Vega (Street Fighter)
Encyclopedia
Vega is a fictional character from the Street Fighter fighting game series. Vega is a masked, claw-wielding warrior from Spain
who uses a personal fighting style combining Japanese
Ninjutsu
and Bullfighting
, earning him the nickname the "Spanish Ninja".
Vega first appears in the original Street Fighter II
as the second of four computer-controlled opponents the player faces at the end of the single-player mode, a group known as the Four Devas or Grand Masters. From Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition (the second version of the game) and onward, Vega, along with the other three boss characters, became a playable character. He reappears as a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha 3
, the Street Fighter EX series (from Street Fighter EX2 and onward), the Capcom vs. SNK series, Street Fighter IV
and the Super Street Fighter IV
.
, and was initially conceived as a brief sketch of a masked man in a ripped shirt with long, frizzy hair. As development progressed the design evolved into a large, unarmed man, retaining the mask and dressed as a matador
. The design was changed again, revolving around the concept of a foreign soldier with a cross on his vest and armed with a broadsword
, while still retaining the mask. This design was eventually replaced in turn with another concept, a masked ninja in a bodysuit armed with a long metal claw on his right hand. Ultimately the character's finalized appearance was a culmination of all of these, incorporating various aspects of each into the finished design.
When the original Street Fighter II was being localized
for the English language market, Capcom's North America
n marketing staff felt that the name of the game's final boss, Vega, sounded non-threatening to North American audiences, and was more suitable for the androgynous
bullfighter. As a result, the character's name was changed from Balrog to Vega for English-language appearances.
. This claw is useful for both stabbing and slashing attacks, and gives him a very long range compared to most characters. It is the same type of weapon worn by Geki in the original Street Fighter
, though longer.
Vega does not wear his expressionless mask to conceal his face or identity, as he removes it after fights, during his win poses, as well as in certain character-select images in various games he appears in. Instead, he wears the mask to protect his face from scarring or bruising during battle because he believes himself to be impossibly beautiful and is obsessively narcissistic
.
Vega wears the purple and yellow ceremonial trousers, red sash, loafers and white leggings of a matador, suggesting his involvement with bullfighting
. This decorative garb also offers matadors ease of movement, and is ideal for Vega's acrobatic maneuvers.
Depending on the game and context, Vega has brown or blonde hair. In the various games in the Street Fighter II series, Vega's game sprite and character select profile shot depict him with brown hair, while his ending in Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition and Super Street Fighter II depict him with blonde hair. In Street Fighter EX2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, Vega is depicted with blonde hair.
Vega has a purple snake
tattoo
on his chest, which also circles his arm. In Capcom vs. SNK 2
, in a victory pose, Vega will hold his arm out, with the tattoo coming to life and hissing at the opponent.
Vega's bloodlust and brutal fighting skills impress the criminal leader M. Bison
so much that he comes to him personally with an offer to join Shadaloo. Vega accepts Bison's offer purely to improve his own aesthetic senses. Bison instates Vega as one of his three personal Grand Masters bodyguards. Vega oversees assassination operations for Shadaloo as well.
During fights, Vega is capable of losing his claw. This reduces his attack range significantly, and prevents him from performing certain moves. Since Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Vega can pick up the claw again if lost. Other games allow Vega to lose his mask, lowering his health as a result. In Street Fighter IV
Vega can take his claw and mask off manually.
, Vega was voiced by the late Kaneto Shiozawa
in Japanese
and Richard Cansino
in the English
dub
. In the film, he works for Shadowlaw under Bison, and is sent to New York
to kill Chun-Li
. He almost succeeds through a vicious and bloody duel that takes its toll on both fighters, but after baiting Vega into a rage by attacking his face, Chun-Li eventually defeats him by Hundred-Burst-Kicking him through her apartment wall to the streets far below. It is unknown if he survives the fall or not, but Bison later dispatches Sagat to New York to track down and kill Vega for his failure. His ultimate fate is left unrevealed.
In the 1995 Japanese animated series Street Fighter II V
, Vega appears as a bullfighter who tries to seduce Chun-Li. Envious over Ryu
and Ken's friendship with Chun-Li, Vega invites the three to a party in his castle, which is actually a trap to lure Ryu and Ken to a caged death match with him. Since Ryu does not attend the party, he subsequently fights Ken, and is finally defeated after a brutal match. He is given the surname of Fabio La Cerda in the series. Kaneto Shiozawa provided his voice for the Japanese version, while Vic Mignogna
provided his voice for the English dub from ADV Films and Richard Cansino
provided his voice for the Animaze English dub.
