Dee Jay
Encyclopedia
is a character from Capcom
's Street Fighter series of fighting game
s. He is a Jamaica
n kickboxer
who also works as a recording artist and breakdancer. He wears boxing pants with the word "MAXIMUM" emblazoned on the sides (originally "MANTIS"), a word which was chosen specifically because all of its letters are symmetrical
, and thus would still look correct when the sprite was flipped between facing right and left. He was designed by James Goddard, and is the only character at the time to be designed by an American. He was based on kickboxer Billy Blanks
. His most recent appearance was in Super Street Fighter IV
. In it, he is voiced by Kenji Hamada in the Japanese version and Chris Cain in the English version.
(1993) as one of the four new characters introduced in the game in addition to the original twelve character roster from previous Street Fighter II
games. He enters the World Warrior tournament, seeking inspiration to develop a new musical sound. Dee Jay reappears as a playable character in the console versions of Street Fighter Alpha 3
(1998) and in the console version of Street Fighter: The Movie
. The game is set before the World Warrior tournament and depicts Dee Jay before he began his professional music career. While he was not included in Street Fighter IV
, development of his character for its sequel, Super Street Fighter IV
, had commenced during the former game's development. Audio files of the announcer from Street Fighter IV announcing Dee Jay were found amongst the game's audio files. He was revealed along with T. Hawk, who also originated from Super Street Fighter II, and Juri
, a character created for Street Fighter IV.
. Here, he beats up a few punks causing trouble at a nightclub before being warned by Guile and Chun-Li that he is being monitored by Shadaloo, which he does not believe until Chun-Li destroys one of their cyborgs in front of him. He was voiced by the late Ginzo Matsuo
in Japanese and Beau Billingslea
(credited as John Hammond) in English.
In the 1994
live-action film version of Street Fighter
, Dee Jay was portrayed by Miguel A. Núñez, Jr. as one of the primary antagonists. He is depicted as a hacker
and engineer
working for General Bison. At the film's climax, Dee Jay plays the coward and flees from Bison's base with a trunk of Bison's money rather than stand and fight, but gets his comeuppance when he sees the trunk is full of the useless "Bison Dollars". This version of Dee Jay appears in the console version of the Street Fighter: The Movie
game.
UDON
's line of Street Fighter comics gives Dee Jay a minor role as a brainwashed agent of Shadaloo who breaks into MI5's Delta Red headquarters (along with other Doll agents) and frees a captured Doll agent from their custody. He's captured during the raid and his mind is restored with the help of Delta Red.
, Goddard felt that it would be redundant to have another pair of characters with the same fighting style. As a result, Capcom added Dee Jay in place of one of the brothers, while the other evolved into Fei-Long. The Japanese team asked Goddard for anymore ideas for Dee Jay, which Goddard replied by suggesting kickboxer Billy Blanks
. He commented that "a really kick-ass black character would be awesome, instead of someone who was more negative, which is what you tended to see from the Japanese back in those days." In spite of the fact that Blanks is a bad guy in the film which he saw him in, The King of the Kickboxers
, he states "his build and look, I just thought that it would make a great character --high-flying, crazy kicks... I mean, you have to remember, this was Billy Blanks pre-'Tae Bo.' He was so bad-ass." He began designing Dee Jay by drawing a sketch of him and sending it to the Japanese team. He sent the film The King of the Kickboxers by copying a VHS
tape and sending it through Fed Ex. He designed him as a "positive, fun character," implementing elements such as him being Jamaican, a "fun-loving guy," and a person who is trying to "jump-start his music career while kicking a lot of ass." While the design on his pants originally said "MANTIS," it was changed to say "MAXIMUM." Lettering was previously used in the same way, with kickboxer Kwon, in the unofficial spinoff game Human Killing Machine
.
In Super Street Fighter II, Dee Jay has a manager named Rick, while in Street Fighter Alpha 3 he has an agent named Bob.
