Anyone heard of Street Fighter’s Dan before? No?
Dan
Briefly – Dan was a Street Fighter character introduced in the beginning of the Street Fighter Alpha series. He was created for pure comedy value.
Why? Well, to cut a long story short, SNK released Art of Fighting and their main protagonist (Ryo) looked like a Ryu-Ken hybrid.
Capcom’s response was to draw up a lame backstory for a weak arrogant new guy named “Dan” who would serve an in-game retaliative pisstake at SNK.
Since SNK’s Ryo wore an orange Ryu-suit, Capcom dressed Dan in a pink one. He was given a dark-brown ponytail which directly referenced Art of Fighting’s other character “Robert [Garcia]”.
Ryo
Aside from this, Capcom made Dan WEAK. Like, FUCKING weak. Being around 10 when I got Alpha, I couldn’t quite understand why I had unlocked such a shit character. As Dan’s backstory developed in each coming SF game, Capcom furthered his persona. He was injected with unreal high-pitched arrogance – being given the only character with the privilidge to taunt as many times as he wanted. They eventually made the bloke’s BEST FRIEND as Blanka – who is supposed to be a deformed 10 year old boy!
Robert
So what?
Well, he’s been put in Street Fighter IV.
Dan’s fireballs dissolve about 30cm’s away from the hand that unleashes them. His “dash” function just makes him jog towards/away from the player. He can’t really do anything well.
Do you realise how valuable this makes him? Do you have any idea how competitive real-people Street Fighter battles can get?? There’s a ton of mouthy opportunistic gits on there that think they’re the shit. That game actually brings out the worst in me – whispering “Yeah, bitch. Ha, motherfucker” every time I win (reverting to a mere “motherfucker” upon being beaten).
Do you know how degraded – how violated – they feel when I beat them with a joke? With Dan? It’s not even possible to mistake the guy for a character of worth.
Because of this, I’ve actually dedicated hour long practice sessions just to mastering Dan…
And his Super Taunt.
Yes – The Super Taunt.
You know how everyone has a “Super move”? – When you build up that bar through the duration of the fight, and then pick the most opportune moment to enter a special button combination and unleash an attack that decimates your opponant?
Well, erm, Dan can just spend this meter on a very special taunt.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paD_R3u6hxo]
