Street Fighter 2 is a legendary game.
But personally, my character preference leans more towards the “Emperor of Fighters” from another company that came out later.
The reason is simple.
There just aren’t enough female characters!
I mean, excluding the player character “Yu-ri,” all the others are dudes. No matter how I think about it, that’s just too much.
So I thought we definitely needed to include some female characters in our game.
And this wasn’t just my personal taste.
Surprisingly, the other world was quite PC.
There wasn’t much discrimination between male and female races, so it was a choice aimed at satisfying everyone.
Of course, I started by including the kick-based character “Yu-ri,” who’s a former Hong Kong cop.
Then, using the character from Ra Kingdom who focuses on kicks, I named her “Curie” after a friend from that kingdom.
Since Ra Kingdom could be considered an Eastern country in the reincarnation sense, her image was also similar to the original.
Next, a sexy Dark Elf using the “Black Forest” grappling moves was placed as the Russian uncle position in this work.
And her name… Yes! I’ll name her “Alicia!”
Alicia was the only Dark Elf friend I knew.
And I thought I should put in an Easter egg with Julia, so I decided that using her illusion technique, there would be a chance for some clothes to come off.
As for the Neko Mimi character from the Beastfolk race, I was thinking of making her the green electric character from Brazil.
Though I wanted to include her personally, the priests rejected her design after reviewing it.
They said she looked too much like a monster.
So instead, I decided to include a cute Neko Mimi character with white hair from the Beastfolk, who has a similar jumping ability.
I wanted to leave a trace, so I named her “Blanc.”
Ah! And of course… she’s a female character too.
But I didn’t just add female characters.
There’s also a Dwarf who controls the earth to perform uppercuts, and he’s a muscular male character.
He’s strong, but unlike that one game’s character with no thought of lag, I made sure he has significant post-action delay to balance him.
And I made sure to include “Ryo” and “Kan,” who can be said to be the protagonists of Street Fighter 2, while preserving their original images.
These two are set as pure successors of original martial arts unrelated to other worlds.
Given the situation, I couldn’t give them the title of protagonist, but since it started as a game from Street Fighter 2, I wanted to leave that trace behind.
Roughly, the setting went like this.
The “Volcanic Return Style” was a martial art created in the deep mountains of the empire’s southern region, solely designed to prove strength.
When one pursues pure martial arts, they can tap into a power called “Wave,” which is different from mana. This martial art is incredibly powerful but has been prohibited from being used in wars throughout generations, so it has remained unknown to the world.
I decided to stick with the name “Ryo.”
After all, it’s a character from another world. Who’s going to complain, right?
The story concept for Ryo is that he entered to get stronger, while Kan is the descendant of a fallen noble wanting to revive his family’s name.
The techniques would also include our beloved “Adoken’s” wave attack, “Woryugen’s” soaring fist, and “Attatadugens” dragon torsion as is.
Without these, it’s just not Street Fighter!
And finally, the long-awaited main character remained.
But first, a necessary fact to know.
If you ask players to pick the game-breaking character from Street Fighter 2, everyone would unanimously choose that one character.
The character who fights for the peace of his country, an American Air Force Soldier, known for his distinctive hairstyle that gave rise to countless broom-haired characters, the infamous game-breaking character, “Nile.”
Nile is considered broken for more than one reason.
First off, his projectile was OP.
While Ryo and Kan’s wave attacks have a startup time of 53 frames, Nile’s Sonic Boom is a mere 33 frames.
So if it turned into a projectile battle, Nile could act much quicker than the others.
But is he weak outside of his projectile? Not at all!
Gail’s anti-air move, the Somersault Kick, is the strongest anti-air move in Street Fighter 2.
Its attack range is colossal, able to counter almost all anti-airs and aerial attacks.
Even though this is based on the early version, the landing recovery is zero frames, leaving no gap at all.
And he’s one of the three characters that can perform air throws.
One of Nile’s basic combos involves grabbing an opponent trying to jump to avoid a Sonic Boom and tossing them!
Also, many picked Nile because the command input was easy.
