Re: J-Mart: FIGHT! Sagat, Goro, Ryu, Ken, Liu Kang, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard
Posted: Wed Aug 16, 2017 2:15 am
Heh, loving these fighting game builds, as that was definitely my main game genre growing up. I've always been a big martial arts enthusiast, and the various styles, unique looks and chi-based abilities made the who genre just an easy draw for me.
As with comics, I tend to gravitate towards "the hero" character, since they're usually the most balanced in terms of playstyle and I'm just a sucker for the good guys. Ryu, Lui Kang and Jago were my favorite heroes from their respective franchises, all these stoic, Eastern fighters with a strong sense of spirituality. While a lot of people found them boring, I found them pretty admirable and interesting in their own way, especially when they were allowed to evolve, showcase things like a sense of humor or their philosophy, and play off of others.
However, Terry was my favorite hero from the SNK Fighting game-verse, which is funny because on the surface, Andy was the kind of focused martial artist I tended to prefer. My younger brother loved the more fun loving Ken, while Ryu was my guy. And yet, Terry was just really charming, and the anime OVAs that focused on him did a lot to endear him to me. He was still a heroic guy, honorable and a brave, but he had a sense of humor to him, a relaxed attitude and he tried to enjoy life when he wasn't saving the world. In some ways he reminds me of what Iron Fist became more like once he dropped the whole "angry vengeance seeker" thing, becoming a bit more zen in the sense of being spiritual and honorable, but also relaxed and happy (at least until "The Living Weapon" series).
One thing I also thought was kind of neat about Terry was that he was definitely not a classically trained martial artist. While his father and his father's master had taught the boys the basic of chi manipulation and a foundation of martial arts, Terry basically learned how to fight by spending a decade challenging other fighters, getting his ass kicked, learning from his mistakes/improving himself, and then coming back later and defeating the guy who beat him up originally. He basically became one of the top fighters in his world, developed his own chi techniques, and defeated several of the most dangerous men on the planet through sheer tenacity and adaptability.
His fighting style should honestly resemble some combo of Captain America and Ken Masters. Steve's fighting style has often been described as something like "Acrobatic Judo Boxing", which is one way to say that while he can do most things you see a martial artist do (punch, kick, pressure points, nerve clusters, judo throws), his style is very "no frills", not worrying about flow, advanced techniques, chi or anything like that. Meanwhile Ken's style is grounded in the more "mystical" side of martial arts, but his tendency to show off has made his movies "flashier", more energetic, etc.
So Terry's would have that sort of "basic but flexible" form of Cap's, but be very flashy and exaggerated due to his personality. Normal people would think it looks awesome, trained martial artists would say it looks ugly, but gets the job done.
It kind of reminds me of Samurai Champloo, where Terry would be Mugen while Ryu would be Jin. Ryu is the refined, focused, classically trained martial artist, Terry is the more wild, anything goes adaptive brawler, but if they were to fight, it could go either way, because both men are just that damn good.
As with comics, I tend to gravitate towards "the hero" character, since they're usually the most balanced in terms of playstyle and I'm just a sucker for the good guys. Ryu, Lui Kang and Jago were my favorite heroes from their respective franchises, all these stoic, Eastern fighters with a strong sense of spirituality. While a lot of people found them boring, I found them pretty admirable and interesting in their own way, especially when they were allowed to evolve, showcase things like a sense of humor or their philosophy, and play off of others.
However, Terry was my favorite hero from the SNK Fighting game-verse, which is funny because on the surface, Andy was the kind of focused martial artist I tended to prefer. My younger brother loved the more fun loving Ken, while Ryu was my guy. And yet, Terry was just really charming, and the anime OVAs that focused on him did a lot to endear him to me. He was still a heroic guy, honorable and a brave, but he had a sense of humor to him, a relaxed attitude and he tried to enjoy life when he wasn't saving the world. In some ways he reminds me of what Iron Fist became more like once he dropped the whole "angry vengeance seeker" thing, becoming a bit more zen in the sense of being spiritual and honorable, but also relaxed and happy (at least until "The Living Weapon" series).
One thing I also thought was kind of neat about Terry was that he was definitely not a classically trained martial artist. While his father and his father's master had taught the boys the basic of chi manipulation and a foundation of martial arts, Terry basically learned how to fight by spending a decade challenging other fighters, getting his ass kicked, learning from his mistakes/improving himself, and then coming back later and defeating the guy who beat him up originally. He basically became one of the top fighters in his world, developed his own chi techniques, and defeated several of the most dangerous men on the planet through sheer tenacity and adaptability.
His fighting style should honestly resemble some combo of Captain America and Ken Masters. Steve's fighting style has often been described as something like "Acrobatic Judo Boxing", which is one way to say that while he can do most things you see a martial artist do (punch, kick, pressure points, nerve clusters, judo throws), his style is very "no frills", not worrying about flow, advanced techniques, chi or anything like that. Meanwhile Ken's style is grounded in the more "mystical" side of martial arts, but his tendency to show off has made his movies "flashier", more energetic, etc.
So Terry's would have that sort of "basic but flexible" form of Cap's, but be very flashy and exaggerated due to his personality. Normal people would think it looks awesome, trained martial artists would say it looks ugly, but gets the job done.
It kind of reminds me of Samurai Champloo, where Terry would be Mugen while Ryu would be Jin. Ryu is the refined, focused, classically trained martial artist, Terry is the more wild, anything goes adaptive brawler, but if they were to fight, it could go either way, because both men are just that damn good.