Guile

"Go home and be a family man."

- Guile

"Mission start! (Mission Start!)"

- Guile (Street Fighter IV series)

Guile (ガイル) is a video game character in Capcom's Street Fighter series of fighting games, introduced in Street Fighter II. Although his role in the Street Fighter story was at first minimal, he is considered the third leading and best male character in the series, after Ryu and Ken, largely due to his effectiveness as a character and his popularity.

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 the name, it was also used in the US Street Fighter cartoon that was loosely based on the movie. However, in UDON's Street Fighter comic book, "Guile" is the character's first name. According to the official Street Fighter website, Guile has the USAF rank of Major at the time of Street Fighter IV.

Appearance
Early Street Fighter II sketches and notes suggest that Guile was developed specifically to appeal to American fans. 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 SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos. Capcom source books 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).

Guile's all-American image includes military fatigues and United States flag tattoos on each arm; following standard United States military protocol, the stars are on the left hand side to give the illusion that the flag is flying 'towards' battle. The image of the uniformed American Airman is well known in Japan due to the number of United States Armed Forces bases present in that country.

Guile wears Charlie's dog tag alongside his own; in Street Fighter IV, one of Guile's alternate costumes is Charlie's costume.

Personality
Guile is a tough man, both physically and mentally, who takes pride in family, and is a loving husband and father to his family. A stoic man at heart, Guile's calm and emotionless exterior actually hides the rage within him after Charlie's death. Although loyal to the military and the United States, Guile is extremely persistent. He is so driven to find out who betrayed him in the jungles of Thailand, and to try and get at M. Bison, that he would even put that over his duties.

In Street Fighter X Tekken, it is revealed that he is scared of bears.

Background
When Guile was a trainee in the United States Air Force, he befriended his superior officer, Charlie Nash and asked him 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 lack proficiency in the moves (shown in how Charlie can shoot Sonic Booms with one hand, while Guile needs both).

Street Fighter Alpha 3
In the Street Fighter continuity, Guile was not introduced to the series until the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3, where he is addressed as "Commander". Guile is sent by the United States Air Force to look for his senior teammate and best friend Charlie, who has gone missing during a secret investigation. Guile's search eventually leads him to the Interpol investigator Chun-Li, who warns him not to follow Charlie due to the danger involved. Guile demonstrates his fighting ability, and assures Chun-Li that he will not let their friend come to harm. He eventually finds the Shadaloo base in Thailand. Guile informs Charlie that they do not need to be there any longer, as an aerial bombardment will begin in an hour. Charlie, however, insists that M. Bison will escape, and they come to blows. The sinister and powerful Bison appears and attacks the two Airmen, but is no match for their combined prowess. He is forced to retreat, calling a gunship to keep them pinned down and cover his escape.

The two give chase, and follow him into the base, deciding that Bison's source of power, the Psycho Drive must be destroyed. Chun-Li then appears and informs them that the bombardment has been called off, surmising that Bison has somehow used his influence. She goes on to tell them that she has set explosives in an attempt to destroy the base, but is unsure if they'll be enough. As she rushes to escape, Charlie and Guile decide to set explosives around the Psycho Drive to ensure that if nothing else, it at least will be destroyed. As they set their charges, M. Bison fought with Ryu and his allies in an epic battle. In the end, Ryu defeated him, destroying his body temporarily and forcing Bison to regenerate in the Psycho Drive. Bison successfully regenerated his body then Charlie convinces Guile to escape while he holds Bison off, and Guile escaped right before the base explodes, with Charlie and Bison presumably caught in the blast. Chun-Li and Ryu eventually find Guile standing on a mountain, and Chun-Li says that Charlie may perhaps be alive somewhere, just as she believes that her father may be. Guile agrees, and says that he will continue to believe in Charlie.

Street Fighter II
Holding Bison responsible for the death of his best friend, he seemingly dedicates his whole life to exacting revenge on Bison, who has somehow survived the explosion. A court case against the Shadaloo dictator fails when Bison bribes all the judges to let him go free. Bison by this time wants revenge on Guile, Chun-Li, and many other people who had hindered his syndicate's efforts. To this end, he sets up the second World Warrior tournament to trap them, among other reasons. Guile, for his part, takes the bait, deserting his wife and daughter to pursue the vendetta.

