Author: Casey "Waveflame" Rinaldi

Unfortunately, another international player will be unable to attend next weekend’s Capcom Cup. Just a week after qualifying following the Asia/Oceania Regional Finals, Tse Wa “Tse4444” Ping, the Hong Kong Chun-Li player and 31st seed with 132 points, is unable to attend next weekend’s festivities according to the CapcomFighters Twitter account.

Much like Brook|Misterio being replaced by EG|K-Brad, Tse4444’s spot will be going to Fujimura “YD|Yukadon” Atsushi, considered by many to be Japan’s strongest Nash player, who is currently rank 14 on the CPT Asia Leaderboards with 90 points.  Highlights of his Capcom Pro Tour season include getting fifth at Abuget Cup, fourth at FV Cup, second at Tokyo Button Mashers, ninth at Well Played Cup, third at Evo 2016 and most recently, 13th at the Capcom Pro Tour Asia/Oceania Regional Finals.

With this bracket shakeup, Yukadon is projected to face BST|Daigo Umehara in the first round. He picked up a 3-2 victory over the Beast himself in the Losers’ Finals of Tokyo Button Mashers, so he has plenty of matchup experience against world warrior Ryu.  Other big victories include eliminating Team Hail Mary’s Go1 from Evo, defeating YOUDEAL’s Haitani and Alienware’s Nemo at both Tokyo Button Mashers and Evo, as well as conquering Panda Global’s Filipino Champ in top 64 at Evo. In terms of overall character representation among this top 32, this brings the number of Chun-Lis down from 6 to 5, tying her with Ken for the most represented character, while increasing the total number of Nashs attending to 2.

Capcom has also confirmed that the final brackets for Capcom Cup will be released tomorrow, so competitors and spectators can start properly theorizing paths to that Street Fighter V World Champion title.

Both Mistero and Tse4444 are unable to compete at Capcom Cup which qualifies EG K-brad and Yukadon respectively. Final bracket tomorrow.

— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) November 27, 2016

Capcom Cup 2016 takes place December 2nd at the Esports Arena in Santa Ana, CA, with top 8 being fought at the Anaheim Convention Center on December 3rd, as part of the PlayStation Experience.

Source: CapcomFighters (Twitter)

After recently covering Bred, Dug, Jake and Simons, the CFN Portal site continues the Shadaloo Activity Report’s coverage of the members of Mad Gear seen in Final Fight, with Private Nakagawa now taking a look at the Gang’s pair of “knife nuts,” who would later go on to serve Rolento in the Street Fighter Alpha series following the organization’s fall, El Gado and Hollywood!

Private Nakagawa: Mad Gear’s knife nut. He’s fast and agile, and his Sliding Kick is sudden and unexpected. Before coming to Metro City he participated in guerrilla warfare.

Basic Info:

Name: El Gado
Height: 201 cm
Weight: 83 kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: May 2nd
Home Country: South America
Likes: Knife Throwing, Ajiaco
Dislikes: A certain Man [Rolento. They’re taking Final Fight Revenge’s story into account.]

Private Nakagawa: He competes with his friend Hollywood in the art of knife throwing. He’s feared even by his friends, because he always sleeps with an eye open. He doesn’t speak about his past, but it seems he has his reasons to be a member of Mad Gear … . [Namely, Rolento was responsible for the death of El Gado’s family, so El Gado infiltrated Mad Gear only to confront him.]

In addition to his appearance as an enemy in FF1, El Gado also appeared in Final Fight Revenge, a 1999 3D fighting game that was released to Arcades in July of that year, before being ported to the Sega Saturn in Japan on March 30th, 2000. The title saw ten characters from the original Final Fight (Cody, Guy, Haggar, Sodom, Poison, Hugo Andore, Damnd, Edi E., Rolento and El Gado) returning to Metro City as the result of the threat of a resurrected and zombified version of the gang’s leader, Horace Belger. In El Gado’s ending, he holds a knife to Rolento’s throat as he seeks to make him pay for the murder of his family and comrades. However, the general uses his silver tongue to talk his way out of the situation, offering to make El Gado “a very powerful man.” He seems to successfully name the guerrilla’s price, as he can be later seen assisting him with his Take No Prisoners when he makes his debut in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and even later during Ultra Street Fighter IV. We’ve included an arcade playthough of Final Fight Revenge with El Gado, so you can see how the Cuban knife-wielder fully translated to a fighting game, as well as his confrontation with Rolento in his ending.

