M. Bison

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M. Bison
M. Bison from Capcom vs. SNK 2, by Shinkiro
Game series	Street Fighter series
First game	Street Fighter II
Voice actor(s)	Tomomichi Nishimura; Norio Wakamoto (SNK vs. series)
In-Universe Information
Birthplace	Unknown
Blood type	A
Fighting style	Psycho Powers
Likes	World domination
Dislikes	Useless soldiers
Special skill	Mind control
Affiliation	Shadaloo

For the Street Fighter character known as M. Bison in Japan, see Balrog (Street Fighter).

M. Bison, known in Japan as Vega (ベガ, Bega^?), is one of the primary bosses of the Street Fighter fighting game series.

1 Character history
2 Appearance
3 Shin M. Bison
4 Actors
- 4.1 1994 film
- 4.2 Animated movie
5 Name change
6 Video Game Appearances
- 6.1 As a fighter
- 6.2 Not as a fighter
7 Sources
8 External links

[edit] Character history

Bison's original body as seen in the Street Fighter Alpha series.

Little is known about Bison's youth and his early years, even as to when he was born (most game manuals list his birth year as unknown), but he appears to be in his late 30's to mid 40's although he could be much older. His first appearance, chronologically speaking, was in Street Fighter Alpha, as the head of an elusive criminal and military organization known as Shadaloo. Along with his aspirations for world conquest, Bison had been working on perfecting a lethal and deadly energy that would exponentially increase his fighting ability, an inherently evil energy he refers to as "psycho power". During the events of Street Fighter Alpha, Shadaloo came to the attention of Interpol, and the latter organization sent Chun-Li (an operative with a personal vendetta against the crime lord, who had killed her father) to thwart Bison's plans. Chun-Li and Bison eventually confronted each other and battled. Bison defeated Chun-Li and then escaped on his helicopter while mocking her and promising to kill her in the same manner he killed her father if she confronts him again. During the events of Alpha or Alpha 2, Bison also came into conflict with Rose, a mysterious woman who wielded soul power, the opposite of Bison's psycho power. This fact and the fact that her quest was to stop any and all of Bison's evil plans indicate the intricate connection between the two, and would later be revealed in Street Fighter Alpha 3.

Most likely during the events of Street Fighter Alpha 2, the psycho power began exceeding the limits of his body. Having predicted this event, Bison had his scientists engineer a body that he could transfer his essence to, but that body, Cammy, escaped from Shadaloo's conditioning. Bison then turned his sights to Ryu, one of the most powerful fighters in the world, and the personal nemesis of Bison's former underling, Sagat. Bison defeated and captured Ryu and subjected him to intense psychological conditioning; when Sagat objected, Bison turned Ryu on him, telling him he could finally have his rematch. While Sagat battled Ryu, Ryu's friends Ken and Sakura fought Bison. With Sagat's urging, Ryu comes to his senses and forces Bison to retreat to the Psycho Drive, which restored his power. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, USAF officers Charlie and Guile on a mission to stop the dictator from using his new creation, a satellite (featured in Street Fighter Alpha 3), which can enhance his psycho drive abilities. Guile and Charlie are joined by Chun-Li, and the three of them battle Bison. In order to take down Shadaloo's leader, Charlie keeps fighting him while the base is set to explode, and eventually sacrifices his own life. Bison's soul, however, ended up surviving the explosion and took control of Rose. It is revealed that, while trying to master psycho power, Bison had to expel all the humanity and good in his soul to accommodate and supplant the intense energy the power gives him, and that Rose is actually the formation of all of Bison's good energy. He stayed inside of Rose's body until his Shadaloo scientists could forge a new body for him, the body seen in Street Fighter II. This body, however, was much weaker, since, having inhabited his "good side's" soul for a period of time, he retained both his good and evil energies as he transferred to his new body, thus making his psycho power considerably less effective.

Bison held the second Street Fighter tournament to get revenge against the people who had destroyed the Psycho Drive. His new body was much weaker than the previous, but he was still very powerful. In the end, he was destroyed by Akuma, who killed him with the Shun Goku Satsu and sent his soul to hell to be destroyed. Bison was not heard of in Street Fighter III, and according to Chun-Li's ending in that game, Shadoloo had been destroyed between Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III.

[edit] Appearance

His general attire consists of a red military uniform with large silver shoulder plates, wrist bands, and shin guards; on his cap is the skull insignia of his crime syndicate known as Shadoloo (sometimes referred to as Shadowlaw or Shadowloo). Bison's eyes lack both pupils and irises (exception in "Street Fighter II"), leaving them a ghastly white color. He sports a dark colored cape in the Alpha series, in which he appears with his original body. In Street Fighter II and the Capcom vs SNK series, he appears with a much slimmer body, and removes his cape before battle.

[edit] Shin M. Bison

Shin M. Bison is an alternate version of M. Bison with more powerful abilities, fewer weaknesses, and often a different costume. Much like Shin Akuma, this modified version of the character is meant to portray Bison when he chooses to unleash the true depths of his power. The only canon appearance of Shin M. Bison takes place in Street Fighter Alpha 3 (often referred to as Final M. Bison) but he has also appeared in both Street Fighter EX2 Plus (referred to as Bison II), and Street Fighter EX3 as a secret, computer-only boss character.

When fighting in this more powerful form, Bison’s abilities differ from game to game. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, his fierce punch attacks send out a wave of energy and his psycho crusher super combo fills the entire screen with a devastating streak of blue flames.

