Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

While General Bison happens to be Street Fighter's recurring antagonist - one can't forget that Akuma is indeed the series' beloved menace of a villain. The name Akuma means demon. You may notice that the name Akuma has been used in other franchises such as Kamen Rider where the final antagonist of Kamen Rider Super-1 is known as Admiral Akuma or Grand Marshall Demon. Gouki (his Japanese name) means Grand Ogre with the characters 豪鬼 depicting it. He's true that Grand Ogre would continue to be one of the most popular villains in the franchise. The character first appeared in Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a hidden character. You could use him (but he didn't have a super move back then but he had very DAMAGING moves) and would also be that bonus final boss IF you met the really ridiculous requirements. I mean, the CPU of SSFIIT is really that ridiculous so getting to fight Akuma is really a chore. He was probably created in response to the Sheng Long rumor. Sheng Lo...

I remembered playing Street Fighter Alpha 3 and one of the weirdest things that caught me off-guard is Cammy's ending. Her ending in the game has it that after you beat Super Bison - you'll discover Bison's own words that Cammy is a clone of him. I find the idea to be that Bison is actually either lying or he's telling the truth. Cammy is intended to be one of his many clone bodies (Abel and Seth are among them). I just find the plot to be so stupid since her original introduction didn't give such a plot until SFA3 . So, what's with the plot, and how does Bison have a female clone? Again, quack science. In X-Men Evolution - we had the first cartoon later ported into the comics character X-23 as a modified female clone of Wolverine. Though, it seems that Wolverine's DNA wasn't alone in the process and maybe, just maybe, DNA of a woman was also created. I was thinking also of the possibility of Cammy as a MODIFIED clone of Bison probably had other DNA mixe...

I've already expressed my dislike for what's going on with Mortal Kombat 11 not especially with the Aftermath package. Maybe, I'm too stuck with the hype of the previous two reboot entries. Now, for another obvious fanservice is the arrival of the movie skin pack. It wasn't enough for Cary Hiroyuki-Tagawa to return as Shang Tsung (and he also did in Mortal Kombat Legacy ). We ended up having, yes, Brigitte Wilson-Sampras, Linden Ashby (and I feel that the older Johnny Cage look was based on his current appearance), and Christopher Lambert as extra voices. So, I guess the paid DLC is JUSTIFIABLE now because of the royalties.  This also reminds me of how I actually BASHED Ronda Roussey . I felt her voicing Sonya was UGH. Fortunately, Sonya's face got FIXED into the more refined Brigitte Wilson-Sampras look. Though, who can't forget how Sonya was in Mortal Kombat (2011) with a look that was too similar to the movie actress? Yup, it was so easy for me to point out h...

Canonically, Ryu doesn't seem to have a girlfriend or love interest. In the non-canon media, you may seldom end up having Guile without his wife and daughter (though in canon, Ken is his brother-in-law). In Street Fighter II V cartoon - Ken once had a romantic interest in Chun-Li in contrast to him being married to Eliza in the canon. Now, there's some Ryu x Chun-Li shipping out there but there's also the rather feels just wrong (that's unless Sakura turns 18) with Ryu x Sakura. I was thinking about Sakura's introduction in Street Fighter Alpha 2 (SFA2) . Her canon introduction had her having a crush on Ryu - something the latter may not be aware of. What can be seen in her ending in SFA2 is that she does have a crush on Ryu. The non-canon Pocket Fighter also seems to hint on that one in her ending. Then in SFIV series - her crush on Ryu is further developed. I'd assume that by the SFIV series - Sakura had become an adult so it's already A-OK for them to go ...

