Street Fighter Unlimited # 1

By Mark Rodriguez

Back in 2016, Udon went for another longer-than-usual running series which would bridge the gap between the events of Street Fighter 4 and 3 (that's how the series works lore-wise). Keep in mind this was all before Street Fighter 5 was announced, which would sandwich itself between Street Fighter 4 and 3. Let's check it out.

The story opens with Ryu visiting Gouken's grave as he asks him how he can defeat something he can't defeat with his fists, his own inner darkness, the Satsui no Hado. This was first felt within him when he was about to lose against Sagat in the first Street Fighter tournament, which led him to unleash the infamous Shoryuken that left the Thai champ with his scar. He felt it stir again when he first discovered that Akuma had killed his master Gouken. Even though he tried to calm that dark power, Ryu would eventually succumb to it and face Akuma. However, this is when someone even more powerful, Gill, arrived and defeated Ryu, temporarily placing the Dark Hado in a dormant state within him. However, part of Ryu still hungers for that unlimited power and wonders if shedding his sense of compassion is what he really needs to do to finally unlock his full potential.

As he ponders this, the desire for this dark power becomes too great and Ryu once again falls under the influence of the Dark Hado. Sakura sees this and quickly leaps in to knock some sense into him. Ryu smacks her back and says things like friendship and compassion are a weakness and burden. Sakura tries to fire off a Shinkuu Hadouken, but Evil Ryu powers through it and kills her. Ken arrives to stop him. Ryu says Ken would have made the same choice if he was strong enough. Evil Ryu quickly defeats Ken saying that he was always jealous that he couldn't reach the level of power that he has now obtained. He tosses Ken up against Gouken's grave, his back being smashed against the gravestone. Master Gouken himself shows up to stop him.

Gouken says that Ryu is weaker than ever since he was been enslaved by the Dark Hadou. He says he will at least save Ryu's soul through death, but when he tries to attack, Ryu teleports behind him and grabs him. Ryu says he will finish what Akuma couldn't and unleashes the Shun Goku Tatsu upon his master. With Gouken dead, Ryu smears his blood against the wall to match the Ten symbol and laughs evilly.

Ken arrives and snaps Ryu out of this nightmarish daydream. Ryu says he was lost in meditation and Ken jokes saying that if that's how uptight he is after hours of meditation, then it isn't working.

The next morning Ryu continues to dwell on how to rid himself of his inner darkness when Sagat shows up. Ken isn't happy to see him, but Ryu says he invited him. Ken says that Sagat killed Dan's father, and Ryu says he has also crawled out of a dark place and is perfect to help him deal with his own demons. Ken counts himself out and leaves.

As Ryu and Sagat fight, Ryu asks him how he was able to overcome his vengeful rage. Sagat says he realized that person really wasn't him and was able to find harmony within himself. Instead of making him weaker it made him stronger than ever. Sagat tells him he should be true to himself instead of trying to be like Gouken. Maybe Ryu really is a demon that will seek victory no matter how many scars he leaves behind, and he just hasn't admitted yet. Ryu says he can't accept that.

Later that day Ken is ready to head out for some business. He asks Ryu is Sagat helped him, but Ryu says he only made him seek Gouken's direction even more. Ken asks if he's sure their master is really dead since Ryu seemed so sure to have seen him during the battle against Gill. Ryu says there was so much smoke and ash, it was probably him hallucinating. Ken says there's only one man alive that knows Gouken well enough, that any advice he would have given is as good as if the master himself has said it. Ryu embarks on a new quest.

Elsewhere, Vega arrives to inform 'Bison' of a captive he has obtained. The man complains about busy he is with running Shadaloo after Bison's demise that this better be something important. The man, in Bison's uniform no less, is impressed to see that Vega has captured Chun Li!!

'City Hall Slam' opens Mike Haggar heading towards his office after dealing with boring mayor stuff when he sees Alex waiting for him. Alex says he wants to talk about the Secret Society, and Haggar goes for the attack, thinking he's part of some new gang. Alex thinks the Society has bought the mayor and strikes back. Alex hits Haggar with a Flash Chop. Haggar says if that's the best the Secret Society has, then they're in trouble. Alex realizes he made a mistake, but it's too late and he's slammed by Haggar's Spinning Pile Driver. Haggar storms off and Alex admits his mistake. Haggar's secretary says they have 'Mayor Tantrums' covered in their budget.

Not much to say here except Haggar's office has three very noticeable portraits hanging on the wall. One of Haggar, Cody and Guy ala Final Fight, another with Haggar, Carlos and Maki, ala Final Fight 2, and the third being of Haggar, Lucia and Dean ala Final Fight 3. All three with Haggar also sporting slightly different looks based on those games. Very clever there Udon.

'Street Fighter Funnies' is a short and funny comic strip poking fun at all the travelling involved in the Street Fighter games. After defeating Guile, Zangief must now fly over to Japan for his next match. After defeating Honda, Zangief finds out he has to fly BACK to America to face Ken. After defeating Ken now he has to fly to China for his match with Chun Li. By the time he defeats Chun Li, he's knocked out as well due to all the jet-lag.

This brings up a good point I always wondered about tournament games that took place around the world. All this traveling and whatnot, plus the match itself. For instance, Zangief VS Guile in the US. For the spectators... is that all there is? Just one match between these two, then tune in on TV tomorrow for the next match live from Japan or something? I hope people at least got to see a few warm-up matches between some no-names before the main event or something. I don't care how awesome a match between Zangief and Guile would be, it's not worth the price of admission to see just one fight.

My opinions on the main story-

Interesting start to this series and continues, I assume, from the story involving Gill and Bison. So I guess Ryu lost himself to the Dark Hadou and fought Oni Akuma, while Gill arrived and Shadaloo Island sunk with Bison somewhere on it? Of course Evil Ryu looks like his current Super SF 4 Arcade Edition self, complete with that big burnt hole on his chest. Even now in the comic he still has it, though it's in the process of healing up. I never even saw this in stores, so I missed it, though it seems with Unlimited the series will be easier to obtain now.

The flashback sequence was cool and features backstory and everything, dating back to the original Street Fighter. The lore goes by Ryu having a brief flash of Killing Intent when he hit Sagat with that extra powerful Shoryuken which explains why that one time that move is so deadly and why he doesn't scar the hell out of everyone every time he uses that move from here on out. I honestly thought Sakura was knocked out at first since I don't believe they would kill her, but once I saw Ken break his back over the gravestone, killing him as well, I was getting that this had to be a nightmare sequence. Sparring with Sagat was interesting and it was cool to see him, and it serves as a good reminder that modern day Sagat is a lot more mellow than kill-crazed Sagat from the SF2 days.

This mystery Bison has to be either another Seth clone or possibly Urien, Gill's brother, always looking to take over whenever he's taken down. I say this because the person mentioned Bison's death in the third person and he was doing such a careful job of making sure we didn't get a clear look at his face. Whatever the case, it's obvious that whoever is wearing Bison's uniform isn't Bison himself. I'm curious why with the more modern Evil Ryu, as well as Oni Akuma in the flashback, Chun Li seems to be wearing her older Alpha outfit instead.

Other than that, the comic is a fun read, has good fighting action and is a stroll through Street Fighter memory lane since I haven't really placed Street Fighter 4 in a while. The art, while a bit different from previous Udon titles, is still pretty impressive and comes as close as official Capcom artwork as it possibly can. The mystery behind this new Bison and the announcement of Balrog appearing next issue has me anxious to see what happens next.