Guile's ending depicts him having Bison at his mercy and reminding him of Charlie. Bison shows no regret and taunts Guile to kill him. Guile hesitates and is interrupted by arrival of his wife, Julia (called Jane in SFII series) and daughter, Amy, who persuade him to give up on his revenge and return home. Guile, refusing to become a murderer like Bison, concludes that he feels like he's waking up from a long nightmare and returns to his family. However, like most of the SFII endings, canonicity of this one is very questionable.

Pre-Super Street Fighter IV
Some time after the fall of Shadaloo, Chun-Li, Guile and Cammy are summoned to a theme park to stop the rampage of S.I.N. operative Juri, who is wreaking extreme havoc. While Guile and Cammy try to evacuate the civilians still trapped, Chun-Li faces Juri just as she executes a rogue S.I.N agent and a woman. Juri seriously injures Chun-Li but before she can execute her, she is forced to flee when Guile and Cammy arrive due to her artificial eye malfunctioning.

Guile and Cammy later act on anonymous intelligence and track Juri down to an old Shadaloo base which houses the former 12 Dolls. When they arrived, Juri had already defeated all 12 dolls and had just finished off Juli and Juni. A fierce fight ensues and Guile is eventually heavily incapitated by Juri, leaving Cammy to face her alone. Guile later informs Chun-Li about their failure to apprehend Juri.

Street Fighter IV
Though Shadaloo is seemingly gone, Guile is restless and still believes it possible that Charlie may be alive since Charlie's body was never recovered. Guile demands of his superiors to allow him to continue the search. His commanding officer refuses, and Guile tenders his resignation. Guile is surprised when his superior ignores the resignation, assigning Guile to the investigation of S.I.N., an organization with alleged ties to Shadaloo. Guile is at first incredulous that Shadaloo lives on without Bison, but soon takes to his new assignment with zeal. Recruiting Chun-Li to the investigation, the two enter a new tournament organized by S.I.N., in the hopes of infiltrating its headquarters. Over the course of the tournament he encounters a mysterious French fighter named Abel, who seems to recognize Guile's Sonic Boom attack. Since only he and Charlie know this attack, Guile comes to the conclusion that Abel has information on Charlie's ultimate fate, and immediately starts pressing him for answers on where he saw the Sonic Boom before. Abel is completely unwilling to share such sensitive information with a stranger who could easily be a spy, and they exchange blows. It is currently unknown who won the fight.

Later, in the S.I.N. headquarters, Guile recovers important data while Chun-Li is trapped by Vega, with the base's self-destruction imminent. En route to rescuing Chun-Li, Guile is ambushed by one of Bison's cyborgs (in the same mold as Seth). Abel arrives and takes on the cyborg instead, telling Guile where Chun-Li is and telling him to hurry. Exactly how Chun-Li is then rescued is unclear - Gen seems to have protected her from a collapse and then broken free from the rubble, but is nowhere to be seen later as Guile and Abel watch the base explode, with an unconscious Chun-Li in Guile's arms.

After these events, Guile returns to Charlie's grave, placing a beer bottle on it as a way of buying his old friend a drink. He tells the grave that although S.I.N.'s plans have been foiled, he knows that he hasn't seen the last of Shadaloo just yet.

Capcom vs. SNK series
Guile appeared as a playable character in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, Mark of the Millennium 2001/EO, SNK vs. Capcom: The Match of the Millennium and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

Capcom Fighting Evolution
Guile also appeared playable in Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Street Fighter X Tekken
Guile is a playable character in Street Fighter X Tekken, where he is paired with Abel. He is ordered to secure Pandora when he is called by Abel to get a ride to the South Pole to investigate Pandora, which Guile allows since they are on the same path. Abel is given the command to not blow their cover, but Abel almost blows their cover on multiple occasions, and later on, before their rival battle against Heihachi and Kuma, Abel puts their information of Pandora at risk for Kuma, stating that he simply wants to pet him, which Guile is shocked at. Heihachi, on the other hand, assumes they plan to eat Kuma - a running joke in the game.

Once they defeat Ogre get to Pandora, Abel is mesmerized by Pandora's beauty, while Guile attempts to pull him back, saying they don't know whats inside Pandora, when the box opens and creates several "alien" copies of Kuma, which makes Abel come even closer, at which point Guile appears to give up on bringing back Abel and head back to the U.S.

