Sheng Long

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Sheng Long is a nonexistent character in the Street Fighter series, created by Electronic Gaming Monthly as an April Fool's gag. The name Sheng Long comes from a mistranslation of the "shō ryū" (昇龍 rising dragon) of Ryu's Shōryūken (昇龍拳) into Chinese pinyin-- "shēng lóng."

Ryu's win quote in the English localization of the arcade version of Street Fighter II was "You must defeat Sheng Long to stand a chance." At the time, players thought that Sheng Long referred to a person (the supposed master of Ryu and Ken), instead of simply being the name of one of Ryu's techniques (the Shoryuken). Some console versions of the game offered a less ambiguous translation: "You must defeat my Dragon Punch to stand a chance", although the English localization still made reference to him as Ryu and Ken's master in the instruction manual.

Sheng Long appeared as an April Fool's joke on April 1992 issue of the video game magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. The fake reporter, named W.A. Stokins (Waste Tokens) of Fuldigan, HA (Fooled Again, HA - as in haha,) claimed that he could be found if the player (only as Ryu) did not suffer any damage during the entire game; then, once he reached M. Bison (the final boss of Street Fighter II), he had neither to touch him nor let him inflict any damage until the time limit expires, thus ending the fight in a draw. This had to be repeated for ten consecutive rounds with Bison (from Street Fighter II': Champion Edition and onward, the numbers of maximum rounds was reduced to four only, with the fourth round ocurring only after a Double KO or a Draw Game). Sheng Long would then come out of nowhere and throw Bison off of the screen and out of the way, and the clock would stick at 99 seconds, resulting in a "fight to the death."

Sheng Long was supposed to have the special moves of all the fighters (including Chun-Li's Spinning Bird Kick), but did much more damage and was also faster, and his Dragon Punch was "revealed" to consume his fist in flames to show his greater power. To make him more believable, fake screenshots were made. Many fans thought this was true, and flocked to Street Fighter II machines hoping to find him.^{[citation needed]} When asked whether or not Sheng Long was a real character, Capcom neither confirmed nor denied it, as he was making Street Fighter II even more popular. Capcom USA was taken in by the gag, and actually called Capcom of Japan to ask if Sheng Long was a legitimate character^{[citation needed]}. EGM later revealed that Sheng Long was a hoax.

EGM's April Fools joke became an international sensation when questionable publications from Europe and Hong Kong reprinted the trick without EGM's permission, to which EGM replied, "That should teach them to reprint our material without permission."

Due to their similarities, it is believed that the Sheng Long gag inspired the creation of Akuma, a hidden character in Super Street Fighter II Turbo, although Capcom has never officially confirmed nor denied this. To find him, players had to reach the final stage on a single credit (no continues). Akuma would then jump in and kill Bison. The player then had to fight him instead. Like the hoax, Akuma had the same moves as Ken and Ryu, but is faster and does more damage. Furthermore, Sheng Long's appearance and abilities in the original hoax were subsequently transferred officially to Ken, who gained a Flaming Dragon Punch in Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers.

However, this wasn't the end of Sheng Long. EGM perpetuated the hoax again by claiming that he was in Street Fighter III. But this time, they didn't finish their explanation of how to reach him: "To reach him, you will need at least six perfects and..." were the last words of the article (EGM #93, April 1997).

[edit] Trivia

• The creators of the short lived Street Fighter comic, published by Malibu Comics, used Sheng Long as Ryu and Ken's master. This was also added into Akuma's ending in Street Fighter: The Movie, adding that Akuma was his brother. The actual teacher of Ryu and Ken and brother to Akuma in the official canon is Gouken.
• A blurb suggesting readers to look for the April Fool's joke in the issue of EGM was placed on the same page as the Sheng Long trick. Despite this, many didn't catch on to the gag.

[edit] See also

• Akuma
• Ryu
• Ken Masters

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