Fate/stay night -Fate- Analysis and Review

Getting into the Fate series is a bit of a hassle. Many die hard fans will attest to going in the original order of release and finishing it at Fate/Zero, while others will swear by going in with Zero first. I myself lean more towards to the latter. Fate/Zero was my first introduction to Type-Moon’s most famous series and left me absolutely fascinated and desperate for more. The world, the characters, the music, everything was mind numbing and left me at awe. A lot of what I loved in Zero’s depth and tragedy was desired in Fate/stay night. Naturally, I was disappointed to discover that my first taste of this visual novel is barren of the strong moral debates that shift between ideologies and follows a more a more traditional story. And although I was eventually satisfied with Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel blew my expectations (more on this in a couple of blogs), the Fate route still left an interesting taste of disappointment. Sadly, I can’t gush about Heaven’s Feel just yet, so I’ll be delivering my personal analysis of Unlimited Blade Works. 

Please note that a lot of my experience comes from treating this as a sequel to Fate/Zero, as my experiences come from that medium before Fate/stay night. So some criticisms might be myself subconsciously comparing this as a shortcoming to Fate/Zero's story.

Whenever you talk to a child about what they want to be when they grow up, their answers may be along the lines of civic duties. Some suggest that they want to be police officers, doctors, or fire men. Since a small age, we all have a certain feeling of wanting to be heroic. The ideology of saving the world is a sweet concept that occupies our minds before the ideas of realism and opportunities of fulfilment of those dreams come into hand as young adults. In the same way, Emiya Shirou has an ideal. After suffering the burning of a neighborhood in Fuyuki City, he is saved by the embodiment of heroism, Emiya Kiritsugu. To the young boy, he more or less died that day and became Emiya Shirou. As Kiritsugu realized the error of his ways, he slowly gave up his childish ambition, which is left to the young Emiya.

Years later, on a fateful night, Shirou ends up crossing paths between Tohsaka Rin and two men. one of them clad in red and twin swords while a man in blue brutality counters with his spear. The two men are servants and after a fatal encounter, Shirou in his last minute of desperation hides in a shed before a woman in blue suddenly appears and dashes to his aid. She is his servant known as Saber.

The master and servant system is quite simple. Masters are mages who try to summon servants, heroic beings from the past who come back as spirits to aid the master in a war to win the Holy Grail. The appropriately titled Holy Grail War allows mages to achieve their any wish they have through its godly powers. Once all of the servants get eliminated, the Grail gets summoned. Seeing this as an opportunity to start his goal of heroism, Shirou takes the opportunity to participate in the bloodshed in his quest to save the world.

The Fate route is the first story of Fate/stay night and serves as an introduction to Type-Moon’s Fate universe. As with each route, the Fate route has a main theme running through the story, which is following your ideals and the mere idea of idealism. Appropriately, the main focus of the story is Shirou’s servant, Saber. Saber follows a similar ideological stand point with Shirou in which she has been through a horrific scenario, through losing her entire nation and is working through sheer guilt to atone for her sins.

Don't worry. He goes on about her beauty for a few pages.

The theme of atonement runs through the Fate route quite strongly, as Shirou feels a need to save others has to be fulfilled so that the deaths of the many people that he witnessed in Fuyuki do not go in vain. Through many interludes, you can clearly see the horrors and the burning dragging hell that Shirou had to witness and simply move through. As a young child, Shirou’s only tool in the fire was spectacle. When he was on the floor with his final breath, Emiya Kiritsugu’s hand reaching and stopping the boy’s death symbolizes an almost God-like intervention putting ends to a motion that was going to finish at the young boy’s death. It can be assumed that the almost impossible odds being simply pushed by a savior inspired the young boy to follow his steps.

The steps in achieving the dream is where most of my problems come in. As a story writing narrative, the set up is quite good and deals with the dreams that many have experienced in their younger years. But instead of following a simple internal struggle, Nasu made Shirou’s actions reflect a more external action, leaving his ideals in the ground and never moving. The frustration plays when Saber, who shares a similar ideal, feels like a character who undergoes a change and an understanding is reached that her ideals to save a country by sacrificing her kingship will be in simple vain. Dramatically changing history’s course may alleviate a certain situation, but its inevitability cannot be halted. However, Shirou does not see that issue apply to him and simply moves on with his ideal of being a hero, no matter the odds.

Inspirational may be at a limit, but Shirou far extends it into simple stubbornness, as I never witnessed a moment where Shirou grew as a person. As a reader, I feel a certain attachment to characters going through a change, but Shirou never felt like a real person. He felt like a machine, cold and simply moving forward with what he wants to achieve. While this may be the point of his character and far extends to his inability to follow the same ideals in Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel, it leaks into his interactions with other characters.

Being one of the most revered kings in fiction, Saber’s abilities as a knight are far exceeding to other servants in hand to hand combat. However, this leads to her also being quite open to direct attacks and left in a state near to death. Witnessing Saber nearly being killed in the first night by Berserker, Shirou forbade Saber from ever fighting, stating that as a man his goal is to protect Saber. Aside from being incredibly condescending, the Fate route’s Shirou’s sense of stupidity is often met with the characters expressing disdain followed by them simply letting him do what he wants. It’s almost childish and frustrating to see such a powerful character like Saber simply follow Shirou’s orders and never go past questioning him. Part of a relationship is understanding what the other party feels and acknowledging the dangers it takes for both sides. Yes, it’s scary to see one hurt, but it is part of the risk of going into the Holy Grail War. It also does not help that the idea of not wanting to see Saber hurt wasn’t bad, but Shirou’s bullheaded chivalry was what made it feel flat.

"Saber, you stop that fighting this instant. Everyone knows that you can't fight."

Nasu’s idea might have been to downplay Saber to have the reveal of her identity to stun Shirou, but that does not work in two ways. The first way is that the reader and Shirou already understand Saber’s power, as the first night revolved around her taking on both Archer and Berserker at tremendous feats. The second point is that Shirou’s interactions with Saber suffer, as it starts to have vague hints of poor writing when Shirou starts bringing in that Saber is a girl. I would not necessarily write this off as misogyny, as that would imply that the writing was intended with hatred. The issue more so covers a poor writing decision, which could have easily been solved by dropping Shirou's rationale over Saber fighting.

While the initial relationship with Saber may seem poor, the route also suffers from poor pacing. About 80% of the story is exposition, which starts feeling rather boring once the reader starts to have an understanding of the world and setting and it becomes even worse when the story starts to take explanations as a priority over the actual action and situation. A lot of characters feel misused or only around for a single purpose before leaving the stage. Emiya Shirou is the star of the show, and a poor one at it.

Thankfully, there is a saving grace in the route in the final 5 days when the stakes start to become raised and Shirou falls for Saber. The romance aspect was actually well written in my eyes and felt as a somewhat somber affair. By this point, Saber regains her rights as a knight under Shirou and the story starts to move in a much more natural and progressive route. As mentioned, Shirou falls for Saber and no longer only sees her as a knight, but a young girl desperately trapped in the role of a king seeking for atonement. In his words, her selflessness is unjust, as she can only meet her grim death. Shirou’s objective slightly alters to add Saber to the people that he wants to save, but that adds interesting tension. As a king, Saber cannot reciprocate her feeling and that leads a conflict in interest and a strong flaw in Shirou’s plan. In a way, it breaks out of the mold and offers Saber as more of a partner than a simple lover that Shirou can convince. And Saber’s inability to respond to Shirou is what makes the conflict work. It leaves Shirou in odds and makes him realize that he cannot alleviate every problem presented to him. Unfortunately, this leads to the final major issue of this route: the ending.

