 Part 4:
Final Fight (1) & Muscle Bomber characters
On this page you can find various characters of the Street Fighter related games "Final Fight" and "Muscle Bomber" and the originals they are based on.
SNES art – Final Fight's Haggar, Jessica, Cody and the Mad Gear Gang:
(old FF1 art; click to view larger image)
The game idea to Final Fight is based on Street Fighter I and was planned as the sequel named Street Fighter '89 and originally was supposed to feature Ryu and Ken as main characters.
The name "Mad Gear" itself is based on Capcom's game Mad Gear/LED Storm.
The city "Metro City" is based on New York City.
The basic story of Final Fight is primarily based on the movie Streets Of Fire - A Rock & Roll Fable (cover, trailer). So are many characters and the emphasis on Rock music. |
Cody and Tom Cody/Joe
With his average speed and strength compared to Haggar and Guy, Cody was the best choice for beginners in FF1 and also storylinewise he could be considered the main character (if there is one) as he's the one who kills Belger at the end of the game. He, just like the whole story, is based on Streets Of Fire and its main character Tom Cody.
 
Cody's hair in FF1 (ingame) wasn't as bright as in FFR and SFZ3 so he looked a lot like Tom. Both are very good with the knive. Cody was the only character in FF1 who could keep the knife and use it several times.
 
(left: Cody with knife in SFZ3; right: Tom Cody grabbing a gang member's knife)
Both have to rescue their girlfriends (Jessica Haggar and Ellen Aim) who were kidnapped by gangs and both decide to leave them at the end.
(Except for usually wearing red dresses, Jessica and Ellen don't have much in common.)
Cody's moves in SFZ3 are based on Joe of SF1, who probably was planned to be in the game first but then got replaced by the jail version of FF's Cody, a more popular character.
Some old art of him already seems to reseble Joe from the SFII intro with his bright blond hair and white shirt. The intro was originally planned for FF or Street Fighter'89 as a sequel to SFI.
(left: Cody of FF1; right: Joe of SFI in the SFII Arcade intro)
Guy and Guy Picciotto
Guy seems to be based on a rock musician by the same name from the American rock band Fugazi.
 
Both sometimes have hair long enought to cover their eyes.
Guy's name is written with the kanji meaning 'victory song'.
(This info is from Arcade-History.com)
(the band Fugazi)
Mayor Mike Haggar and Governor Jesse Ventura
Final Fight and Muscle Bomber character Haggar is the first character that has a real live rip off!
Haggar is a prefessional show wrestler but he's also the mayor of Metro City. An unusual combination? Jesse Ventura, a famous show wrestler from the WWF decided to start a political career after his live as a wrester and action star. Both are big muscular guys with mustaches. Jesse Ventura became governor after Final Fight and Muscle Bomber so he is the rip off.
(Thanks to Crayfish for sending this one in!)
By Crayfish:
Just done a bit of reading up on Ventura's political career. Seems he was a bit of a peoples champion too, Due to his background I'd imagined he may be a bit of a Neocon, but turns out (despite being atni tax and pro gun ownership) in his time he supported: Abortion Rights, recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, sepeation of church and state, the use of medicinal marijuana, denounced the economic sanctions of the US against Cuba, supported Kerry for Pres and spoke out against Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's position on taxing Native American Casinos.
Go Haggar!
Also by Crayfish:
The Running Man is set in the future, about a barbaric tv show where criminals are hunted by WWF like hunter-gladiators, much like the Roman games… This is the film I think, that must have done it, because its the appearance where he has hair (a wig), and in a very similar style to Haggar too!
(click the image above to see the depicted scene or watch the trailer)
Now you know why Metro City's criminals are hunted by Haggar, the wrestling mayor in Final Fight (released 2 years after the movie Running Man with Arnold Schwarzenegger). Maybe they are both rip offs of each other.
Poison and Poison
Like other Final Fight characters, Poison has a name that comes from a rock band.
But the name, the long hair and their gender are not all they have in common.
Poison wears a hat just like one of the band members did for a while and it has the exact same skull logo on the front side.
Roxy and Roxy Music
As Drew Mackie mentions on his blog, Poisons friend and pallette swap Roxy might have gotten the name from the band Roxy Music (or the Roxy Theatre).
Wikipedia describes the band as an English art rock group initiated during the early 1970s.
Sodom and Sodom/Jack Burton
In the Western World Sodom's name in FF1 got changed to "Katana".
The name "Sodom" is based on a German trash band by the same name.
(the band Sodom)
With the SF Zero series Sodom got a truck that has not appeared in Final Fight.
With the truck, his blue jeans and boots and the fact that he's another out of place American in an Asian world he has a lot in common with Jack Burton, main character of Big Trouble In Little China played by Kurt Russell.
(Thanks to Crayfish for sending this one in!)
Axl & Slash and Guns N' Roses
Final Fight's leather wearing thugs Axl and Slash are based on members of the Rock band Guns N' Roses.
(the band Guns N' Roses)
Axl is based on singer Axl Rose:
 
