Vega

"Handsome fighters never lose a battle!"

- Vega (Street Fighter II)

"The heart and soul are meaningless to me. I believe only in beauty."

- Vega

"You'll be seeing red by the time I'm done with you... (その視界紅く染めてさしあげよう…)"

- Vega (Street Fighter IV series)

"Let my beauty intoxicate you. (我が美に酔いしれるがいい！)"

- Vega (Street Fighter V)

Vega, known as Balrog (バルログ) in Japan, is a video game character from the Street Fighter series, first appearing as a non-playable boss in Street Fighter II before becoming playable in it's update, Street Fighter II: Champion Edition. He is a claw-wielding, narcissistic, Spanish ninja, obsessed with beauty and personal bodyguard to M. Bison.

Personality
Vega's character archetype is very familiar in Japanese manga and anime: the Narcissist (ナルシスト), often depicted as a long-haired, effeminate self-lover. Certain archetypal characters are comparable to Vega, elaborated on his pop culture page.

Vega is vain, overconfident, and highly convinced of his own abilities, almost to the point of megalomania. He is also incredibly sadistic and takes great pleasure in seeing the ugly murdered, and preferably mutilated. He often has a stone-cold demeanor, and does not show a wide range of emotions. His narcissism and disdain for anything lacking elegance causes him to clash with fellow Shadaloo member Balrog due to the latter's boorish nature.

Vega's vanity is also demonstrated in how he uses his mask. He wears the mask not to conceal his identity, but to protect his face from scarring or bruising during battle, as he believes that any injury to it will make him look “ugly”. Vega often removes it after fights during his win poses, and some of his individual endings depict him with his face at least partially, if not fully, exposed. Additionally, many characters are able to recognize Vega even if they never see him without his mask. In some games, he can remove the mask during battle.

Vega's unbridled and solipsistic ego is shown even in his taste in interior decor, as his mansion is adorned with portraits, all of himself. Vega is also good at adopting elegant and gentlemanly mannerisms, likely because of his noble background. He has also been described as intelligent and sophisticated. Additionally, he is also attracted to and impressed by the beauty and strength of young women, notably Chun-Li and Cammy; he frequently compliments them on their appearances. At the same time, he seems to derive pleasure from causing pain and despair to both Chun-Li and Cammy, and even enjoys taunting them. With men, on the other hand, Vega tends to completely look down upon them and is seen constantly scolding their fighting abilities and "ugliness" in his win quotes, considering his looks and skills to be superior.

He also harbors a tragic side. The family trauma he experienced molded his fragile mind to perceive physical unattractiveness not only as repulsive, but also as a threat. With his attractive mother murdered at the hands of his unattractive stepfather, ugliness came to represent evil and cowardice, while beauty represented heroism and strength. This also implies that Vega's hatred of anything "ugly" may actually be a manifestation of post-traumatic stress disorder. It has also been said that Vega's love of beauty is at least partially rooted in the way he was raised by his mother.

In Super Street Fighter IV, Vega shows a small amount of respect for Guy in his Arcade Mode win quote, saying he expected better of him. While this is surprising considering his personality, it makes sense since both are masters of ninjutsu, and they are arguably the two most agile Street Fighter characters. Additionaly, some, if not all, of Vega's win quotes against other ninja fighters suggest that he judges them based on their skills and abilities with the art of ninjutsu (as well as their appearance).

Etymology and name change
Vega is the 5th brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star of its constellation, Lyra. Several of Vega's moves are named to reflect this, such as the Stardust Drop or Cosmic Heel.

When Street Fighter II was localized in the United States, Capcom was afraid of a lawsuit from Mike Tyson over a character (Balrog) with his likeness as well as a similar sounding name (his Japanese name being "Mike Bison"). Additionally, when the designers presented the game to Capcom USA's marketing department, they believed that the name "Vega" did not fit the character it was given to. Vega is also a common Spanish surname. They decided to rotate the names of three of the four boss characters in the following manner:


 * The boxer is known as M. Bison in Japan and Balrog in the U.S.
 * The Spanish assassin/bullfighter is known as Balrog in Japan and Vega in the U.S.
 * The evil dictator and head of Shadaloo is known as Vega in Japan and M. Bison in the U.S.

