By Mark Rodriguez
There's a parallel dimension tournament in which you have to die to enter. Once there you can be killed up to three times until you're gone for good, and as we just learned when Genjuro nearly killed Demitri, the more people you kill, the stronger you get. The last man standing gets their wish granted, no matter what it is. The heroes of Capcom and SNK teamed up and decided to take out all the bad guys. Since Bison destroyed the real world with a nuclear explosion, they all agree that if one of the heroes gets their wish, it would be to restore the world the way it should be. After having defeating Vega, Choi faces Red Arremer, who uses his powers to remove all of Kim Kaphwan's rehabilitation teachings, turning him evil once more, and at their service. Just then Ken steps into the scene, looking rather evil. What will happen?
The story opens with Athena being worried that if one of the evil warriors were to win, they wouldn't wish for the real world to be restored, which isn't what god wanted. Cap and Shin are concerned, thinking that's what everybody wanted.
We return to Hugo who nearly killed Mai and Kasumi with a few attacks, who is now enraged when he noticed that someone burned Poison alive. Kyo announces his arrival and Hugo angrily throws himself at him, butt first. Kyo dodges him and hits him with his R.E.D Kick. Kyo focuses all of his attacks on Hugo's head and face, finally toppling the giant down. He's about to finish him off with his Desperation Attack when suddenly a kusarigama flies out, which manages to cut Kyo across the back even when he tried to dodge it.
Earthquake suddenly arrives, landing with a huge thud. Hugo asks why he saved him if he doesn't even know him. Earthquake says Huge is big and fat like him, and he likes people like him. He hates skinny people though and directs his anger towards Kyo.
We get a flashback of how Earthquake and Galford trained under the same ninja master.... but the greedy giant soon left to return to America. Once Amakusa started attacking the world, Earthquake took this time to form a gang of thieves and take advantage of the chaos. One day he was challenged by Haohmaru. The star of Samurai Shodown easily defeats Earthquake and kills him, though god chose him to enter the parallel world. The comic calls Haohmaru 'Genjuro's nemesis' which is true, and always struck me as odd to have Genjuro in the game without Haohmaru. It would be like putting Ken without Ryu, Iori without Kyo, Joker without Batman, etc.
Back to present day, Earthquake lets out a killer fart, which Mai recognizes as a long lost ninja technique (..... I'm glad SHE doesn't use it...) and she warns Kyo that the farts are poisonous. Earthquake is angry at Mai for warning Kyo. Kyo tosses a deadly fireball at Earthquake, but he manages to deflect it to make it head towards Poison's unconscious body. Earthquake throws himself into the way but Poison is still hit by the flames and dies. As she vanishes in his arms, Hugo loses all sense of control and runs at Kyo, blaming him. Kyo engulfs himself in flames and uses his Repressed Serpent of the Kusanagi 108 Super Desperation Move.. but Hugo is able to just grab him regardless.
Hugo crushes Kyo in a deadly bear hug, and the Kusanagi tries desperately to punch his face to get out of it. Will they both die in this battle?
Back to Ken, Red Arremer can't determine if his heart is full of good or evil, and can only sense a strong desire to be stronger. The demon can find no flaws to exploit in Ken. Ken stares coldly and asks who wants to die first. Red sends Balrog after him, who is now more powerful due to the demon's powers. However, Balrog's power can't touch Ken, as his own dark aura smashes into the boxer like multiple punches. Apparently one glance at Balrog was all it took to kill him. He tells Red that Choi won't fare much better, so he asks why doesn't just face him himself. Red agrees and spits a fireball at him.
Ken ignores the fireball and smashes into the demon with a Sho Ryu Ken. He goes for another one, but the demon says if he kills him he will never find the person that will make him even stronger. Ken stops and asks him if he met 'him'. Ken agrees to go with Red Arremer.
Kyo continues to desperately attack Hugo, while the Mad Gear wrestler only tightens his grip onto him. Earthquake comes to help Hugo, but Kasumi tries to stand in his way. Earthquake vanishes into smoke and reappears near Hugo and smashes his belly against Kyo. Will Kyo die by being smooshed between Hugo and Earthquake?
