#Rufus street fighter series#

Similar to how Dan is a parody of Ryo from SNK's Art of Fighting series, Rufus seems to be similar to Bob from Namco's Tekken series (a point emphasized in Street Fighter X Tekken) both are obese American martial artists with blond hair, have small amounts of facial hair, are incredibly fast for their size, have similar move sets and each a master of their respective fighting styles (self-taught kung-fu based on Snake style in the case of Rufus, freestyle karate in the case of Bob). Another possible inspiration could have been MMA fighter Roy 'Big Country' Nelson, who is also a trained American kung fu fighter known for his long hair, beard and a big belly. One of Rufus' concept drawings in Street Fighter IV shows him with his hair down, bearing quite a resemblance to Michael's appearance. His overall appearance and concept (that of an overweight guy with long, blond hair, a beard and a love for motorcycles) could've been inspired by Michael Teutul from the reality show ' American Chopper'. The final concept art of Rufus seems to be inspired by Chris Farley's caricature in ' Beverly Hills Ninja' and Bruce Lee's yellow jumpsuit from ' The Game of Death'. Street Fighter IVs executive producer Yoshinori Ono likened his inclusion to that of Blanka in Street Fighter II, noting that Rufus' 'over-the-top' design was intended to help set the game apart from the 'really cool-looking but ultimately bland' characters of Tekken and Virtua Fighter. Rufus' final appearance was chosen over his initial design because the developers felt he would 'freak people out'. Midway through the process of recording the character's lines, however, art director Takashi Kamei proposed that they have the character be overweight, an idea Ikeno agreed with.Īs a result, Rufus was gradually changed completely, becoming more obese and turned into a blonde, long-haired white male, a design which Ikeno later admitted was in fact rushed. His fighting style was intended to be 'breakung-fu', mixing elements of kung fu with breakdancing, which the Street Fighter IV development team perceived as a fad in the United States at the time, and Ikeno developed the character's concept around it. He also had a sense of fashion, as he was drawn with a furred karate Gi (which would later be used for Ken as his alternate costume), and his name was originally King Cobra. Designed by Daigo Ikeno, one of his original concept artworks (as seen in his gallery) had him as African-American, thin, muscular, and bald. Rufus' concept art was a complete opposite from his final.