The odd and rather eccentric cast of characters in the forthcoming Super Street Fighter IV is about to get a whole lot weirder, as today at the GDC, Capcom unveiled yet another wacky addition to the line up of pugilists. Along with revealing a new character, they also showed off a brand new trailer for the game, featuring footage of new stages, new moves and of course, Hakan, the somewhat oily new addition to the established cast.Hailing from Turkey, with a ruby-red skin complex, hulking great biceps, and a mean streak to boot, comes Hakan, the latest in a long line of grapple-based Street Fighters. This latest addition to the SF roster is bizarrely, a Turkish oil wrestler, a character who loves nothing more than to lube himself up with the slimy liquid, before using it to quickly slide around evading capture, whilst squeezing the seven shades out of anyone who stands in his way. Pretty odd you might think, but is that any different from the Rufus, whose size and sheer BMI does little to slow him down, making him a deadly contender to come up against.
It’s no surprise then, to hear that Yoshinori Ono went out deliberately looking for such a strange style of fighting when given the task of creating another new Street Fighting addition. His team whilst working on finishing the game actually spent time searching around on the Internet in order to come up with ideas for this latest creation, settling for an interesting and rather amusing fighting style. What’s more peculiar, is that Oil Wrestling is a recognised martial art common place in Turkey, and has been the inspiration for many over-the-top fight scenes in various action movies over the years – The Transporter easily coming to mind.
If you still think that the potential for such a character was a little off the wall, then wait until you see him battle it out in the game. Hakan is primarily a grapple-based fighter, but that doesn’t mean to say that he’s slow, or lacking in stamina. This guy can not only move but has the ability to use his oiliness (what a word eh?) to escape from throws and holds, even using one of his Ultra’s purely for defensive purposes. His range of moves is also completely affected by just how oily he is, with players being able to add more oil to his body by pulling off a Dragon Punch style motion in combination with any of the kick buttons. Unique? Bloody awesome I’d say.
In terms of moves, Hakan has a total of four Specials available, one Super, and Two Ultras, one of which is completely different to any other we’ve seen before. His basic Specials consists of mainly throws, the first being the Oil Rocket (performed via a full 360 degree stick movement plus a punch button), which then sees Hakan grabbing his foe in a bear hug, before squeezing ever tighter until they slip out of his clutches; following up is the Oil Dive, in which Hakan will grab his opponent before using them as a sledge across the ground; and finally we have the Oil Slide, a move which is used to knock opponents on to the ground by seeing Hakan slide across the floor, after which he can perform a body slam by the player hitting a punch button at the end of the slide. With this particular move, how oily you are determines the speed and force of movement, creating more damage the faster you connect.
His Super move, the Flying Oil Spin, sees him running towards his opponent at close range, before finishing up with a brutal, heavy-hitting combination attack, looking like an extension of several of his Special moves, just vastly powered up.
Moving on to Ultra’s, Hakan has one Ultra primarily for offence, and one used for totally for defensive purposes, something usually found in SNK’s King Of Fighters series with regular Special moves. The Oil Coaster, for example is designed for maximum damage, and is done in the same outrageously OTT approach as all his other moves. When performing it, the opponent is grabbed, thrown in the air, and then slid around Hakan’s body almost like a heavy-handed towel rub - because too much oil is never good for the skin; While his second Ultra, the Oil Combination Hold, sees him fall flat on his back, waiting for an unsuspecting opponent to jump in for the kill. When they do, they find themselves slipping and falling straight on his stomach, before bouncing off onto the ground. Afterwards Hakan, gets up and jumps right on them, proceeding to squeeze as hard as he can, before shooting them out through between his legs, and across the screen.
So far this has to be the funniest off-the-wall character to grace the Street Fighter world, it’s a brilliant choice, packed with tons of personality and a completely different style, in which I can see plenty of high level players adopting. Also, as an alternative to Rufus and Zangief, Hakan features plenty of potential, and will no doubt teach those dime-a-dozen Ryu and Ken players a thing or two. So forget trying to spam everyone with those fireballs.
Super Street Fighter IV is being released on the 30th, April 2010 for both PS3 and Xbox 360 systems. The game will feature ten more characters new to SFIV, including some completely new faces, along with new backgrounds, an expanded online mode, a more robust replay feature, plus a return of those car-smashing and barrel-breaking bonus games first sighted in Street Fighter II.
Expect to see loads more coverage of Super Street Fighter IV at IQGamer, every step of the way.
Download the full HQ 720 Trailer right here.
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