- For the Street Fighter II V character, see Sodom & Gomorrah.
- "Guess I beat you pretty bad. Nothing personal."
- —Sodom
Sodom (ソドム Sodomu?) is a video game character who debuted as a boss in the beat-em-up game Final Fight, before appearing as a playable fighter in the Street Fighter series starting with Street Fighter Alpha. He is an American Japanophile who was once a member and ringleader of the Mad Gear Gang.
Biography
Appearance
In combat, Sodom wears tabi and zori, samurai gauntlets, blue jeans, body armor, and a samurai kabuto with a mask, which obscures his facial features entirely; however, it is known that he has blue eyes.
On the front of his outfit, Sodom has attempted to scrawl the Japanese kanji shi (死), meaning "death". However, he has not written the kanji properly, and thus its meaning is lost.
He is never seen fighting without a pair of jitte or katana blades, making him one of the few characters to appear in the Street Fighter series to use weaponry. In the Japanese version of Final Fight, the katana are named Masamune and Muramasa.
In Street Fighter V, Sodom's body armor has long sleeves, he wears a black traditional mask with very long white shaggy hair in a similar look to Garuda's helmet and mask. He uses a pair of large sai instead of the jitte, and his samurai gauntlets are black. He wears traditional aqua blue pants with linings and his zori has curly designs in each sides.
Personality
Sodom is an American person who is obsessed with Japanese culture and philosophies and thus considers himself a native from that country. Sodom is well-versed in many elements of Japan's culture; however, a source of humor is that his usage of the Japanese language is questionable, as shown with the kanji on his costume and several of his win quotes.
In the Japanese version of the Street Fighter Alpha games, much of Sodom's dialogue is rendered entirely in katakana, a Japanese script used largely for transcribing words from English or other foreign languages into Japanese, which gives his dialogue a more stilted, awkward feeling to read. Sodom intersperses various English words throughout his sentences, thus coming across as unskilled in speaking the Japanese language. Many of Sodom's victory quotes are written in seemingly nonsensical English sentences, which are actually various English words put together to resemble Japanese sentences, again giving off the impression that Sodom's pronunciation and grasp on the language are questionable. One of Sodom's victory quotes in the Japanese version is "DIE JOB DEATH CAR?", which is intended to be an approximation of the Japanese phrase "daijōbu desu ka?" (大丈夫ですか?), which means "Are you alright?".
Character Relationships
E. Honda
Sodom attempted to recruit E. Honda for his new version of the Mad Gear Gang by defeating him in a match and although Sodom had failed and was defeated, he had still earned E. Honda's respect.
Rolento
While initially hostile against his former Mad Gear comrade, the two share an identical utopia of order ideal concept as seen in Street Fighter Alpha 3. Sodom initially thought that Rolento was walking down the path of a madman in a similar fashion to M. Bison until Rolento decided against using the Psycho Drive and instead swore to destroy it.
Guy
Sodom's self-proclaimed arch-enemy. Ever since Guy had defeated him in their battle from within the original Final Fight, Sodom had developed a deep hatred towards the modern-day Bushinryu ninja and vowed to one day defeat him in order to avenge his past loss, though Guy himself considers Sodom to be nothing more than a minor annoyance.
Story
Final Fight series
In the original Final Fight, Sodom, who had served as both a high-ranking member and ringleader of the Mad Gear Gang was in charge of watching over the Metro City Park/Subway District under the orders of Belger himself. He was undefeated in underground pro wrestling, albeit due to his use of "foreign objects" (the swords), until he met Guy, as well as Cody and Haggar from within the trio's rescue mission of saving Jessica (Cody's girlfriend and Haggar's daughter) from the Mad Gear Gang. At first, Sodom was honored to face a true ninja of Japanese descent like Guy, but this honor would soon turn into deep shame as Guy had fought and defeated Sodom from within their battle against each other. From then on, Sodom hated Guy for not only being one of the people to rid Metro City of the Mad Gear Gang, but for also ending his undefeated fighting streak as well, which proved in his mind that he was no match for a true Japanese fighter. The incident had also cost him a lot of respect amongst his fellow gang members.
Final Fight Revenge showed Sodom's determination to resurrect Mad Gear (this gang actually seems to be the same Mad Gear in Final Fight 2) and his decision to go to Japan to find strong warriors for the new organization. The new crime syndicate was established all about the world, and was held together by a powerful second-in-command: a Japanese kabuki man named Retu. Rolento, Sodom's proclaimed blood brother, was also part of the revived criminal organization. Guy's fiancée Rena and her father Genryusai were kidnapped by them as part of a revenge plot, but this Mad Gear fell at the hands of Haggar, Maki, and Carlos, three acquaintances of Guy. Retu was defeated by Maki and the Mad Gear Gang had soon perished after its final downfall and complete destruction.
Street Fighter Alpha 2
Street Fighter Alpha 2 reveals why Sodom wasn't seen in Final Fight 2. He was attempting to find more strong warriors for the gang. He had an argument with Rolento over how the militant man had lost sight of their gang's ideals, to which Rolento snapped back against Sodom in saying that he had never lost sight, but was simply trying to find a successful way to implement them. The two fought and Sodom lost. Sodom had also attempted to recruit E. Honda and fought him in a sumo match, but failed in both regards.
