Cody


 * "Well now, let's see if we can't do something about my boredom."
 * —Cody

Cody Travers(コーディー) is a video game character from both the Final Fight and Street Fighter series. He has been fighting his way to survive the harsh slums of Metro City since he was a kid.

Appearance
Cody is a street fighter who is seen with prisoner clothes. Unlike other prisoners, he intentionally keeps the hand cuffs around his arms.

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 (Cody's girlfriend and Haggar's daughter) from Belger, the leader of the Mad Gear gang. Cody takes on many of Mad Gear's worst thugs, in particular he defeats Damnd (also known as 'Thrasher', for literally thrashing his opponents in street fights) the first Mad Gear Gang member to kidnap Jessica and Edi E., a corrupt Police Officer that infuriates Cody for his cowardly methods of fighting (using a gun and police baton against Cody, making the fight very difficult to win) and his penchant for fighting often leaves the others free to pursue the other bosses of Metro City. In the end, Cody had confronted Belger on the top floor of his penthouse building and after a tough battle, Cody was able to use a strong uppercut punch to knock Belger off the top floor of the penthouse building, sending Belger plummeting to his death towards the street below. Cody is then celebrated as the hero of Metro City and that Jessica herself wants to celebrate with Cody, but Cody tells Jessica that he can't sit still while evil continues to stalk the streets and 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 has returned to Metro City from a year of traveling, where he learns 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 tries once more to come to her rescue, battling many thugs along the way, but sadly, Cody wouldn't get the chance to continue his search for Jessica, as he would soon get 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 within 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 from the immediate danger and that Cody and Jessica had ended their relationship with one another on a bitter note, due to the fact that Cody was jailed for his reckless street fighting and that Jessica had decided to take a study abroad in Europe.

Street Fighter Alpha 3
In 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 (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 bid him farewell, realizing that deep down inside, Cody is still a good person.

Super Street Fighter IV
After spending all those years in jail, Cody has become very apathetic, his attitude changing completely from when he was a hero. He also seems to harbor a little resentment of the outside world, musing that he fought solely for the sake of the city and still ended up in jail despite his intentions. Apparently bored of his jail life, Cody 'casually' breaks out of prison. Telling the terrified guard that he'll be back later, he ventures outside. While out, Cody looks up at a familiar face that he hasn't seen for a while; his old friend and rival Guy. Cody's main motivation seems to be finding a way to alleviate his boredom by participating in S.I.N's tournament.

After defeating S.I.N., Guy appears again, asking Cody if he's fighting for what's right and if there's still a bit of good left in him. Cody says that he only did it because S.I.N. was in his way, and states he'll be returning to his prison cell, because that's where he belongs. Much like the Street Fighter Alpha 3 ending, it is implied that Cody is actually a good guy, considering he only targets evildoers, and he's simply a man who loves the thrill of the fight.

Final Fight Streetwise
Due to his knees suffering from arthritis, Cody has long retired from street fighting and instead coaches his younger brother Kyle in pitfights, 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 is taken by the mob enforcer known as The Stiff, with Kyle searching all over Metro City to look for his brother. Due to being out of control because the drug was getting the better of him, Blades wanted to kill him, but gets spared due to Kyle interference. Kyle searches for his older brother all over Metro City (with help of Guy, Haggar and others) and finds him 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 - Belgar. When the fight is over, Bella has Kyle at gunpoint, causing Cody to regain his senses and tackles Bella off the church, dropping along with him. After Bella died and both Kyle and Cody being 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".

Gameplay
Basically, Cody is a decent all-rounder, having a diverse range of simple moves. His strongest point comes from his powerful normals, and to add damage to that, a strong offensive play against opponents. His easy commands also result in equally easy combos. His overall play is best suited aginst projectile users, due to him having multiple options to escape a fireball war.

His biggest weakness lies in mostly in his wake-up, due to the slow movement. To add insult to injury, his defense is quite bad and his slow movement isn't any better, resulting in being unable to get out of a pinch quickly. Also, he is very vulnerable when being pressured by an opponents rushdown (his only viable reversal in Super Street Fighter IV being an EX Zonk Knuckle).

Starting with Street Fighter Alpha 3, his trademark attacks are the Bad Stone, in which he throws a normal rock with the force of other fighter's projectiles. Despite the low start-up, it's handy in punishing opponents from afar (it can also be charged to play mind games, due to the fact that as long as you hold the punch button, he'll keep tossing the rock in the air for a moment). The Criminal Upper, in which he throws an uppercut that releases a multi-hitting tornado that blocks projectiles. His Ruffian Kick is a charging kick attack that varies on attack level depending on which button used (hitting low, mid or high), and the ability to use a knife lying in the middle of the stage in all of his fights, which Cody can pick up by pressing crouch and two punch buttons, which also can be thrown at the opponent by inputting the command for Bad Stone.

Cody's A-Ism super move is Final Destruction, in which a player could start an attack combo, deliver two hits, and turn around, instantly canceling the combo, allowing the player to turn back and chain the same two hits. Repeated, this could act as an infinite combo attack. Cody mimics the attack, and accordingly, Final Destruction is a devastating move if it connects. In X-Ism, using this move replaces his moves with the original Final Fight moveset: tapping any button repeatedly performs his normal combo from Final Fight, and all his air attacks are replaced with the F+HK Crack Kick.

