Sagat

"A strong fighter is not one who always wins, but one who stands after defeat."

- Sagat

Sagat (サガット) is a character in the Street Fighter series. He was originally a boss character in the early editions of the series. He was later turned into a regular, playable character. Sagat is also referred to as "The Emperor of Muay Thai", "The King of Muay Thai" or "The God of Muay Thai" in the games. Many Thais believe that Sagat is based on a real-life Muay Thai fighter named Sagat Petchyindee (สกัด เพชรยินดี), but Capcom has never confirmed this.

Appearance
Sagat is characterized by his intimidating appearance, with a towering build, muscularity, eye patch, Muay Thai trunks, hand and feet wraps/bandages, solid white eyes, and a scar across his chest. His natural size drove him to become a powerful fighter. His hands are massive enough to close around the entire head of many of his opponents. He is depicted as being totally bald, except for a particular artwork that shows him with a full head of long reddish-brown hair, which has since become the basis for his third alternate costume in Street Fighter IV.

The Muay Thai trunks have colors varying from purple with yellow trim, to blue with red trim, to blue with yellow. The black eye-patch covers his severely damaged right eye, though the lack of depth perception and loss of peripheral vision do not seriously hamper his ability as a powerful fighter; this can be explained by the existence of monocular cues. Street Fighter II V is the only appearance in which Sagat doesn't wear his eyepatch.

The massive scar on his chest is a result of a fated fight with Ryu in the original Street Fighter (explained below). Sagat makes no attempt to conceal the disfigurement, and in fact literally draws power from the hateful memory it invokes; in Capcom vs. SNK 2, Sagat's scar glows while he charges energy for his S-Groove super meter. Later games introduce the Angry Charge, which powers up his next Tiger Uppercut.

Sagat's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2, however, shows him in a white muscle shirt, grey jeans, and grey fingerless gloves. In the same scene, Balrog wears the same clothes (while keeping his boxing gloves on), implying that at the time, it could have been the official Shadaloo uniform.

Graphics Issues
In the Street Fighter II series, Sagat's in-game sprite does not display the highly muscular build of the Street Fighter Alpha series, although even at that time he had been consistently portrayed as such in his Super Street Fighter II Turbo ending, and other Capcom artworks. Later on, the game graphics improved to match those of the comics.

Due to a technical limitation in games prior to the 3D Street Fighter EX and Street Fighter IV games, Sagat's eyepatch will appear to switch from eye to eye when Sagat faces another direction, since the left-facing sprite is a mirror-image of the right.

Concept
According to Street Fighter co-creator Finish Hiroshi, Sagat's style was modeled after dramatic television kickboxing personalities, particularly that of Muay Thai/Thai. The central theme of Sagat's character is "tiger"; this is a likely reference to an old Muay Thai tale about the nicknamed Siamese Tiger King, who loved competing in Muay Thai and gained Burmese respect for his country after defeating multiple Burmese soldiers in back to back fights.

In the context of East Asian culture, the tiger and the dragon have often been considered as equally strong rivals, and are symbolic of many dualistic traits; the dragon is often associated with the heavens, the concept of spirit, things of yang affinity, and the eastern world, while the tiger is often associated with the earth, the concept of matter, things of yin affinity, and the western world. In addition, in martial arts, the dragon is symbolic of a 'soft' style and internal-based martial arts, whereas the tiger is symbolic of a 'hard' style and external-based martial arts. This makes his rivalry with Ryu (which means "dragon" in Japanese) especially notable.

Personality
Sagat encompasses a stereotypical "proud fighter" personality, since he is very powerful and strong-willed, as well as hard-working; he is dedicated in body and spirit to martial arts life. His uncommon physical appearance makes him menacing, hideous and downright unfriendly at first glance, which holds true to a certain extent.

In contrast to his initially violent and sometimes cruel nature, Sagat appreciates opponents that are worthy and of strong character, and greatly despises taking unfair or dishonest advantages in combat. His more honorable traits come to the forefront during his storyline development, and his pride gives way to an honesty of sorts similar to Ryu, his purpose now defined by the "heart of battle".

