Ryuusei KIIIIIICK!!

I've always been partial to many of Capcom's in-house artists for many different reasons. A big reason is their healthy emphasis on functionality.

Given how Capcom invented the modern fighter, I imagine that many of their founding character designers must have sat down and looked at this new breed of video game and realized that characters had to be explosively appealing. There's a flimsy vestige of a storyline and a few win/lose quotes, but most if not all 'character development' is going to take place on a two-dimensional battlefield, with fluidly-animated sprites to answer any questions. Not the sillier questions like "Why is he fighting?", which would only spring forth from someone with a well-cemented interest in the game, but more immediate questions like "What does this guy do? Is he awesome?"

Edayan is in the high tier of Capcom artists, and has contributed to the Street Fighter series countless times. He was also responsible for designing the cast of the sadly forgotten tag-team fighter Rival Schools: United By Fate, a game about dueling high school students where every other character profile includes the term "hot-blooded". It looks, plays and inspires like a passionately-drawn shounen manga does.

Batsu Ichimonji, P.E. enthusiast and protagonist of the two-game series, exudes the raw, youthful, organic drive that The King of Fighters' sleeker Kyo Kusanagi, who also started off as a uniformed schoolboy, doesn't really capture. If he calls out the names of his attacks, which are things like "Justice Kick", and suddenly scarlet flames envelop his leg as he dropkicks you into the Moon, you will understand that this is what Batsu does. Even though Rival Schools for the PS1 was a bit of a graphical mess (moreso for some characters than others), his defining features, the way in which every part of his outfit, appearance and personal style cooperate to form a coherent portrait, shine through the limited technology.

Long before Persona 3 capitalized on Westerners' fervent desire to play as a Japanese high school student, Rival Schools included a day-by-day, life-simulation side-game where you got to know the characters better. [It was left out of the NA release.] This was the kind of thing that senior artists like Akiman and CRMK perhaps didn't anticipate when Street Fighter II was still in the works, but instead of promoting looser design, Rival Schools continues to tell the majority of its story with pictures. The exclamation mark-laden dialogue, full of earnest promises and friends cheering friends on, is almost an accessory to the many visual clues that, for example, visiting the characters at the pool or the beach would provide.

Roberto Miura plays soccer. We know that much from his outfit, and it makes sense when he lobs soccer balls at opponents in battle. The fact that he wears his face-covering visor even to the school pool adds another layer of teasing interest to him; are we ever going to see his eyes? Is he like one of those characters from some TV shows that is never shown from the neck up? The fact that Edge, a purple-clad punk who looks like the lovechild of Benimaru Nikaido and Ryuji Yamazaki, lets his unicorn-hair down in the pool says just about as much on him. Why does Gan, whose bulging muscles can barely be contained by an XXL uniform, wear a full bathing suit? What the crap is he afraid of?

When the studio behind Street Fighter II decided to invite a cast of warriors from around the world into the ring, this concept of characters wearing their nationalities, hobbies and personalities on their sleeves must have weighed heavy on the designers' minds. It's a philosophy that was carried on marvelously to Rival Schools, where Justice High School (for full effect, say that out loud and say it intensely) is alive with little everyday scenes. You can imagine spectacular martial arts showdowns taking place over lunch, in the showers, during the last inning of a baseball game. This is the kind of memorable design that I greatly respect most Capcom fighters for; it's coherent, unified and masterfully executed, and it's more than I can say for many contemporary games in the genre. Maybe that makes the characters cartoons--it almost certainly makes the whole game a cartoon--and I personally love that.

Thanks to The Fighters Generation and Creative Uncut for images.