Guile (Street Fighter)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article does not cite any references or sources. (December 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
| Guile | |
|---|---|
 Guile in Street Fighter IV by Daigo Ikeno |
|
| Game series | Street Fighter series |
| First game | Street Fighter II |
| Voiced by (English) | Kirk Thornton (Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) Michael Donovan (TV series) |
| Voiced by (Japanese) | Tesshō Genda (Street Fighter EX series, Street Fighter II V) Toshihide Tsuchiya (Street Fighter Alpha 3, Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes) Kōichi Yamadera (SNK vs. Capcom series) Unshō Ishizuka (Capcom Fighting Evolution) Takenosuke Nishikawa (SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom) Masane Tsukayama (Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie) Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese dub of the live-action Street Fighter film) Norio Wakamoto (Street Fighter II Mad Revenger drama CD) |
| Live action actor(s) | Jean-Claude Van Damme (Street Fighter film) |
| Information | |
| Birthplace |  United States of America |
| Fighting style | Special Forces Military Training |
| Likes | American Coffee |
| Dislikes | Natto (Fermented soybeans) that Ryu forced him to try |
| Special skill | Sonic Boom |
| Affiliation | United States Air Force Major |
Guile (ガイル Gairu?) is a video game character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games. Although his role in the Street Fighter story is minimal, he is considered the third leading male character in the series, after Ryu and Ken, largely due to his effectiveness as a character and his popularity.[citation needed] In the live action Street Fighter movie, Guile is given the full name of William F. Guile with the military rank of colonel, although Capcom did not canonize it. However, the name was also used in the US Street Fighter cartoon. In the Udon Street Fighter comic book, Guile is the character's first name.
Although Guile holds the rank of lieutenant in the United States Air Force, it has never been mentioned whether Guile is a first lieutenant or second lieutenant, unlike Guile's friend Charlie, who is confirmed to be a first lieutenant. The United States Air Force has two lieutenant ranks and a serviceman or servicewoman who holds either rank can be a pilot.
Contents |
[edit] Story
When Guile was a lieutenant in the United States Air Force, he befriended his superior officer, Charlie and asked Charlie to teach him in his unique form of fighting, which Charlie agreed to do. Guile learned the style, but his hot temper caused him to be not as proficient in the moves as Charlie was (shown in how Charlie can shoot Sonic Booms with just one hand while Guile needs both, also Charlie's Somersault kick hits twice vs Guile's once).
In Street Fighter continuity, Guile was not introduced to the series until the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3, when he was sent by the United States Air Force to look for his senior teammate and best friend Charlie, who had gone missing during a secret investigation. Guile's search eventually led him to Interpol investigator Chun-Li, who warned him not to follow Charlie due to the danger involved. Guile demonstrated his fighting ability, and assured Chun-Li that he would not let their friend come to harm. He eventually found the Shadaloo base in Thailand along with the missing Charlie. The sinister and powerful M. Bison appeared and attacked the two soldiers, daring them to follow him inside his Shadaloo base. As Chun-Li investigated another area, Charlie and Guile began to set explosives around their mission objective: Bison's source of power, the Psycho Drive. However, Bison surprised them, and a fight ensued. Charlie convinced Guile to escape while he held Bison off, so Guile took Chun-Li and escaped, right before the base exploded, with Charlie and Bison caught in the blast. Standing on the top of a mountain, Guile says he will always believe in Charlie's memory.
Holding Bison responsible for the death of his best friend, he seemingly dedicated his whole life to exacting revenge on Bison, who had by then somehow survived the explosion. A court case against the Shadaloo dictator failed when Bison bribed all the judges to let him go free. By this time, Bison wanted revenge on Guile, Chun-Li, and many other people who had hindered his syndicate's efforts. To this end, he set up the second World Warrior tournament to trap them.
Although the circumstances on how Guile approached Bison remains unclear and debatable, he managed to corner Bison and asked him if he remembered him or his friend Charlie. While Guile threatens the defeated Bison with the intent to kill him, he is stopped by his family.