Sagat's win quotes show him to be a proud and belittling man; this has long since given way to a more honest, advisory side, that still contains his characteristic straight-to-the point bluntness, which is present to a fault.

Ryu
After his defeat at the first World Warrior Tournament, Sagat fed on his hatred towards Ryu and his shame, seeking a new chance to challenge and defeat him to recover his title of greatest fighter of all and thus restore his lost "honor". His hatred towards Ryu has long since cooled, and the two are now more amiable rivals.

As such, despite enjoying tournaments, he turns most of his attention towards Ryu, whom he now considers "the only man able to defeat him and worthy to be faced in a life or death battle." In Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition, if Sagat faces Evil Ryu as a boss, his win quote against the latter states he is dismayed at Ryu for giving in to the Satsui no Hado.

Dan

Because he didn't pay Shadaloo taxes, Dan's father, Go, was harassed by Shadaloo henchmen and eventually Sagat to pay. When Go refused and challanged Sagat to a fight, this lead to Go kicking Sagat in the face, thus losing his eye.

In a fit of rage, Sagat brutally murdered Dan's father and Dan has sworn absolute revenge. Usualy challanging him in the name of his father.

Despite the two not interacting as much as they used to, Sagat has always seen Dan as a nuisance and tends to point out his childish personality.

Street Fighter
Sagat trained Adon, and held the first World Warrior Tournament to prove that he was not only the strongest Muay Thai fighter, but the strongest fighter in the world. Only one fighter managed to reach Sagat: a young martial artist named Ryu. Initially, Sagat was able to pin Ryu, and was sure that he was the winner of the match, even going to help Ryu up. However, Ryu became desperate to win the fight and was accidentally corrupted by the Satsui no Hado and his dark side and executed the Metsu Shoryuken, grievously wounding Sagat and leaving a massive scar across his chest. Sagat swore revenge on Ryu.

Street Fighter Alpha
In the retconned events of Street Fighter Alpha, Sagat enters the tournament to exact his revenge on Ryu, and succeeds. Although pleased that he got his revenge, he somewhat felt empty after the fight. Sagat realized that Ryu didn't give it his all, and he believes Ryu held back. Sagat eventually gave up this vendetta, considering it to be foolish and pointless. However, Bison's plane arrives at the scene. Bison comments that Sagat had succeeded in defeating Ryu, but suggests that he must master the Psycho Power if he is to be feared.

Street Fighter Alpha 2
Sagat dedicates himself to learning a move to rival the one that scarred him, and developed the Tiger Blow.

Adon mocks his teacher for losing to Ryu and challenged him for the title of God of Muay Thai. Sagat had not recovered from his chest being ripped open, and lost to Adon, but not before beating the younger man so hard that he would be in traction for four months. Consumed with rage and hatred, Sagat eagerly joined the criminal organization known as Shadaloo; M. Bison had offered him Shadaloo resources to find Ryu and provide Sagat with a rematch. Sagat's nearly indomitable power provided him with the position of Bison's personal bodyguard, one of the feared "Four Heavenly Kings" of Shadaloo.

He then immediately set about tracking Ryu down. He soon caught up to his rival and challenged him to a fight, with Ryu protesting that Sagat had not fully recovered from their last one. Sagat persisted, and won. Afterwards, he couldn't help but feel that the victory was hollow somehow, and realized that Ryu had let him win; after the match, Ryu had not said a word, and merely gave him a mysterious look. Sagat determined to train even harder and win cleanly the next time. He worked on honing the Tiger Blow, which would later be perfected as the Tiger Uppercut in his ending.

Sagat also encountered Dan Hibiki, now an adult seeking revenge for his father's death in the fight with Sagat ten years previously. Sagat, his thoughts still lingering on how Ryu had let him win in their last match, felt a sort of kinship with Dan during the match, and he purposely threw the fight, which allowed Dan to satisfy his anger (although he doesn't know that Sagat did so).

Street Fighter Alpha 3
"Sagat is known as the "Emperor of Muay Thai." The scar upon his chest serves as a reminder of his defeat... to Ryu and his Shoryuken! He fights for vengeance alone... But, he's begun to realize that the power of hatred is limited."