After a good 5 days of solid action and drama, the Fate route falls in a less than graceful thud in the final hour of the game. Because the route focused on the world building, there never was a main villain. Yes, Illya was seen as the major threat, but she quickly reduced to a side character with no weight. To fill in the immediate threat, Kotomine Kirei and the Archer from the last war come in to act as the villains. Do not get me wrong, I love Kotomine Kirei (whether it’s platonic or more intense, I won’t comment), but Kirei’s role in this route feels flat as he merely serves as an antagonist who wants to see the Holy Grail’s true power and nothing more. Coming off of Fate/Zero, Kotomine Kirei had a lot of depth in his inability to understand his love for suffering and the emptiness his life presents, but the Fate route tucked him away for Heaven’s Feel and left in a very generic villain approach. And when Emiya Shirou kills Kotomine Kirei, everything goes well, Shirou says his goodbye to Saber (in an actually heartwarming scene) and things go back to normal.

This is where my main issue with this route comes into play; how everyone simply acts their part in Fate. Nobody feels like they naturally progress and every single action feels like it’s simply fueling Shirou’s desires and simply enabling him. Every conflict Shirou has is shrugged off and interpreted by him as a simple motivation without feeling a single drop of self-awareness. Shirou is not a good character in the Fate route and it makes the route as a whole suffer. The only thing I appreciated in this route involving Shirou was the romance between him and Saber, as it had a lot of gravity and had a more bittersweet resolution. Even not as a romantic pairing, the idea of Shirou being the hilt to Saber’s sword sets off as a good symbol towards Shirou and Saber’s relationship as partners (this is done much better in Unlimited Blade Works).

Moments like these make Shirou and Saber's relationship feel quite tragic yet touching

For every few complaints I have about Shirou, his surroundings make me not completely regret playing this route. While the first ten days are incredibly boring, you get a very cool fight scene between Rider and Saber that shows the true capabilities of Saber. Then you get an intense fight between Berserker being pinned by Rin, Saber, and Shirou, only for Shirou to be able to summon Arthur’s legendary sword. Then you get some fantastic brief scenes with Lancer confronting Gilgamesh, only for Saber and Shirou to jointly take him down with Saber’s legendary sword. Not only that, but Shirou murders the evil priest with the same dagger that Kotomine stabbed Tohsaka’s father with while Saber manages to stop Gilgamesh and die in peace. The main theme between each of these scenes that I fondly remember is the team work that the characters maintained. When Shirou isn’t playing lone hero, it feels exciting to see what happens next and what powers the characters contain. The sarcastic banter between Tohsaka and Shirou work well with the straight man interactions between Shirou and Saber. A lot of the issues rely on the idea that Shirou wants to be a lone hero and his approach and observations justifying his beliefs.

The final nail in the coffin is when Shirou gets revealed to the fact that Kiritsugu and Kirei were the cause of the fire. Instead of taking it in pure shock, the route plays a reassuring role in reminding the reader that Kiritsugu had well-meaning intentions and downplays his mistakes to never let Shirou question his savior’s actions. Yes, Emiya Kiritsugu is a good man, but he still made mistakes. These mistakes are later reserved for the next routes, but simply avoiding any sense of drama and suddenly assuring Shirou that Kiritsugu had good intentions feels contrived. While this makes sense for the drama in Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel, as a first route, one can mistake of some of the poorer writing decisions being a common trend in the visual novel (which it is not). A lot of the route leaves me feeling like things could have been better and the good scenes make me frustrated in recommending it, as there is not solid adaptation to burn through and this route being somewhat necessary for Heaven’s Feel’s ideological questions.

While some may hope for an adaptation that could better capture the idea of the Fate route, I cannot bring myself to say that it can be reinterpreted better. I feel that a lot of the issues are from a concept and execution point of view and to alleviate it, a lot of story points would have to be altered, which may somewhat mess with the parallelism later routes have.

On its own, the Fate route is partially good and can be progressively better, but on the other hand, it suffers from pacing issues that can make the reader feel disinterested and contains writing decisions that may make the reader question whether the entire visual novel has these flaws. This is partially why I feel more akin to recommend Fate/Zero first, to show the viewer that they can be in for some amazing moments in this universe and that one misstep for the series does not mean that the entire experience is soured. I really wish that the Fate route was a more solid introduction, because I really wanted to like this (as a personal fan of Saber). But I cannot justify a lot of the flaws the story has and the disinterest the route gave me, as evidenced by it taking me 5 days to finish Unlimited Blade Works from the stopping point of the anime and a week and a half to finish Heaven’s Feel, comparing to the near 5 months it took me to finish the Fate route due to how bored I would get.

The route's more quiet moments serve as the more memorable

In the end, Fate is a route that I hesitantly would suggest is necessary for the full Fate/stay night experience, but would swiftly remind readers of this blog that the route is a low point to the entire experience and that the following routes will be leaps and bounds better. Some times, dreams may seem beautiful on the exterior, but refusing to change can lead to even more internal stagnation and that is the main feeling I get from the Fate route. Childish actions over the impossible. But for what it’s worth, the small pieces of the Fate route made me glad that I have experienced them and the final moments left me with a somber and quiet feeling that left a few tears in my eyes. 

Come back next time where I more enthusiastically talk about Unlimited Blade Works and probably sound less cynical in the process.

Thanks for reading!

Preview: Persona 4 Arena Ultimax

If you have had any interaction with me, it’s no surprise that Persona 4 is my favorite game. And if you’ve had any further interactions, it’s rather obvious that I’m a big fan of fighting games. So when Arc System Works and Atlus collaborated to release the fighter, Persona 4 Arena in 2011, I was rather excited to get my hands on it. It proved to be a very competent fighter while retaining the same awkward yet loveable personality that Persona 4 is known for. 3 years and a steadily growing fan base later, Arc System Works is set to release its sequel, Persona 4 Arena: Ultimax for North American audiences.

Initially, I was nervous about the game, due to Arc System Works having a reputation of rereleasing games with updates with only a couple of new characters and balancing, which normally isn’t a lot to warrant a completely new disk purchase. However, Persona 4 Ultimax is adding 5 characters: Persona 3’s Junpei Iori, Ken Amada (with his dog sidekick Koromaru), and Yukari Takeba; Persona 4’s idol battle coordinator Rise Kujikawa; along with newcomer Sho Minazuki, who has non-Persona and Persona based versions. There are also 3 characters planned for DLC to go along with the new roster. For the first week of release, you can pick up Detective Dojima’s clumsy sidekick Adachi and the teenage Velvet Room Attendant from Persona 4 Golden, Marie as free DLC. You can also pick up the Velvet Room Attendant from Persona 4, Margaret, as paid DLC the following week of release.

The Golden Arena Mode should add a lot of replay value

To add further room for characters, Arc is also giving most of the cast Shadow versions. Shadows are a returning factor from Persona 4, in which the main cast has versions of themselves that contain each person’s hidden emotions and fears. This will most likely play into the story, as the fog from the Midnight Channel seems to be another recurring theme. From a gameplay perspective, Shadow versions of characters are more of a risk and reward type of play style. Normals will do seldom damage, while risky specials have boosted damage output. To further compliment the offensive style of these characters, the defense of the Shadows will also be extremely limited compared to their human counterparts. Furthermore, the SP meter built from each round carries over to the next, and the Burst meter is replaced by an exclusive Shadow Rampage command, which allows the user to have unlimited SP for a limited amount of time.

Gameplay seems to have the same mechanics as the original Arena, which a few updates. There is now a new S-Hold option, which allows the character to have a charging stance to build up the SP meter. The biggest and most appropriate change was giving each character different Persona meters. Persona meters are cards that are below the health bar and allows the characters to summon their Persona. The Persona has extra moves to allow for better combos and a much farther reach. Unfortunately, if you lose all of your cards, which is done by hitting the Persona summoned to make them lose one card, then you temporarily lose the ability to use said Persona for a limited time. In the original Arena, all of the cast had the same amount of cards. Some more rushdown characters like Akihiko didn’t need too many cards, as their Persona use was limited. However, some characters like Elizabeth heavily relied on Personas and losing them made their fighting abilities extremely incapacitated. To make it more fair for the entire cast, each character now has a set amount of cards based on how heavily they rely on their Personas. This allows characters who are Persona happy to have much more slots and an even playing field compared to those that are still competent without the use of Personas.

