Balrog

For the claw-wielding assassin named Balrog in Japan, see Vega.

Balrog, known as Mike Bison (マイク・バイソン, Maiku Baison^?) in Japan or known internationally as Boxer, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series, first appearing as a non-playable boss in Street Fighter II before becoming playable in its update, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. He is a greedy American boxer who loves booze, gambling and ladies. He is also a personal bodyguard to M. Bison.

Biography

Concept

Designed by "Pigmon-san" and Akira "Akiman" Yasuda, the 4th original character concept for a early prototype boxer began in an early 1988 character pitch, starting out as a Caucasian named Dick Jumpsey who is based on both American professional boxer Jack Dempsey as well as American actor and fellow professional boxer Mickey Rourke. Jumpsey is a superstar as both an actor and athlete (a character bio later passed down to Fei-Long), his planned plot states that he enters the tournament to publicize his next movie. Due to being a pugilist, Jumpsey's controls consists of both "jabbing" and "hooking" instead of punching and kicking unlike the rest of the street fighters, what makes his style of boxing so unique is his heavy punches, powerful blocking techniques, and his signature special move called the Holy Rope Storm and his weakness is getting hit in his back while turning around to charge a strong jab, a weakness that would be passed onto Balrog solely in The World Warrior, but the Turn Punch would be given to Balrog in every game he appears in.

The wrestler Zangief (under the name "Vodka Golbalsky" during development) was originally written as the professional-ring fighter who does not follow the rules or what to do while making his opponents completely unable to recover, and then makes easy money by doing underground brawling. These traits were later given to Balrog.

Another inspiration may include Leon Spinks, the undisputed world heavyweight champion of 1978 who won the title against Muhammad Ali, and whose 1980s undisputed heavyweight champion young brother Michael Spinks faced off against Mike Tyson in 1988 in his only loss and last match of his career. Notably, Leon Spinks would also turn to competing in boxer versus wrestler matches in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1980s, including a famous loss by submission to Antonio Inoki, and into the 1990s, would compete in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, which he would win the title of world champion by 1992.

Full names

The character was originally named as Mike Bison (see name changes) after being loosely based on the real-life semi-retired boxer Mike Tyson, much like the original boxer from Street Fighter.

In Street Fighter: The Ultimate Battle, his full name is Gerard Balrog (or G. Balrog for short), his first name originated from the middle name of "Iron" Mike Tyson.

In the fan-film mockumentary Balrog: Behind the Glory, his full name is shown as Michael Terrell Bison, a similar-sounding full name to the real-life counterpart's full name Michael Gerard Tyson.

Appearance

Balrog is a tall, muscularly immense built and intimidating looking African-American male who is a boxer of the heavyweight division. He wears a white T-shirt that is in mint-condition on his Street Fighter II versus portrait but tattered while in-game. His signature fight-attire is a light-blue standard uniform for boxers, Balrog wears the silk tank-top over his white shirt and it comes complete with matching silk trunks that say "BISON" on the center of the elastic waist band, he also wears Gloves & Fighting Gear such as a pair of red leather-mufflers on his fists and a pair of bronze gym-boots on his feet. His short hairstyle is similar to Mike Tyson's haircut from the era of Street Fighter II's release. Official artwork at the time also depicted him sans a canine tooth in the upper right side of his mouth. This outfit became his "Nostalgia" costume in Street Fighter V.

In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Balrog is depicted slightly different than his in-game counterpart. He has a very dark skin complexion, has an ugly face with mentally-unstable eyes that have tiny-pupils, and prefers to fight while bare-knuckled. He still wears a tattered white shirt but trades his other clothes in for a dark-blue tanktop and wears dark green commando pants and boots instead of his boxing trunks and shoes (along with Sagat, after his prologue fight with Ryu).^[11] Only when Chun-Li was showing a computer file of Balrog at the start of the movie, he is seen with his red mufflers and dark-blue boxing shorts as a callback to his in-game counterpart.

In Street Fighter V, Balrog wears a blue openly hooded robe with yellow outlines and ripped sleeves; on the back it has the design of "Crazy Buffalo" in a black round sign, a large golden crown with clouds and several red stars, the outline on his boxing gloves are black with gold star designs, his boxer shorts are black and he wears matching boxing boots with white outlines. Likely in allusion to Mike Tyson's famous appearance in Mike Tyson's Punch Out for the Nintendo Entertainment System, his black boxing shorts and boxing boots match those of Tyson in his appearance as the final boss of Punch Out's World Circuit.