- Sagat's Profile in Street Fighter Alpha 3

Sagat realized that his scar was a result of the Satsui no Hado, which possessed Ryu. He understood that true rivals should not be blinded by rage and hatred, nor be seduced by it, and realized Bison's true intentions.

However, Bison presented him with a brainwashed Ryu, and told Sagat he could have the rematch he always wanted. Despite his disappointment at fighting a corrupted opponent, Sagat still fought Ryu, but sought to break Bison's mind control. He implored to Ryu that a true warrior would not give in to such treachery. Ryu awakened from Bison's control and, rejecting the Satsui no Hado, defeated and drove away Bison temporarily. Sagat finally realized that rivalries must have their limits. Sagat tells Ryu that he was almost destroyed by the corruption, and is not yet ready to take him on again. Ryu then leaves Sagat, promising to return when he becomes a true master. Sagat realizes that he must defeat Ryu not for revenge, but for his destiny.

Super Street Fighter II
While Sagat's goal in the second World Warrior Tournament was a clean rematch with Ryu, his hopes were eclipsed when Ryu was knocked out of the competition; therefore, he dropped out before his next match, finishing third in the tournament. Afterwards, he resigned from his Shadaloo post. Sagat continued to train his body and mind in Thailand, hoping to become the world's strongest fighter once again before he became too old to do so.

Super Street Fighter IV
After the second World Warrior Tournament, Sagat lapses into a depression, "feeling like a loser". Attending one of Adon's matches in search of "something to reignite [his] spirit", he is mocked and challenged to a match by his former pupil. Defeating Adon with his Tiger Destruction as he is cheered on by the fans, Sagat feels reinvigorated, and then enters S.I.N.'s new tournament in the hopes of a rematch with Ryu and discovering the "ultimate purpose of the fight". He eventually finds Ryu and battles him. The outcome of the battle is currently unknown.

After the tournament, Sagat reflects on his obsession with Ryu, realizing that instead of focusing on victory or defeat, what's truly important is communicating one's soul to the opponent through one's fists. Sagat compares his former self to Seth, whose fists Sagat says were "mute", and wonders whether he has changed now. In his ending, as he returns home to his village, he is greeted by Chit, his sister, and a monk (characters who all appear in the second volume of Masaomi Nakahira's Ryu Final manga) who ask how the tournament went. Sagat replies that he "actually had fun" because he "met an old friend" (presumably Ryu). Meanwhile, Adon watches him as he leaves, vowing to dethrone him and become the new God of Muay Thai.

In a recent patch, Sagat has been added to Street Fighter IV for the iPod Touch and iPhone.

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

Street Fighter X Tekken
Whilst training by a waterfall, Sagat is informed by a villager that the young girl he once saved has gone missing. Listening to the brother of the girl's pleas for help, Dhalsim appears before him and asks a favor of him, telling him of missing children from his own village. The two decide to team up and search for Pandora, believing the power within it may help them find the missing children.

Eventually reaching the Antarctic, the two find the missing children, and Pandora opens before them. Dhalsim tells Sagat that Pandora "is said to be a power to rival the Gods". Sagat decides that "A King has no need" for the box, and the two walk off into the distance, with Pandora closing behind them.

UDON
A younger Sagat is shown during the Chun-Li miniseries as the main antagonist. In this series, he is portrayed as far more evil and ruthless than even his earlier incarnations, serving as Bison's enforcer in secretly stealing priceless artifacts.

His portrayal in all other series is a mix of his various incarnations: Though he chooses to remain a member of Shadaloo unlike his Alpha incarnation, he remains honorable. While he wants his rematch with Ryu, he disapproves of his organization's methods, and warns Ryu about Shadaloo. After his loss to Ryu, he began training with Dhalsim and became much more powerful, even shocking Ryu with his new strength and recommending that he should train with the Yoga master as well.

During the Street Fighter tournament, he served as the host for the Chinese branch of the preliminary matches, and allows Fei-Long and Chun-Li to enter if they can defeat all the martial artists who passed the preliminaries. Near the end of the series, he finally has his much awaited rematch with Ryu, and though he lost, they parted on good terms.

He is last seen leaving Shadoloo and training to improve himself ever further.