While I'm probably glad that I didn't buy Street Fighter V  - I'm still willing to reminiscence the time when Capcom still did it right or had good games. The Street Fighter series has had been divided into the II series, the Alpha series, the III series, and the IV series back then. I don't know what was the logic of creating Street Fighter II porting it with several updates that allowed us to play as the overpowered Shadaloo kings and the Turbo edition which ended up also having Super later on. Then there was the Street Fighter Alpha series which was called Street Fighter Zero in Japan. We're introduced to younger-looking characters (hence explaining why Ryu looks younger) or why the first game was called Warriors' Dreams . So, what made the first two Street Fighter Alpha  game entries' arcade modes a little different from the SFII series? I could remember how the game would arrange a story mode for the characters which each character has a different final...

Street Fighter has M. Bison (Vega in Japan) as the recurring antagonist. So, I was thinking about how Bison himself is notoriously known for his Psycho Crusher attack - a move that somehow can't decide if it wants to be a Special Move or a Super Move. Yes, the Psycho Crusher may vary depending on where he appears. Yup, you got that right - his Psycho Crusher's status depends on where it appears. The Psycho Crusher appeared as a regular special move in the  SFII  series, Capcom vs. SNK (CAPSNK)  series, and SFIV  series . However, where the special move doesn't appear as a special attack - it's usually treated as Super Move when you're talking about the  SFA series and the Marvel vs. Capcom (MVC)  series. Instead, he gets the Psycho Blast where he throws out a purple ball of energy instead of using a Psycho Crusher. IMHO. I actually ended up liking him not having the Psycho Crusher as a special attack. So, what's my favorite style of Bison? I usually prefer ...

Street Fighter II was that series that launched the franchise to greater heights. How many really have heard of the 1987 Street Fighter game? The Street Fighter II series had the three editions, the Super edition, and the Turbo edition of the Super - WHEW! Though one thing was certain - the CPU really LOVES to cheat. Mortal Kombat II was already famous (and infamous) for its cheating CPU. Now, consider how the SFII series really trolled you back then. I remembered one of the biggest complaints I had (which I played in both the arcade and the PSX) was how in the world did charge characters do their moves SIMULTANEOUSLY? Back then, the PSX's analog stick was just a fancy accessory in contrast to all its successors. Back then, I had no idea that you could hold DB, then tap F + (button) combination to avoid moving back all the time or to get certain timing right. So really, I hated using charge characters especially those with the Delta Motion combination where you charged DB, then mot...

Mortal Kombat II tends to get praised as the best of the classic series. Its popularity actually ended up inspiring the creation of the spin-off adventure game Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks - a non-canon retelling of the events of the second game. Even more, MK Shaolin Monks has MKII has a bonus content that can be unlocked by fulfilling five Smoke missions. I decided to play it and really just found out (again) that MKII had the history of a really painful AI in one way or another. The difficulty seems to exponentially increase the higher you got on top of the ladder. Worse, Shang Tsung, Kintaro, and Shao Kahn were waiting for you with even higher difficulty! So, what's with the Computer Is a Cheating Bastard trope? MKII had some charge characters where you held a certain button and released it. Some moves could be done by the opponent but not you. Sub-Zero can follow up a ground freeze with a freeze in the CPU but you can't do it. Scorpion could tag you along twice with his spe...

I guess we've all had our crazy cartoon crushes as children, right? Talk about how Nobuo Akagi in  Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger  is so moe for Aoi-Tan (who's voiced by Hiroyo Hakase) except you were a child. I would like to do a bit of stupid recollection of that stupid crush I've had on the otherwise non-existent Daphne Blake. Yup, if it wasn't just that dumb crush I had on Kimberly Hart in  Mighty Morphin'  - it was also my dumb crush on Daphne Blake. Granted, my first exposure to the  Scooby-Doo  franchise was the  Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show  and some direct-to-video animated films - not  Scooby-Doo Where Are You?.  One of those direct to video films was  Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School . Most of the time, I was too focused on the trio of Scooby, Scrappy, and Shaggy getting into crazy misadventures than them unmasking villains disguising as monsters. I didn't even realize Scrappy was unpopular hence the term The Scrappy on TV...