, Dee Jay has received mixed reception. Rocky Mountain News
described Dee Jay as "a flashy rapper-type, and probably the best of the new four" characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II. GameDaily
listed him at number seventeen on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, noting the strength of his fighting style in game. In discussing the final character reveals of Street Fighter IV, Crave Online commented that they would have preferred Dee Jay. Allgame
editor Matthew House described Dee Jay as "widely missed." IGN
editor Jesse Schedeen criticized his inclusion in the film, stating that he "seemed included merely for comic relief." Editor Brian Shirk included Dee Jay in his analysis of racial stereotypes, commenting that his appearance "immediately brings to mind the word "savage."" Professional Street Fighter player Justin Wong stated that Dee Jay "impressed me as a character more than Juri because they actually gave him a lot of tools in this game to make him really good." He commented that while he didn't like him in Super Street Fighter II
, he liked him in Super Street Fighter IV "because the style he had in the other game was as a Street Fighter IV character." Fellow professional Street Fighter player listed him as his second favourite Street Fighter character. He praised his Super Street Fighter II Turbo incarnation, while also praising him for being "a really positive, happy character." IGN UK editor Martin Robinson, in discussing the Dee Jay, T. Hawk, and Juri
, stated that "all three of which we've played and all three of which we're already in love with." 1UP.com
criticized Super Street Fighter II, commenting that Capcom had overestimated demand for such a game. They described Dee Jay as a "loser." In discussing Super Street Fighter II, Giant Bomb
editor Jeff Gerstmann
commented that "I did my best to basically pretend he didn't exist," stating that the "real stars" of the game were Fei-Long and Cammy.
`
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
's Street Fighter series of fighting game
Fighting game
Fighting game is a video game genre where the player controls an on-screen character and engages in close combat with an opponent. These characters tend to be of equal power and fight matches consisting of several rounds, which take place in an arena. Players must master techniques such as...
s. He is a Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n kickboxer
Kickboxing
Kickboxing refers to a group of martial arts and stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching, historically developed from karate, Muay Thai and western boxing....
who also works as a recording artist and breakdancer. He wears boxing pants with the word "MAXIMUM" emblazoned on the sides (originally "MANTIS"), a word which was chosen specifically because all of its letters are symmetrical
Symmetry
Symmetry generally conveys two primary meanings. The first is an imprecise sense of harmonious or aesthetically pleasing proportionality and balance; such that it reflects beauty or perfection...
, and thus would still look correct when the sprite was flipped between facing right and left. He was designed by James Goddard, and is the only character at the time to be designed by an American. He was based on kickboxer Billy Blanks
Billy Blanks
Billy Wayne Blanks is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.-Career:Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo...
. His most recent appearance was in Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...
. In it, he is voiced by Kenji Hamada in the Japanese version and Chris Cain in the English version.
Appearances
Dee Jay made his debut in Super Street Fighter IISuper Street Fighter II
is a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting...
(1993) as one of the four new characters introduced in the game in addition to the original twelve character roster from previous Street Fighter II
Street Fighter II
is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in . It is the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in and was Capcom's fourteenth title that ran on the CP System arcade hardware...
games. He enters the World Warrior tournament, seeking inspiration to develop a new musical sound. Dee Jay reappears as a playable character in the console versions of Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Street Fighter Alpha 3, known as in Japan and Asia, is a fighting game by Capcom originally released for the CPS II arcade hardware. It is the third game in the Street Fighter Alpha series, following Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams and Street Fighter Alpha 2...
(1998) and in the console version of Street Fighter: The Movie
Street Fighter: The Movie
Street Fighter: The Movie may refer to:* Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, a 1994 Japanese animated film...
. The game is set before the World Warrior tournament and depicts Dee Jay before he began his professional music career. While he was not included in Street Fighter IV
Street Fighter IV
is a fighting game produced by Capcom. It is the first numbered Street Fighter game released by Capcom since . The coin-operated arcade game was released in Japan on July 18, 2008, with North American arcades importing the machines by August...
, development of his character for its sequel, Super Street Fighter IV
Super Street Fighter IV
is a 2010 fighting game produced by Capcom. It is an updated version of Street Fighter IV and has been said to mark the definitive end of the Street Fighter IV series. Having been deemed as too large an update to be deployed as DLC, the game was made into a standalone title, but given a lower price...
, had commenced during the former game's development. Audio files of the announcer from Street Fighter IV announcing Dee Jay were found amongst the game's audio files. He was revealed along with T. Hawk, who also originated from Super Street Fighter II, and Juri
Juri (Street Fighter)
, is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series. She is a South Korean fighter who first appears in Super Street Fighter IV. She is a member of the organization S.I.N...
, a character created for Street Fighter IV.