Vega appears in two episodes of the 1995 American Street Fighter
animated series, "Eye of the Beholder" and "Face of Fury", where he is a former henchman of Bison who develops a rivalry against Blanka. He was voiced by Mark Hildreth
in the series.
Vega makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in 1999 Japanese OVA Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, where he ends up pulverising, though not outright killing, his opponent Dan Hibiki during an underground fight.
Vega reappears in the Shadaloo helicopter near the end of Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind.
, Vega was played by Jay Tavare
. He is depicted as a member of the Shadaloo Tong working for Sagat. Along with his trademark mask and claw, he has very few lines during the whole film and utters them while his face is obscured or when he is off-camera. He forms a rivalry with Ryu, and in the film's final battle, he is defeated by Ryu and abandoned by Sagat. He also appears in the arcade game based on the film titled Street Fighter: The Movie
, as well as in the home video game
also based on the film. In the arcade version of the game, Vega has the ability to take his mask off and throw it to his opponent. In the home version, this ability was removed and Vega fights unmasked.
Vega is played by rap
per Taboo
(of the group The Black Eyed Peas
) in the 2009 live-action film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
. The film also changed the reason the character wears a mask, from protecting his beauty to hiding his face. Many have complained about this, as well as the misrepresenting of the other characters.
ranked Vega at number ten in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, stating "he deserves all the credit in the world for originality. There's never been a Street Fighter character quite like him since." Additionally, he ranked 46th in GamePro
's "47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time" article. GameDaily
ranked him at number twelve on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, noting the strength of his aerial attacks. Vega was voted 5th in Capcom's own poll of 85 characters for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter, making him the most popular male character. News.com.au named Vega one of the sexiest characters in video games, placing him tenth in their "Top 10" article and stating "part ninja, part bullfighter, Vega's fighting style is definitely one of the most unusual we've seen." GamesRadar
noted that while his attire and obsession with beauty was a departure from traditional depictions of ninjas, the features made him "one of the more iconic scrappers in the Street Fighter games". They listed him as one of the most outrageous camp villains, stating that a "camp bad guy list" without Vega was like a "cheese sandwich without the cheese or bread." In February 1992, he was ranked sixteenth on Japanese magazine Gamest' s list of the best video game characters introduced in 1991. Now Gamer listed a fight between Vega and Yoshimitsu under their "Street Fighter X Tekken Character Wishlist" and commented "Any bout between these two would be a mind-boggling display of fast attacks across the screen.".
In contrast, UGO.com named him one of "The Most Useless Video Game Items", describing him as "the type of character a artist jots on a napkin during a night of office bonding over Long Island Ice Teas" and calling him as a cross between Freddy Krueger
, Jason Voorhees
and Twiggy
.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
who uses a personal fighting style combining Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
Ninjutsu
Ninjutsu
or may be:*the arts associated with espionage and assassination in feudal Japan, see Ninja*modern schools of martial arts claiming to be based in these traditions, see Modern Schools of Ninjutsu*fictional depictions, see Ninja in popular culture...
and Bullfighting
Matador
A torero or toureiro is a bullfighter and the main performer in bullfighting, practised in Spain, Colombia, Portugal, Mexico, France and various other countries influenced by Spanish culture. In Spanish, the word torero describes any of the performers who actively participate in the bullfight...
, earning him the nickname the "Spanish Ninja".
Vega first appears in the original 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...
as the second of four computer-controlled opponents the player faces at the end of the single-player mode, a group known as the Four Devas or Grand Masters. From Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition (the second version of the game) and onward, Vega, along with the other three boss characters, became a playable character. He reappears as a playable character in 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...
, the Street Fighter EX series (from Street Fighter EX2 and onward), the Capcom vs. SNK series, 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...
and the 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...
.
Conception and creation
Vega was designed by Akira YasudaAkira Yasuda
is a Japanese animator, character designer, game designer and mecha designer, who works under the pen name "Akiman".-Career:...