Probably the most hilarious thing to come out of the new characters

The story mode also has a new layout, as one of the biggest issues that Persona 4 Arena had was most of the Persona 4 cast not having too many diverging plot points. It made a lot of the portions sometimes replayed and grinded the pace to a halt. Now the story modes are based on the cast from the respective games. The Persona 3 and 4 cast have their respective pieces, while there is also one for Sho and a surprise character. There is also going to be a Golden Arena Mode in which you can level up and give your fighters new abilities. With the Golden Arena Mode and story cutting away some of the fat, it seems that there will be plenty of content to try out without it feeling redundant. Be warned, while Persona 4 Arena was kind enough to be subtle and rather cryptic on the events of the last summer in Inaba, Ultimax is shamelessly spoiling everything in Persona 4. This means that plot points like the Midnight Killer’s identity will be outright told and it is best advised that if you have an interest in the series to not touch this game. I personally suggest you to play the original PS2 game or the PS Vita port to avoid getting the plot ruined, then playing Ultimax.

What I initially feared being a quick cash in with little improvements turned into a pleasant surprise, as Ultimax seems to be bursting with new content and a lot of new characters to be trying out. Fans of the original Arena and the Persona 4 world should feel right at home with Ultimax and a lot of the additions will definitely add a lot of playtime with the game. With a brim of new things to try out and reported expanded online modes, it seems like the game will be quite great. I personally cannot wait and it gets my thumbs up on the anticipation factor. However, as I said, for those who haven’t played the PS2 classic, go play it right now then buy this game. No excuses. While you’re at that, I’ll be practicing Margaret, Rise, and Adachi to go along with my Yu Narukami, Naoto, and Aigis to hit the online ranks.

Thanks for reading.

Top 5 Video Games to Play at 12:45 AM

Hi. I can't sleep. And it's 12:45. And I'm sick. And I can't sleep. And I have a lot of medication in me. Here are my top 5 games to play at 12:45 AM.

Number 5:

Now this is a video game you play when you play video games. You're like, dude it's 12:45 and I can't sleep. So let's eat some burgers. McKids (or MC Kids, because they're like related to MC Hammer) is a game where you're kids and eat burgers to gain the goal of spending time with Ronald McDonald. But he turns out to be evil and makes you fat.

Don't eat at McDonalds.

Number 4:

PS3 has no games.

Number 3:

The sequel to one of the best Beatles albums, Magical Mystery Mall is one game you won't forget. You play as two girls who go through the 9 rings of purgatory with some loser called Virgil, who wrote the Odyssey, and they meet Satan and the great stuff. Then they go shoe shopping and Santa Satan is like, "I can't find some nice shoes." Then you go and buy a Hattori Hanzo sword and kill your sister. And that's how the Book of Genesis ends. All in all, Mysterious Magical Mailbag is a good game entertainment experience.

Number 2:

This is a game someone plays when they want to play a video game. You play as two dinosaurs Jamal and Ringo, who live in Jurassic Park. The only problem is that Jamal didn't take a bath and everyone thinks he smells. The best thing they do is make bubbles, but the bubble brand they used is an evil Soviet brand. So Jamal's like, "Oh God. We're screwed," so they pop bubbles and they dance I think. This is a good game because the game's title is very accurate to what's portrayed. A realistic depiction of the Battle of Waterloo. Overall, Budweiser Boggle is a good prequel to Heavy Rain.

And my number one best game is

Now this is a top quality game that you should play at 12:45 AM. The game is so good that you don't need to not only press buttons, but you don't even play the game. The Kinect thought it was all realistic not needing a controller, but this is the real deal. The story of the game is simple. It's basically a retelling of Barack Obama's life as a CIA agent sent to go undercover in West Philadelphia and then being sent to Bel Air as Will Smith to gain information about the 1%.

Now the gameplay is what sticks out. You basically move and do things and there's Carlton and stuff. I really  like the game for being fun and a video game. It's just amazing that you can play a video game about such a deep and mind boggling topic. Overall, I love this game and give it a 14as/245.

Now to finish this blog, I will give you a score of the games. All of the games are perfect and get 10s, so to give my final rating I give all of these games 10 Carltons out of 1.

Thanks for reading.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance Review

Hey guys. it's been a while since I've done a blog on anything and I'd thought I'd kickstart it again after playing some pretty awesome games (SONIC ADVENTURE IS A GOOD GAME; SCREW EVERYONE). I'll be starting off with a review of Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. Enjoy.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Platforms: PlayStation 3 (under review), Xbox 360

Publisher: Konami

Developer: Platinum Games, Kojima Productions

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Genre: Action

It’s no surprise that I am a very huge fan of the Metal Gear games. I literally marathoned through all of the Solids in the summer of 2012 and the experience was unforgettable. I am also a huge fan of Clover and Platinum and have enjoyed their games for years, starting off with the wonderful Viewtiful Joe and recently playing through the high octane Vanquish. Naturally, I would be very excited when Platinum Games gets attached to do an action game based on the Metal Gear Solid series. From the first trailer on, I was beyond excited and even though I never preorder games, I did so instantly with Rising. Was my excitement warranted? I would like to happily confirm it.

As a Metal Gear fan, do not go into this game expecting a deep plot with very large plot twists and conflicts with no true right or wrong. There is not a large emphasis on the plot, but it’s not exactly a bad thing. The story takes place after Guns of the Patriots and follows our sexily haired cyborg ninja, Raiden, now working for PMC Maverick Securities and training smaller nations in arms. A whole lot has changed in the world of military combat, and the use of nanomachine PMCs have dwindled over the years. Instead, cyborgs are used as the main method of combat. Things run smoothly until a mysterious company known as Desperado (who I swear have the biggest smiles in the universe) decides to crash the party and cause havoc. After getting his arm detached like a Lego and given the beating of his life, Raiden is rebuilt as a stronger cyborg and sent to destroy our deadly grinning baddies.

As always, Raiden goes through a phase of doubting and understanding of who he truly is. In the beginning he proclaims he is a helper of the weak and his tool is a means of justice for those who can’t protect themselves. As time goes on, he questions whether he is truly a liberator of the weak or just another man who enjoys killing. This concept is very well done and interesting in the story, but due to the lack of cutscenes (this is a surprising thing to say about MGS), the character’s thoughts aren’t explored as deep as I hoped. In fact, I never really felt a true “rising” for Raiden. The game simply ends without Raiden really finding his true calling and implies there will be a sequel to further explore his character. I am fine with this as long as there is a resolution.

"Don't worry. If you chop off my other arm, I can always use my mouth."

Having liked Raiden and Rose’s tragic stories in Sons of Liberty, I really fell in love with his character and felt for his inner suffering he had since he was young. His suffering seems to remain to be intact; and with the lack of a proper teacher figure such as Solid Snake, he does not have a true direction to go and has to make most of his resolutions himself. This causes him quite a bit of questioning and at times, he returns to his infamous Jack the Ripper persona, bent on killing and enjoying the blood of his enemies. Again, the Jack the Ripper idea was a smart move to implement, but it didn’t feel explored. Of course, if Platinum plans on expanding him in future games, my worries will be put to rest, but for now, I didn’t feel fulfilled with the resolution on Raiden’s behalf. It simply ended, akin to Metal Gear Solid 2’s ending.

The supporting cast is pretty good. We have Boris, who serves as the game’s Colonel Campbell; Kevin, similar to Naomi and Sigint and giving weapon and military strategies; Courtney, who saves your progress; and Doktor, who upgrades your equipment and is an expert in cyborg technology. You also get a cyborg dog. Yeah, it sounds stupid at first but he surprisingly grows on you. Each of the characters serve their duties properly and add some humorous dialog every once in a while. Although the charm that existed in the Solid games is not as prevalent, they are likeable characters, but they don’t exactly pose the memorable dialog you can quote from a lot of the Solids. I’m sure everyone quotes Otacon’s “Japanese animes”, Big Boss’s ramblings on food and movies, and Solid Snake making fun of Otacon for wetting himself while telling Raiden that it’s okay to visit women’s restrooms, but I can’t really remember many lines that I can exactly deem as memorable.

