Assemble! - Fighting Game Archetype Roster - The Bruce Lee Clone

This is Assemble, where we look at several different characters across multiple series to form a perfect team-up. Whatever the case may be, whether it’s a fighting game roster or an RPG adventuring party, we’ll find the best team for the job. In a change of style from the more long-form articles featured here, these articles will be shorter entries, focusing on one or two characters each, and spread out over time until the complete roster is formed.

What would a fighting game be without a roster of several different, powerful, and engaging characters? In this batch of articles for Assemble, we will be assembling a fighting game roster using characters from several different fighting games based on different character archetypes.


The picks will be based on where the characters fit in terms of game mechanics and their place in the story and world of the game. Only characters that originated in fighting games will be observed here. That means no guest characters, no licensed fighting games (unless their roster includes original characters), and no crossover titles. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games or characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss all the fighting games out there, there should be at least some variety from just the major titles.

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THE BRUCE LEE CLONE

Often regarded as one of the greatest kung-fu masters to ever live, martial artist turned action movie star Bruce Lee is an inspiration to fighters all over the world. So, it makes sense that fighting games would want to use him as a basis for some of their characters. Appearing frequently enough in the fighting genre to warrant its own part in this roster, the Bruce Lee Clone is a fighter heavily inspired by (some might even say a rip-off of) the famous martial artist. They may mimic his fighting style, his appearance, his mannerisms, or even his history, all to make it seem as if the man himself decided to grace the roster with his presence, even if only in spirit.

Our choice for the Bruce Lee Clone is…

Fei Long from Street Fighter.

Not only does he have the looks and vocal cues of Bruce Lee (mainly his trademark yells when attacking), but this Hong Kong born Kung-Fu master was also stated to have an action movie career of his own. Then, after participating in the World Warrior Tournament, he realized that his true passion lied in fighting rather than acting and left the film industry to establish his own sub-style of Kung-Fu and begin his own fighting academy, training millions of students to pass on his knowledge.

If you think about it a certain way, he’s the happy ending to Bruce Lee’s story. Wouldn't that have been satisfying to see; for him to retire from filmmaking to pass on his expertise to the next generation?

For being an effective stand-in for one of the world's best-known martial artists and acting as an alternate world continuation of his life, we now add Fei Long to the roster.

ADDED!

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(On a side note, can you believe it's taken this long to get a Street Fighter character in here?)

What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thank you for coming.

Assemble! - Fighting Game Archetype Roster - The Weapon User

This is Assemble, where we look at several different characters across multiple series to form a perfect team-up. Whatever the case may be, whether it’s a fighting game roster or an RPG adventuring party, we’ll find the best team for the job. In a change of style from the more long-form articles featured here, these articles will be shorter entries, focusing on one or two characters each, and spread out over time until the complete roster is formed.

What would a fighting game be without a roster of several different, powerful, and engaging characters? In this batch of articles for Assemble, we will be assembling a fighting game roster using characters from several different fighting games based on different character archetypes.


The picks will be based on where the characters fit in terms of game mechanics and their place in the story and world of the game. Only characters that originated in fighting games will be observed here. That means no guest characters, no licensed fighting games (unless their roster includes original characters), and no crossover titles. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games or characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss all the fighting games out there, there should be at least some variety from just the major titles.

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THE WEAPON USER

A lot of you know the phrase, “You never bring a knife to a gun fight.” This character brings a knife to a fist fight. More than one character may use some kinds of weapons in their fighting game movesets, but the Weapon User stands out because their main weapon of choice is a core design element of their character. It forms the basis of their regular moves as well as their special moves.

As with a couple of earlier entries, our pick for this slot comes from a game filled with Weapon Users. The Soul Calibur series, starting with the game Soul Edge for the arcade and PlayStation 1, is a fighting game series focused on characters armed with swords and other different kinds of melee weapons. So, to stand out from the crowd, the weapon this character uses should be powerfully distinct or distinctly powerful compared to everyone else’s.