Mai and Kasumi can only stare helplessly as they know they can't hurt Hugo and Earthquake and can only hope Kyo can make it. Kyo remembers that he has to win to be able to make the wish to save the world, and also remembers that his girlfriend Yuki is still waiting for him. He explodes into flames, forcing Hugo to let him go. He then uses his Exceed Enigmatic Endgame No Style attack, hitting both giants with his fists of fire. Kyo finishes with a burning uppercut, killing both Hugo and Earthquake. Completely exhausted, Kyo falls over, but Kasumi catches him. Kasumi and Mai take Kyo away so he can recover.
Red Arremer, Ken and Choi arrive at the alternate New York within the parallel world. Bison and his scientists arrive and the dictator offers to make Ken even stronger. The scientists will use several techniques, including hypnosis that can make his body overcome any limitations, genetic modification to make his heart able to withstand the increased power and also unlock his brain to 100% of its true potential. These guys are getting hardcore.
They do warn Ken that if anything were to go wrong, he could lose all his memories. Ken thinks of Eliza and Mel, and apparently he had his memories lost by these scientists sometime before. Ken asks what's in it for Bison and warns if they try to control him, they'll be disappointed. Ken then follows Bison to his lab.
Ryu reappears after being killed by Sagat, and feels his confidence seriously shaken. He senses a great power nearby, and it turns out to be Ryo Sakazaki. Ryo offers to fight Ryu to help clear his mind and reach enlightenment, and Ryu agrees. The two fight it out as Hado-Ken clashes into Ko-oh Ken.
At the New York Lab, Bison hypnotizes Ken and puts him to sleep. The scientists begin to work on him, and Red announces that they plan to brainwash him. Bison asks if Ken will be stronger than him afterwards, and Red says it doesn't matter he will be another pawn anyways. Bison plans to use him to defeat Geese and Demitri. Ken's heart is removed and soaked in Red's demon blood. His muscle mass is increased tenfold and his demonically powered heart is placed back into his body. Ken's memories are then completely erased and the limitations on his brain are removed. The surgery is complete and Red asks is they should submit Choi to the same procedure, which he quickly refuses. The scientists don't know when Ken will awaken, but the brainwashed warrior is already ready for action.
Elsewhere, Demitri was spared by Genjuro and sent to hell to find someone in the Forbidden Mirror. A corpse appears and tell him he will need Asura and Yuga blood to open it, and Demitri hands it to him. The corpse is surprised he already had these things, but uses the blood to summon up the Forbidden Mirror. Demitri turns into his demonic form and flies into the mirror.
Ken, now with white hair, steps forward and Bison pretends to be his friend. Ken calls Bison by name and taunts him, and everyone discovers that Ken was just too powerful to be brainwashed or have his memories erased. He's still the same, only more powerful. Bison is ready to challenge him, and if Ken were to lose, he is to fight by his side as his minion.
Before they can start the fight, Ken asks Red if he can take them 'to the top floor' and he warps them to the top of the World Trade Center. Even the comic acknowledges that the towers no longer exist in the real world but they do in this parallel world. Wow. Bison flies into Ken with his Mega Psycho Crusher and Ken only asks if that's the best he can do. Has he really outclassed Bison by such a wide margin?
Elsewhere, Ryu and Ryo continue their fight. Ryo blocks one of Ryu's punches and counters with his Ko Hou Shippuu Ken. Ryo and Ryu's fists collide and the Kyokugenryu master asks him to show him his true power. Ryu dashes into him with his Shin Shoryuken, and Ryo wonders why he doesn't feel any power in the attack. He then hits Ryu with his Koyou uppercut, and sends him flying back. Ryo says he noticed the Shoryuken didn't have any power and Ryu says he has lost faith in his fighting abilities after his defeat. Just then Ryo senses an intruder and tosses a fireball at him.
The spy turned out to be Dan, who tries to show off, but trips over a tree branch and lands face first in front of the two. Dan recognizes Ryu since they trained under the same master, but he was kicked out. Ryu seems to remember his master having mentioned him. Dan says he's the strongest fighter in the world and offers to give them his autograph. Ryu and Ryo are not amused and want him to leave so they can continue their fight. Dan then challenges Ryo, and Ryu decides to let him go ahead. Dan starts by firing off a Gadou Shoukouken at him, that looks an awful lot like the Oh Sho Kou Ken...
