Vega (Street Fighter)

Vega (also known as バルログ - Balrog in Japan) 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&prime;: 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.

Conception and creation
Vega was designed by Akira Yasuda, 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 American 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.

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 II. 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&prime;: 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.

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 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 Vega can take his claw and mask off manually.

In animated adaptations
In the Japanese animated film Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, 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.

In film
In the 1994 live-action film version of Street Fighter, 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 rapper 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.

Critical reception
IGN 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.