This brings us to his partner, who also joined up with Rolento’s army and can also be seen during Take No Prisoners, Hollywood!

Private Nakagawa: Holly Wood is another knife nut. He is a cruel guy with a brutal personality who was charged with murder and sent to prison, but he escaped from jail and joined Mad Gear.

Basic Info:

Name: Holly Wood
Height: 202 cm
Weight: 85 kg
Blood type: AB
Birthday: January 3rd
Home Country: America

Likes: Knives, Dancing
Dislikes: Cops

Private Nakagawa: He’s surprisingly good at singing and dancing. He’s earned the name Holly Wood because of this. He’s skilled at handling knives against various opponents, raising a bloodbath. Apparently, murder is his art.

That brings us to the end of another pair of CFN Portal profiles, as two more members of the Mad Gear Gang are on the books! Stay tuned to Shoryuken for more CFN Portal profiles in the future! You can check out other members of the Mad Gear Gang here, as well as the lead-up to 200 Profiles, which included J and TWO.P.

Sources: CFN Portal; TheInnoncentSinful

After taking a look at Mad Gear members J and TWO.P while celebrating 200 Profiles last week, the CFN Portal heads back to 1989’s Final Fight to spotlight more lesser-known members of the Mad Gear who plunged Metro City into darkness and chaos. Continuing with the gang’s first line of defense, its lowest-ranking members and the “Goombas” of the organization, here are Bred and his “Head Swaps”: Doug, Jake, & Simons–once again via the Shadaloo Activity Report and Private Nakagawa.

Private Nakagawa: A wild bearded character. It seems he has some experience in martial arts, as his splendid jumping kick demonstrates. Also, it looks like he’s quite obsessed with boots.

Basic Info:

Name: Jake
Height: 177 cm
Weight: 68 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: November 11th
Home Country: USA
Likes: Beer, Poker, Darts, Puzzles
Dislikes: Troublesome Details

Private Nakagawa: He had martial arts experience, and worked as a bouncer in a bar. Mad Gear paid his physical strength well, so he became a member. After Mad Gear’s collapse, he returned to his home town, but there are reports that someone has seen him again in Metro City.

 

 

Next up, we have a rare “family man” within the Mad Gear ranks, Simons!

Private Nakagawa: A stoic man. A very hard worker who never neglects his daily training. You can’t see it in the game, but he’s actually mastered various techniques!

Basic Info:

Name: Simons
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 85 kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: January 5th
Home Country: USA
Likes: His Children, His Wife, Holidays
Dislikes: Useless Talking

Private Nakagawa: He has a family, a trait unusual for a Mad Gear member. When a holiday comes, he seems to go out to Metro City Bay Area Park and play with his children and wife. His wife is quite the spendthrift. One day, she purchased “Mambo,” the cleaning robot, without consulting with her husband first; the two argued for some time.

 

Now we have his partner-in-crime, Dug.

Private Nakagawa: He gets along very well with Simons, although his character is the exact opposite. For instance, he likes beer. He takes nothing seriously, and lives a depraved life.

Basic Info:

Name: Dug
Height: 176 cm
Weight: 72 kg
Blood type: 0
Birthday: March 22nd
Home Country: USA
Likes: Beer, Sexy Women
Dislikes: Lecturing, Early Rising

Private Nakagawa: A man who likes women, likes beers, and likes gambling. Always throws at the women whom he sees epithets so vulgar, we really cannot write an example here. He had a fancy hairstyle when he was young, and for this reason he currently worries about his hair. You shouldn’t really worry about that, pops, you know!

 

Finally, we have the “leader” of this band of misfits, who’s always getting his beloved car trashed in the Bonus Stages of both Final Fight and Super Street Fighter IV, Bred!

Private Nakagawa: A man born under a big sign; wherever he goes he ends up with his beloved car destroyed. A man prone to finding himself surrounded by trouble.

Basic Info:

Name: Bred
Height: 178 cm
Weight: 70 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: February 27th
Home Country: USA
Favorite things: Cars, Everything with a Tire
Dislikes: Property Damage

Private Nakagawa: He has a good disposition with his underlings. He enjoys going to eat with various other members, particularly in Metro City’s various diners. His favorite item on the menu is waffles. He’s affectionately called “Paul” by his pals. He doesn’t believe in fortune-telling.