Street Fighter Alpha manga
His battle with Ryu is shown in a flashback, where he mocks Ryu for not taking advantage of his weakness. Just as he is about to emerge victorious, Ryu taps into the Satsui no Hadou and scars him. His defeat led to Adon joining Shadaloo to get revenge for "insulting Muay Thai" with his defeat.

He is last seen about to have his rematch with Ryu.

Street Fighter III: Ryu Final
During Ryu Final, flashbacks of Sagat coping with his loss to Ryu are shown. He is distraught due to his loss, and is shown rampaging in grief. Sagat becomes a lost soul, but after protecting two orphans from poachers, he finds new meaning in his life.

He is shown to be a hermit in Thailand during the present time, and is often visited by the orphan siblings and a monk he befriended. He is first shown fighting Hugo, who arrogantly claims that he would win, since Ryu (who is famous for beating Sagat) fought him to a draw. Sagat berates him for his ignorance and easily defeats him.

Right before his match with Akuma, Ryu seeks Sagat out in order to have a rematch. A fierce battle commences, and though Ryu is the first to be knocked down, Sagat's chest scars reopens as well. Sagat thanks Ryu for the good fight, and tells him to be ready, as he is tired of waiting and will seek Ryu out next time.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie
In SFII: The Animated Movie, Sagat is shown as part of Shadaloo (or Shadow Law, as it is called in the movie) and as one of its main enforcers, along with Vega and Balrog. He is first seen in the infamous fight with Ryu, in which he receives his scar, an event that makes him go berserk and run right into a Hadouken, and lose the match. Later on, he is belittled by Bison for losing, and his rematch with Ryu is denied by the leader of Shadow Law, who instead sends him to fetch Cammy and Vega. After their failures, they are to be eliminated. It is unknown if Sagat completed this mission or not.

Street Fighter: The Movie
In the live action movie, Victor Sagat is depicted as an underground mob boss in Shadaloo City and the bodyguard for the insane dictator General Bison. In contrast to his rivalry with Ryu in the games, the film version of Sagat was depicted as Ken's rival instead. He was a cage fighter named Iron Fist before retiring to head the Shadaloo Tong, which controlled the city's criminal operations. Ryu and Ken (a couple of con artists) attempt to sell him fake guns, but Sagat uncovers the plot and orders them killed. Ryu and Ken manage to beat Sagat's men to a pulp until they are stopped by Sagat's bodyguards with real guns. Impressed, Sagat plans for Ryu and Ken to be the next opponents of his cage-fighting champion and best friend, Vega. But just before Ryu and Vega can fight, Colonel Guile crashes into the arena with his tank and arrests them all, including Sagat, Vega, Ryu and Ken, taking them to the AN (Allied Nations) headquarters.

In prison, Sagat once again orders Ryu and Ken beaten up by his men, but Ryu and Ken hold off for a good while until Guile, Cammy and T. Hawk spot them apparently fighting against Sagat as possible allies to the AN. Guile makes a plan with Ryu and Ken to "escape" from prison and "kill" him in the process, while carrying a homing device which Guile and the AN will use to track Sagat to Bison's lair. The plan goes well, and Sagat accepts Ryu and Ken as his allies, unaware that they are actually spying on him.

Sagat and his men all flee to the AN headquarters and seek refuge with Bison at the black market, where they all watch a magic show by the Benbelli Brothers (in reality Chun-Li, Balrog and Honda, all bent on revenge on Sagat and Bison). Here, Sagat shows Bison a sample of the weapons he will be supplying him with, and the crafty Bison attempts to pay him with a trunk of Bison Dollars which he will establish after taking the Earth over. An enraged Sagat refuses, and calls Bison a conniving lunatic, prompting them to terminate their partnership until Ryu and Ken (in a desperate attempt to get the homing device to Bison's fortress and call Guile) inform them of a lorry filled with explosives (by Chun-Li, Balrog and Honda) heading straight for them. Allied once again, Bison, Sagat, Vega, Ryu, Ken and the two armies flee the tent just before the explosion.

