Character Fighting Styles

[dystopicfilms]

OK. I've been mulling over this issue for some time but I've finally decided to raise the issue:

As a purist of martial arts theory, I've noticed that in many fighting games (not just the Streets Of Rage series) many of the combatants are trained in more styles than the ones that are advertised in their bios. Therefore, I put it to you all that for SOR4, the characters are officially trained in the following disciplines despite what has been written in the games' lore.

I've noticed that each character has a Primary, Secondary and Weapon style (with the exception of Shiva), which I shall attempt to outline herein. Here we go:

Axel Stone
Primary Style: Kyokoshin Karate
Secondary Style: Catch Wrestling
Weapon Style: Kendo

Blaze Fielding
Primary Style: Judo
Secondary Style: Tae Kwon Do
Weapon Style: Tanto-jutsu

Adam Hunter
Primary Style: Savate (French Kickboxing)
Secondary Style: American Collegiate Wrestling
Weapon Style: Knife Fighting

Estel Aguirre
Primary Style: Krav Maga
Secondary Style: Brazilian Jiujitsu
Weapon Style: Eskrima

Shiva
Primary Style: Kenpo
Secondary Style: Aikijujutsu
Weapon Style: Shruriken-jutsu

Floyd Harper
Primary Style: Pankration
Secondary Style: Vale Tudo
Weapon Style: Science

Cherry Hunter
Primary Style: Pogo (Not sure if that's even a style)
Secondary Style: Bare Knuckle Boxing
Weapon Style: Gumdo (Using her guitar like a sword)

Max Thunder
Primary Style: Professional Wrestling
Secondary Style: Greco-Roman Wrestling
Weapon Style: Hardcore Wrestling

Eddie "Skate" Hunter
Primary Style: American Kick-boxing
Secondary Style: Lucha Libre
Weapon Style: Knife Fighting

Dr. Zan
Primary Style: Freestyle Wrestling
Secondary Style: Freestyle Brawling
Weapon Style: Science

Feel free to correct me on any of my choices. In particular I appreciate that Axel's primary style may in fact be Jeet Kune Do (given that it's long been considered code in martial arts gaming law to simply refer to that style as "Martial Arts"), but figured it was Kyokoshin given the similarities in stance and the stiffness of his kicks. I'm certain that at least one of these is incorrect so I'm happy for suggestions if you have any.

Regardless, I look forward to hearing what you all think...

[4austindotcom]

Genius observations here. It makes the whole series seem that much deeper.

[Holografix]

Weapon style: science, is my favorite style.

[Eeelfim]

Very Cool!
But Skate not is something like Karate Hip Hop Kido? Like Zack from Power Rangers.
This topic is amazing!

[dystopicfilms]

Originally posted by Eeelfim:

Very Cool!
But Skate not is something like Karate Hip Hop Kido? Like Zack from Power Rangers.
This topic is amazing! :chic:

Thank you for the compliment.

I figured Skate would be Lucha Libre since there is a touch of the Rey Mysterio to a lot of his acrobatic techniques.

[dystopicfilms]

Amendment - Following further research, I have recently updated some of the styles. I changed Shiva's secondary style from Hapkido to Aikijujutsu, and Blaze's secondsry style from Shotokan to Tae Kwon Do.

[al64inthedark]

Interesting topic. I wonder if there are other game character who are using Savate like Adam as a fighting style.

[dystopicfilms]

Originally posted by al64inthedark:

Interesting topic. I wonder if there are other game character who are using Savate like Adam as a fighting style.

I know that Martial Law from Tekken also uses Savate as one of the base arts for his Jeet Kune Do in the Tekken Series (because it was what Bruce Lee used to create the martial art by twinning it with Wing Chun). Katarina from Tekken 7 also uses Savate as her chosen martial art, as does Jetta Maxx, the Russian acrobat from SEGA's Eternal Champions franchise (which is strange since it literally translates to "Old Shoe" and deliberately requires shoes to do, yet Jetta does it in her bare feet - to my knowledge she is the first female character to ever appear in a fighting game in her bare feet).

Lee Chaolan from the Tekken franchise also draws strongly on Savate (especially with his toe kick to the eyes), since Savate is a big influence on his style of choice: Japanese Kick-Boxing (though that art uses a base of Kyokushin and Muay Thai with elements of Tae Kwon Do eg. the Hook Kick Takedown which is a high ranking technique in TKD).

[Leandro]

great post