The character interactions just didn’t feel as great as the ones done by Kojima, but again, they are passable. Heck, even the main bad guy’s interaction with Raiden just felt tacked on and his reveal was more like the villain from a Scooby Doo cartoon than anything properly leading to it. This might be because he was introduced much later in the game, and by that time you’re just focusing on Desperado than the benefactor. I think Desperado themselves would be a much better main villain focus and I loved the idea of Jetstream Sam and thought he should have had more more of a spotlight. Honestly, it would have worked better for Kojima to write the games and characters, but again, the game’s strongpoint is not the story. It’s the gameplay.

This overly wide grin is brought to you by Colgate! Even with the blood splatter, you still can have a lovely smile.

The game’s main draw is fast paced action and by God does it deliver. Your simple attacks are based on high and low hits, which you can chain into combos. As you defeat bosses, you gain their weapons a la Mega Man, and said secondary weapons compliment the heavy attacks. I personally prefer the staff, which can help deliver quick and heavy blows that can easily up your combo count. As you chain away, you eventually break through enemy shields and are given the option of either chopping away at them with precision or doing a special finishing move. This is where the feature of Blade Mode comes in. Blade Mode is a mechanic that slows down time and lets Raiden slash away at any direction using buttons or the analog stick. This will let you surgically remove limbs from the enemy troops. While you use Blade Mode, you can chop away at a certain point to perform a Zandatsu, which extracts their spinal chords that contain electrolytes. Extracting their tasty robo Gatorade will fill up your entire health meter and get a much larger experience bonus. This was a very smart move by Platinum and making your health replenish so quickly encourages you to be precise in your movements while reducing the stress of looking for health. Zandatsus also allows you to replenish your Blade Mode meter, which runs out during usage (although it can be refilled with combos) and turning into Jack the Ripper.

Later in the game, you gain the persona of Jack the Ripper and with a click of the two analog sticks, you transform into this persona with a cackling laugh. As Jack the Ripper, your damage output becomes ridiculously overpowered and you gain the ability of chopping enemies into shreds. Heck, larger enemies can be taken down with a few simple hits. Of course, the main problem is that since you are tearing through people quicker, your experience gain is a lot lower due to the limited use of the Zandatsu, along with you having to restart your Blade Mode meter after it runs out.

All these tools are nifty, but what enemies are you going against that require this much energy? For the most part, cyborgs. Like you, the enemies are ridiculously strong, yet lack the ability to be a human food processor. As you get further into the game, the enemies get tougher and you go against original cyborgs along with a few familiar faces from Guns of the Patriots, like Geckos and Sliders. You also go against cyborgs with sledgehammers and gorilla-like creatures in the sewers. They may seem hard as first, but as you upgrade your weapons, the difficulty lowers significantly based on your selected perks and blade. If you want a good challenge, go on higher difficulties with lower perks and you will engage in long and fun parries with enemies. The only complaint I have with fighting the enemies is that sometimes you can get stunned after a good chunk of damage.

It slices! It dices! It even cuts through all of your delicious steaks!

Chopping away at enemies can be quite fun, but there’s much more than just mashing away at square. For one, enemies have parries and you can do the exact same with them. Parries can be done by pressing square in the direction of the enemy movement. This lets Raiden push the enemy back and eventually gain an attempt to chop at them. You can also gain a dodging maneuver to bob and weave through the flurry of attacks. Mastering the combat means being both offensive and defensive, and the best defense is a good offense and vice versa. As you get better, you learn to dodge different attacks in different ways and utilize the blade mode to chop off limbs to disable enemies from attacking you. Higher combos and taking advantage of the Zandatsu will allow you to gain much more experience points to buy new gear and upgrades for the swords. And trust me, as you go deeper into difficulty, you'll want to keep your health, meter, and combat upgrades. It'll get much harder than this.

Aside from the straight up sword fighting, stealth is also cleverly implemented into the story. Since this is an action game, Platinum had to be careful on how to implement it without ruining the core of the game and I have to say that the attempt has been a success. You can also have the option of going straight up Zatoichi on enemies, but you can also do very quick stealth kills to either dwindle the enemy number of straight up avoid a fight. With the simple press of the O button, you can silently destroy your foes and implement Zandatsu to gain some bonus experience. Of course, the enemies are not always the brightest and there have been times where I murdered someone right in front of his friend and he didn't seem to notice. Eh, maybe he drank all of the coffee again or maybe it's a glitch. Regardless, it can be quite fun doing these stealth kills and you even have the option of destroying certain environments over unsuspecting enemies. Nothing says hilarity like cutting the support of a bridge to knock the structure over an enemy or even destroying an entire Ferris Wheel over a poor, unlucky man's head.

Metal Gear enthusiasts will get quite a kick from this.

The gameplay seems very nice, right? But how does it look? Two words. Absolutely gorgeous. When Platinum was approached to make the game, Kojima Pro wanted to make sure that the game ran in 60 frames per second and boy did they deliver. The game runs very fast paced while still looking as smooth as silk. The game models themselves have a great bit of detail to them and after the stunning Metal Gear Solid 4, Revengeance follows through with the same superb art style. The background also looks quite nice, with a good change of scenery. Of course the war torn areas have been around way too much for me to be impressed, but the beaches and the Asian scenery inspired levels look very nice. Heck, even some of the offices look pretty cool. I guess my only complaint is that I wish that the office areas were used a lot less in favor of more lush looking environments. Of course, this can be just my spoiled side speaking, considering how Metal Gear Solid 3's beautiful environments made me so enamored, that I keep begging more of that and less of buildings and offices.
If you aren't as spoiled as I am, you will find some very nice looking environments. And everything looks very smooth with little hiccups. There is slow down every once in a while after a battle, but it's so brief and far few between that it really doesn't ruin the experience. And these slowdowns normally happen during checkpoints when the Codec goes off, so it's not like the combat is affected in any sort of way. Overall, although I could use less office-like environments and sewer levels (thankfully it's very few), everything looks and functions the way it should and lives up to Platinum's level of fantastic looks.The gameplay seems very nice, right? But how does it look? Two words. Absolutely gorgeous. When Platinum was approached to make the game, Kojima Pro wanted to make sure that the game ran in 60 frames per second and boy did they deliver. The game runs very fast paced while still looking as smooth as silk. The game models themselves have a great bit of detail to them and after the stunning Metal Gear Solid 4, Revengeance follows through with the same superb art style. The background also looks quite nice, with a good change of scenery. Of course the war torn areas have been around way too much for me to be impressed, but the beaches and the Asian scenery inspired levels look very nice. Heck, even some of the offices look pretty cool. I guess my only complaint is that I wish that the office areas were used a lot less in favor of more lush looking environments. Of course, this can be just my spoiled side speaking, considering how Metal Gear Solid 3's beautiful environments made me so enamored, that I keep begging more of that and less of buildings and offices.If you aren't as spoiled as I am, you will find some very nice looking environments. And everything looks very smooth with little hiccups. There is slow down every once in a while after a battle, but it's so brief and far few between that it really doesn't ruin the experience. And these slowdowns normally happen during checkpoints when the Codec goes off, so it's not like the combat is affected in any sort of way. Overall, although I could use less office-like environments and sewer levels (thankfully it's very few), everything looks and functions the way it should and lives up to Platinum's level of fantastic looks.If you aren't as spoiled as I am, you will find some very nice looking environments. And everything looks very smooth with little hiccups. There is slow down every once in a while after a battle, but it's so brief and far few between that it really doesn't ruin the experience. And these slowdowns normally happen during checkpoints when the Codec goes off, so it's not like the combat is affected in any sort of way. Overall, although I could use less office-like environments and sewer levels (thankfully it's very few), everything looks and functions the way it should and lives up to Platinum's level of fantastic looks.

High octane murder never looked this cool.