Back to Ken and Bison, Bison is about to hit Ken with his Mega Psycho Crusher and Ken prepares a fireball made of a strange dark energy. Ken lets loose a Hadoken and it completely overtakes Bison's move and destroys him. A simple fireball killed Bison? Red Arremar laughs as if he were counting on this. Geese Howard feels the death of Bison and calls him a fool. Geese also has his hands full with other challengers of his own.
Terry, Guile, Kim, Tessa, Dhalsim and Kyo all stand against him. Terry is, naturally, eager to take him down, but Guile decides to step up instead. Geese invites all of them to face him at once.
In the Forbidden Mirror world, Demitri finds Shiki, who has been rendered emotionless after the Yuga has taken her heart. Demitri says Genjuro has sent him to give her a message, they want to enlist her and she can use the wish at the end of the tournament to regain her memories. He also shows her the Asura blood and explains it's what helped him enter the Forbidden Mirror. She catches the blood on her sword and confirms it belonged to her beloved Asura.
We get some backstory on Shiki, she was one of Yuga's children raised into training with swords, completely emotionless and looking for a man fit to bear a demonic child. She ended the curse of Yuga and her quest for her memories led her into the parallel world. Unable to find Yuga or Asura, she lost all purpose. She decides to go with Demitri.
Meanwhile, Ryo is confused by Dan's very similar technique, and smacks the Haoh Sho Koh Ken wannabe into the air. Dan is surprised and decides to go all out and hit Ryo with the Kouryu uppercut. Ryo recognizes this technique as well, but senses that there isn't any power behind it and just punches Dan out of it. Ryo then blasts Dan with the real Oh Sho Koh Ken, which Dan somehow survives, cause he's cartoony like that.
Ryu asks if they can continue their battle, but Ryo doesn't feel like fighting him if his spirit isn't into it. He instead asks about Mr. Karate and Ryu mentions he has seen him in the real world. They both decide to find him together, and Dan insists that they will need his help and tags along.
Back to the team fighting Geese, Guile goes first and throws 3 Sonic Booms at him. Geese manages to dodge them all and catch Guile's fist before he can punch him. Geese insults Guile's hairstyle, and the military man takes it very personally. We have a flashback from Guile and we see that his best friend Charlie was the one that styled his hair that way. Charlie was called away on a mission.... and he would never return. Since then Guile is haunted by his loss and swore to get revenge for his fallen friend.
Guile continues the fight, telling Geese it won't be so easy to defeat him. Just then Red Arremer shows up and a fight starts between him and Kyo. Red's flames are hotter than Kyo can handle since they're hellfire. Kyo still stands up to him and is determined to show him what the 'prince of flames' can do.
Guile gets hit by Geese's Shadow Smash, but reveals he let himself get hit on purpose. This gave the others time to jump in as Terry, Kim, Tessa, and Dhalsim all hit Geese with their special moves. Guile wraps it up with his Somersault Kick that sends Geese falling off the top of the building, similar to his deaths at the end of several Fatal Fury games. Is this the end of Geese Howard?
My Opinions:
I'm glad I picked this up to continue the story. A lot of weird things in this story, as usual. the Twin Towers thing threw me for a loop, especially since the comic was made in 2003, and it even acknowledged how they're gone in the real world, but not in this alternate universe. I do admit I feel a bit weird about this, but I have to remember this comic was made in Japan so the tragedy would not hit as close to home to them as it would to us.
There's no telling why Ken is so.... obsessed in this version. Sure, Bison did put him in his lab and messed with his mind and body to turn him into the Violent Ken hidden character as seen in the SVC Chaos game.... but he seemed violent and 'not right' even before that. I gotta say the techniques they used were interesting. I mean unlocking your brain's full potential, soaking your heart in demon's blood, hypnotizing yourself to push yourself past your limits no matter what. Only thing missing was an energy drink.
And yeah, the power levels are all over the place. Yes, Violent Ken is super powerful but man, he killed Bison with a fireball? A normal non-super combo fireball? I assume Ken wants to fight Ryu to see who's the best, but how could he ever stand against that. And that just made me think of something. Ken is now at his most powerful. Ryu is now at his most vulnerable, losing faith in himself after being curbstomped by Sagat so horribly.
