Month: January 2017

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You Must Defeat Sheng Long to Stand a Chance! It’s the 25th Anniversary of the Classic EGM Hoax

The April Fool’s joke that kicked off Gouken’s story is a now a quarter-century old.

Capcom is celebrating the 30th anniversary of Street Fighter this year; but that also means it’s the 25th anniversary of the classic April Fool’s joke that ran in the April 1992 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly.

The hoax was presented as a means to unlock the mysterious “Sheng Long” in the original arcade version of Street Fighter II: using Ryu, and reaching M. Bison with nothing but Perfect victories, you must then survive ten rounds against the dictator without exchanging any blows. If successful, instead of a draw game, Sheng Long–Ryu and Ken’s long-lost master–will appear, dispose of Bison, and proceed to wreck you with his broken moveset.

Shenglong-street-fighter-japanzone
EGM even doubled-down on the gag by placing the “find the April Fool’s joke” contest form on the SAME PAGE.

The near-impossible trick to fight Sheng Long was soon exposed as a hoax, but is still remembered for the glorious gag it was. “Sheng Long” is born of the mistranslation in Ryu’s win quote, where “Sheng Long” was later corrected to “Dragon Punch” as intended.

ShengLong-screen

This hoax holds such a strong place in Street Fighter collective consciousness because it inspired design choices that made many of its aspects reality in future games. Sheng Long’s substitution for M. Bison mirrors the entry of Akuma as a hidden boss in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. And as for “Sheng Long”–he became Gouken in Street Fighter IV, making Sheng Long effectively canonical after many years. Gouken even has a win quote in Super Street Fighter IV that pays tribute to the original mistranslation–“You must defeat me to stand a chance!”–as if his very design and existence wasn’t tribute enough!

AcidGlow marks the upcoming April anniversary of Sheng Long with this retrospective video:

Source: AcidGlow

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Catch Up on Kombo Klash Japan with These Replays, Courtesy of Ultra Arcade

Back on January 21st, the Japanese Killer Instinct community came together to compete for spots at the Killer Instinct World Cup with Kombo Klash Japan. For those who aren’t aware, Killer Instinct has a small but intensely passionate Japanese scene, lead by the dedicated OGTY and full of top players like the US ex-pat CAT DRUGS, lab fiend Domi, Riptor specialist Tomosama and Omen master Osomatsu among others. While the community is nowhere near as large as your Guilty Gears or Street Fighters in Japan, the Japanese KI scene is devoted to the game and will do anything to see it thrive.

Acting as the honorary US envoys, as well as streaming the event in English, Ultra Arcade’s Brandon Alexander and Kenneth “Bass” Armas traveled to Kombo Klash to help and compete within the tournament, helping to test the mettle of their Japanese compatriots. After all was said and done, the USA reigned supreme as Bass took first place after a close Grand Finals set with Osomatsu. The Japanese definitely gave Bass a run for his money, with Domi’s Kilgore and General RAAM forcing the American to switch off Spinal and use Mira in tournament.

As Bass has already qualified for KIWC, Osomatsu and Ret have earned places in that 32-man bracket, adding some additional international flavor to the tournament. They join threats from Europe and Canada who will also be attending the Killer Instinct World Cup, being held at the Tobin Center in San Antonio, Texas from March 10-12.

Bass has uploaded all of his matches to his YouTube channel and they can be found in the playlist below. If you want to watch the whole of Kombo Klash Japan, check out Ultra Arcade’s VOD from the event, also found below.

Sources: Ultra Arcade; XiBassiX