Our choice for the Weapon User is…

Nightmare from Soul Calibur.

As mentioned, Nightmare’s inclusion is mostly for his weapon and what a weapon it is. His sword, the Soul Edge, is the main driving force of the plot of the Soul Calibur series. Soul Edge is a demonic sword, rumored to grant immense power to whoever wields it. While the rumors are true, the catch is that the spirit within the sword possesses whoever holds it and feeds off their soul as it drives them to slay more people to feed on their souls as well. In fact, Nightmare himself is the result of a human knight named Siegfried allowing himself to be corrupted by Soul Edge.

Does this look like the kind of sword where using it is a good idea?

Soul Edge has proved to be so dangerous in this world that a different sword, the eponymous Soul Calibur, was created specifically to destroy Soul Edge, and its wielder is none other than Siegfried himself, after he was able to break free from Soul Edge’s grasp. Nightmare is still able to walk around though, with the demon within the sword possessing an artificial body wearing the original Nightmare armor, though he still desires the souls of the living.

For using a sword that serves as the basis of his fighting style and that sword being the lynchpin of the entire series’ story, we now add Nightmare (and by extension, the Soul Edge) to the roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thank you for coming.

Assemble! - Fighting Game Archetype Roster - The Kid

This is Assemble, where we look at several different characters across multiple series to form a perfect team-up. Whatever the case may be, whether it’s a fighting game roster or an RPG adventuring party, we’ll find the best team for the job. In a change of style from the more long-form articles featured here, these articles will be shorter entries, focusing on one or two characters each, and spread out over time until the complete roster is formed.

What would a fighting game be without a roster of several different, powerful, and engaging characters? In this batch of articles for Assemble, we will be assembling a fighting game roster using characters from several different fighting games based on different character archetypes.


The picks will be based on where the characters fit in terms of game mechanics and their place in the story and world of the game. Only characters that originated in fighting games will be observed here. That means no guest characters, no licensed fighting games (unless their roster includes original characters), and no crossover titles. Finally, I’ll only be discussing games or characters that I am at least somewhat familiar with. While this means I won’t discuss all the fighting games out there, there should be at least some variety from just the major titles.

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THE KID

 

A frequent sight in several fighting game rosters, The Kid is a young character, or at least significantly younger than the rest of the cast, who is skilled in fighting and has seen fit to fight with the rest of the game’s adult combatants, sometimes even training under one of the series’ mainstays. They may be more wide-eyed and idealistic than the older fighters or more brash and impulsive than them, but this character proves that they can keep up with their elders. Like Aaliyah said, age ain’t nothin’ but a number.

For this entry, we’re looking at one series in particular.

Rival Schools is a little-known Capcom fighting game series that appeared on the PlayStation 1, later getting a sequel titled Project Justice on the Sega Dreamcast. The game had a plot revolving around the high schools of a small Japanese city and the roster, consisting of several of these students, embodied different high school stereotypes, from jocks to punks to preppies to even some of the teachers. With a cast consisting mostly of young characters, one would really have to stand out to count for the role as the Kid. They are all around the same age range, so they would have to be really unique in terms of appearance, personality, and possibly even moves to stand out.

Our choice for The Kid is…

Momo Karuizawa from Rival Schools/Project Justice.

Appearing in Project Justice, Momo Karuizawa is visibly younger than most of the teenage cast. One of the sports themed characters from the athletics-focused Gorin High School, Momo’s sport of choice is tennis, which she displays by attacking with her pink racquet and hitting tennis balls at opponents. Despite her cute, girly appearance, she has a devious personality and is one of the game’s antagonists, manipulating the baseball-themed Shoma Sawamura to go against his friends to fight some of the other heroic students and advance the villain’s main plot.

It’s always the cute and innocent looking ones, isn’t it?

For standing out as a young character in a cast of young characters with a quirky move set and a twist on her motivations we now add Momo to our roster.

ADDED!

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What did you think about this article? Want to see what other characters get picked for our roster? Do you think someone would fit this role better besides whoever got picked? Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thank you for coming.