We got more people brought into the story now, Earthquake, Shiki, Ryo and Dan. It was funny seeing Dan, but poor guy. Despite throwing logic out the window, everyone plays this super straight, so Dan really look out of place. A comedy character in a story with no room for comedy. Unlike others like Sakura that kinda/sorta play along, or are oblivious to just how much of a doofus he is, Ryu and Ryo show absolutely no tolerance for his antics which make him seem even more pathetic than he already is. Oh well, at least Ryu decided to let him tag along... for whatever reason. Or maybe Ryu isn't as big as a jerk as Ryo is.
I do like that Ryo recognizes Dan's attacks. For those that still don't know, Dan was Capcom's way to poke fun at how SNK's Ryo and Robert were waaaaay too similar to Ryu and Ken. Although, hey to be fair at least Robert wasn't also wearing a gi, and at least since the first Art of Fighting, Ryo had a punch move and Robert had a kick move. It took a while for Ryu and Ken to develop the difference we know today. But anyway, if you look at Dan, he's basically Robert in Ryo's gi, and colored pink for extra lameness. And his moves are right out of Ryo and Robert's playbooks, complete with the short range fireball that happens when you're low on ki in the AOF games. The funny thing in the SVC Chaos games, most of the SNK characters confuse Dan for Robert. LOL. We're lucky Robert's not that lame.
Speaking of Ryo, it was cool seeing him fight against Ryu and match up their similar moves. It's funny how fighting solves everything. It's like 'you lost faith in yourself, let's fight it out til you get it back!' It reminds me of the Fatal Fury movies where Terry and Andy suddenly started fighting it out between themselves I guess.... to gain enlightenment? "I'm beginning to understand what Master Tung was talking about, let's keep beating the crap out of each other til we're sure we got it!!"
As for the story itself, Poison, Hugo, Earthquake and Bison all died in this volume and it looks like Geese is soon to follow. I am so glad I was able to track this down on Amazon to continue the story. Reading the first 3 volumes for these reviews got me interested again and it's cool to see what happens next.
There's a parallel dimension tournament in which you have to die to enter. Once there you can be killed up to three times until you're gone for good, and as we just learned when Genjuro nearly killed Demitri, the more people you kill, the stronger you get. The last man standing gets their wish granted, no matter what it is. The heroes of Capcom and SNK teamed up and decided to take out all the bad guys. Since Bison destroyed the real world with a nuclear explosion, they all agree that if one of the heroes gets their wish, it would be to restore the world the way it should be. After having defeating Vega, Choi faces Red Arremer, who uses his powers to remove all of Kim Kaphwan's rehabilitation teachings, turning him evil once more, and at their service. Just then Ken steps into the scene, looking rather evil. What will happen?
The story opens with Athena being worried that if one of the evil warriors were to win, they wouldn't wish for the real world to be restored, which isn't what god wanted. Cap and Shin are concerned, thinking that's what everybody wanted.
We return to Hugo who nearly killed Mai and Kasumi with a few attacks, who is now enraged when he noticed that someone burned Poison alive. Kyo announces his arrival and Hugo angrily throws himself at him, butt first. Kyo dodges him and hits him with his R.E.D Kick. Kyo focuses all of his attacks on Hugo's head and face, finally toppling the giant down. He's about to finish him off with his Desperation Attack when suddenly a kusarigama flies out, which manages to cut Kyo across the back even when he tried to dodge it.
Earthquake suddenly arrives, landing with a huge thud. Hugo asks why he saved him if he doesn't even know him. Earthquake says Huge is big and fat like him, and he likes people like him. He hates skinny people though and directs his anger towards Kyo.
We get a flashback of how Earthquake and Galford trained under the same ninja master.... but the greedy giant soon left to return to America. Once Amakusa started attacking the world, Earthquake took this time to form a gang of thieves and take advantage of the chaos. One day he was challenged by Haohmaru. The star of Samurai Shodown easily defeats Earthquake and kills him, though god chose him to enter the parallel world. The comic calls Haohmaru 'Genjuro's nemesis' which is true, and always struck me as odd to have Genjuro in the game without Haohmaru. It would be like putting Ken without Ryu, Iori without Kyo, Joker without Batman, etc.
