Dudley

Dudley (ダッドリー) is an English boxer character in the Street Fighter series. He first appeared in Street Fighter III. He is voiced by Bruce Robertson in New Generation and Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact and by Francis Diakowsky in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike. He makes his return in Super Street Fighter IV, this time voiced by Stuart McLean.

Background
Dudley is a black Briton that was born into a wealthy English family. His father was a former athlete turned successful businessman. From the time he was a little boy, he wanted to be a fighter, but his family told him he was too small to compete. Later, his father lost his business and the family fortune. The losses prompted Dudley to take up professional boxing to earn back lost assets. Dudley then grew into a formidable boxer both in body and skill and was successful in bringing his family back to affluence. Despite everything that has happened, Dudley still boxes, seeking perfection both in and out of the ring, and always behaving as an impeccable gentleman. While Ryu is often compared to the archetype of a wandering ronin (a samurai with no master), Dudley is certainly representative of a chivalrous knight.

Appearance
Dudley is a well-built Briton of African descent, sporting a pair of green dinner suit trousers, with matching green suspenders and cummerbund, as well as a white dress shirt, green bow tie, and elegant black dress shoes. His muscular frame is visible even through his clothing. He keeps his black hair tidy while grooming his moustache into an old-fashioned handlebar style.

He fights with a pair of blue boxing gloves, which (aside from alternative costumes) he never seems to take off, wearing them when reading his newspaper, tending his roses, drinking his tea, driving his Jaguar, and even when fixing his moustache.

Personality
Dudley's personality is quite different during the Street Fighter III series, in which he was far more snobbish and haughty, though this was toned down by Third Strike, in which he is more dignified and respectful to his opponents. In Street Fighter IV, he lacks this condescending attitude; he is polite, gentle, restrained, and always behaves as an impeccable gentleman and has immense respect for all his opponents. However, he particularly dislikes truly dirty fighting and rude people, both of which are unacceptable personality traits of Dudley's rival and fellow boxer, Balrog. Despite this, he won't even insult him or any other villain he faces, fitting in perfectly with the gentleman's gentleman archetype.

Due to the order of events (with Street Fighter IV occuring before Street Fighter III), it's implied that he became more snobbish over the years, as well as surprisingly confrontational. In the Street Fighter III series prior to Third Strike, for example, he calls Ken and Alex a "sissy man" and "an ill-mannered goon" respectively, and apparently delights in beating them up - a far cry from his appreciation for his opponents and voluntarily restraining because of his respect for them. As his attitude is completely different in SSFIV, and was toned down by 3rd Strike, Capcom may have attempted a retcon. It's also possible that his rudeness may have sprung from the theft of his father's Jaguar, since he had a close relationship with his father.

It is a testament to the more chivalrous and polite aspects of Dudley's nature that, while Balrog is the very personification of everything he hates in life, the most insulting thing that Dudley has ever said to him is that he thought he was "not much of a boxer" in his rival battle win quote, also describing him as a "classless oaf", and an "embarrassment to boxing" if he wins a round with a Super Combo finish. If he wins a match against Balrog in Street Fighter X Tekken, his win quote shows that he refuses to acknowledge Balrog as a boxer.

In the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga, he was very cordial and friendly to Ryu initially, but quickly became quite mocking of Ryu once Ryu disappointed him by not putting up much of a fight. Still, Dudley calmly commended Ryu's strength as he was defeated by Ryu's new technique.

Super Street Fighter IV
Having won some boxing title previously (Zangief's win quote to him is that it was an honor to fight "the boxing champ"; Balrog also calls him the "British champ"), Dudley is invited to participate in S.I.N's tournament. Although he finds the invitation to be lacking in "social graces," he accepts for two reasons: to look for suitable floral additions to his garden and to take his mind off of his father's car, which is missing (presumably repossessed and/or purchased by Gill). After the tournament, Dudley returns home empty handed but is pleased to suddenly find a wild rose in his garden.

Street Fighter III: New Generation/Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact
When Dudley finally discovers who purchased his father's prized Jaguar, he enters the buyer's tournament to get it back. Although he didn't win the third World Warrior tournament, Gill was impressed enough to give Dudley the Jaguar back.

Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Dudley has been knighted, receiving the honorary title of "Sir" after making a comeback and winning the championship title. He was then invited into a contest that will be held in the presence of the royal family. He decides to travel the world and improve himself before the day of the match. Dudley is also shown to have a great interest in the gardens of his estate, occasionally losing track of time or getting lost, as shown in his Third Strike ending.

