Street Fighter 2

[Foxsolo2000]

Some years ago whilst playing this timeless classic I remember some local know it all claiming that Street Fighter 2 had a hidden character in the game that could only be unlocked if you won every round with a flawless victory and that meant every round in a row, no best of three. The character in question was suppossed to be Sheng Long, Ryu's master that he kept qouting between rounds. Several people claimed to have heard of this hidden character and I remember reading somewhere that a guy in Japan claimed to have actually played him but there was no actual proff of his existence within the game. Does anyone know if there was a hidden character in Street fighter 2 and if it was Sheng long?

[JimmydelaKopin]

Let the Gamer from the Grave answer this plea for knowledge...

 

In later SF games there was a hidden character--or two--or more, the first being Akuma, if I remember correctly.

 

But what you're talking about is one of the best-known videogame hoaxes that's been around for far too many years.

It was the practical joke EGM slipped into its April issue.

 

The previous year the hot game was TMNT, so EGM created a phony hint "revealing" how one could play as April O'Neal in the videogame.

Everyone had a laugh, thought it looked cool, and moved on.

The next hot videogame was SFII, and EGM returned with its 'hidden character' phony hint. This time they created an impossible burden to meet: perfects until Bison, then 10 draws in a row without either character doing any damage. If one could somehow accomplish that, supposedly Bison would be tossed out of the way by the hidden character and your new final opponent, Sheng Long--who was said to have a flaming dragon punch and could do the specials of all the other characters.

They used a lot of Photoshopping (Sheng Long was a modified Ryu) to create the screens with SL on it, added as the city and state of the hint-giver Fuldagin, HA (as in "Fooled again, ha!"), and slipped it into the April issue.

 

And the joke took on a life of its own.

Of course, it didn't hurt that other fighting games and even SFII were doing this hidden stuff in other ways: MK's Reptile in the Pit and the "dullard" code, the "CE" code and the infamous "boss code" for the Game Genie for SFII for the SNES (the latter changing Ken into a new version of the old Ryu), and other such gimmicks.

But the Sheng Long joke spread all over the world. It was even reprinted as true in the Jademan SF comics in Japan! Other videogame magazines were quick to restate that the Sheng Long character is only a hoax; one company even did their own photoshopped images of SFII screens to show how it could be done, showing Chun Li throwing a bracelet in one screen and Guile blowing out Ken's brains with a pistol in another.

 

Yes, the Sheng Long character is a hoax. It would have remained just a funny hoax, if not for all the easter eggs being crammed into fighting games at that time.

But, thanks to all those very real easter eggs, this phony egg lives on.

 

Thanks for bringing a nostalgic smile to this old gamer's face, pal. You really made my day.

Edited February 2, 2006 by JimmydelaKopin

[Tempest]

The one big hoax about Street Fighter II that I remember was that if you did some special move with Guile on his stage, Guile would handcuff his oppenent to the fence.

 

Turns out this was actually a bug, there was some combination of moves you could do (a flash kick with something else) that would cause the game to lock up and no one would move (hence the handcuff rumor). I actually fell for this one at the time...

 

Tempest

[Bakasama]

Some years ago whilst playing this timeless classic I remember some local know it all claiming that Street Fighter 2 had a hidden character in the game that could only be unlocked if you won every round with a flawless victory and that meant every round in a row, no best of three.  The character in question was suppossed to be Sheng Long, Ryu's master that he kept qouting between rounds.  Several people claimed to have heard of this hidden character and I remember reading somewhere that a guy in Japan claimed to have actually played him but there was no actual proff of his existence within the game.  Does anyone know if there was a hidden character in Street fighter 2 and if it was Sheng long?

1010609[/snapback]

 

Ah "Sheng Long", it's the Chinese way of saying "Shouryuuken" or it's more known bastardzied name, "Dragon Punch". It's a little known fact the Japanese have a hell of a time with Chinese words. I still don't have a clue why the Japanese words were translated in Chinese.

 

Ryuu's master's name is Gouken.

 

Early versions of Street Fighter had alot of bugs. My favorite one was the Guile's "magic" throw.

[NE146]

The one big hoax about Street Fighter II that I remember was that if you did some special move with Guile on his stage, Guile would handcuff his oppenent to the fence. 

 

Turns out this was actually a bug, there was some combination of moves you could do (a flash kick with something else) that would cause the game to lock up and no one would move (hence the handcuff rumor).  I actually fell for this one at the time...

 

Tempest

 

That is actually true dude. It WAS a bug, but it totally froze your opponent. You could move however and then throw the guy. It was the cheapest move you could do to someone. I should know having been victim to it a lot of times in the early days

 

<edit> a better link: http://www.jasongordon.com/static/sf2/guile.html

Edited February 2, 2006 by NE146

[Foxsolo2000]

Thanks for clearing that up for me. I never saw the hoax pic of the character but I do remember a lot of people attempting to get the perfect score in an attempt to find him

[Bakasama]

I do remember seeing the fake pic. I think it was shotokan character with a stereotypical kung-fu master head. Even today, there are some who still believe there's a Sheng Long in Street Fighter.

 

As I said, Ryuu's master is Gouken. Gouken's brother is Gouki (Akuma). The master who taught those brothers was Goutetsu.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Like I said, the phony pics were in an issue of EGM. They did alterations and crropping to make them, first to show SL "tossing" Bison (done with Ryu's sacrifice throw and Bison's special kick combined) then SL in a stance facing off, then SL in mid dragon-punch.

 

And you can tell it was Ryu from that picture. SL has long grey hair ending in a pony tail...and the wave of the pony tail in the dragon punch looks exactly like the wave of Ryu's bandanna when he dragon-punches.

 

As for the Guile 'handcuff', that was done by simultaneously pulling down on the joystick and hitting med. punch, then med. kick (as though moving a hand down the middle row of buttons). Do those together, and the other character is frozen.

 

There's also a way to 'unlock' the 'handcuff'; klov.com lists Guile's bug "specials" and how to do them in its SFII entry.

 

Personally, I wish Capcom would make the "boss code" special moves into legit moves for the characters...but that's just me.

[Bakasama]

You think Capcom should've made Guile's bugged moves official?! Hell, they did use some moves from the hacked bootlegs of SFII:CE.

[JimmydelaKopin]

Nonono, Bakasama! Not the Guile handcuff, the "boss code" moves!

 

Let me explain...

 

Back in the days of the SNES there was a device called the Game Genie. You'd put a cartridge into it, then put the device into the SNES. Then you'd program codes into the Game Genie to alter features in the game.

During the days of easter eggs for fighters, someone (no one knows who; my money's on someone at Capcom) released a code that would let one play as the boss characters on the SNES version of SFII.

Thing is, all it did was replace an image of Ken or Ryu with the chosen character. To do that character's specials, you did the Ken specials...and it would have weird effects on the characters.

For example, down-to-back for Chun-Li would have her rise into the air and do her lightning kick while advancing toward the opponent, while the same move would turn Sagat into a tiger shot along the ground (to knock down the opponent). Guile's down-to-forward would create a see-through duplicate of himself laying down flying toward the opponent.

Thing is, down-to-forward for Sagat would cause a tiger uppercut without jumping--and it would cause the code to crash the game.

 

Still, I like those bizarre special moves. Those are the ones I want incorporated into official moves.

Fat chance of that happening...but I think they look cool.