After profiling Nanase and Hayate last week, the CFN Portal resumes its coverage of the Street Fighter EX characters, as the Shadaloo Activity Report examines the two cast members added to EX2’s Plus update, Vulcano Rosso and Area!
Released in 1999, a year after the original EX2, in both arcades and on the PlayStation, EX2 Plus saw the EX debut of Sagat and the returns of M. Bison, Pullum Purna and Darun Mister, who were excluded from the original EX2. It also introduced the Meteor Combo system, that served to compliment the Super and new Excel Combos, a system resembling Alpha 3’s Custom Combos, which underwent further refinement, and allowed all characters on the roster access to a Level 3 Super, which only a few had previously.
As always, NIN, Senior Officer of Shadaloo, returns to provide Private Nakagawa with additional commentary on the characters.
Private Nakagawa: The Italian-born dandy! His clothes and hair look so cool, don’t they! Quattro Panorama! Was so cool! [Nakagawa should’ve said “Quattro panorami,” (four views) which is plural. Panorama is singular, therefore he said “Four view.”]
Basic Info:
Name: Vulcano Rosso [“Red Volcano”]
Height: 187 cm
Weight: 87 kg
Blood Type: B
Birthday: October 12
Country of Origin: Italy
Likes: Vino rosso [“Red wine”], Early renaissance art
Dislikes: Traitors, Those who don’t comprehend art
Private Nakagawa: Born in Bari, Apulia. He was a member of an organization that seized Europe, but due to a traitor, he lost his beloved one. This motive lead him to leave the organization, and he became a vindictive rebel, burning with vengeance. In his days as a member, he went into contact with the American “Crackers.” He got to know Jack, a masterful bouncer and competent bodyguard. Even today, we have a comment from our Senior colleague!
NIN: The concept was of a pseudo-kung-fu expert. His “vulcanus” [from the Latin name of Vulcan, the ancient Roman God of Fire] projectile had a leaf bud-like shape, and its tuning gave me the chills. I loved his “Tameiki no Hashi,” [literally translated from the Italian Ponte dei sispiri, aka “Bridge of Sighs,” a famed bridge in Venice] both in name and in appearance!
To close things out, we’ve got the woman with “Iron Eyes,” Area!
Private Nakagawa: An inventor girl. She brims with curiosity, but once she fixates onto something, she can’t see anything else in her surroundings anymore. We have such a person, too! His name is F.A.N.G…
Basic Info:
Name: Area
Height: 152 cm
Weight: 41 kg
Blood Type: AB
Birthday: September 5
Country of Origin: UK
Likes: Research, Data Collection/Analysis, Her Father’s Inventions
Dislikes: Sports
Private Nakagawa: She fights using “Cancer” equipment, developed from her father, who is also an inventor. She takes part in fighting tournaments in order to attract worldwide attention and appeal, as well as to obtain new data for “Cancer” and her father’s inventions. Apparently, amidst all the fighters, she likes Mecha Zangief.
NIN: We have a special comment and illustrations from our Mihara. [Ichirō Mihara, a mangaka and ARIKA’s Vice President, as well as the company’s co-founder with Nishitani.]
Mihara: Nowadays, Area has far surpassed her father’s skills as an inventor.
The profile also included some extremely detailed illustrations of Area, showing off some of the elements of her development process, including suggestions from the artist to the development team, translated by Midgardsorm, that you can see below.
That wraps up another set of CFN Portal Profiles! For more EX goodness, you can check out coverage of Nanase and Hayate, also from EX2, here. Do you have any fond memories playing or battling against either of these characters? What do you think of their updated designs? Sound off in the Comments!
Source: CFN Portal; Special thanks to Midgardsorm for the footnotes and translated Area illustrations.