 

 

To refresh your memories, here’s some clips of the car bonus stages from both FF and SSF4, showing all three of Metro City’s champions laying the smackdown on Bred’s precious ride. Poor guy really CAN’T catch a break, can he?

That wraps up the CFN Portal profiles on the Mad Gear Gang members. Keep it locked on right here to Shoryuken for more profiles as they appear!

Sources: CFN Portal; TurkishBullet19; MasterLL; thanks to Midgardsorm for translations and footnotes

 

Earlier this month, we saw the arrival of a new stage to Street Fighter V. “Skies of Honor” sees Street Fighters battling it out atop Rashid’s private plane, piloted by Azam through the cityscape of Dubai. However, the new arena was reported to cause motion sickness in some players–due to the background being a moving cityscape, to simulate the look of a plane flying through the air in real time over the course of the battle.

Much like its fellow DLC stage, Kanzuki Beach, Capcom decreed last night via Twitter that it will be banned from competitive play, due to being deemed “too distracting for tournament play,” beginning at Capcom Cup and continuing throughout the entirety of the 2017 Capcom Pro Tour season. While this is unfortunate–as this downloadable locale boasts very unique visuals, as well as an awesome theme–players will still be able to enjoy battling upon Rashid’s plane casually with friends, as well as using it in the online realm. You can see the tweet from Capcom Fighters below.

Due to being too distracting for tournament play, the #SFV Skies of Honor stage will not be used for Capcom Cup 2016 and the CPT2017 Season.

— Capcom Fighters (@CapcomFighters) November 22, 2016

Source: Capcom Fighters (Twitter)

Last weekend, Osaka’s irregular monthly tournament series, Mix Up Night, held its 34th event which marked the debut of Arc System Works’ latest title, Blazblue: Central Fiction as well as serving as the second tournament for King of Fighters XIV. Top players such as Dogura, N-O, KoujiKOG, Esuke, Suya, Koike, Matoi, Kogatan, Ito Sae, ABAO, SANGE TENCHO and SANWA|M’ all showed up to prove their skills in their respective titles.

Below we have the entirety of the BBCF Tournament, courtesy of Jourdal, and the Top 8 and Grand Finals of KOF XIV, brought to you by Gato Ray. You can also check out the entirety of the stream, which features more KOF matches, at the dedicated Mix Up Night Twitch channel.

Sources: Jourdal; Gato Ray; Mix Up Night

Since March 30th, 2016, the CFN Portal site’s Shadaloo Activity Report–with the help of Shadaloo’s Private Nakagawa–has been bringing fans a variety of character profiles from throughout the Street Fighter universe. From chronicling nearly every single playable character in the entire series to this point, to spotlighting various non-player characters (NPCs), a large portion of the cast of Final Fight, to alternate universes like the canceled Capcom Fighting All-Stars & Street Fighter 2010, and even–most recently–the cast of the Street Fighter EX series. Back in July, the CFN Portal commemorated its first 100 profiles by detailing Ryu, the first playable member of the current Street Fighter V cast to receive one. Now the Portal hits its second milestone of 200 profiles, with a variety of characters on display in this next batch!

With Lucia and Dean rounding out profiles on the protagonists of Final Fight, we turn out attention to Mayor Mike Haggar’s beloved daughter: Jessica!

Private Nakagawa: She’s the daughter of that macho mayor. It seems that, for awhile, she formed a happy couple with Cody, who had saved her life, but…

Basic Info:

Name: Jessica
Height: 176 cm
Weight: Unknown
Blood type: A
Birthday: October, 31
Home Country: USA
Likes: Travel, Poker
Dislikes: Selfish Men

Private Nakagawa: As the mayor’s daughter, she was abducted by the criminal organization Mad Gear when the continuous efforts of her father to improve the public order proved to be too much of a nuisance for them. She was rescued by Haggar, Cody, and Guy, and became Cody’s lover. However, when Cody was imprisoned for his numerous acts of violence she estranged herself, and ultimately broke up with him. We heard she’s currently studying in France.

Next up, we move on to Dee Jay’s good friend and manager, who’s existed as a concept since the Street Fighter II days, but is finally making his first appearance: Rick!

Private Nakagawa: He certainly exudes the same mood as him. He’s actually a good friend of Dee Jay, and joins him on tour. It seems he’s his manager.