His first alternate costume is business attire similar in design to the one he wore in Street Fighter II V; the sleeves are rolled up into cuffs, his boxing gloves are gold and he wears sunglasses. He maintains wearing this outfit in Street Fighter 6 during World Tour and no longer wearing a suit jacket, boxing gloves and sunglasses. His button-up shirt is now indigo and was folded into cuffs and his button-up shirt is partially opened to reveal his chest and does not wear socks while wearing his black dress shoes.

His second costume is somewhat similar to his primary outfit but with a United States flag motif. He wears a white and red striped long sleeve hoodie, blue trousers with white star designs, white sneakers and fingerless gloves.

Name changes

When Street Fighter II was localized for the United States, Capcom wanted to prevent possible lawsuits from Mike Tyson over a character resembling him, whose Japanese name was "Mike Bison." Additionally, Capcom USA's marketing department felt that the name "Vega" did not suit the character to which it was assigned. As a result, the names of three of the four boss characters were rotated as follows:

• The boxer, originally known as M. Bison in Japan, became Balrog in the U.S.
• The Spanish assassin/bullfighter, originally known as Balrog in Japan, became Vega in the U.S.
• The evil dictator and head of Shadaloo, originally known as Vega in Japan, became M. Bison in the U.S.

In some illustrations, including those for the Street Fighter II series, the character's Japanese name "Bison" can be seen on the waistband of his trunks. However, this is usually removed in versions published outside Japan. In later games, the word "Champion" appears on the waistband instead.

Despite the name change, many of the boxer's moves retain a bovine theme.

Mike Tyson only became aware of the character in 2019, during an eSports interview with ESPN, and commented, "I'm really honored with that impersonation of me."^[12] Prior to the revelation, he was seen posing with a Balrog cosplayer in a humorous pose of himself punching his "impersonator" in San Diego Comic-Con 2014.^[13]

Personality

Balrog can be viewed as a "dark mirror image" of Ken Masters. While both are aggressive, egotistical and arrogant, Balrog is also ill-tempered, brutish and sadistic, unlike Ken. Ken matures as time in his life goes by, while Balrog often refuses to take responsibility for his actions. Both have an affinity for women, but while Ken settles down in a happy marriage with one, Balrog prefers to remain a playboy.

He is a belligerent pugilist who possesses an insatiable urge for the love of money and a vicious, bullying and mean streak. Despite his past as a renowned prizefighter, Balrog habitually resorted to cheating in his matches, and unintentionally killed an opponent.

Balrog is also shown to lack leadership skills; when M. Bison was believed to be dead after the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3, the role of leader of the organization fell to him, and it collapsed immediately, which forced him to work security at casinos and other places just to get by. His lack of skill in pursuits other than fighting has been attributed to his unruly and delinquent youth, as his pursuit of strength and dominance in the mean streets of his home city led him to drop out of school.

Contrary to prevailing beliefs, Balrog exhibits a degree of cunning and underlying intelligence, particularly showcased in Street Fighter V. In that game, he is shown to be capable of devising otherwise successful plans for his (and Ed's) own personal gain. There's also the matter of being able to hide the fact that he was raising Ed with no detection after he had been discovered. He has also been shown to have a much more elaborate fighting style than in the previous games. Whereas in the games following up to Street Fighter IV displayed his method as a brutish, "punch hard to win" style of boxing, his moveset in SFV includes a more refined and tactical approach of boxing, not unlike his British adversary. The common misconception of his intelligence is due to his overall recklessness and lack of leadership skills.

His motivations for joining Shadaloo and M. Bison throughout the Street Fighter series have always been to attain massive wealth, fame and glory so he can be on easy street for life. As such, though Balrog would cheat, steal or even kill to this end, he is more greedy for money than actively malicious, and takes little substantial interest in Shadaloo affairs otherwise; he also relates to characters with similar motivations (e.g. C. Viper).

Balrog's unexpected capacity for genuine connections and fellowship finds its sole expression in his relationship with Ed. Despite occasional conflicts and the challenges stemming from Ed's tumultuous upbringing under his care, followed by the latter's departure, Balrog continues to harbor a heartfelt concern for him. This enduring bond serves as a testament to Balrog's depth beyond his abrasive exterior.