I remembered back as a child when Top Cat was shown at 4:30 PM on ABC-5 (before it became TV-5). Since we weren't allowed to watch TV during the weekdays - the only time I was able to watch Top Cat was during Christmas break and the summer break. Christmas break was spent studying for incoming exams after December 25 and a short break was given from December 31 to January 1 and it's back to studies again. Though, I was pretty much of an escapist from my "normie" folks. Top Cat proved to be that escapism though somebody had called the character, Top Cat, rightfully, as an idiot. Though I was addicted to it for a reason. Maybe, it was just like how I was addicted to Conan the Adventurer and Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers - I was a child and didn't know better. What's the real deal with Top Cat ? The show calls its main lead Top Cat (TC) though we never got to know his real name for a reason. TC's friends were Fancy-Fancy, Benny (his right-hand man), Choo ...

One of the many curious tales of the late 1980s is the story Twice Upon a Time . Yes, there was such a story and such a movie but maybe only 80s to 90s children could relate to his film by Lucasfilms and by Warner Bros. There was also an adult version that had profanity which surprised me. I did remember watching this film when I was a child on Cable TV. Ah, those were the simpler times when having an Internet connection was a slow luxury, when dial-ups didn't allow you to use the phone, and when there were no social media yet. So, the form of escapism was television. Twice Upon a Time was a movie that I watched just because I was a child. It was a weird film with the voiceless Mumford (who looks like Charlie Chaplin) and the multi-animal Ralph as the main protagonists. The plot has Synonamess Botch (heading the Murkworks who cause nightmares) who intends to trap the world in endless nightmares. To do so, he takes advantage of two idiots namely Mumford and Ralph to get the Cosmic S...

As a casual fan of Street Fighter - I usually picked the non-charge characters and Ryu ultimately became my favorite character. Maybe, it's because he's the protagonist or what? Either way, Ryu happens to be my favorite character. I remembered times when I actually started to try using the charge characters and they pose a challenge. It's because you had to charge for at least two seconds and then rapidly push the other direction and the specific button. Such characters that were heavily dependent on charge moves were Chun-Li, Guile, Charlie, Dee Jay, Balrog, Vega, and General Bison to name a few. These characters couldn't just spam projectiles like the non-charge characters would. Yet, what's worse was that the CHEATING CPU could execute and spam these charge moves repeatedly! Then who can remember these annoying delta motion charge super moves? Doing it on the D-Pad is really THAT ANNOYING so I never got the chance to pull them out during the fifth generation cons...

Way back when Capcom was still cool - I remembered some of the classic crossovers. Such was the Marvel vs. Capcom series which actually started with X-Men vs. Street Fighter followed up with Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 series, and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite . So far, I hear MVCI sucks so I wonder if I should even buy it just to play as Megaman X and Zero? I thought about how characters from the Street Fighter series were revamped when they were brought over to the MVC universe.  I remembered Street Fighter started adding Super Combos which were super moves that required at least ONE LEVEL of the Super Bar. They could be performed up to three levels while others were strictly Level 3 only. One level determined the strength of the Super. However, these Street Fighter characters that were added to the Marvel vs. Capcom non-canon universe were not given just aesthetic changes but a serious boost. Some projectil...

Years ago, I remembered writing my analysis on the role of Cobra Commander in the G.I.Joe movie . Now, it's time to examine Serpentor's role in the G.I.Joe The Movie film which I believe starts to be filled with inconsistency. In fact, he even suddenly gained one additional power which he could somehow generate living snakes from his collars, the snakes were suddenly ALIVE - something not in the cartoon. The Cobra Emperor was now gaining what would be called a demotion. It's because while he was indeed the Cobra Emperor - he was actually symbolic at best because somebody else actually owned Cobra and that was Golobulus. The beginning of the movie had an interesting feud between Serpentor and his predecessor, the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander was pointing out that Serpentor's leadership was pathetic which led to a hilarious argument and the roasting of the Cobra Commander. Cobra Commander was hoping to get rid of Serpentor once and for all and reclaim the former's...