Cody

"I've saved the city, saved the girl, but couldn't save myself."

- Cody (Street Fighter Alpha 3)

"Well now, let's see if we can't do somethin' about my boredom. (さーて 少しは退屈しのぎになる相手かな)"

- Cody (Street Fighter IV series)

Cody Travers (コーディー・トラバース) is a video game character who debuted in the beat-em-up series Final Fight before appearing as a playable fighter in the Street Fighter series starting with Street Fighter Alpha 3. He is a reckless vigilante who has fought to survive the harsh slums of Metro City since he was a kid.

Appearance
Before being arrested, Cody was clean-shaven, and his outfit consisted of blue jeans, white sneakers, a white t-shirt and blue bandages wrapped around his wrists as well as the lower half of his hands. As a jailbird, he has facial stubble and handcuffs which are linked by a long chain. The hand bandages are now white and cover the hands completely, leaving only the fingers exposed. The t-shirt and the jeans are replaced by an old-fashioned prison jumpsuit with white and blue stripes. He keeps the white sneakers, though. Unlike most convicts, Cody does not mind being in his prison apparel but, as seen in his Street Fighter Alpha 3 taunt, he can easily remove the handcuffs. In Final Fight: Streetwise, he wears his original outfit with an orange prison shirt over the t-shirt.

Some of the official artwork for Final Fight implied that Cody has always worn Adidas Superstars, but it was his Street Fighter Alpha 3 sprite that fully confirmed this idea. Guy wears Nikes, which may be a reference to the competition between the two sports brands in real life.

In his Street Fighter V profile artwork, Cody wears an orange prison outfit with the sleeves tied on his waist as well as a white tank top. He wears his white sneakers from his outfit in Final Fight.

In his playable appearance in Street Fighter V, Cody has a drastically altered appearance; his hair is now shorter and slicked back and he wears a business attire, including a purple formal vest with brown upper outlines, a light blue and white pinstripped long sleeve button-up shirt with the sleeves folded into cuffs and a red neck tie with brown and white linings on the collar, as well as black formal pinstripe pants and black shoes. He notably no longer wears handcuffs. His appearance is coincidentally similar to Eagle, though without the mustache and the dinner-suit.

Alternate Costumes
Cody's first downloadable costume in Super Street Fighter IV is a more stylised take on his attire from Final Fight, with the t-shirt being replaced with a white tank top with black trims. He also has tattoos, jewellery and hand accessories, none of which were featured in his Final Fight design.

His second downloadable costume is a modern prison uniform, which is orange and replaces the sneakers with black sandals. It resembles, to some degree, his outfit from Final Fight: Streetwise.

In Street Fighter X Tekken, Cody also has two DLC costumes: a police uniform similar to that of Edi. E's worn over his default, and a Swap Costume based on Paul Phoenix.

Personality
In Final Fight, Cody is depicted as being a combative, reckless but ultimately positive and good-natured man, having a powerful sense of justice and love for his girlfriend, Jessica. However, in his Street Fighter appearances, after breaking up with Jessica, losing touch with his friends and spending several years in prison, Cody has become extremely aloof, apathetic and doubtful. He remains pugnacious as ever, occasionally breaking out of prison just to fight and relieve his boredom, and often maintains his generally dismissive air - a major exception being when he finds an opponent that can entertain him.

He interprets his imprisonment as punishment for his ultimately good deeds, and even admits that the idea of achieving any constructive goal (such as overcoming rivals or taking care of family) is lost on him. Cody harbors some internal resentment towards the outside world, musing that he fought solely for the sake of Metro City but ended up imprisoned for it. According to his ending in the Street Fighter IV games, he feels at home in prison. Despite this, and as certain dialogue indicates, while Cody appears to have given up on fighting crime, he still retains his old sense of justice and an enduring (albeit subdued and exhausted) desire to oppose evil. In particular, his win quote against M.Bison shows that his true feelings come through when he confronts great evil ("I don't consider myself a good guy anymore, but I had to take you down!"), although he immediately tries to hide it. Cody also gives his respect to people who need to do business. This is shown in his win quote against T. Hawk in which he tells him to not let him stand in the way of what he has to do and then wishes him good luck ("Don't let me stand in your way if you got stuff to do. Good luck!")

Relationships
As of Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, Cody's current relationship status to these persons are unknown.

Mike Haggar
Haggar and Cody initially seemed to have a good father-son relationship, with Haggar approving of Cody dating his daughter mostly because he would also risk his life to rescue her, though Cody is often annoyed by his lecturing. In the UDON comics, Haggar is shown to have become tired of calling in favors to keep him out of jail, and Cody is simply bored of his constant lectures; this causes him to give up, deciding he can't keep Cody out of jail forever.