A lot of people may ask me what makes this game so great and that my previous descriptions may make it sound like a standard hack and slash like God of War or Devil May Cry. Here is what makes Rising such a fantastic game, the hype from the actions that you do. Let me give you an example. In the beginning of the game, you fight Metal Gear RAY, which is bent on destruction. How do you destroy it? You block its massive blade, run up the machine, and cut its limb off. Oh no, it still is alive and starts shooting missiles at you! So you start running up the missiles and give it a severe beating. But wait, its still alive and it throws you on a building. What now? Run down the entire building while it is exploding and missiles are flying past you while fast paced metal is playing. And just as you think you're done, you run down the entire machine and cut it in half. This happens in the first 30 minutes of the game and pales in comparison to the rest of the game. The over the top moments are so ridiculous that it would make Nathan Drake and Dante blush in shame.A lot of people may ask me what makes this game so great and that my previous descriptions may make it sound like a standard hack and slash like God of War or Devil May Cry. Here is what makes Rising such a fantastic game, the hype from the actions that you do. Let me give you an example. In the beginning of the game, you fight Metal Gear RAY, which is bent on destruction. How do you destroy it? You block its massive blade, run up the machine, and cut its limb off. Oh no, it still is alive and starts shooting missiles at you! So you start running up the missiles and give it a severe beating. But wait, its still alive and it throws you on a building. What now? Run down the entire building while it is exploding and missiles are flying past you while fast paced metal is playing. And just as you think you're done, you run down the entire machine and cut it in half. This happens in the first 30 minutes of the game and pales in comparison to the rest of the game. The over the top moments are so ridiculous that it would make Nathan Drake and Dante blush in shame.

This sure beats driving a car!

The game is not extremely long, and my huge dose of excitement did end soon, but that doesn't make it a bad thing. The game has no fluff or extra baggage to weigh it down and by the time I finished, I was completely satisfied. You also get access to over 80 VR missions (which are ridiculously hard) and you can carry over your upgrades to your next playthroughs. This made me want to try the harder difficulties, which add harder enemies that do a ton more damage. By Revengeance difficulty, your first fight is against a Gecko that can kill you in one hit. Yeah. But with your upgrades, the future playthroughs are less strenuous and trust me, you want to play through it again. After the first time I beat the game, I started it again on hard and wanted to experience everything again. I loved this game so much that I went through and went through it even up until Revengeance difficulty, which makes the bosses nearly impossible. But fear not, the newer blades you unlock can make the game much easier, especially Grey Fox's blade, which tears limbs apart. Plus, dude, you get to play as Grey Fox. Grey. Fox. Grey Fox from Metal Gear Solid. Frank Jaeger. Dude, you play as Grey Fox. Aside from my love for Grey Fox, you also get more alternate outfits like a Desperado uniform and a Mexican outfit, complete with a sombrero (which can be put on the top of your box). But why did I play through so much just to unlock all of this bonus content? Because the game is so much fun.
There are rarely times that a lot of built attention on a releasing game delivers on your expectations, but Platinum did it. By the final scene, I was sitting there and smiling, with a phenomenal game finished. Yes, the game doesn't pose a deep story that roots in the questioning of right and wrong, memes of our generation, and the question between honor or loyalty to yourself. Yes, the game doesn't have a memorable cast. And yes, Raiden isn't as likable and complete as Sons of Liberty and even Guns of the Patriots. But what the game has is fun. Pure, unfiltered fun. This is an action game that ought to be remembered as something unique. Something indescribably fun. Something wonderful. Many may question a game's direction in story or tone, but with games like these, the smile on your face as you do something over the top and finish the game. It's moments like these. Moments where you finish an overwhelmingly fun game and remember why you enjoy playing games. And Platinum/Clover followed that mantra. Videogames that deliver original, beautiful, unhinged fun. And sometimes, you couldn't ask for more.
There are rarely times that a lot of built attention on a releasing game delivers on your expectations, but Platinum did it. By the final scene, I was sitting there and smiling, with a phenomenal game finished. Yes, the game doesn't pose a deep story that roots in the questioning of right and wrong, memes of our generation, and the question between honor or loyalty to yourself. Yes, the game doesn't have a memorable cast. And yes, Raiden isn't as likable and complete as Sons of Liberty and even Guns of the Patriots. But what the game has is fun. Pure, unfiltered fun. This is an action game that ought to be remembered as something unique. Something indescribably fun. Something wonderful. Many may question a game's direction in story or tone, but with games like these, the smile on your face as you do something over the top and finish the game. It's moments like these. Moments where you finish an overwhelmingly fun game and remember why you enjoy playing games. And Platinum/Clover followed that mantra. Videogames that deliver original, beautiful, unhinged fun. And sometimes, you couldn't ask for more.

The Zandatsu also encourages you to mark specific spots to make sure you can reap as much benefits from your kills. Not only are you motivated to extract spines, but you can also chop off arms from specific enemies to contribute research towards Doktor's new technology. Careful cutting lets you unlock wigs (which have returned from Metal Gear Solid 2), and in terms give you specific perks such as having infinite ammunition and Blade Mode time. All of these perks you gain don't allow you to be absolutely reckless and in terms encourage precise movements and combat. As you keep unlocking more costumes, wigs, and weapon benefits, Raiden gets progressively stronger and earlier enemies and even Geckos become pushovers as you can violently slaughter the incoming masses. The game knows how to reward the player for fighting well and you really start feeling awesome after you do a hundred hit combo with Zandatsus and no damage taken.

If you want to be a master stealth ninja or an unstoppable killing machine, you better learn how to implement your ninja dash and using your other equipment and visor. With you visor, you can scan enemies and civilians and recognize their patterns while setting traps. You can also set traps with a multitude of grenades and for some heavy fire, guns. You get a standard grenade launcher and anti-air missiles, along with smoke grenades and other disabling devices. If you want to go old school, you can also use a cardboard box and a barrel a la Solid Snake and sneak past enemies (though it's not as effective as the MGS games). I would not say that these strategies are 100% effective, but they do work if you want to give it a shot. It certainly does come in handy when you have attempts to rescue civilians for an XP bonus and the good feeling of being a nice and harmless person as you go running around, waving your giant sword, and turning people into delicious fruit salads.


The sound in the game is quite well done and again, the characters all have good voice actors, living up to the Metal Gear games. The enemies all sound fairly well and the standard slashes and cutting are all fine. And just to be extra kind, the classic alert sound still plays whenever you get spotted by enemies. I also do like the little quips Raiden throws when he kills his enemies. Even though he says it the entire game, I never really got tired of his phrases like, "Bulls eye," or his little finishing quips like, "Playtime's over," or "We're done here!" They may be little additions, but I still enjoyed them regardless. And if you are hoping for a replacement of the classic, "SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE," Raiden gets familiar screams when he dies, so that again is a nice little touch (though it gets annoying when you play on harder difficulties and constantly get the same yell when you die).

Collective Consciousness- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

A Stranger I Remain- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

It Has to Be This Way- Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Let's get into the music. Oh my God, the music is absolutely mindblowingly, want to make you punch through walls, and do other awesome verbs with intense adjectives good. I cannot say enough how fantastic this soundtrack is and absolutely adore it from beginning to end. The music starts with heavy instrumentals playing and as you do something mindblowing on screen, the vocals start blasting through your speakers. Nothing can compare the experience of putting the volume on loud and just watching the visuals and music blow you away. The composition by Jamie Christopherson is masterful and is an example of perfectly complimenting the game's action. I mean this very seriously and you can quote me on this. This is one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard from any videogame and this can easily be Platinum's best work. If you've played other Platinum games, you can understand the seriousness of my claim. Yeah. It's that good.

I cannot say how many times I sat there staring at the screen at the amazing action just flying at my face and it compliments the game so well that you never feel it overshadows the combat. Then come the boss battles, which are extremely fast paced and action packed. I dare not spoil what happens, but honestly, the only thing that I can say is that the game made me, normally quiet when I play a game, jump up at one point and shout, "OH CRAP," as I slaughtered masses of opponents. If there is one phrase I can use to describe this game, it's larger than life. Platinum knows how to get people's blood pumping and just awed at the action going on. Want to rip a robot's arm off and beat it to death? Got it! Want to jump in the air and chop a helicopter into bits? Got it! Want to jump in the air, stab an opponent, run up to a car full of enemies, chop it into bits, then run up walls, hide, then take out a staff of pain and deliver pure unfiltered destruction? By all means, you got it. These fights and boss battles are so long and epic that after the entire fight, when I did my finishing blow, I thought to myself, "Wow. This is something."