Remaining in contact with Ed and occasionally visiting Neo Shadaloo, Balrog's actions raise questions about the nature of his commitment. They could either mean he is nostalgic for some aspects of working with the original Shadaloo, or that he still considers Ed a friend and is trying to look out for him.

Relationships

Due to his loud mouth, cheating ways, and manipulative, cutthroat attitude, Balrog has made many enemies, with virtually no true allies to speak of, except for one.

Enemies

Chun-Li

Despite Balrog having been shown to have an extreme affinity towards women, Chun-Li is a notable exception. Her constant investigation into Shadaloo activity has earned her Balrog's scorn and he is eager to put her out of business whenever given the chance.

Dudley

Dudley is Balrog's boxing rival and his polar opposite. Balrog is loud, corrupt, and a cheater, while Dudley is refined, well-mannered, and a fair fighter. Due to their many differences, they have nothing but contempt towards each other.

Birdie

Originally allies as members of Shadaloo, they became enemies when Balrog was sent to kill Birdie after the latter sought to overthrow Bison and take control of Shadaloo for himself.

Alex

While their exact relationship is unknown, Balrog likely holds a grudge against Alex for defeating him in the Vale Tudo Eternal Fighting finals.

Ryu

It is unknown if Balrog despises Ryu in the canonical Street Fighter games, but in the Street Fighter UDON comic book series, he certainly does. Vega had wanted to confront and battle against Ken alone at the latter’s wedding while Balrog would accompany him as back-up. Balrog had focused his attention on fighting and battling against Ryu. He even tried a new punch on him, saying “he was the sucker he wanted to try his new move on.” In the end, when the police came, Balrog said “that Vega can be pretty goddamn annoying, but he does some good work, doesn’t he?”, which led to Ryu silencing him with a kick.

Zangief

Balrog strongly dislikes Zangief, likely due to the latter being more burly than Balrog himself. During the events of Street Fighter V's A Shadow Falls, in which Balrog faces off against Zangief in India, he calls the Russian wrestler "a big meathead" and told Zangief he could just die before punching him with a Gigaton Blow. However, Zangief unexpectedly manages to push the blow back with his strong defense, much to Balrog's own shock and surprise.

Ibuki

Balrog did not seem to take Ibuki seriously during the events of A Shadow Falls, taunting her more than R. Mika about the Chess Piece. Balrog had also seemed to mock her with his body language as well after the latter had did her best against him in battle. He took R. Mika more seriously when she had countered his Gigaton Blow just like her mentor Zangief.

Allies

Vega

Balrog greatly annoys Vega, a fellow assassin working for Bison, whom he occasionally is partnered up with. Balrog's contempt for Vega is mostly due to his "pretty boy" persona, with Vega's feelings towards Balrog being mutual. Balrog tends to annoy, tease and make fun of Vega whenever he gets the chance. In spite of this however, the two are not seen fighting each other in A Shadow Falls where the two in fact seem to team up, when they try to fight F.A.N.G at one point after he makes them fight soldiers to test their abilities, likely due to their shared hatred for F.A.N.G.

M. Bison

Balrog's personal affiliation with his employer M. Bison is incredibly distant, being mostly financial only: he cares very little for what Bison's schemes involve, and begrudgingly follows his orders as long as he is generously paid. However, he will not hesitate to rejoin Shadaloo once it rises back into business.

F.A.N.G

Balrog despises F.A.N.G for his constant showboating and mockery. F.A.N.G also hates Balrog for his simplistic attitude and considers him a fool.

Ed

Ed is one of the few persons that Balrog seems to have actually cared about beyond their material use to him, although Ed later came to dislike how Balrog viewed him as weak to the point of constantly needing protection.

A falling-out occurs between Ed and Balrog some time after the fall of Shadaloo, as Ed tried to leave Balrog in an attempt to protect him, due to a fortune telling Ed had received from Menat previously. Ed defeats Balrog in a fight and Balrog sits with his back to Ed silently for a while; Ed then calls to Balrog and the latter shouts "Get lost!" in an emotional way, showing that the boxer grew to sincerely like the boy as a person despite initially rescuing him for selfish reasons. Ed then departs and sometime later forms Neo Shadaloo.