, and was initially conceived as a brief sketch of a masked man in a ripped shirt with long, frizzy hair. As development progressed the design evolved into a large, unarmed man, retaining the mask and dressed as a matador
Matador
A torero or toureiro is a bullfighter and the main performer in bullfighting, practised in Spain, Colombia, Portugal, Mexico, France and various other countries influenced by Spanish culture. In Spanish, the word torero describes any of the performers who actively participate in the bullfight...
. The design was changed again, revolving around the concept of a foreign soldier with a cross on his vest and armed with a broadsword
Broadsword
Broadsword may refer to:*Broadsword , a military sword used by heavy cavalry during the 17th to early 19th centuriesIn more modern times, it has also been used to refer to:...
, while still retaining the mask. This design was eventually replaced in turn with another concept, a masked ninja in a bodysuit armed with a long metal claw on his right hand. Ultimately the character's finalized appearance was a culmination of all of these, incorporating various aspects of each into the finished design.
When the original Street Fighter II was being localized
Internationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
for the English language market, Capcom's North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n marketing staff felt that the name of the game's final boss, Vega, sounded non-threatening to North American audiences, and was more suitable for the androgynous
Androgyny
Androgyny is a term derived from the Greek words ανήρ, stem ανδρ- and γυνή , referring to the combination of masculine and feminine characteristics...
bullfighter. As a result, the character's name was changed from Balrog to Vega for English-language appearances.
Design
Vega is one of the few Street Fighter characters to constantly carry a weapon, and the only character to do so in Street Fighter IIStreet 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...
. This claw is useful for both stabbing and slashing attacks, and gives him a very long range compared to most characters. It is the same type of weapon worn by Geki in the original Street Fighter
Street Fighter (video game)
is a 1987 arcade game developed by Capcom. It is the first competitive fighting game produced by the company and the inaugural game in the Street Fighter series...
, though longer.
Vega does not wear his expressionless mask to conceal his face or identity, as he removes it after fights, during his win poses, as well as in certain character-select images in various games he appears in. Instead, he wears the mask to protect his face from scarring or bruising during battle because he believes himself to be impossibly beautiful and is obsessively narcissistic
Narcissism
Narcissism is a term with a wide range of meanings, depending on whether it is used to describe a central concept of psychoanalytic theory, a mental illness, a social or cultural problem, or simply a personality trait...
.
Vega wears the purple and yellow ceremonial trousers, red sash, loafers and white leggings of a matador, suggesting his involvement with bullfighting
Bullfighting
Bullfighting is a traditional spectacle of Spain, Portugal, southern France and some Latin American countries , in which one or more bulls are baited in a bullring for sport and entertainment...
. This decorative garb also offers matadors ease of movement, and is ideal for Vega's acrobatic maneuvers.
Depending on the game and context, Vega has brown or blonde hair. In the various games in the Street Fighter II series, Vega's game sprite and character select profile shot depict him with brown hair, while his ending in Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition and Super Street Fighter II depict him with blonde hair. In Street Fighter EX2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3, Vega is depicted with blonde hair.
Vega has a purple snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...
tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
on his chest, which also circles his arm. In Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2
Capcom vs. SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001, known as Millionaire Fighting 2001 in Japan, is a sequel to the fighting game Capcom vs. SNK. This game was released on NAOMI hardware in the arcade...
, in a victory pose, Vega will hold his arm out, with the tattoo coming to life and hissing at the opponent.
In video games
Vega's backstory supplies that he is born to a noble family in Catalonia, Spain. As he matures, Vega studies bullfighting, a cultural tradition among the nobles. Afterward, he goes to Japan and learns Ninjutsu, a style he believes meshes well with his natural grace and agility. Returning home, Vega combines bullfighting with Ninjutsu and goes into an underground cage fighting circuit, where he quickly becomes one of the best. Tragedy strikes one day when Vega witnesses the murder of his beautiful mother at the hands of his stepfather. His mind is warped by the tragedy and, from then on, he lives a double life: a suave nobleman by day, and a sadistic masked murderer by night. He enjoys mutilating ugly people to death using a three-pronged forearm-mounted razor-sharp claw. His stepfather is his first victim.Vega's bloodlust and brutal fighting skills impress the criminal leader M. Bison
M. Bison
M. Bison, known in Japan as Vega, is a video game character created by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, he is a recurring character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games, acting as the final boss and primary antagonist of the Street Fighter II and Street...
so much that he comes to him personally with an offer to join Shadaloo. Vega accepts Bison's offer purely to improve his own aesthetic senses. Bison instates Vega as one of his three personal Grand Masters bodyguards. Vega oversees assassination operations for Shadaloo as well.