Appearance
Vega is a tall, strikingly handsome young man with long hair that is braided into a ponytail. His hair has switched between brown and blond through various Street Fighter media. In the Street Fighter II series, Vega's hair is colored brown in the sprites, but colored blond in his endings for the first two updates of the original Street Fighter II. The comics give him blond hair, as do Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter V. In Street Fighter IV, Vega has brown hair in both the cutscenes and the gameplay. He wears murrey and yellow ceremonial trousers, a red sash, loafers, and white leggings of a matador, suggesting his involvement with bullfighting. This decorative garb offers matadors ease of movement, and is therefore ideal for Vega's acrobatic maneuvers. Vega also has a purple snake tattoo on his chest which circles his left arm, and on his right arm and both his wrists he wears gold-colored armlets. The tattoo shows him to be a villain to a Japanese audience, where body tattoos are usually worn by Yakuza members. In Capcom vs. SNK 2, as a win pose, Vega will hold his arm out, with the tattoo coming to life and hissing at the opponent.

Early sketches suggest that Vega was going to resemble a medieval knight wearing a full suit of armor. This idea was scrapped, as Street Fighter was about fighters from all over the world, not from different time periods. There are a few remnants of this concept in Vega's final design, specifically a mask and a sharp metal claw. A similar type of weapon was used by Geki in the original Street Fighter, which has led to speculation that Vega received some training from Geki.

Vega has a white mask that is lacking in facial features or expressions. It is difficult to tell how durable his mask is. On one hand, Vega is able to crush it to dust with one hand if he loses due to a time over in Street Fighter Alpha 3. On the other hand, it takes several hits before the mask falls off and, even then, he can easily pick up and reapply the mask, with no apparent lasting damage.

Much like Sagat's eyepatch in earlier games, Vega's claw will always appear on whatever arm matches the direction he is facing (if he is looking to left side of the screen, it will appear on his left arm, and if he's looking right, it will be on his right) due to sprite mirroring. In the Street Fighter EX series, it will always be on his right arm. In Street Fighter IV, however, he changes his claw every time he switches sides, without mirroring; this can be seen in his tattoo, his accessories, and in the mark on his mask. Curiously enough, during the versus screen, his portrait won't be mirroring all the accessories either, with the unique exception of his claws.

In Street Fighter V, Vega retains his traditional matador pants and red waist sash but is now wearing a partially opened white shirt. The purple snake tattoo that encircles his torso can still be partially seen. His alternate costume is an altered version of his outfit. The sleeves of his frill shirt are short and his signature mask is replaced with a golden opera mask. His blond hair is tied in a slick back in a ponytail with a long single fringe in the center of his head.

His Halloween DLC costume has him wear a long red coat, a black formal suit with a white tie and black boots. He also wears white gloves and a magician hat on his head. While wearing this outfit, Vega can fight with or without his long coat.

Character Relationships
Vega's criminal actions and general narcissism have made him many enemies.

Balrog
Balrog and Vega greatly despise each other, but are occasionally paired up to accomplish one of Shadaloo's goals. Balrog dislikes Vega for the latter's "pretty boy" persona; likewise, Vega dislikes Balrog for the latter's boorishness. Vega tends to annoy, tease and make fun of Balrog whenever he gets the chance.

M. Bison
Vega and Bison have a simple professional relationship. Apart from the usual curious attitude, Vega does not have frictions with Bison. However, he does not seem to be interested in helping the Shadaloo leader conquer the world. Whenever the organization is destroyed, Vega reverts to his old lifestyle, but will not hesitate to join again should it resurface.

F.A.N.G
Although F.A.N.G initially seemed to show co-worker respect towards Vega, the latter thinks of him as an ugly and pathetic individual because of his deeds towards the improvement of Shadaloo Dolls. Because of this, F.A.N.G sees Vega as a "contemptuous little bastard".

Juri
Juri sees Vega as a "pervert" due to his obsession with beauty, though this is quite hypocritical given her own interactions with other male fighters. Vega on the other hand appears to feel genuinely attracted to Juri's beauty and psychopathic tendencies, calling her the "personification of evil beauty itself" in his SSFIV win quote against her, though he dislikes her provocations, saying that she lacks "delicacy".