Back to present day, Earthquake lets out a killer fart, which Mai recognizes as a long lost ninja technique (..... I'm glad SHE doesn't use it...) and she warns Kyo that the farts are poisonous. Earthquake is angry at Mai for warning Kyo. Kyo tosses a deadly fireball at Earthquake, but he manages to deflect it to make it head towards Poison's unconscious body. Earthquake throws himself into the way but Poison is still hit by the flames and dies. As she vanishes in his arms, Hugo loses all sense of control and runs at Kyo, blaming him. Kyo engulfs himself in flames and uses his Repressed Serpent of the Kusanagi 108 Super Desperation Move.. but Hugo is able to just grab him regardless.
Hugo crushes Kyo in a deadly bear hug, and the Kusanagi tries desperately to punch his face to get out of it. Will they both die in this battle?
 |
| Really sucks for Poison here. She's practically a bystander during all this mess |
Back to Ken, Red Arremer can't determine if his heart is full of good or evil, and can only sense a strong desire to be stronger. The demon can find no flaws to exploit in Ken. Ken stares coldly and asks who wants to die first. Red sends Balrog after him, who is now more powerful due to the demon's powers. However, Balrog's power can't touch Ken, as his own dark aura smashes into the boxer like multiple punches. Apparently one glance at Balrog was all it took to kill him. He tells Red that Choi won't fare much better, so he asks why doesn't just face him himself. Red agrees and spits a fireball at him.
Ken ignores the fireball and smashes into the demon with a Sho Ryu Ken. He goes for another one, but the demon says if he kills him he will never find the person that will make him even stronger. Ken stops and asks him if he met 'him'. Ken agrees to go with Red Arremer.
Kyo continues to desperately attack Hugo, while the Mad Gear wrestler only tightens his grip onto him. Earthquake comes to help Hugo, but Kasumi tries to stand in his way. Earthquake vanishes into smoke and reappears near Hugo and smashes his belly against Kyo. Will Kyo die by being smooshed between Hugo and Earthquake?
Mai and Kasumi can only stare helplessly as they know they can't hurt Hugo and Earthquake and can only hope Kyo can make it. Kyo remembers that he has to win to be able to make the wish to save the world, and also remembers that his girlfriend Yuki is still waiting for him. He explodes into flames, forcing Hugo to let him go. He then uses his Exceed Enigmatic Endgame No Style attack, hitting both giants with his fists of fire. Kyo finishes with a burning uppercut, killing both Hugo and Earthquake. Completely exhausted, Kyo falls over, but Kasumi catches him. Kasumi and Mai take Kyo away so he can recover.
Red Arremer, Ken and Choi arrive at the alternate New York within the parallel world. Bison and his scientists arrive and the dictator offers to make Ken even stronger. The scientists will use several techniques, including hypnosis that can make his body overcome any limitations, genetic modification to make his heart able to withstand the increased power and also unlock his brain to 100% of its true potential. These guys are getting hardcore.
They do warn Ken that if anything were to go wrong, he could lose all his memories. Ken thinks of Eliza and Mel, and apparently he had his memories lost by these scientists sometime before. Ken asks what's in it for Bison and warns if they try to control him, they'll be disappointed. Ken then follows Bison to his lab.
Ryu reappears after being killed by Sagat, and feels his confidence seriously shaken. He senses a great power nearby, and it turns out to be Ryo Sakazaki. Ryo offers to fight Ryu to help clear his mind and reach enlightenment, and Ryu agrees. The two fight it out as Hado-Ken clashes into Ko-oh Ken.
At the New York Lab, Bison hypnotizes Ken and puts him to sleep. The scientists begin to work on him, and Red announces that they plan to brainwash him. Bison asks if Ken will be stronger than him afterwards, and Red says it doesn't matter he will be another pawn anyways. Bison plans to use him to defeat Geese and Demitri. Ken's heart is removed and soaked in Red's demon blood. His muscle mass is increased tenfold and his demonically powered heart is placed back into his body. Ken's memories are then completely erased and the limitations on his brain are removed. The surgery is complete and Red asks is they should submit Choi to the same procedure, which he quickly refuses. The scientists don't know when Ken will awaken, but the brainwashed warrior is already ready for action.