Nile’s Sonic Boom is performed by holding ← and pressing → + P, while the Somersault Kick can be executed with ↓ and pressing ↑ + K. Beginners found it incredibly easy to adapt.
The wave command ↓↘→ + P or →↓↘ + P was much more challenging for players, so they opted for easy-command Nile, and once again found him impressive.
That’s why Nile earned the nickname “Air Force Soldier.”
By pressing ↙ to crouch and then inputting →, you get the Sonic Boom, and if you press ↑, you execute the Somersault Kick.
Because of that, “Soldiers stay crouched in the lower left” or “always watching their opponent’s response while in a kneeling position” led to the nickname “Air Force Soldier.”
Easy to use, fast projectiles, wide anti-air attacks, great fundamentals, and air throws.
When summarized, he becomes a completely insane character.
Did they really balance this, Akira!?
It was common for someone who had been toyed with by Nile in the arcade back in the day to ask for a real fight or throw a chair shot.
Man, that chair shot really hurt…
Well, from my perspective of needing to create a protagonist, a soldier and a game-breaking character, it wasn’t too bad.
Because making him just like that fulfilled all conditions.
However, if I left it like this, he’d be really too strong, so I decided to lower his health a bit.
The appearance remained the same with broom hair but dressed in the Imperial Army attire.
Due to a lack of air force presence, I set him as Zergas, a special ops soldier from the empire trained in Zergas (Lightning Martial Arts).
For the most important name, I sought the help of the Minister’s Office.
“Wha!? You want the protagonist’s name to be ‘Karuga’!?”
“Is that okay? Yuren?”
I decided to name the protagonist after “Karuga Nova,” the general who saved the empire 500 years ago when it was a kingdom.
To put it in terms of reincarnation, it’s like naming the protagonist “Lee Soon-shin” or “Ahn Jung-geun.”
There were two main reasons for this name choice.
First, Karuga was a well-known hero in Zergas even abroad.
Second, it was meant to improve the image of fighting games in the empire.
The other world is similar. If parents see fighting games for the first time, they’ll only see the negatives.
But what if the protagonist of that game had the name of a hero, backed by the state, who fights to protect the world once again?
It would prevent mindless bashing of arcades and games, and also help improve the perception of the profession of game developers.
“I got the Minister’s approval, so you don’t have to worry.”
I had contacted the Minister’s Office using the crystal ball given by Minister Herness ahead of time.
The response came from a woman named Mineva, and I told her about the necessary renown for the protagonist character to bear the name “Karuga.”
And…
“Are you crazy?”
She called me nuts right off the bat during our first contact.
Honestly, even I thought it was a bit insane.
Using the name of a national hero in a time where prestige matters a lot!
But I desperately explained my reasons for needing that name.
“Haa… I understand. I’ll look into it.”
She mentioned she would contact their household.
Surprisingly, I received a quick reply.
“They said it’s permitted.”
“Wait? That fast?”
“The head of their household is a fan of your game. We didn’t think it would be resolved so easily.”
A fan of my game!?
I was close to tears over this windfall of fan service I had never experienced even in my past life.
“But there is a condition.”
“What condition?”
Mineva seemed to be reading a note on her side as she spoke.
“She asks that you invite her to events like the Tetric tournament and send her a copy of the game when it releases.”
“That’s no big deal.”
That’s a perfectly reasonable request for a fan.
“And she also hopes you won’t tarnish the honor of her ancestors.”
“Tell her not to worry; I’ll definitely make the protagonist a great warrior who fights for the empire once again.”
“Ah… then that’s a relief. I’ll make sure to relay it.”
Thus, with the protagonist’s name settled, “Karuga” was completed.
His fighting reason? Well… we should avoid involving other countries for diplomatic reasons, so let’s set it up that he’s a lonely soldier stepping out to stop the mysterious organization “Dark Star,” which aims to incite a war in the world.
Perfect!
And with that, all characters were prepared.
There were hidden characters too, but I secretly added those later for fun.
Hehe, I’m looking forward to the day the hidden character is unveiled!