Sagat and his men then go with Bison to the hidden base, where they are "welcome to stay". Sagat is also present at Bison's attempt to blow Guile's stealth boat up with mines (Sagat is horrified to see Guile alive, and Bison taunts his eyepatch as the cause of his not knowing of Ryu and Ken's escape plan with Guile), and at the execution of the fifty-three relief workers Bison had taken hostage. After Guile and his army finally arrive just before the execution, Sagat and Vega deduce Ryu and Ken to have led them there, and plan to ambush and kill them in revenge.

Sagat and Vega corner Ryu in the locker room and start to beat him up, until Ryu knocks Vega aside and Sagat himself is punched aside by Ken, who found Ryu after getting separated from him. Ken and Sagat then fight their own battle in the base's gym while Ryu and Vega fight. At first, Sagat appears to have the upper hand, until Ken manages to use some of the gym equipment to hurt Sagat and finally score a knockout, hitting Sagat into a nearby wall. But just before leaving with Ryu, who knocked Vega out, Ken gives Sagat a "thank-you" present in the form of a golden figurine (he supposedly made him what he now is).

With the base collapsing, Sagat abandons Vega and escapes with Dee Jay through a secret passage to avoid being arrested by the AN. They make it out just before the explosion, and swim through a river to shore with a trunk full of Bison's money. But in the end, Sagat and Dee Jay both get their comeuppance when they open the trunk and see that it's actually filled with the useless Bison Dollars (Bison is presumed killed in the explosion, thus ending the war).

Gameplay and fighting style
Sagat's Muay Thai focuses on crushing, hard-hitting blows, and he plays similarly to Ken and Ryu, with some notable differences. Foremost is his attack range; his low attacks and standing horizontal kicks have impressive reach due to his size, though this also makes him a bigger target. In Street Fighter II, producing an array of alternating high and low fireball attacks can confuse and greatly damage an opponent. This technique is less viable in later games where projectiles do less damage, or can otherwise be avoided. In Capcom vs. SNK 2, Sagat's normal attacks, particularly his crouching fierce punch, have unusually high power and priority, making him one of the easiest characters to use effectively in that game.

He is also known for his multiple-hitting Tiger Uppercut (Tiger Blow in the Alpha series) which is similar to Ken and Ryu's Shoryuken. The move initially had low priority, but in Street Fighter IV, it has priority even over Ken's EX Shoryuken.

In SSFIIT, his "Old Sagat" incarnation is soft banned in Japan, because his fireballs combined with the occasional Tiger Uppercut make him overly effective and easy to use. Additionally, while he is not considered as broken as Akuma, his presence in American tournaments has seen certain characters completely ignored due to their almost un-winnable match-ups against Sagat. In Japan, the soft ban, while violated more frequently than the Akuma soft ban, has allowed a larger cast of characters to flourish.

Super Combos
Sagat's first Super Combo is the Tiger Genocide, introduced in the SFII series; it is a Tiger Knee followed by an Uppercut.

Actors
Since Street Fighter Alpha, Sagat has been voiced by Shinichirou Miki. In SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, Sagat was voiced by Kouji Suizu.

In the live-action Street Fighter movie, he was portrayed by well-known Native American actor Wes Studi.

Trivia

 * In the Capcom vs. SNK series when Sagat defeats an enemy, he sometimes makes a reference to the original Street Fighter by saying "Try again, kid." This is also one of Sagat's winning quotes in Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix.
 * The Thai word, sagat (สกัด), means "to intercept or to stop something from advancing."
 * Sagat bears a heavy resemblance to fellow Capcom villain Sigma of the Mega Man X series, especially his facial features.
 * A part of Sagat's theme can be heard in Asura's Wrath in Lost Episode 1, when Ryu appears.
 * His action figure's in Hasbro's Street Fighter movie subline have him listed as "Viktor Sagat".
 * In the original Street Fighter, Sagat's eyepatch comes off when he is knocked out and is seen on the ground next to him.
 * Being 7' 4" (226cm) tall, Sagat is the fourth-tallest character in the whole Street Fighter franchise, behind Q,  T. Hawk and Hugo.
 * One of Sagat's lines in the cartoon series ("You like... some cornflakes?") is the subject of an internet meme.
 * The only Street Fighter sub-series where Sagat did not appear in was the Street Fighter III series.

Quotes
See: Sagat/Quotes