Thanks for reading.

Top 15 Street Fighter Characters

Pick your poison (though I legimately love the music in a weird way). Well, the character selection screen is amazing, so pick that if you want the best one.

Character Selection Screen- Street Fighter IV

Exile- Indestructible

Indestructible (Japanese)- Street Fighter IV

Hey, guys. After 7 months of no original content by me, I'm finally back to writing blogs and what better way to start it than cover one of my favorite video game series, Street Fighter? Now, I have played my share of games and I have grown fond of the many faces in the series. Now I'm here to make a Top 15 on my favorite characters.

What are the rules? Well, the attributes do matter, but memorability, fun, and personality will play a huge role and I won't choose characters I don't like playing as but are top tier. Also, no Street Fighter EX. It's not because I don't like it, but mostly because I didn't play too much EX, giving me an unfair judgment and not enough of an impression of a cast of newcomer that I'm not too fond of. Also, my reasoning is strictly off of the Street Fighter games, so no reasoning that comes from crossovers like Marvel vs. Capcom. However, I will mention the game series if it was a part of my experience with that character (though it will not count towards my rankings). Now, let's get onto the list. Enjoy.

Note: I am aware of most of the themes being the Street Fighter IV version. It's not my fault that the Street Fighter IV versions are so amazing.

Note 2: After a few months, I changed my opinion. M. Bison is better than Guile.

 

Guile's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Starting off #15 on this list is everybody’s favorite patriotic American flag tattoo wearing fighter, Guile. Initially, I was having trouble determining who would barely cling onto the #15 spot, with M. Bison as the completion, but Guile barely won with a few small factors. Now the real reason I didn’t rank Guile too high on this list is because I’m not really into charge characters, but man Guile can be really fun.

What makes Guile so unique for me is his Sonic Boom and kick that were really great to pull off in Street Fighter II. Somewhere along the transition, old Guile lost his large appeal in Street Fighter IV, but still remained one of my favorites throughout. That and he was the leading role in the brilliant Street Fighter film (I’m dead serious when I say it’s one of my favorite movies).

What made Guile beat M. Bison couldn’t be the brilliant film, because Raul Julia was absolutely perfect, nor the animated series had me linking the “Yes” and “This is Delicious” videos. What made Guile beat Bison is the fact that I’m *cough* half *cough* American and Guile is the perfect representation of our freedom. Only a true patriot would have an American Flag tattoo and have his stage in an airfield. Let’s not forget his awesome Street Fighter II and IV themes, with the latter being my favorite (everybody disagreeing in 3…. 2…. 1….). Good on you, Guile, and Bison, I’m sorry. I love your character and all, but I guess this will not be a “delicious” victory.

Seriously , Bison, I'm sorry, but I never really play as you too much, despite loving your evil and sadistic personality. I promise I'll be the first man to invest all of my money into Bison Dollars after your eventual takeover.

Yang's Theme- Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition

When I first played Third Strike, I never was into the twins, Yun and Yang. Their fighting styles were unique, but nothing I considered special. However, after playing as them some more in recent times, they slowly started to become a favorite. Now why Yang over Yun? I think Yang’s costume looks cooler. Shallow man I am.

Now what makes the twins so great is their rush tactics that I am getting fairly accustomed to, with swiping punches, heavy fist pounds, and swift dive kicks. It’s surprising how easy I could make a combo with Yang at a beginner’s level and how fun it is to execute said combos. His swiftness and well rounded arsenal of attacks have definitely made him a recent favorite of mine.

I guess Yang was one of those characters I never really gave a chance but ended up loving in the end. I also feel that if I play the game as him some more, I’ll definitely consider him higher on this list in the future. With extremely fun gameplay and a style that’s easy to pick up but tough to master, Yang gets the #14 spot. Oh yeah, and he looks cooler than Yun. Shallow man I am indeed.

Sakura's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Sakura is pretty much the stereotypical Japanese schoolgirl in every Japanese art and media. But the difference is that she’s freaking awesome and a wonderful character to play as. Now to many, Sakura Kasugano may just appear as a typical fan boy of Ryu, but she really doesn’t come off as annoying one bit (AMY, TAKE FREAKING NOTES). Instead, her cheerful personality and fighting spirit set her apart from the mold of a typical fan girl and transitions her into a personality you can’t help but enjoy.
Her play style isn’t bad either. She plays a bit like Ryu with similar Hadoukens and Tatsus, but with a small twist. Like Chun Li, her projectile cannot fly across the screen, but it can be charged into a larger burst. And her Shoryuken-like attack chains into a multi hit dash, while her Tatsu allows her to kick the opponent into the air for more damage and setting up for an Ultra if you’re playing Street Fighter IV.

Overall, Sakura is a very rare occurrence where a Japanese school girl fan girl ends up being really liked by me and not wanting to punch kittens repeatedly while I curse Japan for creating such a concept, and Darkseid reminding me that he has seen worse in the depths of the internet and that I should man up about it and Jawshy most likely coming in and making a suggestive comment, which makes me raise my eyebrow but not so much, because I expect that out of Jawshy. So yeah. With a fun scheme and a great personality that’s hard not to like, Sakura holds a solid spot at #13.

Abel's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Now, I really didn’t care about the newcomers for Street Fighter IV. While Gouken and El Fuerte were cool, they weren’t my favorites. C. Viper is like a rejected SNK character and Juri has made me hate her online, due to beginners spamming the heck out of her. Despite me enjoying Seth, Abel was the best newcomer out of the game, feeling pretty similar to Alex from Third Strike and mainly serving as a grappler.
As I said, Abel is a grappler. His main method of attack is to dash and hit his opponent up to three times, with the third blow being a throw. He also can grab his opponent and give them a good whirl in the air before slamming them into the floor. Along with his quick rolling, his Ultras and super have him going berserk and dashing into his opponent then giving them a repeating beating or throwing them into the air and slamming them into the wall.

When Abel fights, he gives a good beating and runs right into the fight, which is very contradictory of his French heritage.* I also did like his story as a man with no past and possible connection to Charlie, because of his recognition of Guile’s Sonic Boom. Abel is probably the most used newcomer to Street Fighter Fighter IV and for good reasons, which is why he’s at #12.

Authors note: I don’t hate French people and that was a joke. Don’t hurt me. ;-;

Cammy's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Ah, Cammy. One of the characters that I was instinctively good with, but rarely play as because it makes me look like a perv if I do (it’d be nice if she wore pants). This character first struck me not through her fighting, but through her stage in Super Street Fighter II. When I first fought her on the castle stage, I was initially swept away by her amazing theme and the beautiful castle setting. Her theme and stage are one of the first things that I associate Super Street Fighter II with and for good reasons.

Now Cammy is a very interesting character to play as. She lunges herself as a spinning arrow into her opponent (no arrow to the knee jokes, promise) and pretty much acts as a human projectile, with some devastating results due to her speed and agility. As I said, I kind of shy away from using her mostly because of her less than modest attire, but when Jesse is getting more than enough wins and we don’t feel like settling the score with MvC 2, I use Cammy. For some reason, her moveset comes very naturally to me and I usually have a blast playing as her.

I also find her story to be pretty cool, with the shock being that she was a hypnotized clone of M. Bison (Shadaloo must have horrible cloning devices, because she looks nothing like him) revealed to be his hypnotized lover at the end of Street Fighter II. It’s a pretty neat concept and her fun gameplay backs up her story to make her a fantastic fighter. Good enough to get the #11 spot. Now how about you invest in some pants and I might consider a higher position.

Dudley's Theme- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Street Fighter III had a unique change of pace for the characters. Many of the Street Fighter II and Alpha faces were dropped in favor of new characters with similar movesets to the Street Fighter II crew. An replacement of Balrog to come out of Street Fighter III was Dudley, the classy British boxer who claims that his opponents have no dignity.