[edit] Family
Guile has a wife, Julia, and daughter, Amy, who appear and urge him not to kill the psychotic dictator, claiming that such behavior could destroy him. They tell him that the past is in the past and that he does not have to pursue his life of revenge. Realizing they are correct, he abandons his pursuit of Bison and retires happily to be with his family. Also, Julia and Eliza are actually sisters, making Ken and Guile brothers-in-law. However, this is not often discussed because Guile does not think very highly of Ken, believing him to be a spoiled rich kid.
[edit] Appearance
Early Street Fighter II sketches and notes suggest that Guile was developed specifically to appeal to American fans.[1] His physical appearance is strikingly different from the many Asian characters in the Street Fighter series, with light blue eyes, a chiseled jaw, and a particularly tall flattop haircut. The length of Guile's hair varies greatly from appearance to appearance. It is relatively realistic in Street Fighter II, and impossibly tall in SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom. Capcom sourcebooks suggest that Guile's famous hairdo is styled with a special-order army hair spray to keep it up (though he ends up fixing it quickly after a match).[citation needed]
Another way Guile's image differs from the Asian combatants in the series is his Flag of the United States tattoos. Currently, he has one on each deltoid, which is a retcon from the initial one he had in Street Fighter II artwork (due to sprites in most videogames being forced to be symmetrical). Finally, Guile's Military fatigues complete his all-American look.
Guile wears Charlie's dog tag alongside his own, as he searches for Bison.
[edit] Stage
In all versions of Street Fighter II Guile's stage is set on a United States Air Force airbase with an F-16 fighter jet in the background and a large, smashable wooden crate on either side. It is assumed the developers designed the stage this way to reinforce the fact that Guile is in the United States Air Force and not in the United States Army Aviation Branch of the United States Army. The F-16 was chosen in particular due to the real-life presence of F-16s on USAF airbases in Japan therefore making it one of the most recognized planes in Japan.[citation needed]
[edit] Gameplay
Guile is generally considered a top tier character in the Street Fighter series, and in some games he is considered the most dangerous character to use (Particularly in the original Street Fighter II where most players considered him to be wildly overbalanced, even more so than Ryu and Ken). While he has been toned down somewhat since his initial appearance, Guile is still considered one of the more powerful characters.[citation needed] Guile's special moves are activated using the 'charge' style of gameplay, where a player holds the joystick in one particular defensive direction for 2 seconds, before moving it in the opposite direction and pressing an attack button. This type of gameplay can potentially make Guile a defensive character, but because of the minimal lag after his Sonic Boom, he can follow it and use his various forward-moving attacks to pressure the enemy, which makes him offensively very powerful as well. Since his moves can be charged at any time (even while on the floor, or dizzied), a skillful player can move about the playfield while still preparing special moves to attack with. A particular conceit of the CPU AI from the Street Fighter games is that when controlled by the computer, Guile sometimes uses special moves in ways that would not be normally possible, like performing a somersault kick while walking forward, or from an idle position.
[edit] Techniques
Guile's two primary special moves are the "Sonic Boom", a projectile-based attack, and the "Somersault Kick" (also known as the "Flash Kick"), an anti-air attack. Both moves require holding the joystick in a direction for a few seconds. Throughout the series, these have been Guile's main special attacks. Unlike every other character since Street Fighter II, Guile has never been given a new special move and, in some game appearances, he has been known to have more Super Combos than special moves. His original Super Combo, the "Somersault Strike" is basically two or three somersault kicks performed in rapid succession. The "Sonic Hurricane" is not a projectile but rather, when executed, a spinning burst of energy surrounds Guile. If it connects, it traps the opponent and does multiple hits. In the Capcom vs. SNK series he gained another Super Move called "Total Wipeout" which allows him to do consecutive punches that end with a final Backhand punch that knocks the opponent away. This move is similar to a super move he had in the Street Fighter EX series called "Opening Gambit", which also features consecutive punches but ends with a modified side Somersault kick instead of a backhand.