Street Fighter III: Ryu Final
Dudley appears as the final opponent of the first volume of the manga Street Fighter III: Ryu Final. He crashes his father's prized car in his first appearance, but doesn't seem to be too bothered by that fact. While fighting against Ryu, Dudley has the upper hand at first, but after speaking with Elena, Ryu develops a new technique called "The Fist of the Wind" with which he defeats Dudley. After their battle, Dudley and Ryu discuss the mystical nature of the tree through which Ryu was able to communicate with Elena.

Street Fighter X Tekken
Dudley appears in Street Fighter X Tekken (as a DLC character in the console versions and as default in the PS Vita and PC versions), with Elena as his partner. He appears to have no interest in Pandora, until Elena tells him that his tree imported from Africa told her that she and Dudley are to go to Antartica, where Pandora is located as well. Dudley agrees to go if they are able to return in time for his next title match.

Their rival battle is against Tekken characters, Lei and Christie; when playing as Dudley and Elena, Elena will ask for a battle against Christie, with Dudley and Lei only getting involved reluctantly.

In their cinematic ending, the box opens, with Elena identifying the box as not evil, but she doesn't recognize its rhythm. The box then lets out a light, with Dudley and Elena commenting on how beautiful it looks. Dudley then invites Elena to his mansion "when the roses are in bloom", which Elena accepts.

Fighting Style and gameplay
Dudley's boxing style reflects his personality, making use of many professional techniques and executing them with finesse. As a result, he proves to be a devastating close-range fighter, with decent (if somewhat lacking) ranged abilities; this also gives him a powerful mix-up game. Whereas Balrog, the only other boxer in the series, relies solely on strength and speed to attack opponents, Dudley uses various boxing and psychological tricks to gain victory, making use of feints, ducking, and drawback moves along with high-speed punches, diving punches, and uppercuts.

His Super Arts consist of the Rolling Thunder, a series of hooks powered by a Dempsey Roll; the Rocket Upper, a Shoryureppa-like series of Jet Uppers; and the Corkscrew Blow, a powerful left-handed cross punch that hits 5 times. All moves return in Super Street Fighter IV, with the Corkscrew Blow receiving a more powerful version.

Origin
Many of Dudley's moves seem to draw inspiration from characters in the Fighting Spirit manga. His Corkscrew Blow Super Art resembles the "Heart Break shot" used by Date Eiji, and his Machinegun Blow resembles the Flicker Punch used by Ryō Mashiba. Makunouchi Ippo also makes use of the Dempsey Roll, seen in Dudley's Rolling Thunder.

Dudley's Corkscrew Blow is also very similar to the move of the same name used by Jose Mendoza in Ashita no Joe. His Cross Counter move is likely inspired by the move of the same name performed by Yabuki Joe - he takes the same no-guard stance that both Joe and his rival, Rikiishi, take during certain scenes.

Of note is that a famous boxer by the name of Kid McCoy was known for his "corkscrew punch", likely inspiring the Corkscrew Blow.

Trivia

 * Dudley's personality as a dandy British boxer is possibly based on real-life boxer Chris Eubank, an eccentric Jamaican-English champion famous in the late 80s and early 90s, whose trademark attire included a monocle and bowler hat.
 * Dudley and Vega share a birthday (January 27, according to the Super Street Fighter IV website); they are both Aquarians and were born in the Chinese year of the rooster.
 * In Final Fight Street Wise, if the player enters Mike Haggar's gym and you look closely at the posters on the wall, they read "Dudley vs Balrog".
 * Dudley's alternative costume in Super Street Fighter IV is a reference to Freddie Mercury's costume from the 1986 Wembley concert.
 * One of Dudley's costume colors has a resemblance to Nintendo's mascot, Mario. Another one of his colors bears a resemblence to one of Mario's enemies, Wario.
 * Dudley makes a cameo appearance in Capcom vs SNK 2's London stage.
 * Dudley shares his intro quote with Abel in SSFIV.
 * Dudley shares the visual apperance of Major Alex Louis Armstrong from the manga and anime series Fullmetal Alchemist. Also, both of them come from a wealthy family.
 * Makoto Nanaya from the BlazBlue series of games gains several of Dudley's moves when in her alternate "Unlimited" form; this includes the Short Swing Blow (renamed Shooting Star), Machine Gun Blow, Duck/Ducking Straight/Ducking Upper (renamed Dash Straight and Upper), Cross Counter (renamed Space Counter) and Rolling Thunder.  She even gains a variant of Dudley's taunt, with an acorn replacing the rose.  She also gains her Street Fighter namesake's Abare Tosanami and Seichūsen Godanzuki.
 * Dudley is the second black British character in the series, the first being Birdie.

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