Street Fighter Alpha 3
- "The Kabuki Fighter, Sodom, seeks to achieve true "Japanism". How will he reach a higher level of cultural worship? He now wanders the world, in search of his "brothers.""
- —Sodom's Profile in Street Fighter Alpha 3
After possibly fighting against E. Honda in a friendly rematch, the Japanese aficionado had soon met Rolento once again in Street Fighter Alpha 3, where he fought and lost against Rolento in another battle over their similar yet different ideals and values. Despite losing, Sodom had tracked Rolento down to Shadaloo's base containing the Psycho Drive and finds Rolento decrying it as a poor attempt to control people. Sodom soon realizes that Rolento did not truly lose sight of Mad Gear's ideals, and the two eventually reconcile their differences. They decided to work together toward making a great utopian nation.
Sodom's own ending in the game where he drives his truck towards Bison's base in a successful Kamikaze attack and dies in the process is not canon, as per the account in Ultra Street Fighter IV below.
Ultra Street Fighter IV
By the time of the S.I.N. tournament, rumors are circulating that Sodom has quit the underground fighting circuit and started a yakitori restaurant. This, however, may be possible to debunk, as Sodom is seen in the background of the Mad Gear Hideout stage, and can even be seen being chased by Haggar when he shows up.[4]
Other appearances
Mighty Final Fight
Sodom appears as a boss in Mighty Final Fight alongside his two unnamed palette swap brothers. The first brother's colors are the reverse of Sodom's (red mask and pants, blue armor), and the second brother wears a gray mask and pants plus black armor. Sodom is the boss of stage 2 while the first brother is the boss of stage 4 and the second is a sub-boss during the final stage, fighting alongside Abigail.
Final Fight Revenge
Sodom appears as a playable character in Final Fight Revenge.
Cameo appearances
Sodom makes a cameo appearance in Super Gem Fighter Mini Mix.
Sodom appears alongside Damnd in Chun-Li's ending from SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos.
Sodom can be spotted in the Mad Gear Hideout stage in Street Fighter × Tekken and Ultra Street Fighter IV. He wears a kabuki wig and costume along with the other Mad Gear members, and performs a "very original" kabuki dance (which mainly consists of headbanging). After the first round, Sodom appears in the middle of the stage. After the second round, Haggar appears and starts chasing Sodom throughout the stage.
In Street Fighter V, Sodom (in his original Alpha appearance) can be seen on the Ring of Justice stage standing next to a television with the Street Fighter V logo. He will typically stand still with his hands behind his back, although he can occasionally be seen waving one of his katana blades.
Animations
Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation
Sodom makes a cameo appearance in the animated movie, Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, as a fighter who travels with Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, and the other Alpha fighters to Dr. Sadler's laboratory to find and rescue Ryu's alleged younger brother, Shun, though Sodom's comments hint that he is only doing it to prove he is not a coward. As the fighters battle it out to demonstrate their skills to Sadler, Sodom takes on Ken, but is beaten. He and the other Alpha fighters are later imprisoned in a cell to have their fighting energy drained, but they are eventually rescued and saved by Ken and Chun-Li.
Street Fighter animated series
Sodom also made three appearances in the U.S. Street Fighter animated series. In "The Medium is the Message", he's one of the combatants present in the Street Fighter tournament in India, where he fights against Chun-Li. In this episode, the colors on Sodom's armor are saturated and his helmet lacks a mask, revealing that he has blank white eyes. In "Cammy and the Bachelor", he (now wearing his appropriate armor and helmet) and Birdie are both working for M. Bison, until Birdie is captured by Delta Red and Sodom is apparently trapped in the wreckage of M. Bison's destroyed helicopter, abandoned by Bison and the brainwashed Cammy. In the episode "Final Fight" (based on the original arcade game of the same name), Sodom returns and reprises his role as a member of the Mad Gear Gang. He is fought by an undercover Ryu and Ken as an initiation test to "join" the Mad Gears. He speaks very little in all three episodes, though in "Cammy and the Bachelor", he does have one full line: "What about Birdie? He's not back yet!" and lets out a deep cackle in response to one of Birdie's jokes.
Comics
Street Fighter Alpha manga
Sodom is featured in the Street Fighter Zero (released as Street Fighter Alpha by UDON) manga by Masahiko Nakahira, in which he fights with the back then brain-washed Cammy. About to finish her off, Chun-Li intervenes, and starts fighting Sodom. Ironically, he unintentionally saves his opponents by holding up a ceiling that falls down on them with his jitte. After the falling ceiling was stopped by Guy, Sodom lets his guard down and gets his mask destroyed by Chun-Li and Cammy, and he instantly ceases the battle while covering his face in shame, as he claims to be unable to fight without his samurai mask.
Gameplay
Fighting style
Sodom fights using self-taught martial arts[1] and a pair of katana blades and jitte.
