Bruce Lee in Video Games, the Blogpost! Part 2 - The 90's

 

Welcome back to Heroes Three! Today we're continuing our look at Bruce Lee in video games by focusing on the 1990's and beyond. No audio this time but make sure to check out our podcast episode this feature is a companion to.

Bruce Lee in Video Games, the Podcast!

Bruce Lee in Video Games, the Blogpost! 

Part 2 - The 90's

Last post we looked back at the some pretty foundational video games. Without games like Kung-Fu or Double Dragon the world of interactive media today would look very different. In the 90's we saw a new era of games emerge. Arcades were riding a wave of popularity, and with that came the success of fighting games. Naturally, the legend of Bruce Lee would find its way into many of these interactive martial arts tournaments. Put your quarter up and wait for your turn while we take a look at more Bruce Lee analogues in video games!

1992 - Mortal Kombat - Midway

It's no secret that Mortal Kombat was heavily influenced by so many of the Hong Kong films that we love here at Heroes Three. A fantastic setting with one foot in Enter the Dragon and one foot in Big Trouble in Little China, Ed Boon and John Tobias wore their influences on their sleeves with MK. Among the handful of Asian cinema tropes, of course there would be a Bruce Lee.

Enter...Liu Kang. Shaolin Monk and defender of the Earth Realm, Liu Kang is defintely modeled after Bruce Lee. Here's what MK co-creator John Tobias had to say about Liu Kang.

This was a big deal to me because Liu Kang was inspired by Gordon Liu and Bruce Lee... the Asian martial arts action stars of my childhood. They were my heroes and I wanted us to share that with our players... (8/13)

— John Tobias (@therealsaibot) April 1, 2021

 The fun thing about MK is that they used real actors and then digitized them, creating a more realistic look at the time, and helping the game stand out in arcades. Ho-Sung Pak was cast to play Liu Kang in MK1 and MK2. He also has some action cinema chops. He had a role in Jackie's Drunken Master II, and was a stunt coordinator for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze where he also doubled for Raphael there, and in its follow up TMNT III.

Ho-Sung Pak posing alongside Daniel Pesina as Sub Zero for Mortal Kombat II 

L to R: Richard Divizio, Ho-Sung Pak, and Daniel Pesina

Ho-Sung Pak in Drunken Master II

Chatting with Pat Johnson about up coming fight scene pic.twitter.com/a6z1Q61PHH

— Daniel Pesina (@masterpesina) February 23, 2017

 

1992 - World Heroes - ADK with SNK

World Heroes was part of the first wave of fighting games to jump on the bandwagon after the success of Street Fighter II. Developed by ADK with assistance by SNK, the premise of this game is that a Doctor Brown has used a time machine to bring fighters together from different eras. Great Scott! That's all the depth I need to have fun hitting some buttons.

Kim Dragon fills our required Bruce Lee role for this article. He's pretty straight forward, with some stylish kicks and fun vocalizations.

Dragon Fang Kick!

Dragon's Super Finish!

Pretty easy to see the influence here!

1993 - Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers - Capcom

For Super Street Fighter II Capcom added four more characters, expanding from the previous 12. Included in this bunch is Fei Long, a martial arts movie star from Hong Kong. Familiar, of course, but I am biased in saying that this depiction of Bruce Lee is among my favorites. Capcom's design team knocked it out of the park, and the images really speak for themselves.

Fei Long by Bengus

Fei Long by Daigo Ikeno

Fei Long by Kinu Nishimura

Fei Long's Shien Kyaku!

Finishing your opponent off with his super, Rekka Shinken, always feels great!

Everything you need to start playing Fei Long in Super Turbo can be found here. He moves fast, his posing is great, he has those iconic Bruce Lee sounds too. He's also appeared in a couple other Street Fighter iterations.

Street Fighter Alpha/Zero 3 (home version)

Street Fighter IV

In Street Fighter IV there are alternate outfits you can purchase and they used these options to really drive home Fei Long's influence.

Sunday best stylin'

Sparring outfit from Enter the Dragon

Kato inspired

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie

Fei Long was featured in a small scene in this animated feature released right around his debut in the game. He and Ryu have it out and it's honestly one of my favorite scenes in the film. Another fun fact you'll see is that Bryan Cranston voices Fei Long in the English dubbed version. He did a handful of anime voice roles early in his career.

Street Fighter

Fei Long is noticeably absent from the Jean-Claude Van Damme silver screen adaption, and I'm willing to bet it was for the reason he is listed in this blogpost. He was going to be added to the video game version, Street Fighter the Movie the Game(so glad I got to type that), played by Kenya Sawada who was also in the film, but due to time constraints that didn't happen.

Fei missed out on class photo day

Obligatory Benny the Jet Street Fighter behind the scenes photos!

Looks like this keeps getting longer and longer, so I think this will do for this post. Next post, we will continue punching our way through the 90's and break into the third dimension! See you then!