Basic Info:

Name: Rick
Height: 179 cm
Weight: 77 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: January, 9
Home Country: Jamaica
Likes: Music, Showy Birds
Dislikes: Alcohol (he can’t take it)

Private Nakagawa: He has parrot chicks on top of his head. All chicks of Rick’s own pet. While Dee Jay tends to abuse him, he supports his friend in various activities. He is particularly able to play the djembe, a type of drum played with clapping and striking, between his legs. It seems he once practiced it until it gave him bloody urine.

Our next profiles take us back to Final Fight. But with all of the heroes and the bosses of Final Fight 1 covered, it’s time to move on to some of the first game’s “generic” members of the Mad Gear Gang, starting with J!

Private Nakagawa: Finally, a fighter who gives off the same smell of our lower rank soldiers. Even his name is cool: a simple letter!

Basic Info:

Name: J
Height: 181 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: January, 9
Home Country: UK
Likes: Health Foods, Punk
Dislikes: Meat

Private Nakagawa: He’s an extremely introverted personality. But when it comes to fighting, he makes his opponents suffer with his quick steps and razor-like jabs. It’s almost impossible to escape his punch combos. After Mad Gear’s destruction, it seems he’s hanging out with Abigail and Axl. In contrast with his appearance, he’s a health freak and drinks only decaf.

Now we feature his partner/”head swap,” who bears an uncanny resemblance to a “forgotten” classic Capcom character: TWO.P!

Private Nakagawa: If you think of an orange Mohawk, that’s him. The green dragon print on his back is cool, don’t you think? You can write his name as TWO-P or TWO P, too.

Basic Info:

Name: TWO.P
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 82 kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: He forgot
Home Country: USA?
Likes: Green Salad, Dark Places
Dislikes: Steel Pipe, Lizards, Earthworms

Private Nakagawa: He was rescued by a Mad Gear member who found him collapsed half-naked in the street. It seems he lost his memory, so he doesn’t remember details such as his birthday. Also, it seems he’s good with heavy weapons [direct reference to Forgotten Worlds, whence his name came]. He has a sense of humor, and speaks mixing jokes in his sentences. His favorite phrase is “Yeah, me too, man!” [player 2’s quote in Forgotten Worlds’ ending]

Finally, we close things by bringing you to the 200th Profile: Phantom Bison!

Private Nakgawa: And we’ve reached 200 profiles! I didn’t think we’d ever continue this long. Obviously, for this milestone, we have to do Lord Bison! Aaah! His body is transparent! Lord Bison, are you alright?

Basic Info:

Name: Phantom Bison
Height: Roughly 182 cm
Weight: Unknown
Blood type: Unknown
Birthday: Unknown
Home Country: Unknown
Likes: World Domination
Dislikes: Weaklings, Incompetent Subordinates

Private Nakagawa: So, due to a certain accident, Lord Bison had his body turned to pure thought. Even with his body destroyed, his power and will won’t disappear. If you want to know why he became like this, try the General Story Mode.
But even in that state,
Likes: World Domination
Dislikes: Weaklings, Incompetent Subordinates
…that never changes, I’m in awe! So cool!

A member of the community also created a special piece of fan art for the occasion, which depicts some of the more notable and obscure characters that have been profiled by the CFN Portal, including Nadeshiko, who was the very first entry, Enero, the leader of the Shadaloo Dolls, Fair Libra from the Judgment Girls, holding a sign of Private Nakagawa, Ruby, Goutetsu, Skullomania, Blade, and Sodom, the first playable character to be profiled. The artwork also features one of the “Extra” characters, Capcom Fighting All-Stars’ Ingrid, as well as her evil counterpart, Dark Ingrid.

That does it for the latest group of CFN profiles, as the Shadaloo Activity Report now looks to embark on the road to 300! Do you have any fond memories of smacking around J and TWO.P in the original Final Fight? Did you recognize him from playing Forgotten Worlds back in the day? What do you think about finally meeting Dee Jay’s manager after all these years? Do you have any thoughts on Phantom Bison’s “predicament”? Let us know in the Comments below!  If you want more, you can check out profiles of Ryu’s and Chun-Li’s Red Bull BC One Costumes here.

Sources: CFN Portal; io_housenka (Twitter)

After taking a look at some of the World Warriors’ associates and Ryu and Chun-Li’s B-Boy and B-Girl Red Bull BC One costumes, the CFN Portal site continues to spotlight a variety of side characters from the Street Fighter and Final Fight universes, as per Private Nakagawa and the Shadaloo Activity Report.