Dudley became a favorite of mine and kind of reminds me of a classy version of Balrog, especially with that epic mustache and hair. I also love the quickness of his fighting and I personally had an easier time to get used to him than Balrog with his quick uppercuts and devastating jabs. And let’s not forget about his rose throwing taunt and telling people that they’re gutter trash with his classy British accent. He’s everything you would want out of a classy boxer. And for those of you who don't like Dudley, you have no dignity.
I will admit that I wasn’t too much of a Dudley player in the past, but ever since I gave him a proper chance, I loved everything about him and was overjoyed to see him in Super Street Fighter IV. Albeit preferring him in Third Strike, he was a really fun character in IV and he’s one of the most memorable things from Street Fighter III, which is saying a lot.

Dan's Theme- Street Fighter Alpha 2

 Okay, I know exactly what you’re thinking. “WHAT?! Dan is in the top ten? How is he so special? He sucks!” No, he doesn’t. I absolutely love Dan and his personality is just hilarious and over the top, one that makes me laugh with his overall goofiness.

If you didn’t know this already, go pick up an SNK fighter (preferably King of Fighters ‘98). Look at Ryo. Notice anything familiar? A projectile fireball attack, gi with the sleeves torn off, and his American friend Robert Garcia? Yeah, he’s pretty much SNK’s Ryu ripoff. Now to playfully get back at SNK, Capcom parodied Ryo, but giving him a pink gi, an overconfident yet weak personality, and making hinm one of the worst characters in Street Fighter Alpha 2 with most of his arsenal being moot compared to Ryu. In fact his ending in Marvel Superheroes vs. Street Fighter parodies another SNK character’s ending by having his sister say the final boss is their father (not canon).

Now what makes Dan so amazing is his personality. He’s an overconfident man trying to avenge his father’s death caused by Sagat. He developed his own fighting style with much weaker moves and he cries when he wins. Let’s not forget his Ultra where he does flashy punches and kicks, then an uppercut, finishing with a thumbs up and a teeth shining smile. Dan is one of the reasons I love Street Fighter so much and his overall goofy personality and fun in his fighting makes him worthy in the first place. And having fun is what video games is about.

And if that’s not a strong enough argument, I nearly perfected my friend in Marvel vs. Capcom 2 with a team of 3 Dans, then did it again with a team of Dan, Roll, and Jill (she kind of did most of the work though). If that’s not amazing, I don’t know what is.

Fei Long's Theme- Street Fighter IV

 Fei Long is a combination of two awesome things, Kenshiro from Hokuto no Ken (which I don’t shut up about) and Bruce Lee. I remember him being one of the first enemies that I faced against in Street Fighter II and he was pretty awesome, with a rather annoying stage to fight in (the whole animal aspect in Street Fighter II was annoying).

Most of his attacks are centered around quarter circle movements and you can chain his punches together rather well. He also has a pretty awesome flaming kick that can result in some great damage, as well as being rather swift on his feet. But they really turned the awesomeness up to 11 when they gave him his Ultra in Street Fighter IV. He starts his Ultra off by giving off a manly yell, followed by pretty much reenacting the 100 Crack Fist and jumping in the air and sweeping through the opponent with a kick, a la Kenshiro. The only difference is that Fei Long doesn’t say that the opponent is already dead, with the opponent blowing up in blood. Shame….

Other than that, I find him to be a really fun and effective character to use in Street Fighter, particularly IV. His fighting style is unique and reminds me of my favorite anime character of all time along with one of my favorite martial artists, what’s not to love? Fei Long is a tribute done right and translated into an awesome character.

 

Dojo Redemption (Makoto's Theme)- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

Makoto is a hard character to get into. Instead of swift combos, perfect timing and powerful blows are what makes up her arsenal, which can be extremely deadly if you are facing someone who actually knows how to use her effectively.

First introduced in Street Fighter III, Makoto was one of the last characters I really played as in the game, considering the requirement of some experience in Third Strike before jumping in. I also played her in Street Fighter IV, but didn’t enjoy her as much until the buff in Arcade Edition, which made her awesome again. A tough as nails personality and skilled fighting is what makes her a favorite of mine.

I personally love her delayed punches and sweep kicks that can easily catch opponents off guard and her powering up that makes her get sun burned, along with her Ultras that make her give repeated hard punches to the stomach. With an awesome moveset that is best played when you are doing, Makoto clings the #8 spot with no problems.

Akuma's Rival Battle- Street Fighter IV

Every hero needs a counterpart that invites him to the dark side, and Akuma fits that role perfectly, going as far as sacrificing all of his humanity and soul into the Satsui no Hado. Now Akuma isn’t evil like many speculate, mostly because of his “morals”. He only fights those he finds worthy and does not kill innocent people, but rather those who challenge him to a battle to death. Those who were unlucky face his hard hitting blows and techniques like the Raging Demon, a move so powerful that everything goes black and the announcer is too scared to say KO (ok, maybe I made up the last part). And let’s not forget his fatal fight with Gouken, that had him supposedly killing the master of Ryu and painting his symbol with the blood of Gouken's corps, increasing Ryu’s disdain for him.

Akuma plays similarly to Ryu and Ken, with the same projectiles and tatsus. However, he has the ability to shoot projectile in the air, slide across the screen at quick rate, release a more damaging Hadouken by doing the input backwards, and unleashing a move called the Raging Demon, which takes a ridiculous amount of health and ends with Akuma posing over his knocked out opponent. His hits also have the impact of Ryu with the speed of Ken. The only drawback of Akuma is that with his strong offense comes weal stamina, allowing him to get a KO easier than most of the other fighters.

That aside, Akuma is a lot of fun to play as, and his story is pretty neat with how far only living to fight can take you. He’s an admirable character and I especially had fun with him in Third Strike, where I actually learned how to use him. With a deadly arsenal of attacks, Akuma is a powerhouse not to be reckoned with.

Ken's Theme- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

I’ll admit, I was always a Ryu player and never played as Ken nor Akuma in my initial time with Street Fighter. However, once I started playing the greatness known as Third Strike (I sure do like a lot of characters in Third Strike), I began to appreciate him a lot. Ken Masters started off as a bratty child sent to Gouken for training alongside Ryu. Because of Ryu’s lack of interaction with others in his time at the dojo, Ken and him became more than best friends, but rather brothers.

Ken has also played a huge role in Ryu’s story, having been there in Ryu’s worst times and even offering his red headband as a sign of their friendship (hence Ryu’s red headband in Street Fighter II and later). He also trained Sean from Street Fighter III as a mentor, while continuing to participate in the World Warrior tournaments.

Gameplay wise, Ken is great. He essentially acts as a faster Ryu, but with weaker strikes in Street Fighter II. As time went on, Ken got his own exclusive moves, including his Shoryuken being much better than Ryu’s, with multiple flaming hits. His best form was in Third Strike, where he was easily among the best and I have a blast playing as him in that game and IV.

I always loved Ken’s confident and cheerful attitude that contrasted Ryu’s serious and stern personality. He always comes off as a fun guy, while being a strong supporting character. I also love his stage in the docks and his memorable theme in Street Fighter II. Overall, Ken is just a fun character to play as and made himself more than a mere Ryu imitator.

Chun Li's Theme- Street Fighter EX

Chun Li is a landmark character in the Street Fighter franchise. Being considered the first lady of fighters, she also is an extremely well made characters, breaking my initial trend of only playing as shotos (characters that play similar to Ryu with quarter circle projectiles and tatsus in case you don’t know that term) with her lightning kicks, wall jumping, and unique gameplay.