Chun-Li
Vega enjoys mocking Chun-Li. In SFIV he calls Chun-Li a persistent wench and tries to play mind games with her by calling himself a ghost. In SFV, he and Chun-Li battle off trying to learn more about her father but Vega escapes, he has even threatened to kill her.

Cammy
Cammy hates Vega since he is a part of Shadaloo and is obsessive of her and her beauty (in one comic he is the one who scars her cheek). In Street Fighter Alpha 3, Cammy goes rogue, and Vega is sent by M. Bison to find her and to take her back to Shadaloo. When he finds her, he goes into a fight with her, calling her a "guinea pig", which confuses Cammy, unaware of the situation.

Cammy wins and wonders what is going on and goes to M. Bison, who explains that she's a clone of him with his DNA. When she defeats him, he is killed and his original body disappears. When the Psycho Drive is blown up, she is near the explosion, but is saved by Vega; she doesn't know he saved her. He still shows interest in her in Street Fighter V, following her around during her character story and during A Shadow Falls. When the Shadaloo base blows up, he throws his mask into the explosion, possibly deciding to abandon her.

Early life
Vega was born to a privileged noble family in Spain. For reasons undisclosed, their status dwindled, causing Vega's mother to remarry for financial security. Growing up to the arts of hunting, later as he matured, Vega studied bullfighting, a cultural tradition, finding the sport more exciting and honorable in being able to dispatch his prey up close with his own might. Afterward, he went to Japan and learned ninjutsu, a style he believed meshed well with his natural grace and agility. Combining bullfighting with ninjutsu, Vega went into an underground cage fighting circuit, and quickly became one of the best.

His ugly stepfather murdered his beautiful mother because he felt she did not respect him, and Vega killed him in return. The incident warped his mind, and he developed a dual personality: honorable nobleman by day, sadistic murderer by night. It also triggered Vega's obsession with beauty as a wonderful trait, as well as his belief that ugliness is something evil that should be purged.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Vega oversaw assassination operations for Shadaloo, and was associated with Cammy and the Shadaloo assassins known as the Dolls. When Cammy went rogue however, Vega was assigned to bring her in and although he failed in that mission, Cammy brought herself in and defeated M. Bison, freeing herself and the other Dolls from Bison's brainwashing. When the strain of undoing the brainwashing (as well as a dead-man's trigger in the brainwashing which was meant to kill them if they betrayed Bison) caused Cammy and the other Dolls to collapse, Vega saved them from the burning Shadaloo base because he didn't believe that anything as beautiful as them should die.

Super Street Fighter II Turbo
Vega then participated in the second World Warrior tournament at the behest of Bison. However, when Bison was seemingly killed by an unknown assailant, Vega disappeared back into his old lifestyle.

Super Street Fighter IV
It is unknown what Vega was doing since the fall of Shadaloo; he was rumored to have returned to bullfighting, and was believed by several people to be dead. However, Vega was alive, and a subdivision of Shadaloo called S.I.N. attempted to re-recruit him. Vega quickly accepted the subsidiary's offer, as he was intrigued at the idea of creating new bodies for oneself so as to be eternally young, and was otherwise tired of the aristocratic lifestyle, finding money and power to be an "ugly" combination.

At S.I.N. HQ, while Seth was distracted by several assailants (not least of whom was a newly resurrected Bison), Vega stole valuable data on the project, and when Chun-Li did the same thing, he attempted to kill her by setting off the fire alarm, which released a toxic, fire-retardant spray. He escaped in a helicopter from the exploding base and noticed Chun-Li being rescued from the base along with her copy of the data. Mildly displeased that he did not have the only copy, Vega resolved to correct the situation later.

Street Fighter V
On August 3rd, Vega was revealed to return in Street Fighter V.

Vega is keeping tabs on the Dolls and thinks that F.A.N.G is foolish for making them loyally follow the commands of Shadaloo.

Cannon Spike
Vega appeared in Cannon Spike as a "darker" version of himself, called "Fallen Balrog" (the name Balrog being his original name in Japan).