Gameplay
Vega is one of the fastest characters in the Street Fighter series, and also one of the most delicate. His strength is in long-range attacks, with the reach advantage provided by his claw.During fights, Vega is capable of losing his claw. This reduces his attack range significantly, and prevents him from performing certain moves. Since Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Vega can pick up the claw again if lost. Other games allow Vega to lose his mask, lowering his health as a result. 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...
Vega can take his claw and mask off manually.
In animated adaptations
In the Japanese animated film 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...
, Vega was voiced by the late Kaneto Shiozawa
Kaneto Shiozawa
Kaneto Shiozawa , real name was a Japanese voice actor from Tokyo affiliated with Aoni Production. He had a distinctive cold, calm voice which usually typecast him in roles as villains or anti-heroes....
in Japanese
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
and Richard Cansino
Richard Cansino
Richard Cansino is an American voice actor. He is also known as Richard Hayworth because he is the nephew of Rita Hayworth, and occasionally goes by the name Steve Davis after the British snooker player of the same name...
in the English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
dub
Dubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
. In the film, he works for Shadowlaw under Bison, and is sent to New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
to kill Chun-Li
Chun-Li
is a video game character produced by Capcom. First introduced in Street Fighter II, she has since appeared as a player character in nearly all subsequent games....
. He almost succeeds through a vicious and bloody duel that takes its toll on both fighters, but after baiting Vega into a rage by attacking his face, Chun-Li eventually defeats him by Hundred-Burst-Kicking him through her apartment wall to the streets far below. It is unknown if he survives the fall or not, but Bison later dispatches Sagat to New York to track down and kill Vega for his failure. His ultimate fate is left unrevealed.
In the 1995 Japanese animated series Street Fighter II V
Street Fighter II V
, is an anime series based on the fighting game Street Fighter II. Directed by Gisaburo Sugii , the series first aired in Japan in 1995, from April 10 to November 27, on YTV...
, Vega appears as a bullfighter who tries to seduce Chun-Li. Envious over Ryu
Ryu (Street Fighter)
is a video game player character created by Capcom, the main protagonist of the Street Fighter series. Having premiered in the first Street Fighter in 1987, Ryu appears as the lead character from the game along with his best friend Ken Masters participating in the Street Fighter tournament...
and Ken's friendship with Chun-Li, Vega invites the three to a party in his castle, which is actually a trap to lure Ryu and Ken to a caged death match with him. Since Ryu does not attend the party, he subsequently fights Ken, and is finally defeated after a brutal match. He is given the surname of Fabio La Cerda in the series. Kaneto Shiozawa provided his voice for the Japanese version, while Vic Mignogna
Vic Mignogna
Victor Joseph "Vic" Mignogna is an American Anime Award winning voice actor and musician who has done voice work for many anime series, movies, and video games...
provided his voice for the English dub from ADV Films and Richard Cansino
Richard Cansino
Richard Cansino is an American voice actor. He is also known as Richard Hayworth because he is the nephew of Rita Hayworth, and occasionally goes by the name Steve Davis after the British snooker player of the same name...
provided his voice for the Animaze English dub.
Vega appears in two episodes of the 1995 American Street Fighter
Street Fighter (TV series)
Street Fighter is an American animated series produced by InVision Entertainment based on the Street Fighter live action movie, which was in turn based on the Street Fighter video game franchise. The series aired as part of the USA Network's Cartoon Express and Action Extreme Team lineups...
animated series, "Eye of the Beholder" and "Face of Fury", where he is a former henchman of Bison who develops a rivalry against Blanka. He was voiced by Mark Hildreth
Mark Hildreth (actor)
Mark Hildreth is a Canadian actor and musician, based in the U.S. He has appeared in many movie and television roles. A graduate of The National Theater School of Canada, Mark Hildreth's theater credits include Hamlet , Bertram in All's well that Ends well , Richard of Gloucester in Richard III and...
in the series.
Vega makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in 1999 Japanese OVA Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, where he ends up pulverising, though not outright killing, his opponent Dan Hibiki during an underground fight.
Vega reappears in the Shadaloo helicopter near the end of Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind.
In film
In the 1994 live-action film version of Street FighterStreet 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...
