Sagat's Road To Redemption In The Street Fighter Series

I could remember how I previously wrote about how Scorpion in Mortal Kombat had an interesting development. What I've ignored in my blogging (due to how my relationship with Capcom has become rather stormy) is Sagat's rather cool development as an anti-villain turned anti-hero. Yes, Sagat was initially a villain for a good portion of Street Fighter until his redemption. He was once part of M. Bison's Shadaloo Kings along with Balrog and Vega. Yet, Sagat overtime became a good guy. The idea was somewhat placed in the Street Fighter movie and the failed American cartoon. The failed American cartoon had Sagat eventually defecting after finding out how M. Bison had gone "too far". The games did start to explore his role as a character manipulated by the bad guys like Scorpion was in Mortal Kombat. 

Sagat did have his status as the champion of Muay Thai and the main antagonist of the underappreciated first Street Fighter game. Adon was also a character in that rather underappreciated (and I don't intend to play it) game. The story ended with Ryu defeating him. The idea was soon changed to where Ryu started to show signs of darkness and landed a Metsu Shoryuken, leading to the chest scar. Adon would later taunt him and the two become estranged. Sagat would devote his time to trying to reclaim his title from Ryu. It was also at this point that M. Bison would manipulate him. This would disgust him since he had the status of a noble villain even before reforming for the better. He ends up abandoning Shadaloo after seeing the error of his ways.

Sagat's reformed character starts to surface more during the Street Fighter IV series. It was during this time that he puts aside his vendetta from Ryu, now considering him a friendly rival instead. His character development somehow really was satisfying to watch. However, I didn't feel it was as satisfying as Scorpion's (revised timeline). Yet, it was nice to see how Sagat's development from anti-villain to anti-hero is one of Street Fighter's most satisfying storylines ever.