In Street Fighter EX 2 Plus and Street Fighter EX 3, Shin M. Bison appears with pale, indigo-tinted skin and a white uniform. In both of these games, he has an infinite amount of SC energy, the ability to cancel most of his moves, and three greatly improved psycho cannon projectile attacks.

Shin M. Bison also tends to be far more aggressive than his normal counterpart in all the titles he appears in, and likes to make frequent use of his teleporting ability.

[edit] Actors

[edit] 1994 film

The late Raúl Juliá potrayed M. Bison for the 1994 film adaption of Street Fighter.

In Street Fighter, "General" M. Bison was played by Raúl Juliá, who died shortly before the movie's release. The film is consequently dedicated to him with the text "For Raul: Vaya Con Dios" appearing before the rolling credits. At one point during the movie, Juliá quotes the game with the line "Anyone who opposes me shall be destroyed," after Van Damme quotes the game with the line "Are you man enough to fight with me?" In this incarnation, he was an insane dictator who sought to create the "perfect soldier" in order to dominate the world.

Towards the end of the film as he fights Guile, Bison says "You come to fight a madman, and instead find a god? Do you still refuse to accept my godhood? Keep your own God! In fact, now may be a good time to pray to Him! For I beheld Satan as he fell from Heaven LIKE LIGHTNING!" Whether the script writer knew this or not (although it is included in the comic book adaptation), the end ultimately derives from Luke Chapter Ten Verse 18, which, according to the King James version of the Bible, reads, "And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." In the context of the film, this has two possible interpretations. As it was Jesus Christ that spoke that verse, Bison, not unlike Hitler, might imagine himself a Messiah, albeit an evil one. That is supported by the fact that earlier Bison spoke of fighting for good by bringing the world into "the loving grip of the Pax Bisonica." The second interpretation is that Bison believes himself to be an Anti-Christ figure, knowingly and deliberately doing evil for evil's sake. This is supported by the fact that, at that moment, Bison was renouncing God and seemingly lauding the Devil. It should also be noted in support of the latter, that Bison was shooting Guile with lightning like electrical powers as he was proclaiming his "godhood."

Although the movie sypnosis states Bison to be Russian, Juliá used a perfect English accent for the role.

[edit] Animated movie

In Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, Bison's voice was provided by Takeshi Kusaka in the original Japanese version and by Tom Wyner in the English dub. In the Street Fighter Alpha and Marvel vs. Capcom series as well as Namco x Capcom, M. Bison was voiced by Tomomichi Nishimura, who also voiced Akuma. In the SNK vs. series and Capcom Fighting Evolution M. Bison was voiced by Norio Wakamoto.

[edit] Name change

When Street Fighter II was localized in America, Capcom was afraid of a lawsuit from Mike Tyson over a character with his likeness and a similar sounding name (Mike Bison). Additionally, when the designers presented the game to Capcom USA's marketing department, they believed that the name Vega was a weakling's name.[1] They decided to rotate the names of three of the four boss characters in the following manner:

The African-American boxer known as M. Bison in Japan was changed to Balrog elsewhere.

The Spanish assassin/bullfighter known as Balrog in Japan was changed to Vega elsewhere.

The evil dictator and head of Shadaloo known as Vega in Japan was changed to M. Bison elsewhere.

[edit] Video Game Appearances

[edit] As a fighter

Street Fighter II (1991) - unplayable character
Street Fighter II': Champion Edition - (1992)
Street Fighter II' Turbo: Hyper Fighting - (1992)
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers - (1993)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994)
Street Fighter: The Movie (1995)
Street Fighter Alpha (1995) - secret character
Street Fighter Alpha 2 (1996)
Street Fighter EX (1996) - secret character
X-Men vs. Street Fighter (1996) - normal character
Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter (1997) - normal character
Marvel vs. Capcom (1997) - cameo appearances in several character's endings
Street Fighter EX Plus (1997) - secret character
Street Fighter Alpha 3 (1998) - normal and secret characters. His stronger incarnation which only the CPU has access to sports a screen-filling Psycho Crusher that can't be avoided under any circumstances except by teleportation moves.
Street Fighter EX 2 Plus (1998) - two versions of the character exist: Bison (playable) and "Bison II" (CPU Only - secret boss character)
SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium (1999) - secret character
Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 (2000)
Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (2000) - unlockable character
Street Fighter EX 3 (2000) - three versions of Bison exist, normal (playable) "Bison II" (secret) and "Shin Bison" (unplayable)
Capcom vs. SNK Pro (2001)
Capcom vs. SNK 2 (2001) - normal character
SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom (2004) - normal character
Capcom Fighting Evolution (2004) - normal character

[edit] Not as a fighter

SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999)
SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters 2 Expand Edition (2001)
Namco x Capcom (2005)

[edit] Sources

The Street Fighter video game series and related video games
Arcade Flyers concerning the Street Fighter series; many can be found at ArcadeFlyers.com
Instruction booklets from the home versions of the Street Fighter video game series
Studio Ben (ed.) 2000. All About Capcom Fighting Games 1987-2000. Japan: Denpa Shinbunsha. ISBN 4-88554-676-1, This book contains official statements by Capcom about plot details not included in the games themselves.
Tiamat's Street Fighter guide: Contains translated information found in various official Japanese language Capcom sources, such as All About Street Fighter Zero 3, Eiga Street Fighter II Memorial Koushiki Fanbook ISBN 4-09-102491-2 , Official Street Fighter Zero 3 Guidebook, Street Fighter 3: New Generation Bible, Street Fighter Eternal Challenge.