Both have long blond hair and a bandana.
Slash is based on Slash aka Saul Hudson:
 
They've got dark brown, curly hair.
Abigail and King Diamond
Mad Gear's Abigail is based on Andore because he's almost a complete sprite color swap. His face paint however is based on Rock band leader King Diamond of Mercyful Fate.
The name "Abigail" comes from one of Diamond's album titles:
(CD covers of King Diamond's albums "Abigail" and "Abigail II")
Bred/Dug and Raven
Bred and his color swap (clone) Dug from Final Fight 1 have the same leather outfit with suspenders, that Raven wears in the movie Streets Of Fire. See pictures below:
 
(left: Bred of FF1, click to view larger version; right: Raven from SOF)
Rolento and Jack Krauser/Clayton
Rolento Schugerg (Final Fight and Street Fighter series) seems to be an inspiration for Jack Krauser of Resident Evil (also by Capcom). Both have an English first name (Rolent probably mistranslated to Rolento) and a German sounding second name. Both have the military look, wear a red beret and have grenades and knives. Both have a big scar through the whole face.
(Thanks to Neal for sending this one in!)
Rolento and Clayton of Disney's Tarzan share the same type and colors of clothing and both have a red shawl.
(Thanks to Neal for sending this one in!)
Rolento is originally based on Fist Of The North Star's Colonel Golan (see Rip Off Page 5 soon).
Rolento's henchmen and the camouflage trio
In the movie Golgo 13 The Professional three guys in camouflage may have been an inspiration for Rolento's henchmen, that appear in his winning pose and one super combo in Street Fighter Zero/Alpha 2 and later games. The only known individuals of the bunch are El Gado and Holly Wood, who also appeared in Final Fight first, like Rolento himself. They too wear green camouflage clothing sometimes.
 
(left: Hollywood of Final Fight 1; right: three assasins attack Golgo 13)
They attack from above with knives and sharp objects, just like Rolento's henchmen in SFZ2.
The weapons and the way they move are similar, both groups have a hook, Rolento uses it to hang his opponents. One of the trio in Golgo 13 walks like the enemies in Final Fight.
In the artbook Capcom Design Works –Early Days– designer Akiman also mentions that Holly Wood is based on a male character from a pocket novel.
(Thanks to vasili10 for translating!)
Bill Bull and a real person
Bill Bull, one of FF's heavyweight characters is based on a real person according to the artbook Capcom Design Works –Early Days– in which Akiman states that he is inspired by a "hard-hitting old man seen at a restaurant nearby Capcom's headquarters".
(Thanks to vasili10 for translating!)
J & Two P and Duck King/Player 2/Harimao/Tetsuo
In Capcom's Final Fight there are two Mad Gear clones (palette swaps) named "J" and "Two P". If you mix both you get Duck King from SNK's Fatal Fury.
Duck has J's colors (yellow hair and blue and yellow vest and clothing) and he has Two P's hairstyle and sunglasses.
 +  = 
(Thanks to Neal for sending this one in!)
Two P then again is based on Player 2 (hence "Two P") of Capcom's game Forgotten Worlds.
In the artbook Capcom Design Works –Early Days– designer Akiman mentions that the spikey hairstyles of the FF characters are based on characters like Harimo of the boxing manga Ashita No Joe ("Tomorrow's Joe") and Tetsuo of Akira.
(Thanks to Rikoseph and Red Cyclone for the translation and some of the pics!)
It is also possible that Harimao of Lupin III: Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure is meant, depending on when it was released (as a manga).
(thanks to vasili10 for this one)
Another inspiration for J of Metro City's Mad Gear Gang seems to be Romeo from John Carpenter's movie Escape From New York. Metro City is considered to be a fantasy version of New York.
(thanks to Crayfish for this one)
Andore/Hugo and Andre The Giant
Mad Gear member "Andore", who appeared in every Final Fight game, maybe was meant to be called "Andre" like Andre The Giant aka Andre Rene Roussimoff, a famous show wrestler (http://www.andrethegiant.com/).
It's more or less official that Andore (wrestler) is a parody/copy of Andre The Giant like Mike Bison (boxer) is one of Mike Tyson. The reason the name is not Andre is probably the same as the M. Bison one: Capcom feared to get sued. But it might also just be another mistranslation from Japanese written language to English.
 
(left pic: Final Fight 1; right pic: Andre The Giant; click pics to view larger versions)
Andre's early look included wild brown hair just like Andore has it in FF1-3. Later Capcom changed Andore's hair to black.
They both wear that Tarzan thing (don't know what it's called) eventhough the color is different, it still reminds you of Andre The Giant.
They are both very tall and talk with a deep voice (and don't talk a lot).
Also look at the face, the eyes are covered by shadow and the mouth looks kinda sad/mean.
 
