！[Famitsu - Thanks Pon Zu!]
Comments
Oh wow! Balrog (Vega) looks good!!!! (He is my favourite!
So are they going to call Vega and Balrog Balrog and Bison (respectively) in the English versions of the game? That would be somewhat jarring. I've come to know them by their English counterparts. I mean, I know it's wrong, but still . . .
Why were the names changed in the States again? Any video game historians around? I am but an amateur, and I was never a big SFII fan.
Japan - USA
Vega - M.Bison
Balrog - Vega
M.Bison - Balrog
@ArgentAngel: you mean Bison (vega). I clicked the link immediately looking for M. Bison but to no avail i see no Psycho Crusher :/
WHOO-HOO VEGA!
M.Bison (Balrog) B-list? the guy is one of the (if not THE) top tier characters!
but this stuff looks good. wonder if they will keep the Japanese names when this comes state side (probably not, but oh well)
@Shindokie: and i take that Bison (vega) back unless i'm right but i'm confused now.
@RTW: still very confusing.
This is really confusing... I don't understand why they would just randomly choose to mix up names.
@vanderblade: M. Bison sounded too much like "Mike Tyson" back in the day. Well, it's kinda obvious that they drew the character's inspiration from the earmuncher, but they figured the US would be more sensitive to it.
there is no b-list in street fighter. everyone's a star.
@vanderblade:
I belive it has to do with M. Bison being awfuly close sounding to M. Tyson and avoiding el lawsuitarino.
On another note, Balrog & M.Bison may be B-list celebrities in the casual SF world, but M.Bison (the boxer, that is) is a powerhouse in SSF2T tourneys with his ridiculous speed + power combinations. Balrog...not so much.
@vanderblade: the names were switched around because originally M. Bison was named after Mike Tyson (a money grubbing boxer, makes sense right?). Capcom being afraid that the real Mike Tyson would show up and bite all their ears off and kill them, so they rotated all the names around.
@RTW:
when the hell did that happen?
I'm almost positive that B-list is referring to the first letters of each of their names...I mean, come on.
VEGA! BALROG AND VEGA!!!!
@Datheron: Whoa whoa whoa.
If you're talking ST then yes Boxer and Sim are the best characters in the game. But Claw is easily up there along with O. Sagat.
In fact he's soft banned in Japan.
@globones: It's always been that way. Every version released in the states is switched around.
Haha, for a second I was so ready to point out the typo in the title... I forgot about the switcharoo of the names here in the States.
Rainbow Mika- ultimate B-lister.
Still, looks good, from what I've heard it plays good- this will be a big hit in 2k9 hopefully
@vanderblade: In japan M. Bison was known as M. Tyson. Not wanting to be sued by good ol' ear chomping Mike Tyson. They made, the final boss M. Bison(instead of Balrog) and the Boxer man Balrog.
@RonCey: really? i wanna see more bout that, i didnt know he was top-tier.
no he was definately m.bison in japan, but tyson was what they were going after.
But yeah, for anybody who doesnt know, the name change is how it's ALWAYS been. >.>
The real B-Listers are the morons making this game.
Dimps? ****ing DIMPS? WTF? Capcom!
ok, guys. an easy way to remember it is WHY they changed it:
M. Bison's full name is actually Mike Bison = Mike Tyson (that's why they changed it, in case mike tyson's lawyers came after them)
Vega WAS the dictator = M. Bison in the states. americans thought Vega sounded kinda gay, so they gave it to the metrosexual clawfighter instead.
ok, this is so news to me. Now, i'm just confused, so in the movie, what was bison called in japan? balrog and the anime ... I NEED TO KNOW.
This really blew me away Balrog is M.Bison, Bison is Vega, Vega is Balrog.
Yes! Can't have SF4 without Barlog and Vega! They look awesome.
The facial expressions in this game STILL make me want to hide under my desk. Only thing scarier is Chun Li's massive hands.
@Shindokie: I mean mask/claw guy. Haha, I get so confuzzled!
@RonCey:
tiger! tiger! tiger! tiger! tiger! tiger! tiger! tiger!
cool, it's Mr. Beautiful. And, uh, Mr. Punchy.
hmmm.. i have to admit, balrog (vega) looks magnificent. ive never been too much of a bison (balrog) fan, but he too looks good (cept for the headshot).
i hope there will be more new characters, oh and new characters that will be good. because guile is the only returning SFII character i even remotely like that doesnt fight in an ansatsuken (ken and ryu) style. i love chun li, but not in sf II. she was a beast in 3s though. cammy would be nice, and i know its wishful thinkin, but i definitely need bison. scissor kicks, head stomps, psycho crushers, and slides still help me stomp many adversaries in cvs 2. he technically died at the hands of akuma in super turbo, but who knows what theyll do.
@TheIrishNinja:
The reason he is soft banned in Japan is because he has a really mindless trap.
