50 Fun Facts About Fighting Games

Street Fighter II's boxer Balrog was called M. Bison in Japan as a nod to which heavyweight champion?

Mike Tyson inspired the name, so Capcom rotated three boss names for the English release, fearing that a boxer called Mike Bison could be a legal liability.

Outrage over Mortal Kombat's gore at 1993 Senate hearings led the industry to create which ratings body?

The ESRB was set up in 1994 after hearings that also singled out Night Trap, as publishers chose to rate their own games rather than risk government oversight.

Which fighting game staple began as a design accident in Street Fighter II's car-smashing bonus stage?

Combos surfaced when producer Noritaka Funamizu noticed, during a bug check, that extra strikes could land before the target had time to recover.

Mortal Kombat's Johnny Cage began as a spoof of which action star, whom Midway had hoped to license?

Jean-Claude Van Damme's split-legged groin punch from the 1988 film Bloodsport even became one of Johnny Cage's special moves.

Which Interpol officer from Street Fighter II is cited as the first playable woman in a fighting game?

Chun-Li enters the tournament to avenge her father, killed by the game's crime-boss villain, and has been dubbed the first lady of fighting games.

What do fighting game players call a style of heavy defense and waiting for an opponent's mistakes?

Turtling borrows from the animal that pulls its limbs into a hard shell: the player slows the pace and baits the opponent into taking all the risks.

Which term describes hammering the controls at random, a habit fighting game beginners are famous for?

Button mashing can still produce special moves by sheer luck, which is why it is most often seen among weaker players of fighting games.

Street Fighter's Fei Long and Tekken's Marshall Law are both modeled on which martial arts film star?

Bruce Lee inspired Fei Long so closely that the character is himself a Hong Kong movie star, one who wants to test his skills against real opponents.

What name does Mortal Kombat give the gruesome finishing move a winner can inflict on a beaten opponent?

The Fatality became the series' most notable feature and spawned a string of derivations, bringing Mortal Kombat as much controversy as fame.

Tekken's comic-relief fighter Roger was engineered from the DNA of which kind of animal?

A kangaroo who boxes, Roger shares the Tekken roster with Alex, a fellow experiment grown from fossil samples.

Which ranking of a game's characters from strongest to weakest often puts an S grade above A?

A tier list takes its letters from school grading, and the S that sits above A comes from Japanese culture.

Which type of win in 3D fighting games comes from knocking the opponent beyond the edge of the stage?

A ring out ignores how much health is left, so one well-timed hit near the edge can turn a losing round into a win.

Which invisible area, usually a group of rectangles, marks the part of an attack that can strike an opponent?

A hitbox has an opposite number, the hurtbox, which marks where a character can be struck; a hit registers when the two overlap.

Which strategy uses fireballs and long-range attacks to keep a frustrated opponent from getting close?

Zoning specialists are known as zoners, and their aim is to make the opponent take big risks just to get close.

Which fighting game archetype relies on throws, moving slowly but becoming terrifying up close?

A grappler such as Potemkin from Guilty Gear usually fights poorly from long range, so the whole game plan is getting near enough to grab.

Mortal Kombat's secret ninja Reptile reused other fighters' graphics in green, a trick known as what?

A palette swap saves memory by recoloring one set of graphics, and Reptile also borrowed the moves of both ninjas he was copied from.

Which seven-letter word, often shown in gold, marks a fighting game round won without taking any damage?

Perfect rounds are nicknamed the seven golden letters, and they are rarest in games with long rounds, where even blocked attacks wear health down.

Which term for both players picking the same character comes from a fight in the original Mortal Kombat?

Mirror match was the 1992 arcade game's name for the fight that followed the regular roster, pitting players against a copy of their own character.

Which term describes repeatedly hitting an opponent who has been knocked into the air?

A juggle relies on moves that send the opponent high but keep them close, so each new hit lands as they fall back toward the floor.

What do fighting game players call the one character they are best with and use most often?

A main is rarely for life: players switch all the time as patches weaken a favorite move or a bad matchup forces a change.

Which undead Mortal Kombat ninja, dressed in yellow, uses a rope dart to harpoon opponents?

Scorpion got his yellow outfit because the developers felt the color symbolized fire, the opposite of his blue rival's ice.

Which warrior of the Lin Kuei clan has appeared in every main Mortal Kombat installment?

Sub-Zero is a mantle rather than one man: two brothers, Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, have carried the name across the series.

Which Russian wrestler in Street Fighter II, nicknamed the Red Cyclone, was first named Vodka Gobalsky?

Zangief was drawn huge to evoke a bear, a symbol of Russia, and his final name was borrowed from a real Soviet wrestler.

Which yoga master from India attacks from afar in Street Fighter II by stretching his arms and legs?

Dhalsim's reach grew during development: the attack was meant to travel only a short distance, but a designer kept lengthening the limbs.

Which green-skinned Street Fighter character gained electric powers after a plane crash in Brazil?

Blanka was first drawn with pink skin, which his designer found disgusting and changed to green.

Which US Air Force pilot in Street Fighter II seeks revenge on M. Bison for his friend Charlie?