Capcom vs. SNK series
Vega appeared as a playable character in Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000, Capcom vs. SNK 2 and SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.

In Capcom vs. SNK 2, if he fights against a female opponent, the narcissist will introduce himself by throwing a rose at her, in appreciation of her beauty. He will do the same for other "pretty-boy" characters like Benimaru Nikaido (his SNK rival) and Rival Schools ' Kyosuke Kagami, and strangely even M. Bison. When fighting against characters he considers "ugly" on the other hand (E. Honda, Raiden, Zangief, Blanka, Dhalsim and Chang Koehan), he shakes his head in disgust.

Street Fighter X Tekken
In Street Fighter X Tekken, Vega is sent alongside Balrog to retrieve Pandora. However, the two despise each other and constantly bicker, yet they continue to work as team, if only in order to obtain Pandora for themselves. Their rivals are Yoshimitsu and Raven, who ambush them during their travels.

Vega and Balrog's ending depicts Balrog attempting to open the box, but Vega has had enough of his co-worker's belligerence and decides to kill Balrog instead for possession of Pandora. Both become taken over by the influence of Pandora, and proceed to attack each other.

After the credits roll, a post-ending shows Vega's fate:


 * If the player defeated Ogre with Vega, it is revealed that Vega wins the fight and killed Balrog, keeping Pandora's powers for himself. He then realizes that he can now "purify" the world and make it worthy of his presence. This goal now in mind, Vega sets off to achieve his dreams.


 * If the player defeated Ogre with Balrog, it is revealed that Vega loses the fight against Balrog and is killed.

Street Fighter × Mega Man
Vega is one of the four final bosses of Street Fighter × Mega Man.

Blood Brothers 2
Vega appears in DeNA’s mobile RPG, Blood Brothers 2.

Shadowverse
Vega, Ryu, Chun-Li, M. Bison, Karin, Juri, and Cammy all appear as leaders for the classes in Shadowverse. Vega is an optional leader for Bloodcraft decks.

Background
Vega became a high-ranking henchman for M. Bison in Shadaoo purely on the promise that he would be able to reap his special brand of torture with abandoned delight. Put in charge of Shadaloo's various assassination missions, Vega was never told how to do his job because Bison knew he relished every exquisite pain he inflicted on his targets, and he never failed to find and assassinate them in some artistic fashion. Bison always admired Vega's creativity, but he valued Vega's loyalty even more.

When it turned out that someone dared to sponsor the second Street Fighter EX tournament in Bison's place, he suspected that it might actually be a trap to lure Bison out into the open, having narrowly escaped capture by the US Air Force and Interpol at the end of the last tournament. Bison sent Vega ahead to scout the situation out, which Vega was only too happy to do, although he wasn't thrilled about being sent to the tournament with an ugly brute like Cracker Jack.

When Vega arrived, he did some research and noted a lot of interesting connections between some of the contestants. Many were long time companions, and some were even family members. He happened to be pit in a match with the beautiful Hokuto. Prizing beauty above everything else, Vega felt that Hokuto was a very worthy opponent for himself. He noticed as he began to fight her that she was struggling with something inside her mind. It became a game to Vega to force Hokuto's focus off whatever she was concerned with holding back. He used his claws to inflict painful slashes along Hokuto's body. Eventually, Vega succeeded in breaking Hokuto's concentration and she was driven mad by a special kind of darkness that consumed her.

Knowing that Hokuto was scheduled to fight against the very man she came to the competition with, Vega thought how delightful it would be to watch one friend be struck down by this possessed woman. He threw the match, and allowed Hokuto to advance. Vega relished every moment of the next fight between Hokuto and her lover; the look on his face when he realized she didn't recognize him, the final strike when she inflicted a mortal wound on him, and the look of horror on her face when she woke up and realized what she had done. It could only have been better if Vega had killed the man himself. His work done, he reported to M. Bison everything he had learned and let him take it from there.

Vega joined the third tournament as M. Bison's partner, although he was instructed by Bison to perform several covert spying operations for him, to learn more about Shadowgeist and other potential threats to Bison's life.