[edit] In other media
[edit] Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Guile is one of the main characters in Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, where he is voiced by Masane Tsukayama in the Japanese original and by Kirk Thornton (credited as Donald Lee) in the English dub. Guile is assigned to work together with Chun-Li in order to take down M. Bison, whose organization Shadaloo (Shadowlaw in the English dub) has been kidnapping several martial artists and brainwashing them to do his evil bidding. The movie follows Guile's plot from the video game in Guile is tracking down Bison to avenge his friend's death. Eventually Guile does fight Bison near the end of the movie, although all he manages to do is damage his cape with a Sonic Boom. Bison then finishes the fight by blasting Guile down a chasm and then leaving him to die alone, although Guile survives this, and is rescued along with Balrog by E. Honda.
[edit] Street Fighter II V
Guile appears in the Street Fighter II V anime series, where he is voiced by Tesshō Genda in the Japanese original and once again by Kirk Thornton in the English dub. In this TV series, Guile is just a regular soldier, who spends most of his time training physically and who has great pride in the U.S. Air Force. He faces Ryu in a bar fight after Ryu and Ken beat up some of his men. Guile easily defeats Ryu, only to face Ken, who challenges him in an air force base to avenge Ryu. Ken is also badly defeated, which motivates the duo to start a training journey and improve their martial art skills by challenging opponents around the world. Later in the series, Guile is recruited by Ken's father along with his friend Nash (who retains his Japanese name in the dub) when Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li are taken captive by Shadaloo. He faces Zangief while infiltrating Bison's base, while Nash confronts Bison himself. He is unable to face Bison, but manages to rescue Chun-Li from her brainwashing.
[edit] Live-action film
In the 1994 live-action Street Fighter film, Guile is is played by Belgian actor Jean Claude Van Damme and is the lead character. Van Damme's line in the movie "Are you man enough to fight with me?" is straight from the game. His character is given the rank of Colonel. In this live adaption, Guile is commanding the A.N. forces as he searches for General M. Bison. His motivation for searching for Bison is not to avenge Charlie's death (Charlie is alive throughout the film and gets turned into Blanka by Bison's scientists), but to end Bison's corrupt organization. He is the one who ultimately defeats Bison. Van Damme's hair is spiked and red in the film whilst the game Guile has big blonde hair, even though the character was American, Van Damme's thick European accent was notable.
[edit] Street Fighter TV series
The 1995 Street Fighter animated series continued to use the movie's continuity, but also adapted aspects of the video games. Guile returns to his more traditional Capcom look, but remained a Colonel. Blanka remains his best friend, whilst a former female love interest, an exclusive character called Cyndy, appears several times. In this series, Guile continues to use the Street Fighters who aided him in the movie against Bison's legions, but also makes use of other characters not seen in the movie or underused, his goal very much remaining to take down Bison and end his terrorist actions. His Sonic Booms also become a more frequent weapon, being used in often ludicrous ways (like opening a hole in a wall of fire to pass through, and to defuse a ticking time bomb). In the series finale, Guile leads Chun-Li, Cammy, her former team, and Sagat against the insane Bison in a final encounter to prevent him from launching nuclear missiles and annihilating the planet. Guile's attack sends Bison into his own computers, which devour the terrorist and seemingly swallow him whole.
[edit] Reception
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
8-Bit Theater author Brian Clevinger once described Guile as "the epitome of everything discussed in The Art of War".[2]
[edit] References
- ^ "The Making Of Street Fighter II (or, Writing is Rewriting)" by Chris Kohler, Insert Credit. Retrieved on 2008-01-10
- ^ Brian Clevinger (2005-10-27). Episode 617: Thinking Ahead. Nuklear Power. Retrieved on 2008-04-03.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Guile's SF2, SFA, SFEX, and MvC entries at StrategyWiki.org
- Sonic Hurricane
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
