Guy

Guy (ガイ) is a video game character in both the Final Final and Street Fighter series. He first appeared in the 1989 beat 'em up Final Fight released and later appeared in the Street Fighter Alpha series. Guy is a red-clad ninpō master of Japanese descent who has been taught the fictional Bushin form of ninjutsu.

History
Guy is one of three playable characters, along with Cody and Haggar, in the original arcade version of Final Fight, released for the arcades by Capcom in 1989. Each of the three fighters featured their own unique characteristics, with Guy being the fastest of the three due to his ninjutsu skills. One of his most unique techniques in the game is the "Off-the-Wall Kick", a technique which allows Guy to bounce off the wall with a jump kick. Due to space constraint, Guy was initially omitted from the Super NES port of the game, with Cody and Haggar being the only playable character in that version. Capcom later produced a second Super NES version titled Final Fight Guy, which replaced Cody's character with that of Guy, with the in-game explanation given that Cody was away training under Guy's master in Japan. Later versions of the game such as Final Fight CD for Sega CD and Final Fight One for the Game Boy Advance would include all three characters. Capcom also produced an NES game titled Mighty Final Fight, a parody of the original Final Fight which features all three characters. In the backstory of the original Final Fight, Guy is established to be the 39th successor of the Bushin-style Ninpo.

Capcom later released Final Fight 2 in 1993, a sequel created specifically for the Super NES. In this installment, Guy's sensei, Genryusai and his daughter (Guy's fiancee), are kidnapped by the new incarnation of Mad Gear. In the game's story, Guy is off on a training mission and is unable to rescue his fiancee and master. Instead, the game features Guy's sister-in-law, Maki, who has also been trained in the same fighting style, and Carlos Miyamoto, a South American swordsman. Guy only makes an appearance in the end of the game, although the game does feature power-up icons shaped after his character.

When Capcom produced the original Street Fighter Alpha in 1995, Guy would be one of two Final Fight characters to be included in the game along with the game's second stage boss Sodom. In this game, Guy's character design was altered slightly, with his ninja boots replaced by sneaker, although his fighting style mimics that of his Final Fight counterpart. Guy and Sodom would be joined by Rolento in 1996's Street Fighter Alpha 2 and by Cody in 1998's Street Fighter Alpha 3, followed by Maki's appearance in the portable versions of Alpha 3. Guy's new design would be used in the second Final Fight sequel for the Super NES, Final Fight 3 in 1995, where he teams up once again with Haggar to save Metro City from the Skull Cross gang.

In the Alpha games, Guy's Bushin predecessor is revealed to be a man named Zeku, who would appear in Guy's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2 to test Guy for his successorship. Zeku's presence in the game contradicts Final Fight 2, which identifies Genryusai as Guy's sensei, as designers of the Alpha games did not take into account the Super NES Final Fight sequels when developing the games. When Maki was reintroduced in Capcom vs. SNK 2, Capcom provided the explanation that Maki belongs to the original clan that formed the Bushin style and that Genryusai was Zeku's master, who in turned trained Guy and Maki.

During the same year Alpha 3 was released in the arcades, Guy was featured in the American-produced Final Fight Revenge, a fighting game for the arcades and Sega Saturn featuring the original Final Fight cast.

A second American-produced Final Fight sequel was released in 2006 titled Final Fight: Streetwise, which reimagines Guy's character was as an Asian crime lord in the Japan Town district of Metro City.

Gameplay
Guy's fighting style can be described as a fusion of traditional ninjutsu with modern street brawling. Guy's special moves are:


 * Hōzanto (崩山斗), commonly known as Turning Elbow, where Guy dodges by turning around and then strikes. The japanese name of the move uses the chinese meaning of the To kanji, which refers to fighting, instead of the japanese reading, which refers to the Big Dipper constellation.


 * Bushin Senpū-kyaku (武神旋風脚), a faster but weaker version of Ryu and Ken's Tatsumaki Senpū-kyaku.


 * Bushin Izuna Otoshi (武神イズナ落とし), where Guy grabs his opponent by the head and smashes him or her onto the floor. Izuna is the name of a mythical god and wind spirit that presents himself in the form of a tengu.


 * Haya-gake (疾駆け), with which Guy rushes toward his opponent. The move can be varied depending on the button pressed.

His Super moves:


 * Bushin Hassō-ken (武神八双拳), a rapid anti air attack.


 * Bushin Gōrai-kyaku (武神剛雷脚), a multi-hit kick combination.


 * Bushin Musō Renge (武神無双連刈), Guy's most powerful attack, where the screen will darken like Akuma's Shun Goku Satsu, but the player can see Guy's silhouette pummelling his helpless opponent.

In Street Fighter Alpha 2, Guy was one of the few characters who could perform chain comboes after they were removed. In the Street Fighter series, Guy lacks a projectile, though he can throw a close-ranged burst of ki and shuriken in Final Fight 3 and Final Fight Revenge respectively. Guy is the only Final Fight character in the Street Fighter Alpha series to not use a weapon.

Final Fight series characters filled the screen in his stages in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and 3. In addition, a special intro sequence takes place when Guy faces Cody: both fighters destroy barrels in a reference to the first stage in the original Final Fight.

In other media
Guy appears in the Street Fighter Alpha manga by Masahiko Nakahira. In it, Guy depicted as a well-known vigilante ninja who goes around bringing an end to several criminal organisations. Guy disguised himself as a member of Shadaloo to face M. Bison, but he is forced to reveal his identity when Vega tries to kill both Adon and a possessed Ryu. After making quick work of Vega, Guy kicks several barrels at Ryu (a nod to the Final Fight series), then proceeds to fight Ryu. Due to Guy's superior speed and training to fight multiple enemies at once, Guy was able to block every punch from Ryu's Shun Goku Satsu and defeat him. Guy is last seen watching over the battle between Ryu and Sagat. His silhouette is also seen in Nakahira's Sakura Ganbaru! manga, when Maki talks about the Bushin style.

Guy makes a cameo appearance in the anime OVA Street Fighter Alpha as one of the warriors who have agreed to accompany Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li to Professor Sadler's Shadaloo base and rescue Shun, Ryu's supposed brother. At the base, he is seen briefly fighting Dhalsim, on whom he attempts a Bushin jump-kick, only for Dhalsim to teleport himself away and seemigly hit Guy from behind. He is last seen in a cell along with the other fighters, where Ken and Chun-Li break them out before going to rescue Birdie.

Guy also appears in the American Street Fighter animated series in an episode titled "Final Fight", which adapts the plot of its namesake. In this episode, Guy and Cody befriend Ryu and Ken, who aid them in fighting the Mad Gear Gang to save Jessica.

Guy is a playable character in the Japan-only exclusive Strategy RPG, Namco x Capcom. In the game, he is paired with Sho (Ginzu the Ninja) from Captain Commando as a single unit. Because of this, he also participates in the Multiple Assault attacks that involve all of the Commando Team. The in-game story depicts Sho as Guy's future Bushin-ryu successor.

Promotion and reception
N64 Magazine described Guy as "the favorite for many arcade-goers" in regards to the original Final Fight. IGN ranked Guy at number twenty-four in their "Top 25 Street Fighter Characters" list, stating "those dull, unassuming looks work in his favor. He doesn't look especially dangerous until it's too late."