The original was quite chubby while Andore is more muscular but this changes from time to time. Sometimes they draw him fat sometimes he's pure muscles.
The fact that Hugo looks exactly like Andore and might even be exactly the same character means that he is a parody of Andre The Giant, too.
Not only is Hugo a wrestler who looks a bit like Andre (see above), there is also a real hint to Andre:
In Street Fighter III at the beginning of a fight between Alex and Hugo, Hugo pushes away Alex with his big body while Alex who is smaller looks up to him in an angry way.
(this pic is from the Red Cyclone page, a Japanese site full of infos on SF characters
click here to view a gif animation of it from this SFIII 3rd Strike site)
This was a parody or homage on the fight Andre The Giant VS Hulk Hogan. Alex has blond long hair, is a wrestler and smaller than Hugo.
Andre The Giant doesn't live anymore. Don't know anything about wrestling so some of the info might be wrong, I'm sure a wrestling fan could tell you more about this topic.
Edi E and Ed Price
Both have the name Edward and in both cities (Metro City and Richmond) the police is corrupt.
Final Fight's Edi E wants to see Cody in jail just like Chief Ed Price of Streets Of Fire wants to see Tom Cody in jail. At the end of the movie Ed is on Tom's side though.
Belger and Raven
Belger and Raven, the bosses of the bad guys in Final Fight and the movie Streets Of Fire have similar faces, eventhough their ages are very different. The gin and cheeks have the same folds.
Both terrorize a city and both kidnapped a girl, that needs to be rescued by the Codies. Both have a fight with them at the end of the story.
Muscle Bomber/Saturday Night Slammasters
Here are some lookalikes for the Muscle Bomber characters, drawn and probably designed by (or at least with) Tetsuo Hara, creator of Hokuto No Ken/Fist Of The North Star. More of his influence on Rip Off page 5.
If you have more details for these charaters's similarities (moves, storyline etc.) let me know.
El Stinger and Lizmark
El Stinger (known in the Western World as El Stingray) is based on Lucha Libre Lizmark. Blue mask,white pants and shoes, glitter.
(Thanks to Crayfish for this one, check out his collage)
Astro and Tinieblas
The Astro (aka The Scorpion in the Western World) is based on Lucha Libre Tinieblas (Wiki). The helmet looks similar and Tinieblas often has the same outfit with bit shoulder pads and charms.
(Thanks to Crayfish for this one, check out his collage)
Sheep The Royal and Big Van Vader/Hawk
Sheep The Royal (aka Alexander The Greater in the Western World) is based on Big Van Vader (Wiki). Both fat guys with similar beard and hair type/color. Both wear alsmost the exact same horned helmet. While Van Vader has leaher straps in his face, Sheep wears them on his chest.
(Thanks to Crayfish for this one, check out his collage)
Another inspiration could be a wrestler named Hawk who also has a similar hairstyle and likes to stick his tongue out the same way (see picture below). He was in a popular WWF tag team with Animal named Legion of Doom but before they were known as the Road Warriors.
Tetsuo Hara, the artist who drew the Muscle Bomber characters, also featured two lookalikes in his famous Hokuto No Ken mangas. What's interesting, is that both the look of the manga and the wrestlers is based on the Mad Max movies. That's probably why they were called the Road Warriors.
(Thanks to Toulouse, Evan Jacobson and ydx7 for the this one)
Kimala and Earthquake/Kamala
Kimala The Bouncer (aka Jumbo Flap Jack in the Western World) and Earthquake aka John Tenta (Wiki) are both fat guys with a similar dark beard. The name and tribal look (star/moon symbols, face paint) are from a wrestler named Kamala or sometimes Kimala, too (Wiki). They have similar moves and winning poses/dances.
(Thanks to Crayfish for this one, check out his collage)
Mysterious Budo and Great Kabuki/Great Muta
The Mysterious Budo (aka The Great Oni in the Western World) spits green mist at his opponents, similar to Raiden (from SNK's Fatal Fury), who also appears as Big Bear without mask and who seems to be based on earlier mentioned Big Van Vader. An actual wrestler using this Japanese weapon, also known as "poison mist" or "green fog", was The Great Muta, who also wore face paint, and who seems to be the main inspiration for Red Dragon (from SNK's
3 Count Bout). But the first Japanese wrestler to use it was The Great Kabuki, who played Muta's father and used the Kabuki theatre gimmick, similar to E. Honda (Rip Off page 2). Kabuki also wore a similar wig sometimes.
If you have some sceenshots or a YouTube video of the game characters using the mist, let me know.
(Thanks to Toulouse for some of these)
Victor Ortega and Superstar Billy Graham
Superstar Billy Graham (Wiki) a famous wrestler and Hulk Hogan's main inspiration looks a lot like the mighty Muscle Bomber champion Victor Ortega. Both have long blond hair, a blond beard, a bandana and huge steroid muslces.
(Thanks to Crayfish for this one, check out his collage)
Rip Off Page 5
(Akira Toriyama & Tetsuo Hara anime shows)
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