Street Fighter EX2
''The spectators had their breath taken away by his appearance... Vega, the seeker of ultimate beauty who interwined blood and madness. Despite fighting several new fighters, these matches were nothing more than farces that favored him. "The ugly ones are to be vanquished... The filthy ones are the spoils... Recognize that your only usefullness in life is to be preyed upon by my claw." Today, Vega's loud shout echoes inside the battle arena.''

Street Fighter EX2 Plus
''Vega administered "SH-11", a new experimental drug stolen from Shadaloo, unto himself. But instead of achieving "ultra-beauty", the ultimate in strength and beauty, his own mind and pride became ugly distortions.''

Street Fighter EX3
''Suddenly, it began to rain. The cold rain began to hit Vega's maks. Something warm and inviting began to grow inside of Vega. It was like he was actually beginning to feel human emoctions again. From the edge of the cliff, he tried to throw his mask away, but... He couldn't release the mask from his hand. The cry from his soul is lost in the hard...''

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
Vega appeared in the animated film adaptation of Street Fighter II. Like in the game, Vega is an antagonist serving under M. Bison alongside Balrog and Sagat.

As Interpol's pursuit of Shadaloo intensifies, M. Bison dispatches Vega to assassinate Chun-Li. He hides in Chun-Li's apartment while she showers, proceeding to ambush her as she sits in her bedroom drying her hair. Though Chun-Li proves to be a formidable opponent, Vega has the upper hand for much of the fight. He sadistically comments on his desire to skin Chun-Li 'like a rabbit', alive, before slowly licking some of her spilt blood from the third blade of his claw. He indicates this is made more pleasurable when the object of his psychopathic desire is as he puts it, 'cute'.

Chun-Li responds by catching Vega off guard, knocking him to the ground by throwing a couch at him and hitting him with a Spinning Bird Kick, before stamping on his face, badly damaging and possibly permanently ruining his left eye. Horrified by the damage dealt to his face, Vega goes ballistic. After a vicious and brutal fight, Chun-Li succeeds in kicking Vega through the wall of her apartment after pummeling him good, and sends him plummeting several stories into the darkness of the alley below.

It is unknown whether he survives or not, but despite his defeat, Vega's attack takes its toll on Chun-Li, leaving her comatose from blood loss for the rest of the movie. Disgusted with Vega's failure, M. Bison dispatches Sagat to find Vega and, should he remain alive, finish him.

Street Fighter II V
Vega appears as an amorous bullfighter who falls in love with and tries to seduce Chun-Li. Envious and jealous over Ryu and Ken's friendship with Chun-Li (especially Ken), Vega invites the three to a party in his castle, which is actually a trap to lure Ryu and Ken to a caged death match with him whom he sees as rivals for her affections. Since Ryu does not attend the party, he subsequently fights only Ken, and is finally defeated after a brutal match. He is given the surname of Fabio la Cerda in the series. In the Castilian Spanish dub, his full name is instead Fabio Antonio de la Vega.

Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation
Vega made a cameo appearance, briefly shown brutalizing his opponent, Dan, during a fighting tournament.

Street Fighter cartoon
Vega is similar to his movie counter part, and appears in two episodes: "Eye of the Beholder" and "Face of Fury". He is introduced as a former henchman of Bison who was promised eternal youth, and develops a rivalry with Blanka.

Vega attempted to capture a young lady in Brazil, but his attempt was stopped by Blanka, enraging him and causing the two to fight. As Blanka wins and prepares to finish off Vega, the lady pleaded for him to stop, allowing Vega to walk away into the shadows.

Street Fighter IV: The Ties That Bind
Vega makes a small appearance near the end, when he is seen along with Balrog in a Shadaloo helicopter. As a heavily injured Seth drags himself aboard, he gives him a message from Bison, telling him that while he "put on a fantastic show", S.I.N.'s success has only come through the manipulation of Shadaloo working behind the scenes to ensure their good fortune.

1994 film
In this movie, Vega (portrayed by Jay Tavare) is the loyal assistant of Sagat, and fight Ryu in a cage match. The match is spectacularly interrupted by Guile, who arrests him, Sagat, Ryu, Ken and the majority of the audience; however, the four of them manage to escape from jail. Later, he and Ryu clash again, and find themselves evenly matched; Ryu tips the scales in his favor by burning Vega's face on an oven. Vega has few lines in the film and only speaks them when he is masked or offscreen. Despite being masked all the time, his face can be seen in some scenes.