In other media
Dee Jay plays a minor role in Street Fighter II: The Animated MovieStreet Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, known as in Japan and Australia, is a 1994 Japanese animated film adaptation of the Street Fighter II fighting games written by Kenichi Imai, directed by Gisaburō Sugii and animated by Group TAC. The film, originally released in Japan on August 8, 1994, has...
. Here, he beats up a few punks causing trouble at a nightclub before being warned by Guile and Chun-Li that he is being monitored by Shadaloo, which he does not believe until Chun-Li destroys one of their cyborgs in front of him. He was voiced by the late Ginzo Matsuo
Ginzo Matsuo
was a Japanese voice actor who was born in Nakatsu, Oita, Japan as . He was part of Aoni Production, but he established in 1997. He was most known for the roles of Hemu-Hemu and Ginnosuke Nohara ....
in Japanese and Beau Billingslea
Beau Billingslea
Beau M. Billingslea is an American actor and voice actor. He is best known as the voice of Jet Black from the popular anime Cowboy Bebop. In addition to voice acting, Billingslea has appeared in many popular TV series as a prolific guest actor...
(credited as John Hammond) in English.
In the 1994
1994 in film
1994 was a significant year in film.The top grosser worldwide was The Lion King, which to date stands as the highest-grossing traditionally-animated film of all time...
live-action film version of Street Fighter
Street Fighter (film)
Street Fighter is a 1994 American action film written and directed by Steven E. de Souza. It is based loosely on the same-titled video games produced by Capcom, and stars Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Raul Julia, along with supporting performances by Byron Mann, Damian Chapa, Kylie Minogue, Ming-Na...
, Dee Jay was portrayed by Miguel A. Núñez, Jr. as one of the primary antagonists. He is depicted as a hacker
Hacker (computer security)
In computer security and everyday language, a hacker is someone who breaks into computers and computer networks. Hackers may be motivated by a multitude of reasons, including profit, protest, or because of the challenge...
and engineer
Computer engineering
Computer engineering, also called computer systems engineering, is a discipline that integrates several fields of electrical engineering and computer science required to develop computer systems. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering, software design, and...
working for General Bison. At the film's climax, Dee Jay plays the coward and flees from Bison's base with a trunk of Bison's money rather than stand and fight, but gets his comeuppance when he sees the trunk is full of the useless "Bison Dollars". This version of Dee Jay appears in the console version of the Street Fighter: The Movie
Street Fighter: The Movie
Street Fighter: The Movie may refer to:* Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, a 1994 Japanese animated film...
game.
UDON
UDON
UDON Entertainment Corporation is a studio of Asian-influenced comic book creators that provides creative services to the entertainment industry. The company is a publisher of comic books, graphic novels, and art books, as well as English editions of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa titles. Erik...
's line of Street Fighter comics gives Dee Jay a minor role as a brainwashed agent of Shadaloo who breaks into MI5's Delta Red headquarters (along with other Doll agents) and frees a captured Doll agent from their custody. He's captured during the raid and his mind is restored with the help of Delta Red.
Character design
Dee Jay was conceived for Super Street Fighter II by American designer James Goddard, and is one of three characters in the series to have been conceived by an American, along with Blade and Captain Sawada. While Super Street Fighter II was going to feature Cammy, T. Hawk, and two brothers who had the same design save for a head swapHead swap
Head swapping is the act of removing the head from an animated character and replacing it with a different one. This is usually done for one of two reasons: cost and memory constraints ....
, Goddard felt that it would be redundant to have another pair of characters with the same fighting style. As a result, Capcom added Dee Jay in place of one of the brothers, while the other evolved into Fei-Long. The Japanese team asked Goddard for anymore ideas for Dee Jay, which Goddard replied by suggesting kickboxer Billy Blanks
Billy Blanks
Billy Wayne Blanks is an American fitness guru, martial artist, actor, and the inventor of the Tae Bo exercise program.-Career:Blanks began his study of the martial arts at the age of eleven and practices Karate and Taekwondo...
. He commented that "a really kick-ass black character would be awesome, instead of someone who was more negative, which is what you tended to see from the Japanese back in those days." In spite of the fact that Blanks is a bad guy in the film which he saw him in, The King of the Kickboxers
The King of the Kickboxers
The King of the Kickboxers is a 1991 film directed by Lucas Lowe and starring Loren Avedon as Jake Donahue and Billy Blanks as Khan.-Plot:...