Guile's ending after the credits shows he becomes world famous, and he appears to enjoy it all. However, due to Abel's actions during their journey to Pandora, Guile swears to never work with partners again - coincidentally, Abel's ending has him planning to call on Guile once more.

Street Fighter: World Warrior
Gulie will appear in Street Fighter: World Warrior, Joey Ansah has stated that he would like to have Scott Adkins as Guile.

Gameplay and fighting style
Guile is known for his defensive play. He employs air grabs as well as projectiles to force the other character to make a move.

Guile's only special moves are the Sonic Boom (Projectile based attack) and Flash Kick (an anti-air attack). Both moves require a charge motion. Guile is known in particular for his various command normals and combo abilities.

The "Sonic Hurricane" is not a long-range projectile but if it connects, it traps the opponents in and does multiple hits. Somersault Justice is basically his Flash Kick with two more kicks added in. It acts like Ken's Shoryureppa in that it performs three Somersaults. It is also considered one of Guile's most difficult moves to perform.

In Capcom vs. SNK he gained another Hyper Combo 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 Combo he had in the EX series called "Opening Gambit", which also features consecutive punches but ends with a modified side somersault kick instead of a backhand. His Meteor Combo in the EX series is called "Sonic Typhoon" which involves him shooting out a giant Sonic Boom tornado at his opponents, inflicting a heavy amount of damage. His Ultra Combos in Super Street Fighter IV are Flash Explosion (the Double Flash followed by one more kick to meet the opponent as they fall out of the air) and Sonic Hurricane.

Popular Culture
Guile/Pop Culture

Quotes
See: Guile/Quotes

Trivia

 * Guile's design was inspired by Rudolph Stroheim, a Nazi soldier, from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure manga series.


 * Guile is one of the eleven playable Street Fighter characters who are married or in a romantic relationship.


 * According to his bio, Gunloc from Capcom's Slam Masters series is rumored to be related to a famous street fighter. Gunloc is seen sporting a military jacket and utilizes such attacks as Sonic Fist therefore it is pretty safe to assume that 'relative' is supposed to be Guile. Needless to say that the two also share distinctive visual traits.
 * In Blade's ending in the arcade version of Street Fighter: The Movie, he is revealed to be Guile's brother Gunloc. This should not be taken as part of the official canon.


 * Notably, while Guile has gained a variety of Command Normals and Super Combos over the years, he did never gain any new Special Attacks, always sticking to his Sonic Boom and Flash Kick.
 * The only exception is the arcade version of Street Fighter: The Movie, where he was given the Handcuffs, a Command Grab.


 * Guile is the only character in the Street Fighter IV to have two air throws.


 * Guile's theme music in Street Fighter Alpha 3 bears a resemblance to A-ha's song "Take On Me".


 * Guile only listens to country music, according to his win quote against Dee Jay in Super Street Fighter IV.


 * Guile is apparently quite fond of chocolate, as learned by rival fighter C. Viper.


 * Guile is one of the six characters from Street Fighter IV (the others being Cammy, C. Viper, Chun-Li, Ryu and Seth) to have second rivals in Super SFIV. His second rival is M. Bison.


 * Guile's wife is called Jane in SFII series. Her name is later altered as Julia.


 * Early official artwork shows Guile having only one tattoo, though in-game, due to character sprites' left and right sights being mirrored, he has them on both sides. In later years after this was noticed, the artwork shows him with tattoos on both shoulders.
 * Ironically, this makes the tattoo correct and incorrect, as the U.S. soldiers sport a backwards American flag on their uniforms in the same location as Guile's tattoo (symbolic of the fact that a flag carried during a charge into battle would appear backwards as it flew behind its pole). This is contrary to the belief that the "correct" sprite is of Guile facing towards the left, which shows a forward-facing flag


 * Guile is a smoker, as shown in many official artworks of him.


 * Guile is referenced in Project X Zone. In a pre-battle dialogue with Vashyron, Ken and Ryu states that they know a soldier who can use the Sonic Boom.


 * Guile's ending in Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival seems to indicate that he was dreaming the entire time.


 * In Guile's ending in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, when M. Bison tells Guile to kill him, rather than being stopped by his wife, Guile replies, "No. I'm not a murderer like you." Afterwards, three days later, Guile visits Charlie's grave, and then encounters Julia, who tells Guile to come back, in which Guile does so.