Udon's SF2 Tournament Interview: Round 2

Nabil says:

Dear readers, i am here with Matt Moylan from Udon for our second discussion about the events of the Street Fighter II Tournament as told by the brilliant minds at Udon.

Nabil says:

Thank you Matt for this opportunity

Matt Moylan says:

Thanks sir!

Matt Moylan says:

Glad to talk some more SF.

Nabil says:

Issue #8 came out last month and it marked the start of the tournament. but before we tackle the tournament itself, let's talk about an important moment, one that was unoticed by many readers: Ryu and Chun-li finally met each other for the first time.

Nabil says:

what took you guys so long to bring these 2 iconic characters together

Matt Moylan says:

Well in the comics and even in the SF games, even though they are the heores of the properties Ryu and Chun-li's have never been too directly related.

Ryu's on a quest to conquer his inner demons (ie: to overcome the Dark Hadou withing him), avenge his master Gouken's death at the hands of Akuma, and also learn what it means to be a true warrior

meanwhile Chun-li is out to take down M.Bison and Shadaloo, not only because it's her job, but also because they are responsible for the death of her father

So, we played things down a bit with a simple handshake meeting but, this definitely won't be the last time the two cross paths

Nabil says:

Can expect them to fight side by side in the near future ?

Matt Moylan says:

Quite possible in a future sereis yes

Nabil says:

Let's talk about the tournament itself. Issue 8 provided us with 4 major fights: T-hawk vs Cammy, Dhalsim vs Dee Jay, Guile vs Blanka, and Ken vs Zangief. What can you tell us about some or all of these fights and what went behind the scenes at studio Udons regarding how these fights should go and wat moves needs to be portrayed

Matt Moylan says:

Well, as I've said before some matchups are set up to move the plot ahead and some are jsut characters we want to see square off!

T.Hawk and Cammy is a great matchup because they had recently become friends in our previous SFII series. when we showed this match the first time ina flash forward at the beginning of the series, it wasn't yet revealed that Cammy had regained her individuality. So it was a bit of a trick to keep fans guessing where we were going.

Dhalsim VS Deejay was short, but we also needed to establish hwo Dhalsim might throw a wrench in some of Bison's plans.

Guile VS Blanka is a match I really liked personally, since Blanka is one of my fav characters visually. UDON hasn't used him much, so I'm glad writer Ken Siu-Chong gave him one of the longer fights this issue. Too bad he lost though!

Then finally Ken VS Zangief, in a classic US VS Russia match. This matchup always works great between the smart-mouthed Ken and the easily angered Zangief.

As for which moves are used in each match, that's all the work of Ken Siu-Chong. He's the walking encyclopedia of SF moves, and even refers to them by name and buttons int he script. eg: Hadoken (QCF +P)

Nabil says:

haha awesome. That i did not know.

The Ken vs Zangied was one of my favourites as now we understand why in the Street Fighter IV game zangief says in his winning quote that he hates hadokens

Matt Moylan says:

haha yes

Nabil says:

As for Dhalsim, i am sure i am not the only one who is surprised to see him in an important role. Pretty much all other SF media, wether it anime or manga, protray Dhalsim as a secondary character with a single Cameo if at all.

Matt Moylan says:

I think he has always had a lot of untapped potential. In our story, Dhalsim has played a big part in both Ryu and Sagat's evolution as characters and as fighters. He's a great 'wise-man' type character, and probably belongs more on the level of Gouken & Gen than the regular fighters. Also his interest int eh tournament is purely to gain knowledge, not neccessarily to win, so he's unique in the competition.

Nabil says:

Glad to hear that

Nabil says:

While browsing some forums, i saw few people who were unhappy by the way Blanka and Deejay were portrayed in the comic since they did not get enough exposure. While i now it is impossible to flesh out every single Street Fighter Character, will these 2 sf2 characters apeear in the future of the series or was this the last time we are seeing them since udon will be tackling Street Fighter 3 next?

Matt Moylan says:

To be fair Deejay did get a bit of screen time in a short story where he fought Cammy/Killer Bee. But yes, of the original SFII cast they have had the least focus. However, we do hava plans for both of them in our next series. When we bring in the SF3 cast, we are defiitely not losing the SFII crew.

Nabil says:

This really great news. So there you have it Dee jay and Blanka fans Udon is going to please you, just be patient

Nabil says:

Matt thank you very much for this very informative discussion. I am sure i am not the only one who cannot wait for Issue #9 hitting store shelves in October. Until we meet again for another round of SF tournament discussion, i Thank you Matt for your time and for being here telling us more about ou favourite comic book series.

Matt Moylan says:

No problem, it's alwasy a fun time at the SF Blog