Moveset
Sodom is the only character in Street Fighter Alpha 3 whose weapons he uses depends on what '-ISM' is used. If using the X-ISM fighting style, he'll use his katanas; otherwise, in the A-ISM and V-ISM styles, he will use his jitte. This is because his X-ISM visage is based on his Final Fight appearance.
Sodom was notable for being fairly difficult to defeat head-on in the original Final Fight, due to his dash attack being nearly unstoppable and quite damaging. However, it is possible to defeat him without actually taking any damage at all if the player approaches him along a vertical axis and uses grabbing and throwing moves, since his dash attack can only move horizontally or diagonally. Successful application of the above method can allow the player to easily defeat Sodom without harm, since he and Rolento are the only boss characters in Final Fight who do not have henchmen to back them up during battle.
Trivia
- Sodom was renamed to Katana in the North American and European SNES versions of Final Fight and Street Fighter Alpha 2 due to name issues.
- Sodom's name comes from the famous German thrash metal band Sodom, as the Final Fight development team were huge fans of the heavy metal music that was coming out during the era.[citation needed]
- Sodom, along with Ryu, M. Bison, and Akuma, has two different themes in Street Fighter Alpha 3. He is the only character whose theme depends upon the '-ISM' chosen, having a different theme in X-ISM, while others play only when facing a particular opponent.
- His dual katana names, Muramasa and Masamune, are based from two Japanese blacksmiths, Muramasa Sengo and Masamune Goro.
- Also in Street Fighter Alpha 3, Sodom has a winpose exclusive to X-ISM, in which he uses his dual katana, and his default color scheme is the same as the more muted colors he wore in Final Fight.
- Sodom's taunt in the Street Fighter Alpha games, which consists of a generic Japanese bow, actually damages the opponent if used close enough.
- There are three Sodoms (or Katanas, as the character is referred to as in the SNES version) known as the Three Katana Brothers in Mighty Final Fight. The game, however, is not canon in the Final Fight series.
- Sodom was supposed to be one of the ringleaders at Final Fight 2, as he was the one who escalated Retu as the Mad Gear Leader, according to his storyline. Due to his absence, he is believed to have resignated his function at Mad Gear Gang, perhaps why Sodom was the very first Final Fight character to ever appear at the Street Fighter Alpha series.
- Sodom shares some similarities with Yoshimitsu from the Tekken and the Soul Calibur series of 3D fighting games. Both wear samurai-inspired armor and masks, and both use two swords in combat (although Yoshimitsu hasn't always used two swords in combat). In addition to this, they both appear in two different games (Sodom in Final Fight and Street Fighter and Yoshimitsu in Tekken and Soul Calibur) and both also have a serious and determined personality, but often leave a rather goofy and comical impression. One major key difference between the two is that Yoshimitsu is actually Japanese, while Sodom is not.
- In her win quote against Yoshimitsu in Street Fighter × Tekken, Poison says that he reminds her of Sodom.
- Additionally, in the same game, one of the swap costumes has Heihachi Mishima wearing a samurai armor and helmet looking very similar to Sodom's.
- In his Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams ending, Sodom unfurls a scroll that is meant to read "Mad Gear", using Japanese kanji. The kanji used consists of '魔'-(ma), '奴'-(do), '義'-(gi, miswritten) and '亜'-(a) to phonetically spell out Mado Gia (Mad Gear). While this would seem nonsensical and typical of Sodom as a Japanophile, this is actually the use of ateji, where kanji characters are used rather for their phonetic weight than what is written or signified. Many gangs in Japan are known to use ateji for portraying their slogans and mottoes.
- There is a character named "Sodom" who appeared with another character named Gomorrah working for the crime lord Lean in the Street Fighter II V anime series. It is unsure if this is the same Sodom from Final Fight before his Mad Gear Gang days or a different character altogether.
- Sodom and his humorous obsession to Japanese things can be best described, in internet slang, as a Weeaboo. The word is derived from Wapanese, a derogatory term for a non-Japanese person who is obsessed with Japanese culture to the point that they would denounce their own nationality to literally become Japanese. This word was first coined at the controversial image board 4chan, a Western counterpart to the Japanese message board 2chan. Sodom was created long before the earliest known usage of the slang word, making him somewhat the progenitor, if not, the first ever character of this characteristic in all video games.
Stage Themes
Quotes
Gallery
Sprites
See also
References
| Street Fighter Alpha Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Adon · Akuma · Birdie · Charlie · Chun-Li · Dan · Guy Ken · M. Bison · Rose · Ryu · Sagat · Sodom | |||
| Alpha 2 | Original | Dhalsim · Evil Ryu · Gen · Rolento · Sakura · Zangief | ||
| Console | Shin Akuma | |||
| Gold | Cammy | |||
| Alpha 3 | Original | Balrog · Blanka · Cody · E. Honda · Juli · Juni · Karin · R. Mika · Vega | ||
| Console | Dee Jay · Fei Long · Guile · T. Hawk | |||
| Upper | Eagle · Maki · Yun | |||
| MAX | Ingrid | |||
| Final Fight Revenge Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Playable | Cody · Damnd · Edi. E · El Gado · Guy · Hugo Haggar · Poison · Rolento · Sodom | |||
| CPU Only | Zombie Belger | |||