Guy
Cody and Guy were originally very good friends and rivals who would battle often. Guy is also the only old friend Cody has associated with since he went to jail. In the Arcade Mode of Street Fighter Alpha 3, after defeating Guy, Cody concludes that "some things never change", most likely referencing one (or more) of his and Guy's past duels; based on their rival dialogue in both Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Super Street Fighter IV, Cody tends to have the upper hand. Despite their frequent battles, the two have no problem teaming up to achieve a common goal, and Cody even implies at least once that he enjoys doing so.

Jessica Haggar
Jessica and Cody were dating before and by the time of Final Fight, and they were clearly infatuated with each other then. However, Cody's imprisonment and Jessica's departure to study in Europe caused them to break up on a bitter note. It is often assumed their relationship is beyond repair ever since Cody's former incarceration.

Edi. E
Edi is a corrupt cop who formerly tries to frame him for additional crimes and the man who usually takes him back to prison when he escapes.

Rolento F. Schugerg
Rolento's "Street Fighter Alpha 3" profile states that he remembers Cody who was once his enemy after discovering that he'll be arriving to the SFA3 tournament as one of the 10 new challengers (14 in the console version), he plans to recruit Cody in his militia. Rolento became genuinely outraged to see Cody's descent from grace when he became an inmate, the disappointed Rolento cancelled his mission with Cody, and moved on with bigger missions to the tournament alongside Sodom.

Poison
Former Mad Gear goon, Poison is an old enemy of Cody's, along side Roxy, who has a crush on him, though Cody has stated numerous times he's not into her.

Oni
Cody is one of the few to not be intimidated by Oni and desires to fight him. Depending on how he faces Oni, he either acknowledges that he too holds back his own power, or calls him a coward.

Early life
Cody has practiced boxing and martial arts since he was 9, he has a girlfriend who has been his "sweetheart since childhood", Jessica. Cody also took care of his younger brother Kyle, being something of a father figure to him.

Final Fight
In the original Final Fight, Cody teams up with his best friend/rival Guy and the Mayor of Metro City, Mike Haggar, to save Jessica (Haggar's daughter) from Belger, the leader of the Mad Gear gang. Cody takes on many of Mad Gear's worst thugs, including Damnd, the first Mad Gear Gang member to kidnap Jessica, and Edi. E, a corrupt police officer who uses a gun and police baton against Cody, making the fight very difficult to win. His penchant for fighting often leaves the others free to pursue the other bosses of Metro City.

In the end, Cody confronted Belger on the top floor of his penthouse, and after a tough battle, Cody was able to use an uppercut to knock Belger through a window, sending Belger plummeting from the top floor to his death on the street below. Cody is then celebrated as the hero of Metro City and Jessica herself wants to celebrate with Cody, but Cody tells Jessica that he can't sit still while evil continues to stalk the streets. After sharing a passionate kiss with Jessica, Cody leaves the city for parts unknown.

Final Fight Revenge
Cody would soon reappear in Final Fight Revenge, which is chronologically set between the events of Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha 3. He returned to Metro City from a year of traveling, where he learned that the Mad Gear gang is beginning to reform, and that his girlfriend Jessica has gone missing after a series of riots that occurred in the city following the destruction of Mad Gear. Hoping to prove himself that he is Jessica's hero, Cody tried once more to come to her rescue, battling many thugs along the way. Sadly, Cody wouldn't get the chance to continue his search for Jessica, as he was arrested by Edi. E for crimes that were committed by Mad Gear member Poison and the many street fights that Cody had participated in from his time.

Jessica's whereabouts in the game are never resolved in any of the playable characters' endings. However, the design sketches for Cody from Street Fighter Zero 3, as well as the Street Fighter Zero 3 Secret File Book would establish that Haggar was able to rescue Jessica, and that she and Cody had ended their relationship on a bitter note, due to Cody being jailed for his reckless street fighting and that Jessica had decided to take a trip to study abroad in Europe.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
Cody broke out of prison after a riot ensued. During his travels, he met up with Edi. E (who is trying to recapture him), Rolento, and even Guy once more. Rolento wanted him to join his militant movement, which Cody refused after a heated argument (though it's unknown if they had actually fought). Guy, meanwhile, wanted to reform Cody and get him back on the good path, but Cody said that he was no hero and basically lived for fighting. The two then had their own battle but after the two calmed down, Guy accepted the fact that his friend had to live his own life. The two separated afterward when Guy asked if Cody would stay in Metro City, but Cody said he still had traveling to do. Guy bade him farewell, realizing that deep down inside, Cody is still a good person.