Elsewhere, Demitri was spared by Genjuro and sent to hell to find someone in the Forbidden Mirror. A corpse appears and tell him he will need Asura and Yuga blood to open it, and Demitri hands it to him. The corpse is surprised he already had these things, but uses the blood to summon up the Forbidden Mirror. Demitri turns into his demonic form and flies into the mirror.
Ken, now with white hair, steps forward and Bison pretends to be his friend. Ken calls Bison by name and taunts him, and everyone discovers that Ken was just too powerful to be brainwashed or have his memories erased. He's still the same, only more powerful. Bison is ready to challenge him, and if Ken were to lose, he is to fight by his side as his minion.
Before they can start the fight, Ken asks Red if he can take them 'to the top floor' and he warps them to the top of the World Trade Center. Even the comic acknowledges that the towers no longer exist in the real world but they do in this parallel world. Wow. Bison flies into Ken with his Mega Psycho Crusher and Ken only asks if that's the best he can do. Has he really outclassed Bison by such a wide margin?
Elsewhere, Ryu and Ryo continue their fight. Ryo blocks one of Ryu's punches and counters with his Ko Hou Shippuu Ken. Ryo and Ryu's fists collide and the Kyokugenryu master asks him to show him his true power. Ryu dashes into him with his Shin Shoryuken, and Ryo wonders why he doesn't feel any power in the attack. He then hits Ryu with his Koyou uppercut, and sends him flying back. Ryo says he noticed the Shoryuken didn't have any power and Ryu says he has lost faith in his fighting abilities after his defeat. Just then Ryo senses an intruder and tosses a fireball at him.
The spy turned out to be Dan, who tries to show off, but trips over a tree branch and lands face first in front of the two. Dan recognizes Ryu since they trained under the same master, but he was kicked out. Ryu seems to remember his master having mentioned him. Dan says he's the strongest fighter in the world and offers to give them his autograph. Ryu and Ryo are not amused and want him to leave so they can continue their fight. Dan then challenges Ryo, and Ryu decides to let him go ahead. Dan starts by firing off a Gadou Shoukouken at him, that looks an awful lot like the Oh Sho Kou Ken...
Back to Ken and Bison, Bison is about to hit Ken with his Mega Psycho Crusher and Ken prepares a fireball made of a strange dark energy. Ken lets loose a Hadoken and it completely overtakes Bison's move and destroys him. A simple fireball killed Bison? Red Arremar laughs as if he were counting on this. Geese Howard feels the death of Bison and calls him a fool. Geese also has his hands full with other challengers of his own.
Terry, Guile, Kim, Tessa, Dhalsim and Kyo all stand against him. Terry is, naturally, eager to take him down, but Guile decides to step up instead. Geese invites all of them to face him at once.
In the Forbidden Mirror world, Demitri finds Shiki, who has been rendered emotionless after the Yuga has taken her heart. Demitri says Genjuro has sent him to give her a message, they want to enlist her and she can use the wish at the end of the tournament to regain her memories. He also shows her the Asura blood and explains it's what helped him enter the Forbidden Mirror. She catches the blood on her sword and confirms it belonged to her beloved Asura.
We get some backstory on Shiki, she was one of Yuga's children raised into training with swords, completely emotionless and looking for a man fit to bear a demonic child. She ended the curse of Yuga and her quest for her memories led her into the parallel world. Unable to find Yuga or Asura, she lost all purpose. She decides to go with Demitri.
Meanwhile, Ryo is confused by Dan's very similar technique, and smacks the Haoh Sho Koh Ken wannabe into the air. Dan is surprised and decides to go all out and hit Ryo with the Kouryu uppercut. Ryo recognizes this technique as well, but senses that there isn't any power behind it and just punches Dan out of it. Ryo then blasts Dan with the real Oh Sho Koh Ken, which Dan somehow survives, cause he's cartoony like that.
Ryu asks if they can continue their battle, but Ryo doesn't feel like fighting him if his spirit isn't into it. He instead asks about Mr. Karate and Ryu mentions he has seen him in the real world. They both decide to find him together, and Dan insists that they will need his help and tags along.