I enjoyed her quite a bit in the Street Fighter games, starting off with II, but I never grew to appreciate her style until Marvel vs. Capcom in the arcades. She just seemed like an overly complicated character (I still have trouble being good with her in IV), but if you put time into her, she’s quite a force to be reckoned with.
Her arsenal is a Kikosho (a variant of a fireball shot from one hand), her repeating kicks in one position, and Spinning Bird Kick, which has her flinging herself in an upside down hurricane kick with her two legs sticking out (that really looks painful). However, my love for her came in Third Strike, where she became absolutely ridiculous. That and I actually managed to be effective with her and rack up some nice combos.
Her story is rather simple, with M. Bison murdering her father (to him it was just a Tuesday (cookie to whoever gets the reference)). Wanting to avenge her father’s death, she uses her police woman skills to give beatings in the World Warrior tournament. While successful in avenging her father's death, she ends up making powerful alalies and friends like Guile (he hates Bison too) and Ryu.

Overall, Chun Li was a character that grew on me over time (thanks to MvC), and reached her top at Third Strike. I also really like her outfit compared to a lot of the fighters, though people may argue that it’s stereotypical. Though they kinda botched her portrait looks in this generation of Capcom fighters, they nailed it with Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, making her look very similar to her old school look. Overall, Chun Li is a phenomenal character and one that I always have fun playing as.

Twilight (Ibuki's Theme)- Street Fighter III: Third Strike

#3 and #2 are actually a tie and you‘re probably saying that I can‘t do that. As Craig used to say in the Top Tens, “It‘s our list and we can do what we want.” And I asked for help on determining who should get #3 and #2 and Shiro_Shishi said Ibuki because she’s a hot ninja (perv, lol) and Stickman said Ibuki as well, before calling me a perv. But I was too lazy to edit the cards, so whatever. #3 and #2 are a complete tie and I cannot choose which one I love more.

So, remember how I said it’s rare for me to like a Japanese school girl in games because they usually are annoying? (KARIN AND LILI, TAKE FREAKING NOTES (YES, I FREAKING HATE KARIN, AND LET’S NOT FORGET R. MIKA. SCREW THEM)). She’s pretty much a High School (technically College in Third Strike’s ending) student and a ninja, which is the most awesome thing ever. She has an overall cheery personality, maybe perhaps a bit too girly in Street Fighter IV, especially with her crappy English voice actor (her Japanese voice is great).

Let’s not forget her awesome moveset. She has a variety of grabbing moves, which she can use to emit a beam of light, with her Ultra making her opponent fly across the screen. She also has a variety of sweep kicks and strikes that can make for some awesome combos, along with her rushing that allows her to even go through opponents. How about her kunai knives? Awesome. And one of my favorite moves, the necksnap, which is extremely effective in taking down the opponent from distances and stopping opponents from spamming.

Her second Ultra is pretty amazing, with her giving the opponent a beating before flinging them into the air with a flurry of kunai knives and slamming their head into the ground. She’s seriously an amazing character and I love everything about her, gameplay and character wise. Everything about Ibuki is great to me and playing as her is always a joy and blast.

Also, Nick, if you’re reading this, I hope to meet you at a future SGC event, because I want to fight your Ibuki in Third Strike or IV.

Rose's Theme- Street Fighter IV

Rose, one of my mains in the Alpha games and one of my 3 mains in Street Fighter IV. What’s just as awesome as being a ninja High Schooler? Having psychic powers, a magical Sham-Wow that you can put your power into, while having awesome purple hair, and being able to clone psychic versions of yourself! The only thing that sucks is her English voice making her sound like an old woman (her Japanese voice is awesome (I hate Street Fighter IV’s English voices)).

Rose just cannot get a break. She’s a psychic who pretty much has the intent of stopping Bison while seeing potential in Ryu, wanting to protect him from harm. But Bison is like, “LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL I’LL JUST LET YOU KILL ME AND USE YOUR BODY AS A HOST,” and Rose is like, “NO! STOP STEALING MY BODY! ;-;” and Bison is like, “TOO BAD, I’LL JUST CRITICALLY INJURE YOU! YESSSSSSSSSS! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!” In English, Rose and Bison accidentally shared the same soul after Rose seemingly channeled all of his energy out and it got into her body, giving Bison control to her body. Though she has no memory of this ordeal, Rose has a vendetta against Bison’s wrongs and does whatever she can to stop his evil

Also, Rose seriously has an awesome and creative wardrobe, with her overcoat and scarf she can channel her energy into. And for some reason, Capcom can make crazy looking hair work (see Phoenix Wright) with her awesome purple hair. And no Stickman, I am not a perv.

Her gameplay is sort of similar to Ryu, in which she fire projectiles from her scarf and can perform a charging maneuver when you use the kick button with a quarter circle. She can also use her psychic moves to grab and throw enemies across and briefly levitate to grab a jumping enemy for a throw to the ground. Her Ultra, the Illusion Spark (sounds like she yells fusion spark in her Japanese voice), has her grabbing her opponent with her scarf and channeling her energy into a form of shock that can have quite a reach. She could also clone herself into psychic clones in the Alpha games, which made doing large combos a lot easier.
Some may not be huge fans of Rose, as her style may seem a bit weird when compared to Ryu, but I seriously love playing as her. I find her personality to be great and her moves can be very fun to pull off. Overall, Rose is a great character with an awesome moveset. Great enough that she is one of my mains in the series and at the #2 spot (or is it #3?)

Ryu's Theme- Street Fighter II: The World Warrior

This should not come as a shock to anybody who knows me. In fact, most of my avys and sigs are with Ryu and every time someone plays Street Fighter against me, there’s a huge chance that Ryu will be used countless times. But why you may ask? Well, it really is a long story, but I’ll try to summarize it.

Although I hated Street Fighter II when I first played it (foolish child I was), I bought Super on Virtual Console. I ended up loving it and one character stood in my mind, and that was Ryu. Normally, I am favorable when it comes to the ‘white knight’ characters, those who fight for good and usually the main character of the game. But it’s not just that. I honestly love the whole story and concept behind Ryu and his character.

While Ryu may just seem bland and boring to some, I love his whole character, being a strong and passionate fighter only wanting to fight the good fight. The dichotomy that lies in Ryu’s beliefs can either have him not using his full potential and falling weak or using all of his powers to destroy himself and his humanity, similar to Akuma falling to the Satsui no Hado. Although seen as very dry and cold, he is passionate about his fighting and his friends that he has made along the way, taking in every fight as an experience that he wants to use to better himself.

Ryu is also the most balanced when it comes to learning and attributes. His hits give off quite an impact, while he has good speed and vitality to back him up. He is also the easiest character to learn, with most of his moves being simple quarter circle imputs, having coined the phrase “shoto”. His moves consist of a fireball (the Hadouken), uppercut (Shoryuken), and tatsu (hurricane kick). In most games he can charge up his Hadouken for a Shinkuu Hadouken (or Metsu in IV) or the Metsu Shoryuken, which literally has him hitting the character so hard, the screen turns white. He gets even more overpowered when in his “evil” form, which has him being buffed like Akuma, with devastating blows, though he tries to prevent his evil side from taking over for the sake of his humanity and friends.

Ryu to me is the fitting archetypal hero that represents the entire Street Fighter series as a whole. Not only did he inspire a long list of heroes that were similar to him, but a lot of fighting games adopted his shoto techniques and controls. In fact, I’ll go as far as saying that without Ryu and Ken’s first adventure, fighting games would never be what they are today. Ryu has played a huge role into videogames and is easily near the top of my favorite video game characters.

When thinking about Street Fighter, I think about Ryu. It makes me remember the epic moments, like him and Ken fighting in a field in the gusts in the Alpha series or his many encounters with Akuma, or the image of him unleashing his Shinkuu Hadouken. I also remember the amazing stage on top of a building in the twilight, in my favorite music track in Street Fighter (or one of my favorite video game tracks).
A Capcom fighter without Ryu just cannot work. I can say that along with Mega Man, Ryu is the face of Capcom, being the lead in one of the most important games in the entire genre and kick starting the competitive fighting trend. Just this piece alone makes him the perfect #1 choice.

It doesn’t matter what Capcom fighter I’m playing; Ryu will always be my main in every video game that features him. His whole scheme is extremely easy for me to get into and I always have the most fun playing as him. Ryu will always be the face of Street Fighter for me and one of my favorite faces in videogames.

Thanks for reading.