Street Fighter IV series
Apparently bored of prison life, Cody "casually" breaks out of prison. Telling the irritated guard that he'll be back soon enough, he ventures outside. While out, Cody sees a familiar face: his old friend and rival Guy, and the two spar. Cody's main motivation seems to be finding a way to alleviate his boredom by participating in S.I.N's tournament.

After defeating Seth, Guy confronts Cody again, assuming there's still a bit of good left in him, asking if he "vanquished a great evil" for the sake of what's right. While he doesn't directly deny it, Cody claims that he only did it because Seth was in his way, making Guy assume he has no intention of returning. When given the question, Cody states he'll be returning to his prison cell, where he belongs.

Street Fighter V
Cody makes his re-appearance in the third season of DLC fighters in Street Fighter V. In the cinematic opening for Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition, he apparently breaks out once again, this time coming out with no handcuffs and a suit, highly implying he is no longer a convict.

Final Fight: Streetwise
In the sequel to the original Final Fight, Cody has long retired from street fighting due to his knees suffering from arthritis, and instead coaches his younger brother Kyle in pit fights, but gets frustrated due to Kyle's lack of focus, which in turn stokes Cody's wish to fight once more.

Due to this, Cody started to use a new drug called "GLOW", fueling Cody's strength and relieving the pain in his knees, but getting him addicted and out of control in the process. Without telling Kyle, Cody started fighting in Vito Bracca's fight club. However, Vito finds out about his drug use, and Cody is taken by the mob enforcer known as Devin Aranoc, leaving Kyle to search all over Metro City to look for his brother with the help of Guy, Haggar and others. He finds Cody, heavily addicted under Guy's custody, but Cody breaks free once again.

Near the end, Cody fights Kyle as the Horseman of Death under the psychotic Father Bella, as revenge for Cody killing Bella's brother - Belger. When the fight is over, Bella holds Kyle at gunpoint, causing Cody to regain his senses and tackle Bella off the church, dropping along with him. After Bella dies and both Kyle and Cody are hospitalized, Cody has beaten his addiction and states (after jokingly asking Kyle for the date of their next match) that due to the massive dosage he received, his knees are feeling "better than ever".

Street Fighter X Tekken
Cody appears in Street Fighter X Tekken along with Guy as a DLC character. Approached by Guy in Metro City, Guy says he wants to stop Shadaloo and the Mishima Zaibatsu from getting their hands on the mysterious box of unknown power in Antarctica, Pandora, and that he needs Cody's help to do it. Cody sighs in response, but says he will do it, saying that the city was boring him anyway.

On the way to Antarctica, they are attacked by a psychopathic zombie-cyborg named Bryan Fury and his giant robot, Jack-X, which classifies both of them as AAA rank fighters. Bryan attacks them to weed out the competition for Pandora, despite Cody's warnings. Guy dodges Bryan's attacks, and Cody matches the enormous Jack-X robot in strength. They defeat Bryan and move on.

After their final victory against Ogre, they find Pandora in the middle of Antarctic. The wish-giving Pandora's Box senses the just wisdom and selflessness within their souls, and Pandora erases itself from existence before Cody and Guy can destroy it. Guy notes that it was all for the best, since its powers could bring untold chaos to the world, and Cody comments that it's all the same to him. As Cody leaves, Guy mentions how good it was to fight as a team again. Cody concedes and admits that it definitely was not boring. In a rare break from his usual stoicism, Guy smiles and says that's good to hear, and the two go home.

In his ending, Cody felt satisfied from all the fighting he did on his journey, and on the way home, he encountered a gang fight. Initially wanting to avoid it, Cody agreed to intervene once the people asked him to. After the fight, Cody comments that he feels more like his old self, remembering how it is to fight for another's sake.

Street Fighter cartoon
Cody had some cameos in the episode The Medium is the Message. In the beginning of the episode he was in the mob of people chasing a boy who was accused of stealing a wallet. He was later see alongside Jessica and other Final Fight characters in the crowd watching a Street Fighter tournament. Coincidentally Guy and Sodom were among the fighters in the tournament but both of them would lose to Chun-Li, Guile, and Blanka.