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
Vega (played by Taboo of Black Eyed Peas) appears in the film as a minor antagonist. He is hired by Bison to assassinate Chun-Li. He and Chun-Li engage in a fight wherein the latter gains the upper hand and defeats him; Vega hanging from the side of a building. The movie depicts Vega dressed in black from head to toe and although he retains his claw and mask, the only exception is that the mask is made of metal. Vega wore the mask to conceal his true identity rather than protect his face.

Future Cops
In this live stage play, Vega is portrayed as a good guy named Ti Man. He is a member of the future cops and is a part of the group that goes back in time to protect Tai-Hung/Yu Ti Hung from being assassinated and prevent him from becoming president. He pretends to be a fellow student while striking up a romance with Tai Hung's sister Chun May (Chun Li).

Matador
A gritty drama film focusing on Vega and the details behind his traumatic upbringing as well as the pivotal sequence of events that made him into the assassin he is today.

Udon series
In Vol. 1, Vega is a high ranking member of Shadaloo appointed to find Ryu. He goes to Japan based on Killer Bee's information and after a fight with E. Honda, runs into Ken and Eliza. Vega places a tracking device on a scarf Eliza had bought and later uses that to find her and break into her hotel room to interrogate her about Ryu's location. Ken arrives on the scene and fights Vega. Vega is mildly scarred when Ken kicks him through the window and escapes.

In Vol. 2, Vega meets Balrog in the US after the latter told him he had seen Ken and Eliza at his boxing match and plots to have his revenge from the fight he had with Ken. Vega finds where Ken and Eliza are having a party and crashes it with Balrog and several other people. Vega fights Ken again and nearly kills him until Guile intervenes. Guile keeps Vega occupied long enough until the cops show up, but Vega once again escapes when the explosives he had set up cause the lights to go out.

Vega has a brief appearance in Vol. 3, where he sends invitations for Shadaloo's World Warrior Tournament.

In Vol. 4, Vega makes another brief appearance where it is discovered that (in this series) he was the one who gave Cammy her signature scar after a fight and installed the memory algorithm delete program that helped get rid of Shadaloo's influence on her.

In Vol. 5, after Cammy is captured by Shadaloo and brainwashed again Vega reactivates the algorithm, once again giving her back her mind. He later saves her from Decapre and goes to Japan to hold the qualifier for the Tournament there, where he recruits Zangief, E. Honda and Sakura, who does not participate.

In Vol. 6, Vega fights Ken in the World Warrior Tournament, and appears to have an advantage for most of the fight. After a move exposes the letter Eliza wrote Ken (which told him they were having a son) Ken performs his Shinryuken and Vega loses the match. His face bruised and in worse condition than their first fight, Vega goes ballistic and attempts to kill Ken. E. Honda intervenes and Vega is knocked out.

After Bison's death and the destruction of Shadaloo Island, Vega returns to his old ways organizing cage matches and sadistically butchering his opponents. However, because of his vanity Interpol no longer perceives him as a threat, but they still keep tabs on him.

In the new comics Street Fighter Unlimited, Vega kidnaps Chun-Li and he has several Twelve soldiers as clones of himself, who attacks Cammy, Guile, and Alex.

Fighting style
Vega's fighting style, officially refered as "Spanish Ninjutsu", is a blend of ninjutsu and bullfighting, thus earning him the nickname "Spanish Ninja".

Moveset
Vega is one of the fastest and most agile characters in the Street Fighter series, but also one of the most delicate; his defensive rating is low compared to most of the other characters to balance his incredible speed. Vega is also one of the few weapon users in the series, and the only one that appears in the Street Fighter II series.

