Oro (Street Fighter)

Oro
Street Fighter character

First game Street Fighter III
Voiced by Kan Tokumaru
Takashi Matsuyama (3rd Strike)
Fictional profile
Birthplace Japan
Fighting style Senjutsu

Oro (オロ) is a fictional character in the Street Fighter series of fighting games by Capcom. Oro is an ancient martial arts master who lives a secluded life of an immortal hermit. Despite appearing only in Street Fighter III games, Oro gained significant notability due to his unusual and controversial character design.

Character

Oro is a hermit of Japanese descent who is over 140 years old, having mastered the secrets of immortality. He lives in a deep cave within the Amazon. Although he may not seem very strong, his lack of attachments has allowed him to exceed his legendary fighting skills beyond those of an ordinary person, though he does seem to have a weakness for cute girls. He attained such extraordinary abilities through the mastery of an extreme fighting style known as senjutsu (仙術). He sets out on a journey to find a worthy successor of his secrets in order to kill time. Through the use of magic, he sealed one of his arms in order to even the odds in favor of his opponents.[1][2]

Oro appears in Street Fighter III and its subsequent iterations, Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, noted for his unorthodox fighting style. In his ending in New Generation and 2nd Impact, Oro decides that the only martial artist he met worthy of inheriting his secrets was Ryu. In 3rd Strike, Oro's boredom has reached its limits. Many young fighters have come to him in trying to become his disciples, but no one has lasted his training long enough. One day, he heard rumors involving a "mysterious organization" and the "master of the fist" and he decided to investigate. In his ending, Oro is shown trying to make Ryu, who is unaware of Oro's presence in his training, his disciple again.[3][4][5] Oro is a fighter more suited for patient players, who "can deal some serious damage to the player that can wait for the right opening on an opponent."[6]

Oro also appears in the Street Fighter Legends: Ibuki comic book miniseries where Ibuki's final ninja exam is to challenge him. Together with her friends Elena and Makoto, she goes to the shrine on Mount Atago, where Oro has travelled to meditate. After the fight, Oro says that she actually made him think about using both hands and commends her on an entertaining challenge.

Reception

Adrenaline Vault called Oro one of the more exotic characters in Street Fighter III.[7] Allgame called Oro the "strangest creature of them all" in Street Fighter III and compared him to Quasimodo.[8] IGN cited Oro as an example of the new generation of Street Fighter games that featured "genetic mutants and oddballs", as he "didn't come close to normal".[9] GameDaily named Oro the 22nd most bizarre fighting game character.[10]

UGO Networks listed Oro as one of the top 50 Street Fighter characters due to his "unorthodox, powerful, and unique" design.[6] IGN wrote that while Oro, along with the rest of the Street Fighter III cast, is not as memorable as the characters from Street Fighter II, he was "nicely designed".[11] Heavy.com named Oro one of the characters wanted in Super Street Fighter IV, adding that Oro would work better in 3D than in 2D.[12] Despite appearing only in SFIII, Oro was voted 35th most popular out of 85 Street Fighter characters in Capcom's own poll for the 15th anniversary of Street Fighter.[13] In 2012, ScrewAttack included him on their 2012 list of top ten underrated Street Fighter characters, as number one.[14]

On the other hand, GamesRadar named Oro one of the worst Street Fighter characters.[15] IGN's Martin Robinson named Oro one of the five Street Fighter characters that he does not want in Super Street Fighter IV, describing him as "ugly" and "ungainly" as well as the "oddest character to have ever appeared" in the series, yet noting that "some people adore him".[16] In 2012, Complex included Oro on the list of ten lamest Street Fighter characters, stating that although he is "supposed to be one of the strongest characters in the game, but he's really just a creepy, diry [sic], old, weirdo."[17]

References

  1. ↑ "Street Fighter III 2nd Impact character introductions (waybacked)" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 1998-12-05.
  2. ↑ Capcom. p. 17. Street Fighter III: Double Impact, instruction manual. Retrieved on 2008-07-03
  3. ↑ "Street Fighter III 3rd Strike character introductions" (in Japanese).
  4. ↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987-2000, page 331
  5. ↑ All About Capcom Head-to-Head Fighting Game 1987-2000, page 304
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Furfari, Paul (2010-08-25). "Top 50 Street Fighter Characters". UGO.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  7. ↑ "Street Fighter III: Double Impact Dreamcast review | The Adrenaline Vault". Avault.com. 2000-11-08. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  8. ↑ Frankle, Gavin (2010-10-03). "Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike - Review". allgame. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  9. ↑ Rus McLaughlin (1997-02-04). "IGN Presents the History of Street Fighter - Retro Feature at IGN". Retro.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  10. ↑ Mitchell, Richard (2012-06-26). "Top 25 Most Bizarre Fighting Characters". Gamedaily.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  11. ↑ "Street Fighter III: Double Impact - Dreamcast Review at IGN". Dreamcast.ign.com. 2000-06-23. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  12. ↑ K. Thor Jensen (2009-11-04). "5 Fighters That Should Be In Super Street Fighter 4". HEAVY. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  13. ↑ "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. 2005-12-19. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  14. ↑ ScrewAttack, Top 10 Underrated Street Fighter Characters, GameTrailers.com, 03/17/2012.
  15. ↑ "The worst Street Fighter characters ever". GamesRadar. 2008-03-21. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  16. ↑ Martin Robinson. "Five Fighters We Want in Super Street Fighter IV - Xbox 360 Feature at IGN". Xbox360.ign.com. Retrieved 2012-08-04.
  17. ↑ The 10 Lamest Street Fighter Characters | Complex

External links