Basically once he gets a knockdown he can flying barcelona attack and hit you while your waking up and you pretty much just have to guess what side it's going to hit on. If you guess wrong the move knocks you down setting the whole thing up again.
Guess right and claw bounces safely away while you take block damage.
So while he's not officially banned in Japan, he's kinda looked down upon because his trap is so stupid.
oh snap!! Vega/M.Bison looks awesome!!! Balrog on the other hand looks like he got hooked on steroids
I'm truly excited for a Street Fighter game again. It's an odd feeling. I enjoyed III and the Alpha games but was never as fanatical about them as I was with all of the iterations of II. II had my favorite cast and I'm glad to see them coming back.
I guess I am one of the few who knew that the names are all switched for America. I always liked Vega(Balrog) but he is cheap, his range is too far and he combos are furious. Where is Skullomania? I am still hoping he makes it in the game.
@TheIrishNinja:
LOL, now I get to post MOVIES!
+ Watch video
Look at dat shit!.
@MetalGearMax:
See past interviews, past remarks made by that asshat Keiji Inafune after Clovers demise, and if you dare, read it's wikipedia page [en.wikipedia.org] even without the wiki info, the powers that be at Capcom do not care about pushing the STreet Fighter brand in this day and age, especialy Inafune, who has had a reputation of actually PUBLIC ALLY outright disliking the franchise and those who have worked on it throughout the 90's, and guess who is a big cheese CEO at Capcom these days, yup, good ol back-stabbin, dick sucking Inafune.
Also, ONE MAOR!
+ Watch video
Watch it till you see a certain blue short sportin boxer, freaking FANTASTIC!
Wow, I can't believe just how many people don't know about the name swaps.
Oh my God...those vids are insane. Spam projectiles much? Still, bad-ass.
Funny, they look better then any other characters announced so far in my opinion. Just my opinion of course. ;)
HELL YES
Balrog is back
Effeminate Claw action, here I come!
@Cloral:
Really? Because my Genesis/SNES copies, Vega was the Spainard, Balrog the Boxer, M. Bison, badguy.
Damn you Capcom for your 12 year old switch-aroo!
This is awesome, Vega (Vega in US) looks awesome.
If this is supposedta be happening right after SFII I wonder just how complete this game will be in showing the characters from SSFT...
T-HAWK CONFIRMED?~!
all seriousness aside I just really wanna see Cammy and Fei Long. This game is shaping up to be pretty great, I just want more fan service! morrrrre!!!
I just noticed something.
Or more appropriately, didn't.
Where are chun li's mutant hands in this pic? [kotaku.com]
Oh wait, wha, WHERES Q!?!?!111?
Q MA BOII! WHERE IS HE!?1 He's gonna be SO MAD!
+ Watch video
Who's "Balgog"?
Now Balrog can get his BONUS!
+ Watch video
@TheIrishNinja: You mean Claw/Vega/Balrog?
Here's a good match,check it out:
+ Watch video
@RonCey: aw, shit. yeah, i was seeing that in the last video, dindt realize the block damage was such a big deal though.
@Bando: heh, nice. that's what i get for not staying around long enough to learn the super combos...there's that one move bison keeps doing there, where he'd just leap a little bit forward (over sagat's low tiger shot) that i dont even know, heh.
@TheCleaningGuy: damn, that one came down the line, didnt it? close match! its also cool to see since i used to use Veg..uh, Balrog in the day against my friend who'd use cheap-ass Ken. i dont recall the standing fierce claw doing so much more damage than a hadoken, but then again, its been a while.
@Zamzoph:
I'm thirsty for some Gigaton Punch.
@TheIrishNinja:
Most of "Vega-Rog's" matches are Fierce Punch x3 gg :P
At least it it's never been near the level of "TIGER! TIGER! TIGER! TIGER! TIGER! TIGER! TIGER UPPERCUT! TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!"
@Bando: hah, like 5 years of my life were lost to "HADOKEN! HADOKEN! HADOKEN! HADOKEN! SHORYUKEN! HADOKEN! HADOKEN!" etc.
@thaKingRocka: Skullomania?
Helpful tip:
In Japan, talk about
Mike Bison, Senor Balrog, Sagat, and Master Vega.
Everywhere else, talk about
Mike Balrog, Senor Vega, Sagat, and Master Bison.
This avoids the inane "hardcore" monikers of "boxer" and "claw" (ugh).
Umm Sagat and M. Bison are in this game. See?
[www.fightersgeneration.com]
Can't wait. Great additions to the line-up.
@vanderblade: If I remember correctly it's something about getting sued. M. Bison sounds a lot like Mike Tyson and Capcom didn't want to get sued by a large scary black man who talks funny so they shuffled the names about. Didn't happen in Japan since Tyson doesn't read or speak Japanese.
@