He plays a bigger role in the episode titled "Final Fight", which adapts the plot of its namesake. In this episode, Cody and Guy befriend Ryu and Ken, who aid them in fighting the Mad Gear Gang to save Jessica. Cody doesn't trust Ken due to the fact he once flirted with Jessica in front of him and Ken repeatedly teases him for it. Cody would refuse to let Ken and Ryu save Jessica on their own and decides to take matters into his own hands. Guy tries to stop him from blowing Ryu and Ken's cover but it was no use. The two would end up fighting against Rolento which ends with Guy throwing his grenades back at him and defeating him. Cody and Guy break into the Mad Gear gang's hangout which would blow Ryu and Ken's cover. Cody would kick Belger towards the window similar to what he did in the game. Belger fires a missile at Jessica and Haggar but was saved by Guy. Belger fell out of the window but while his chair hit a police van he was left dangling on a pole. Cody thanks Ken for helping him save Jessica which Ken responds "No problem as long as somebody get's the girl."

UDON comics
In the Street Fighter II Turbo comic book published by UDON, Cody is presented as one of the toughest fighters around. Prior to the World Warrior qualifier, he encounters former members of the Mad Gear Gang: Hugo, Rolento and Poison. Cody comments that Hugo should have brought his entire freakish family if the Mad Gears planned to stand a chance against him. Apparently intimidated, the trio does not respond.

During the qualifier itself, Cody defeats Poison, though she later leaves him cuffed to an elevator. After he manages to break free, Cody faces Ryu in order to claim the last remaining gold ticket for the competition. Ryu, wanting a fair fight, removes Cody's shackles, though Cody warnes him that he is accustomed to fighting multiple foes and that, due to this fact, Ryu is already at a major disadvantage. As confirmation, Cody easily knocks Ryu unconscious. Before he manages to leave with the ticket, the Satsui no Hado takes control of Ryu, who then defeats Cody. Fortunately, Ryu comes to his senses in time to stop himself from going any further.

Cody makes a cameo as one of the inmates that Dan is giving "therapy" to, and he is among the fighters invited to Gill's Street Fighter tournament, often seen next to Guy.

Fighting style
Cody's fighting style, officialy referred as "Underworld brawling", is street fighting in its "purest" form, and he proves to be a powerful opponent, even while restrained; his reason for keeping his handcuffs on is to make his fights more challenging and also because of his experience in the original Final Fight which made him capable of taking on multiple opponents at once, though he can take them off at any time. As such, Cody is one of three characters (the others being Oro and Akuma) who voluntarily handicap and restrain themselves due to their power or for a challenge.

As he is one of a very select group of characters who are "pure" street fighters whose fighting styles are a result of experience and adapting moves from watching fights rather then training from actual styles. Street fighting in it's "purest" form is usually based off of boxing, kickboxing and amateur wrestling. In Cody's case, his fighting style is a mix of the former two, with some standard attacks using elbow strikes.

Moveset
In the Street Fighter games, Cody is an offense-oriented character with a diverse moveset, powerful normal attacks, and good combo capabilities. His movement speed is relatively slow, and lacks options when it comes to handling rushdowns, as many of his special moves are slow to come out.

Cody's move set is mainly based on his Final Fight appearances, similar to other characters from the game, with some 'street fighting' moves added in. Cody possess a sliding kick that can strike at various heights, an uppercut that creates a tornado, which is useful against projectiles, and can throw sand at the foe as a reversal. Cody can also pick up rocks and throw them at foes, with the ability to delay the throw in order to confuse the opponent.

In the Street Fighter Alpha series, his Super Combos are Dead End Irony and Final Destruction, both of which work well at close range. Final Destruction also has unique properties based on the ISM being used, explained below. In V-ISM, Cody has a move called Yoke that can be used to dodge.

In Super Street Fighter IV, he gains an additional sucker punch that can break through Super Armor (along with the Ruffian Kick). Dead End Irony returns as his Super Combo, and works differently, starting with a Ruffian Kick that depends on the kick button used. Final Destruction returns as his first Ultra Combo, and also works differently, centering instead around a single punch. His second Ultra Combo, Last Dread Dust, allows him to strike from a further distance and nullify projectiles by kicking up sand. He follows this with a series of wrench attacks and finishes with a pipe.

In Street Fighter X Tekken, Final Destruction reappears as his Super Art, where it again works differently; it starts similarly to the Dead End Irony from Super Street Fighter IV, and the Ruffian Kick can be Supercharged into it.

Final Fight-Inspired Moves
 Final Fight' s use of weapons - a common feature in "beat 'em up" games - is referenced in Cody's fighting style. A knife even appears in any fight where at least one player is using Cody; the knife is his best weapon in the Final Fight games, and only Cody can pick it up and use it as a melee weapon. The knife can be used for fast, damaging attacks, and can also be throw at the foe (which replaces the Bad Stone). Additionally, in Super Street Fighter IV Cody uses a wrench during his Focus Attack, and uses the wrench along with a pipe during Last Dread Dust, as shown above.

