Have you ever wondered if the fighting you see in video games is really possible?  Are programmers really designing characters with the styles they say they are? Or, what if what is being showed on screen is technically accurate? Welcome to the Digital Dojo!  While visiting us, it is our goal to educate you in the ways of the digital martial arts. With 12-years of martial arts training, in many different styles, and a 3rd degree black belt in American Karate, I will guide you through games of both the past and present while answering the above questions and more.

Super Street Fighter IV starts off the Dojo’s first lesson, by examining the first trailer (a more in-depth lesson may happen after release). As you can see from the trailer, these six fighters showcase a variety of moves. From basic punches to advanced jump spin kicks, all of these moves are programed in a fairly accurate way, including proper chambers, extensions, and re-chambers in kicks.

As far as the character’s fighting styles go, most of them, at least from these six newcomers in Super Street Fighter IV, seem to indicate some core style. Cody and T. Hawk are the vaguest of the bunch and appear to be using an ecletic art with no base style ques being displayed through the trailer. Guy and Dee Jay mix together basic boxing combinations and kicks such as axe kicks, spin hook kicks, and round kicks to point to a karate core.

It should be pointed out here that karate in itself is a pretty broad term, and can have specific traditional styles.  Hardcore traditionalist will argue over what styles belong in the karate category, but I feel most traditional styles do, with each having their own area of focus. Purists often do not like this view. Guy and Dee Jay’s character demos are probably a general American karate , but Dee Jay may be a type of kick boxer.

Juri could also fall into this mix, as her heavy kicking arsenal points to Tae Kwon Do, though some Tae Kwon Do practitioners are opposed to being labeled as a form of karate.  That brings us to Adon, who is a Muay Thai fighter like Sagat.  However, if this was the programmer’s intention, they made an error.  Adon does an axe kick in the trailer.  This is a kick where you bring the leg around, and drop it straight down on to an opponent, striking them with your heel. One problem though:  Muay Thai fighters don’t use them.  They believe the human body has eight weapons as follows; Jab, cross, right elbow, left elbow, right knee, left knee, right round kick, left round kick. That will cost the programmers 20 knuckle push-ups!

Here ends the lesson.

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