Vega's overall style uses a mix of a keepaway game and quick lunges at the opponent. Vega has a powerful air game based on his Flying Barcelona Attack and Sky High Claw, and is more than agile enough to get around the opponent's attacks and strike with rapid succession, leading to potentially devastating setups, confusing cross-ups, or long-range poking attacks with the reach advantage provided by his claw. However, his long reach can easily be beaten out with a counterattack at the right moment, and could leave Vega helpless to an aggressive opponent; most of Vega's moves are hard to maintain a position with, and are not too safe on block. In addition to various airborne attacks, Vega is equipped with low ground attacks such as the Scarlet Terror and Rolling Crystal Flash that can be used to keep the foe off-balance, and he can use long and short Back Slashes to backflip around attacks. In Street Fighter V, Vega is no longer a charge character, making nearly all of his moves easier to pull off.

Claw and mask mechanics
It takes exactly fourteen blocked hits for Vega to lose his claw. This reduces his attack range (and sometimes power) significantly, and prevents him from using certain Super Combos. Since Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Vega is able to retrieve the claw; in Street Fighter Alpha 3, he can lose his mask as well, though the effect is only cosmetic there. In SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, Vega cannot lose his claw. In the Street Fighter EX series, Vega may reinforce or recover his claw with a Super Combo.

In the Street Fighter IV series, Vega can throw his claw off as a special taunt. He can also throw his mask, at the cost of two bars of the Super Combo Gauge, to increase his attack power by 25% (damage scaling is still accounted for, however). If Vega wins a fight without his mask on, it is revealed that he sticks his tongue out to either lick his claw or taunt his fallen opponent.

In Street Fighter V, Vega has access to two distinct fighting styles; clawed or barehanded, and he can choose to sheathe or unsheathe his claw at any point during battle. Barehanded, Vega gains access to a command grab, and vastly different attack properties. In a drastic change from previous recent appearances, once Vega's claw is knocked off, it cannot be picked back up. Depending on the chosen fighting style, possible combos are different. Overall, sheathing the claw is trading range for more combo potential. In Street Fighter V, the claw does not seem to increase damage Vega deals and therefore only provides him extra range for most of his attacks. However, a few of his moves attacks have increased damage with claw on to make up for loss of combo potential (FBA for example, which knocks the opponent down with claw on, denying any combo option).

In Street Fighter V, Vega loses his mask after losing around 80 - 85 % of his health bar. He has a slight increase in damage after losing the mask, but does not seem to have a defense penalty like in previous games.

Quotes
See Vega/Quotes.

Pop Culture
Vega/Pop Culture

Trivia

 * Due to how he is named differently in varying regions, he is known in the international community as "Claw".


 * In Super Street Fighter IV, Vega's second alternate costume bears some resemblance to Zorro.


 * In Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Vega is referenced in Ryu's win quote against Wolverine.


 * Vega might be the only character in the Street Fighter franchise who is not completely right-handed. Most of his official illustrations place the claw on his left hand, while in Street Fighter V, the claw appears on his right hand. This suggests that Vega is either an ambidextrous individual or, at the very least, a left-hander who has learnt how to use the right hand as a result of the real-life social stigma against "Southpaws".


 * Vega is the only character in the Street Fighter series who is able to interact with his stage.


 * In the 1994 Street Fighter film, Vega works for Sagat in the underground fighting ring instead of working for M. Bison in Shadaloo.


 * The home version of Street Fighter: The Movie is the only game where Vega does not wear his mask.


 * Vega shares his birthday with Dudley.


 * Vega's normal throws are similar to Cammy's; both having a Suplex and a Frankensteiner.


 * Sergei, from Capcom's 3D beat 'em up game Asura's Wrath, share a similar personality and character traits with Vega.


 * Vega's Rolling Crystal Flash special attack is very similar to Gen's Jyasen special attack, as both attacks have the same input, start off with consecutive rolls, and end with a punch attack.
 * In Street Fighter V, Vega no longer has access to Rolling Crystal Flash but instead has a new move called Crimson Terror which overall fits the same role as its predecessor, except that the move now ends with a kick instead of a claw lunge.


 * In every Street Fighter II version in which Vega can be selected as a playable character, the Spanish flag seen in the character select screen is the one that was used during the military dictatorship of Francisco Franco (1936-1975). The game was released in 1991, 16 years after that flag was declared unconstitutional.


 * Vega is one of the few characters in the original Street Fighter IV game who has one rival (in his case, Chun-Li) throughout the whole sub-series.

Gallery
Vega/Gallery