Cody's A-ISM Final Destruction is an homage to a glitch, known as the "infinte jab combo", in Final Fight; a player could deliver two hits, turn around — instantly canceling the combo — and then turn back and chain the same two hits; repeated, this could act as an infinite combo attack. Cody mimics the attack, and finishes with another combo of punches and a Criminal Upper. His X-ISM Final Destruction changes the Super Combo Gauge to a timer; for a short time, this replaces his moves with the original Final Fight moveset, where tapping any button repeatedly performs his normal combo from Final Fight, and all his air attacks are replaced with the Crack Kick.

The Omega Mode in Ultra Street Fighter IV marks the return of several Final Fight mechanics: the "original" Final Destruction appears in the form of a command move called Final Combination, and Cody also regains his turn-around punch, named Fake Blow. Cody also regains his invincible spinning kick in the form of Mega Crash, which uses a bar of the Super Combo Gauge (in lieu of health, as in the original game).

Quotes
See: Cody/Quotes

Trivia

 * Cody was likely inspired by Tom Cody, the main protagonist of the 1984 film Streets of Fire. Both are formidable street brawlers that are good with knives, and wage war on the local gang in an attempt to rescue their love interests along the way; in the end, they both walk out on the girl.


 * Cody has dark blond hair in the Final Fight games, and light blond hair in all of his Street Fighter appearances, including the comics and the American television series. However, the official artwork for Final Fight suggests that Cody was always intended to be light blond. If that is the case, then his Final Fight sprites may have been subjected to a coloring error on the developers' part.


 * Cody bears a mild resemblance to Joe from the original Street Fighter. Both are stated to be from the United States, and Cody's Crack Kick is similar to Joe's kick.
 * Cody's official artwork for Super Street Fighter IV displays a broken brick wall as well as the Street Fighter logo. In the intro for the aforementioned game, he destroys an entire brick wall with just a small rock, and the camera does a closeup on the rock right before he throws it. Both appear to be echoing the original intro of the first Street Fighter, in which the person literally breaking the wall is in fact Joe, who does it with his own fists.
 * The official Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition trailer also shows this as well.


 * Cody is one of the first characters in the franchise to utilize "actual" street fighting as their primary fighting style, despite not originating from that series; of note in this regard is that Final Fight was originally titled Street Fighter '89 and was originally a sequel to the original Street Fighter.


 * Cody is also one of many characters in the Street Fighter universe to utilize a weapon during his fights.


 * Cody makes an appearance in the Street Fighter 1995 cartoon. Here, Cody is in a healthy relationship with Jessica and wears his Final Fight attire, as the episode in which he has a starring role is based on events that take place before the storylines of Street Fighter Alpha 3.


 * Cody's rival in Super Street Fighter IV was originally intended to be Chun-Li, but was then changed to Guy shortly before the release. His win quote against Chun-Li implies that she looked up to him as a hero.


 * Oni and E. Honda are the only characters who recognize that Cody is holding back during all his battles. Before Cody fights the former in the games' Arcade Mode, Oni implies that he might actually survive the battle if he doesn't hold back.


 * If Cody wins in a fight against Akuma, he admits that he thought Akuma was rather weak compared to his expectations, being the only character to honestly say that he was unimpressed by Akuma's strength.
 * If Cody wins against Oni in Arcade Mode, he'll say that it was the most fun he's had in his life worth living, making it the only time besides fighting Ryu that he admits to having fun.


 * Cody's win quotes against non-human challengers (such as Oni and Ogre) may hint that Cody thinks it is fun to fight against them.


 * Cody and Jessica make a small stage appearance in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Street Fighter Alpha 2. In the latter, if one or both characters battling on the Metro City stage are female, Cody passes them a naughty glance which results in him being slapped by Jessica.


 * He also has a cameo appearance in Capcom Fighting Jam (2003).


 * On some occasions in Street Fighter Alpha 3, Edi. E (who is a boss from Final Fight) chases Cody around, trying to arrest him after a win. An even rarer occasion shows him getting kicked off the screen after this.


 * In Street Fighter Alpha 3 MAX, When Cody is in V-ISM, he can dodge certain attacks while blocking.


 * The Streets of Rage series, beat 'em up games created by Sega, feature a character (Axel Stone) who closely resembles Cody. However, the character's sprite and costume colors were changed in the western version of the third installment to remove any resemblances.


 * In Street Fighter Alpha 3 one of Cody's win quotes is "After waiting for so long, it feels good to do more than two moves," referencing Final Fight's limited movesets.

Stage Theme
Cody's theme in Super Street Fighter IV is a remix of the opening music from the original arcade release of Final Fight.

Gallery
Cody/Gallery

Sprites
Cody/Sprites