In Super Street Fighter IV, he adds a new technique called the Zonk Knuckle, which is a sucker punch that can be charged in a similar manner as El Fuerte's Quesadilla Bomb, or Balrog's Turn Punch. Next to Final Destruction (now an Ultra), there is also a new Ultra named Last Dread Dust, which he also can use to block projectiles in the process. His new Focus Attack is aside from damaging, covering a lot of range.

Trivia

 * It's very likely (though never officialy confirmed) that character of Cody is inspired by Tom Cody, main protagonist of 1984 film 'Streets of Fire'. They have matching initials, both are formidable street brawlers great with knives, both are vigilantes waging war on local gang attempting to rescue their love interests along the way and, in the end, they both walk out on the girl. Also, Cody's portrait in SSF4 very much resembles Michael Pare, an actor who portrayed Tom Cody in 'Streets of Fire'.
 * Cody's use of the knife is a throwback to Cody's favored weapon in Final Fight, in which he was the best character at using knives.
 * In Street Fighter Alpha 3, Cody's A-Ism Final Destruction is a reference to a glitch in the original Final Fight.
 * Cody possibly makes an appearance in the intro to Street Fighter II, punching the African American fighter some people perceive as Mike. Many fans have shared the theory that the man in the intro is Joe, however Joe wore a white t-shirt nor had the same hairstyle. Another theory is that the intro was an unused one for Final Fight, originally titled "Street Fighter '89".
 * In Street Fighter Alpha 3, the 'escaped criminal fighter' was originally planned to be Joe returning from the original Street Fighter. He was later replaced by 'Cody' from Final Fight.
 * Even though the two look similar and even share a kick animation (Cody's Crack Kick heavily resembles Joe's kick), Joe and Cody continue to remain separate characters in the Street Fighter universe.
 * Cody's artwork for Super Street Fighter IV displays a destroyed brick wall showing the Street Fighter logo. Also, in the intro for Super Street Fighter IV, he destroys a brick wall by punching a hole through it to escape prison. Both are a throwback to the original intro of the first Street Fighter - and to extention, Joe.
 * In Super Street Fighter IV, when two Cody players both go for the knife, the one who loses out has a shocked expression on his face.
 * Cody's first ultra move in Super Street Fighter IV (Final Destruction) shares the same name as a super move in Street Fighter Alpha 3. However, the ultra doesn't feature the infamous Final Fight glitch as the super move did.
 * Cody gains more weapons, utilizing wrenches and pipes in Super Street Fighter IV. Cody uses his wrench during his Focus Attack; and in one of his ultra combos, he uses a pipe at the end of a combo.
 * Cody's move set is mainly based off of his Final Fight counterpart, similar to Guy, with his own designs added in.
 * Cody makes an appearance in the USA Cartoon version of Street Fighter. However, Cody is depicted in his Final Fight attire due to Street Fighter Alpha 3 not having been released yet at the time the episode originally aired.
 * 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.
 * In Cody's arcade mode in 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 encounters in which, judging by this quote, he seemed to have an upper hand. Cody is heard saying similar sentence in SSF4 while dealing the final blow to Guy during their rival match.
 * Cody is one of three characters who voluntarily restrain themselves by giving himself a handicap on purpose. His reason for keeping his handcuffs on is to make his fights more challenging. Oro and Akuma are the only other characters to do such a thing.
 * In semi-canonic Street Fighter 2 Turbo comic book published by UDON, Cody is seen as one of the toughest fighters around being apparently capable to single handedly subdue Hugo, Rolento, Poison and the entire Andore family respectively. He even went on to pummel Ryu in the qualifying round for the World Warrior tournament but was eventually defeated by Ryu's dark Hadou.
 * Coincidentally, he is the only person to utilize street fighting as a fighting style, despite the fact he doesn't originate from the Street Fighter series (though this can be argued due to the fact that Final Fight was originally titled Street Fighter '89).
 * Throughout the Street Fighter series, Cody considers himself a fallen hero. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, he says that his reasons for fighting was mostly for the thrill of the fight itself. In Super Street Fighter IV, his win quote against Chun-Li says: "The hero you know died a long time ago".
 * Despite his attitude however, Cody does hint having some good in him because he mainly targets criminals and evildoers. This is most evident in his win quote against M. Bison: "I don't consider myself a good guy anymore, but I had to take you down!" and to an extent, his "encouragement" in his win quote to T. Hawk: "Hey, if you've got important things to do, don't let me stand in your way. Good luck!"
 * Cody and Jessica make a small stage appearance in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and Street Fighter Alpha 2. In SFA2, 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 jealous Jessica. He also has a cameo appearance in Capcom Fighting Evolution.
 * 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.
 * Cody's first downloadable costume is a more stylized take of his attire from Final Fight, with his white t-shirt being replaced with a white singlet with black trims, as well as tattoos, jewelry and hand accessories. Cody-alternate.jpg
 * His second downloadable costume is a more modern prison uniform, which is orange in color and adds slippers. Despite it being a one-piece uniform, it does somewhat resemble his appearance from Final Fight Streetwise.
 * In his Alpha 3 sprite, Cody is seen wearing a pair of Adidas Superstar. Some of his original artworks from Final Fight already implied that these where the shoes he had always wore, but this sprite was the very first time where it could be fully confirmed.

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