Balrog's relationship with Ed were further expanded in Street Fighter 6. While Ed admits that Balrog is not the "ideal" paternal figure and how he can be "rough" at times, he nonetheless still admires Balrog for how he genuinely cared about him as a human being rather than a "test subject" like how he was always treated when he was young. Afterwards, Balrog resumed being in touch with Ed, and continues being an influence on the new sovereign of Neo Shadaloo.

Urien

Urien paid Balrog in exchange for Operation C.H.A.I.N.S. The boxer would then work for him after the fall of Shadaloo, but planned to one day betray him. Balrog is currently unaware of the part Urien played in manipulating him and Shadaloo and causing Bison's eventual demise.

Crossover appearances

Capcom vs. SNK games

Balrog is playable in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, Capcom vs. SNK 2 and SVC Chaos.

Street Fighter X Tekken

In Street Fighter X Tekken, Balrog is sent alongside Vega to retrieve Pandora. The two despise each other, but continue to work as a team, if only in order to obtain Pandora for themselves. Their rivals are Yoshimitsu and Raven, who ambush them during their travels.

Balrog and Vega's ending depicts Balrog attempting to open the box, but the former prize fighter tires of his co-worker's vanity and decides to kill Vega instead for sole possession of the box. Both are taken over by the influence of Pandora, and proceed to attack each other.

After the credits roll, a post-ending explain Balrog's fate.

If the player defeated Ogre with Balrog, it is stated that he won the fight and killed Vega, obtaining Pandora for himself. Balrog then used its powers to finish off his enemies, starting with his former boss M. Bison.

If the player defeated Ogre with Vega, it is stated that Balrog lost the fight against Vega and was killed.

Street Fighter × Mega Man

Balrog is one of the bosses of Street Fighter × Mega Man. He has twice as much health as the other bosses, and will instantly defeat Mega Man on contact. Balrog will constantly use his Violent Buffalo as the screen scrolls to the right, other enemies and obstacles also must be avoided. If Mega Man survives long enough, Balrog will fall into a bottomless pit, allowing him to advance.

Live-action movies

Street Fighter: The Ultimate Battle

In the 1994 live-action film, he was portrayed by Grand L. Bush and who worked as the camera-man in Chun-Li's news-crew. Like the other members (Chun-Li and E. Honda), Balrog held a grudge against Shadaloo for ruining his boxing career. Near the end of the film, he dons his regular outfit from the games (which is purple instead of blue), since he hid it underneath some covering clothes which he disposed of during the Shadaloo fortress assault, he even equipped himself with a pair of red boxing mufflers from the Bison Troopers' training area to complete his attire and punch through anything without injuring his hands.

In this movie, Balrog is a full-sided hero who is on Guile and Chun-Li's side, and Dee Jay is a one-sided villain who is on Sagat and M. Bison's side, swapping roles away from their in-game counterparts.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li

In the film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, Balrog is portrayed by the late Michael Clarke Duncan. His role in Shadaloo as one of Bison's loyal enforcers alongside Vega, remains unchanged.

Street Fighter

Animations

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Balrog's portrayal is close to his original role in the game - dumb-muscle for Bison. Interestingly enough, he does not don his Gloves & Fighting Gear such as his red leather-mufflers and bronze gym-boots when getting into street fights with anyone, particularly E. Honda. He also wears dark green commando pants, instead of his boxer's shorts.

He is voiced by Joe Romersa in the English dub and Joji Nakata in the Japanese version. He first appears in the series as a representative of Shadaloo at a criminal convention in Las Vegas, where he watches a battle between Zangief and Blanka. Later, he accompanies M. Bison to Thailand for the final showdown. While Bison battles Guile and a brainwashed Ken battles Ryu, Balrog battles E. Honda.

Though Balrog has the upper hand initially, repeatedly punching and head butting Honda in quick succession, Honda strikes back with a head butt of his own. The two charge at each other and the impact of their collision causes both of them to hurtle off a cliff side. The rest of their fight is not shown; It is implied that Honda landed on Balrog while they both plummeted, and is seen carrying both the unconscious bodies of Balrog and Guile up the mountainside following Bison's defeat.

Street Fighter: The Animated Series

In the 1995 cartoon, Balrog is not only a boxer, but also a scientist as well (in contrary to his trademark "brainless muscle" stereotype) who programs Shadaloo computers for M. Bison. He makes a single appearance in the episode "The Medium is the Message", in which he creates a false video of the Street Fighters defiling a sacred Hindu temple in India under orders from Bison himself. Although the series borrows several elements from the 1994 movie, Balrog and Dee Jay's alliances were switched during production. He is voiced by Paul Dobson.