Guile's design and famous hairstyle were based on two characters from the manga JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Stroheim and Polnareff.

Which fighter debuted as a secret boss in Super Street Fighter II Turbo and later guested in Tekken 7?

Akuma was created to please fans who had been fooled by an April Fools' claim that a hidden character called Sheng Long existed.

Which Tekken villain, head of a military firm, threw his young son Kazuya off a cliff?

Heihachi Mishima got a taste of his own medicine: Kazuya survived, won the first tournament and threw his father off a similar cliff.

Which sword-wielding ninja, leader of the Manji Clan, fights in both the Tekken and Soulcalibur series?

Yoshimitsu is a name handed down a secret line of successors, so the ninja seems immortal and the Tekken version is a later holder of it.

Which four-armed sub-boss of the first Mortal Kombat was filmed as a stop-motion clay figurine?

Goro's figurine fell apart from heavy use during filming, and his extra arms were inspired by Ray Harryhausen's Kali in The Golden Voyage of Sinbad.

Which term describes two players edging back and forth at mid-range, jockeying for position?

Footsies is played with low-commitment moves at distances where neither character has a clear advantage, each player hunting for a preferred range.

Which aggressive play style aims to get close and overwhelm the opponent into costly mistakes?

Rushdown players love to attack in the corner or as an opponent gets up off the floor, the moments when a defender has the fewest options.

Which term describes the sliver of health a fighting game character loses while blocking a special move?

Chip damage can finish a round in many games, and Street Fighter Alpha 3 scolded players who won that way by flashing the word Cheap on screen.

What is the technique of cutting short one attack's recovery by going straight into a special move?

A cancel makes the first attack stop partway through so the special move starts at once, a trick some players call a two-in-one.

Which attack, usually a jump over the opponent, lands on the far side to confuse the block?

A cross-up works because blocking means holding away from the attacker, so the defender must suddenly switch from left to right or be hit.

Which Street Fighter III move deflects an attack without taking damage and allows an immediate counter?

The parry skips the brief stun that an ordinary block causes, though Samurai Shodown II is often credited with the first system of its kind.

Which netcode technique plays a player's inputs instantly, then rewinds and resimulates after network delay?

Rollback was popularized by GGPO, a tool Tony Cannon built after being let down by the online play of a 2006 Street Fighter II re-release.

At 60 per second, which unit of time is used to measure how fast every fighting game move is?

Frames last about 16 milliseconds each at that speed, and players study how many a move needs to start up, stay active and recover.

Which nickname for Ryu, Ken and similar fighters is short for a real style of karate?

Shoto is clipped from Shotokan, and the label now covers any fighter built around a fireball, a rising uppercut and a spinning kick.

Which fireball thrown by Ryu in Street Fighter has a Japanese name meaning wave motion fist?

The Hadouken was inspired by the Wave Motion Gun, an energy weapon from the 1970s anime Space Battleship Yamato.

Which Japanese term, often cut to three letters, means attacking an opponent rising from a knockdown?

Okizeme means wake-up offense, and it favors the attacker because a fighter rising from the floor has only limited options.

Which 1984 arcade game, played with two joysticks, is credited with establishing the one-on-one fighting game genre?

Karate Champ used a best-of-three match format that later fighting games adopted, and it influenced Konami's Yie Ar Kung-Fu, which pushed the genre toward faster, more fantastical action.

What happens in a double-elimination grand final when the player from the losers' side wins the first set?

A bracket reset wipes the score to 0-0 because the other finalist had not yet lost, and the deciding set is nicknamed true grand finals.

Which Guilty Gear protagonist, a bounty hunter, takes his names from Queen singer Freddie Mercury?

Sol Badguy echoes Mr Bad Guy, the title of the singer's 1985 solo album, and the character's real name, Frederick, is a second nod to him.

Which Japanese player, nicknamed The Beast, won a 2004 match by countering fifteen hits in a row?

Daigo Umehara was down to his last unit of health in that semifinal against Justin Wong, yet after winning it he lost the grand final to Kenji Obata.

Which 1994 fighting game developed by Rare features the warrior monk Jago and the cyborg Fulgore?

Killer Instinct reached arcades through Midway and promised a home version on Nintendo's Ultra 64, the console later renamed the Nintendo 64, but it landed on the Super NES instead.

Which 1993 Sega game, directed by Yu Suzuki, was the first arcade fighting game in full 3D polygons?

Virtua Fighter kept movement on a flat 2D plane despite its 3D look, yet it proved revolutionary and highly influential on the genre.

Evo, the fighting game tournament that began as Battle by the Bay, moved in 2005 to the area around which city?

Las Vegas and its valley became home to an event that is completely open to entrants, with a format that knocks players out only after a second loss.

Which comic book publisher's heroes battle Capcom's characters in a crossover series begun in 1996?

Marvel had already licensed its X-Men to Capcom for Children of the Atom, and the crossover traded single combat for tag team battles.

Which F-Zero racer and bounty hunter is a regular playable fighter in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros.?

Captain Falcon is the best known of F-Zero's drivers, each of whom has a unique vehicle and a personal reason for entering the Grand Prix.