Today we start with Karin’s portly, bumbling butler, who desperately yearns to prove his worth as her bodyguard and battle foes in her stead–only to be shot down. He can also bee seen excitedly watching matches in the background of the Kanzuki Estate stage in Street Fighter V, and previously became a hotdog-eating champion in the UDON Comics: Ishizaki!

Private Nakagawa: A self-paced man working for the Kanzukis, a bit in his own way. When he raises the tension in the house too much, the maid strikes him with a silver tray.

Basic Info:

Name: Ishizaki
Height: 171 cm
Weight: 98 kg
Blood type: 0
Birthday: June 21st
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Tendon, Miso-Katsu
Dislikes: Sports

Private Nakagawa: One of the butlers working for Karin Kanzuki together with Shibasaki. In his school days, he belonged the school judo club. His actual skills are cooking, and once in awhile he exercises his talent in Kanzuki’s kitchen. His specialty is the chanwanmushi. He’s on good terms with Birdie.

Our next profile takes us back to 1997’s Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, to look at another one of the title’s secret characters, “Suntanned” Sakura.

Private Nakagawa: She increased her moves, and her Hadoken became a giant beam, only by suntanning. I must absolutely suntan myself!

Basic Info:

Name: “Suntanned” Sakura
Height: 157 cm
Weight: 42 kg
Blood type: A
Birthday: March 15th
Home Country: Japan
Likes: Kakigōri
Dislikes: End of Vacations

Private Nakagawa: Sakura, who trained with Ryu during summer vacations. It seems she gained new moves and even mastered a technique in which she hits her opponent one-thousand times in a second. [her version of the Shun Goku Satsu/Raging Demon, obviously] She completely sunburned herself during a training session in a tropical beach of a southern country. It’s not that she “awoke” to anything, OK? She’s only diligent in her training…

For those who may be unfamiliar with Suntanned (alternatively, “Evil”) Sakura, or the title she hails from, here’s an arcade playthrough with her in MSHvSF to remind readers what she was capable of.

Moving on, we head to another Capcom classic, 1995’s Final Fight 3–which was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, before being eventually ported to the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console–to take a look at one of the newcomers who stepped up to assist Guy and Mayor Mike Haggar in saving Metro City from the grip of the treacherous Skull Cross Gang: Lucia!

Private Nakagawa: A brilliant detective who ensures Metro City’s security. With her long legs, she obviously has powerful, intense, kicks. She burns down criminals and rogues with her Fire Spinner! [Her Jumping QCF+Attack kick. Normally unimaginatively translated as simply “Fire Kick.”]

Basic Info:

Name: Lucia
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 52 kg
Blood type: B
Birthday: April 1st
Home Country: USA
Likes: Cup Noodles
Dislikes: Cooking

Private Nakagawa: An investigator who works for the Special Criminal Investigation Unit of Metro City’s police. She fights with techniques of self-defense and a personal take on Kung-Fu. Specialized in attacks with her baton. She’s literally hopeless at housework and cooking, and relies on her favorite Vietnamese restaurant for her meals, or just goes with her cup noodles.

Finally, we have the other newcomer and the fourth selectable character in Final Fight 3, a man shrouded in a cloak of mystery: Dean!

Private Nakgawa: A former street fighter, and a mysterious man whose only known fact is his name, Dean. It seems he can harness the power of lighting to release electric discharges.

Basic Info:

Name: Dean
Height: 197 cm
Weight: 91 kg
Blood type: Unknown
Birthday: Unknown
Home Country: USA
Likes: Meat, Curry Rice
Dislikes: Skull Cross Gang

Private Nakagawa: A young man who lost his family because of the criminal gang Skull Cross. Skull Cross was a lower branch of Mad Gear; in order to destroy them, Dean teams up with Haggar, Lucia and Guy. His special weapon is the hammer. The fact he likes both meat and curry rice means he should like beef curry, right?

And another set of CFN Portal profiles is in the books, as we’re now just five Profiles away from reaching number 200! You can check out a special pair of profiles on Ryu and Chun-Li’s Red Bull BC One B-Boy and B-Girl Costumes here, as well as look at more of the World Warriors’ associates here. If “Suntanned” Sakura’s got you nostalgic for more secret characters from MSHvSF, you can see Shadow and Shadow Lady’s Profiles here.

Sources: CFN Portal; Hanedan; Fighters Generation