Back to the team fighting Geese, Guile goes first and throws 3 Sonic Booms at him. Geese manages to dodge them all and catch Guile's fist before he can punch him. Geese insults Guile's hairstyle, and the military man takes it very personally. We have a flashback from Guile and we see that his best friend Charlie was the one that styled his hair that way. Charlie was called away on a mission.... and he would never return. Since then Guile is haunted by his loss and swore to get revenge for his fallen friend.
Guile continues the fight, telling Geese it won't be so easy to defeat him. Just then Red Arremer shows up and a fight starts between him and Kyo. Red's flames are hotter than Kyo can handle since they're hellfire. Kyo still stands up to him and is determined to show him what the 'prince of flames' can do.
Guile gets hit by Geese's Shadow Smash, but reveals he let himself get hit on purpose. This gave the others time to jump in as Terry, Kim, Tessa, and Dhalsim all hit Geese with their special moves. Guile wraps it up with his Somersault Kick that sends Geese falling off the top of the building, similar to his deaths at the end of several Fatal Fury games. Is this the end of Geese Howard?
 |
| that one time the Sultan of Southtown really did bite off more than he could chew. |
I'm glad I picked this up to continue the story. A lot of weird things in this story, as usual. the Twin Towers thing threw me for a loop, especially since the comic was made in 2003, and it even acknowledged how they're gone in the real world, but not in this alternate universe. I do admit I feel a bit weird about this, but I have to remember this comic was made in Japan so the tragedy would not hit as close to home to them as it would to us.
There's no telling why Ken is so.... obsessed in this version. Sure, Bison did put him in his lab and messed with his mind and body to turn him into the Violent Ken hidden character as seen in the SVC Chaos game.... but he seemed violent and 'not right' even before that. I gotta say the techniques they used were interesting. I mean unlocking your brain's full potential, soaking your heart in demon's blood, hypnotizing yourself to push yourself past your limits no matter what. Only thing missing was an energy drink.
And yeah, the power levels are all over the place. Yes, Violent Ken is super powerful but man, he killed Bison with a fireball? A normal non-super combo fireball? I assume Ken wants to fight Ryu to see who's the best, but how could he ever stand against that. And that just made me think of something. Ken is now at his most powerful. Ryu is now at his most vulnerable, losing faith in himself after being curbstomped by Sagat so horribly.
We got more people brought into the story now, Earthquake, Shiki, Ryo and Dan. It was funny seeing Dan, but poor guy. Despite throwing logic out the window, everyone plays this super straight, so Dan really look out of place. A comedy character in a story with no room for comedy. Unlike others like Sakura that kinda/sorta play along, or are oblivious to just how much of a doofus he is, Ryu and Ryo show absolutely no tolerance for his antics which make him seem even more pathetic than he already is. Oh well, at least Ryu decided to let him tag along... for whatever reason. Or maybe Ryu isn't as big as a jerk as Ryo is.
I do like that Ryo recognizes Dan's attacks. For those that still don't know, Dan was Capcom's way to poke fun at how SNK's Ryo and Robert were waaaaay too similar to Ryu and Ken. Although, hey to be fair at least Robert wasn't also wearing a gi, and at least since the first Art of Fighting, Ryo had a punch move and Robert had a kick move. It took a while for Ryu and Ken to develop the difference we know today. But anyway, if you look at Dan, he's basically Robert in Ryo's gi, and colored pink for extra lameness. And his moves are right out of Ryo and Robert's playbooks, complete with the short range fireball that happens when you're low on ki in the AOF games. The funny thing in the SVC Chaos games, most of the SNK characters confuse Dan for Robert. LOL. We're lucky Robert's not that lame.
Speaking of Ryo, it was cool seeing him fight against Ryu and match up their similar moves. It's funny how fighting solves everything. It's like 'you lost faith in yourself, let's fight it out til you get it back!' It reminds me of the Fatal Fury movies where Terry and Andy suddenly started fighting it out between themselves I guess.... to gain enlightenment? "I'm beginning to understand what Master Tung was talking about, let's keep beating the crap out of each other til we're sure we got it!!"
As for the story itself, Poison, Hugo, Earthquake and Bison all died in this volume and it looks like Geese is soon to follow. I am so glad I was able to track this down on Amazon to continue the story. Reading the first 3 volumes for these reviews got me interested again and it's cool to see what happens next.
To read up on the next chapter go to- SVC Chaos Chapter 5
This was really awesome.
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