Street Fighter II V

In the anime series Street Fighter II V, Balrog, despite not being a boxer, still works for Shadaloo as a spy with the task of infiltrating the police forces in charge of investigating and foiling Shadaloo's criminal activities and reporting such operations directly to M. Bison, while posing aside the law officers as a legitimate Interpol executive. Using this disguise, he tricks Cammy, who in the series works as a mercenary assassin and has no relation with Shadaloo, into assassinating federal Hong Kong police officer and Chun-Li's father Dorai after telling her that he is the supposed drug lord in the Chinese branch of Shadaloo's drug route, but Dorai survives the assassination attempt later on, despite his heavy injuries and falling into an unconscious coma. After fighting Fei Long (who was protecting the still-alive Dorai), Cammy realizes she has been deceived by Balrog and attacks him the same way she did to Dorai, but without killing him. Cammy then quits the job and hands the badly injured Balrog over to Fei Long and the local authorities.

Comics

Others

Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

In Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game, it is stated that Mr. Ray has been Balrog's manager from his pro-boxing days to his time with the Street Fighter Circuit. Also, Balrog is training Samson Jr., the son of an old friend from the streets.^[14]

Fan film

Balrog is the focus of the short documentary fan film, Balrog: Behind the Glory, which debuted on Evolution 2011 Championships. The short film was produced by Chubby Boy Films.

The film depicts the brief history of Balrog, his childhood story of being bullied and fighting against the bullies, his training from his father who also once boxed, his winning success in his boxing career and popularity in the media, his marriage and divorce with a supermodel, how he was being taken advantage of managers and business due to his greed, his controversial headbutt that killed a boxer, thus resulting into a disqualification-ban in boxing and arrest, his path into Mad Gear and Shadaloo, his name switch from Mike Bison to Balrog, and what has happened to him afterwards. The documentary interviewed Balrog's father Greg Bison, a book author Micah Shultz who wrote about the rise and fall of Shadaloo, and former Trainer Tim Tashun.

Gameplay

Fighting style

As boxers, Balrog, Ed (SF6), and Dudley are the only characters in the Street Fighter series whose movesets are almost entirely comprised of arm-based moves (punches, elbows etc.), since kicks are illegal in boxing, although Balrog has no qualms about violating the rules of boxing both in and out of the ring in other ways. His moveset usually includes a headbutt, and during his second Ultra Combo in Super Street Fighter IV known as Dirty Bull, he grabs and headbutts the opponent, then stomps on their foot - the first time he used his foot at all in the games - and finally nails them with a powerful elbow shot.

Moveset

Despite being an undisciplined boxer, Balrog is strong. He relies on punching speed and raw strength, giving him strong normal attacks. A large portion of his moveset is composed of several variations of dashing punches, including his Super Combos, but he also uses uppercuts, low-sweep attacks, smash blows and overhead swings, which can keep the opponent guessing if used well. Unlike most characters, Balrog did not have any unique attacks until his appearance in Street Fighter V. Many new moves introduced for him introduces evident utilization of tactics, showing that he has strategical skills.

In Street Fighter V, Balrog gains more unrefined boxing moves which serve as a contrast to Dudley's special moves. His V-Skill is the KKB; he is able to twirl his body while moving forward, deflecting projectiles and making string combos together against his opponents. His V-Trigger is named the Crazy Rush; once its activated, it allows him to do a varying combo utilizing both his Charging Buffalo and Bursting Buffalo moves. His Critical Art is the Gigaton Blow; he unleashes a destructive straight punch to his opponent. Balrog also has a new unique attack called Stomping Combo, a crouching punch followed by a stomp, the second time he has attacked with his feet.

Stage themes

Videos

See also

• Balrog's moves in the Street Fighter II series
• Balrog's moves in Super Street Fighter II Turbo: HD Remix
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter: The Movie (the arcade version)
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter: The Movie (the console version)
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter Alpha 3
• Balrog's moves in Capcom vs. SNK 2
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter IV
• Balrog's moves in Super Street Fighter IV
• Balrog's moves in Ultra Street Fighter IV
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter X Tekken
• Balrog's moves in Street Fighter V

References