, Vega was played by Jay Tavare
Jay Tavare
Jay Tavare is an American actor. Tavare is perhaps best known as Vega in 1994 film Street Fighter. Tavare has played a number of roles in movies, including a Seminole in Adaptation, an Apache in The Missing, a Cherokee in Cold Mountain, and a Cheyenne in Into the West.His mother was White Mountain...
. He is depicted as a member of the Shadaloo Tong working for Sagat. Along with his trademark mask and claw, he has very few lines during the whole film and utters them while his face is obscured or when he is off-camera. He forms a rivalry with Ryu, and in the film's final battle, he is defeated by Ryu and abandoned by Sagat. He also appears in the arcade game based on the film titled Street Fighter: The Movie
Street Fighter: The Movie (arcade game)
Street Fighter: The Movie is a head-to-head fighting game released as a coin-operated arcade game. The game is based on the 1994 live-action Street Fighter movie and uses digitized images of the films cast posing as the characters in the game...
, as well as in the home video game
Street Fighter: The Movie (home video game)
Street Fighter: The Movie, released in Japan as , is a head-to-head fighting game released for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. The game is based on the 1994 live-action Street Fighter movie and uses digitized images of the films cast posing as the characters in the game...
also based on the film. In the arcade version of the game, Vega has the ability to take his mask off and throw it to his opponent. In the home version, this ability was removed and Vega fights unmasked.
Vega is played by rap
Rap
Rap may refer to:*Rapping, performance in which rhyming lyrics are used, with or without musical accompaniment ; while an MC performs spoken verses in time to a beat/ melody**Hip hop subculture**Hip hop music...
per Taboo
Taboo (rapper)
Jaime Luis Gómez , better known by his stage name Taboo, is an American singer, actor, and rapper best known as a member of the group The Black Eyed Peas.-Personal life:...
(of the group The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
) in the 2009 live-action film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is the second live-action film based on the Street Fighter series of video games. It follows the quest of Street Fighter character Chun-Li, who is portrayed by Kristin Kreuk. The story follows Chun-Li's personal history and her journey for justice. The film...
. The film also changed the reason the character wears a mask, from protecting his beauty to hiding his face. Many have complained about this, as well as the misrepresenting of the other characters.
Critical reception
IGNIGN
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...
ranked Vega at number ten in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" article, stating "he deserves all the credit in the world for originality. There's never been a Street Fighter character quite like him since." Additionally, he ranked 46th in GamePro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
's "47 Most Diabolical Video-Game Villains of All Time" article. 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...
ranked him at number twelve on their "Top 20 Street Fighter Characters of All Time" article, noting the strength of his aerial attacks. Vega was voted 5th in Capcom's own poll of 85 characters for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter, making him the most popular male character. News.com.au named Vega one of the sexiest characters in video games, placing him tenth in their "Top 10" article and stating "part ninja, part bullfighter, Vega's fighting style is definitely one of the most unusual we've seen." GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
noted that while his attire and obsession with beauty was a departure from traditional depictions of ninjas, the features made him "one of the more iconic scrappers in the Street Fighter games". They listed him as one of the most outrageous camp villains, stating that a "camp bad guy list" without Vega was like a "cheese sandwich without the cheese or bread." In February 1992, he was ranked sixteenth on Japanese magazine Gamest
In contrast, UGO.com named him one of "The Most Useless Video Game Items", describing him as "the type of character a artist jots on a napkin during a night of office bonding over Long Island Ice Teas" and calling him as a cross between Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger
Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional, horrifying character from the Nightmare on Elm Street series of horror films. He first appears in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street as a disfigured dream stalker who uses a glove armed with razors to kill his victims in their dreams,...
, Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees
Jason Voorhees is a fictional character from the Friday the 13th series of slasher films. He first appeared in Friday the 13th , as the son of camp cook-turned-murderer, Mrs. Voorhees, in which he was portrayed by Ari Lehman. Created by Victor Miller, with contributions by Ron Kurz, Sean S...
and Twiggy
Twiggy
Lesley Lawson née Hornby known as Twiggy is an English model, actress, and singer. In the early-1960s she became a prominent British teenage model of swinging sixties London with others such as Penelope Tree....
.
External links
- Vega's Street Fighter II, Street Fighter Alpha, Street Fighter EX, and Street Fighter IV entries at StrategyWiki.org