, he states "his build and look, I just thought that it would make a great character --high-flying, crazy kicks... I mean, you have to remember, this was Billy Blanks pre-'Tae Bo.' He was so bad-ass." He began designing Dee Jay by drawing a sketch of him and sending it to the Japanese team. He sent the film The King of the Kickboxers by copying a VHS
VHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
tape and sending it through Fed Ex. He designed him as a "positive, fun character," implementing elements such as him being Jamaican, a "fun-loving guy," and a person who is trying to "jump-start his music career while kicking a lot of ass." While the design on his pants originally said "MANTIS," it was changed to say "MAXIMUM." Lettering was previously used in the same way, with kickboxer Kwon, in the unofficial spinoff game Human Killing Machine
Human Killing Machine
Human Killing Machine, commonly abbreviated as HKM, is a 2D fighting game developed by Tiertex and published by U.S. Gold, released in March 1989. It was touted as a sequel to Tiertex's home computer conversion of Street Fighter...
.
In Super Street Fighter II, Dee Jay has a manager named Rick, while in Street Fighter Alpha 3 he has an agent named Bob.
Critical reception
Since appearing in Super Street Fighter IISuper Street Fighter II
is a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting...
, Dee Jay has received mixed reception. Rocky Mountain News
Rocky Mountain News
The Rocky Mountain News was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, United States from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. As of March 2006, the Monday-Friday circulation was 255,427...
described Dee Jay as "a flashy rapper-type, and probably the best of the new four" characters introduced in Super Street Fighter II. GameDaily
GameDaily
GameDaily was a video game journalism website based in the United States. Launched in 1995 by entrepreneur Mark Friedler under the name Gigex and focused on free game demo downloads, The site changed its business model from a flat fee per download CDN distributed service network to an...
listed him at number seventeen on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, noting the strength of his fighting style in game. In discussing the final character reveals of Street Fighter IV, Crave Online commented that they would have preferred Dee Jay. Allgame
Allgame
Allgame is a commercial database of information about arcade games, video games and console manufacturers.Allgame is owned by All Media Guide, along with Allmusic and Allmovie....
editor Matthew House described Dee Jay as "widely missed." IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
editor Jesse Schedeen criticized his inclusion in the film, stating that he "seemed included merely for comic relief." Editor Brian Shirk included Dee Jay in his analysis of racial stereotypes, commenting that his appearance "immediately brings to mind the word "savage."" Professional Street Fighter player Justin Wong stated that Dee Jay "impressed me as a character more than Juri because they actually gave him a lot of tools in this game to make him really good." He commented that while he didn't like him in Super Street Fighter II
Super Street Fighter II
is a head-to-head fighting game produced by Capcom originally released as a coin-operated arcade game in 1993. It is the fourth game in the Street Fighter II sub-series of Street Fighter games, following Street Fighter II: Hyper Fighting...
, he liked him in Super Street Fighter IV "because the style he had in the other game was as a Street Fighter IV character." Fellow professional Street Fighter player listed him as his second favourite Street Fighter character. He praised his Super Street Fighter II Turbo incarnation, while also praising him for being "a really positive, happy character." IGN UK editor Martin Robinson, in discussing the Dee Jay, T. Hawk, and Juri
Juri (Street Fighter)
, is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series. She is a South Korean fighter who first appears in Super Street Fighter IV. She is a member of the organization S.I.N...
, stated that "all three of which we've played and all three of which we're already in love with." 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
criticized Super Street Fighter II, commenting that Capcom had overestimated demand for such a game. They described Dee Jay as a "loser." In discussing Super Street Fighter II, Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb
Giant Bomb is an American video game website and wiki that includes gaming news, reviews, commentary, and video, created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis in collaboration with Whiskey Media...
editor Jeff Gerstmann
Jeff Gerstmann
Jeff Gerstmann is an American video game journalist and former editorial director of the gaming website GameSpot and the founder of the gaming website Giant Bomb. He began working at GameSpot in the fall of 1996, around the launch of VideoGameSpot when GameSpot separated PC and console games into...
commented that "I did my best to basically pretend he didn't exist," stating that the "real stars" of the game were Fei-Long and Cammy.
`
External links
- Dee Jay's Street Fighter II and Street Fighter Alpha entries at StrategyWiki.org