The result was Dan Hibiki, a square-jawed, long-haired karateka that appeared in Street Fighter Zero / Alpha in 1995. Someone who was an amalgamation of the two AoF stars. They were going to introduce an entirely new karate fighter into the universe. When Capcom was creating the intro animation for Sagat they had a bigger goal in mind. He killed Gou in the fight and that started a new round of shots aimed at SNK. Sagat was now going through the Street Fighter universe fighting all the karate masters so that he could gain an edge against Ryu. This defeated figure would become to be known as Gou Hibiki. A few years later they decided to make good on their comparison and created a sprite of the same character that would be featured in Sagat's opening animation. The shots were fired but it didn't end there. Players could see blood, a dislocated elbow and a costume that was eerily similar to Ryo's but with the black hair and ponytail of Robert. Sagat was presented holding the head of a defeated opponent. When they were working on updated character art they made sure to let fans and SNK know exactly what they thought of their new fighters. The artists and programmers working on the Street Fighter II updates didn't take too kindly to the AoF. Even the button and joystick moves required to perform these attacks were very similar to the control scheme created by Capcom. Arcade audiences saw these as the SNK version of the hurricane kick, dragon punch and fireball. The masters of Kyokugenryu "Extreme Utmost Limit Way" Karate had very similar moves to both Ken and Ryu, including a leaping kick, rising uppercut and fireball attack. ![]() The star of the game, Ryo, even sounded too close to Ryu for comfort. Street Fighter II was the undisputed king of fighting games when it debuted in 1991, however when SNK released the Art of Fighting (AoF) in 1992 Capcom thought that the main characters looked and fought very similar to Ken and Ryu. Capcom and SNK had a history of trading jabs with their earliest games. There was a fine line between parody and poaching. Yet sometimes a good idea would be copied and refined by a rival studio. ![]() Some of the design choices by one studio team would be ridiculed by another. Capcom and SNK had the 2D fighting game arena on lockdown while Namco and Sega were the two studios constantly pushing the envelope in 3D. For the most part there were a few studios that could be considered on par with each other. The worst of the rivalries were celebrated with legal battles. Some of the rivalries were friendly and some were filled with tension. Competition created rivalries between some of the biggest publishers. Those that worked hard and took a chance on a new idea were sometimes rewarded for their hard work. The greatest games caused the other studios to take notice. In the fighting game universe there have been many okay games but only a few truly exceptional games. Competition helps create an incentive to work harder, to work smarter and in some cases to offer something new and unique. Competition is good for health, good for business and good for the arts as well.
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