- "Train the mind and the body will follow."
- —Sawada (Street Fighter: The Movie)
Kenzo Sawada (澤田 拳三(ケンゾ・サワダ) Sawada Kenzo?) is a character from the Street Fighter series who was originally featured in the 1994 live-action Street Fighter film before appearing as playable fighter in the arcade game Street Fighter: The Movie. He is a captain of the Allied Nations, serving with Guile to thwart Shadaloo's attempt at world domination.
Biography[]
Street Fighter (film)[]
Originally, actor Kenya Sawada auditioned to portray Ryu in the film. Since the movie's staff had already chosen Byron Mann, and Sawada only spoke little English at the time, he did not receive the role. However, Capcom at the time pushed heavily to promote Kenya Sawada by any means possible, giving the staff behind the film and game the impression that he was to be the "face" of Capcom, their own action hero to star in later material. Due to this, a new character was created so that Sawada could participate in the film.[5]
He served as Fei Long's replacement in the aforementioned movie and game. Additionally, Sawada's voice is the only one dubbed in the film.[6]
Sawada's actual role in the film is very minor. He's shown only a few times actually speaking and fighting in the film, and has command of a small amount of ground troops in the assault on Bison's base. Yet at the end, he's shown amongst the main characters as they take a pose at the very end of the film.
Street Fighter: The Movie (video game)[]
His design varies somewhat from that in the film. The game developers had him go shirtless, based on the fact he was "buff" and inspired a bit from Mortal Kombat II characters of the time.[6] Had this presented a problem, the staff would have opted to have a shirt painted over his sprites. The design resembled in many ways that of Fei Long, and led to the actor being involved in digitizing sessions for both Sawada and Fei Long. For Fei Long, the design itself took little need to alter outside of a change of pants, shoes, and hair. However Fei Long's frames were never cleaned due to time constraints, leaving only Sawada.
Despite speculation to the contrary, Sawada is unarmed in the arcade game. The "katana" shown was intended at the time to be a "motion blur"; given a conflict between the two Capcom branches, however, flicker transparency was not applied and it was instead left solid. His slashing attacks were intended to have an ethereal appearance to them, akin to the Hadoken. The designers argued for the flicker effect, but were denied, and consequently opted for a look based on Mortal Kombat's effects at the time.[7] Later appearances from the console version of the game changed this aspect of him giving him an actual katana.
Street Fighter series[]
Though Sawada has not yet appeared in any of the mainline Street Fighter games, a character relations chart for Street Fighter V linked him to Guile and Charlie, and listed him as a member of the United States Air Force.[8] His Shadaloo C.R.I. profile states that he is currently traveling the world on duty, participating in operations to take down Shadaloo.
Street Fighter 6[]
Sawada was included as a choice within the "Who's Your Top Tier" character poll within Street Fighter 6's Battle Hub in June 2024 which featured the entire roster of fighters from the mainline Street Fighter series.[9] On his X account, Takayuki Nakayama posted 3 illustrations for Captain Sawada.[10]
Other appearances[]
Street Fighter (USA cartoon)[]
In the US Street Fighter cartoon, Sawada remains with the A.N. after Guile was discharged from the military and began working for the Street Fighters (a group consisting of Ryu, Ken, Blanka and others). While in the movie he wore a blue T-shirt, blue camouflage pants and army boots, this version wears a tan uniform, similar to Rolento's, and even his voice is completely changed, possibly due to the inclusion of Fei Long in the cartoon. Additionally, unlike his game counterpart, he's shown with a Sonic Boom attack and a move akin to Alex's Flash Chop. Later in the series, he also uses a katana to fire blade-shaped projectiles, with said projectiles appearing very much like those for Guile's Flash Kick. He appeared in only two episodes: "Keeping the Peace" and "The Hammer Strikes", and was voiced by Michael Dobson.
Sawada is portrayed here as a rival of sorts instead of Guile's ally, unlike the games. Both times they meet in the series they come to disagreements and subsequently heavy blows with the second bout supposedly a training session that results in a large amount of destruction to surrounding equipment (including one entire hangar), though the two men are able to work together towards the same goal as shown later.
Partly fueling this is the fact that after the events of the film, Guile was discharged from the military, with Sawada testifying that Guile put his own troops in danger and disobeyed a direct order. Now overlooking events happening in a boom town from a farmer finding a fortune in emeralds, the now Colonel Sawada proceeds to arrest Guile when he becomes involved, though the men work together later on. Adding insult to injury, from the series' second season on, Sawada takes over as head of the A.N. Special Forces, a position that formerly belonged to Guile.
Much like many events in the cartoon this contradicts the events in the film, as Sawada was not shown to have any antagonism towards Guile's assault on Shadaloo, and even assisted. Neither endings in the games make mention of this either, and even showed the exact opposite, with Guile praising Sawada. The exact reason for the change, as is the case with other conflicts between the film and the cartoon, is never explained.
Brazilian Comics[]
Sawada first appears in issue 14 of the comic book, written by Alexandre Nagado, first part of the 3 part arc "A Ilha da Morte" (The Island of Death), Guile is presumed dead and Sawada recruits Guile's friends (Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li and Cammy) to face the Shadow Law (which is nothing more than Shadaloo), created by M. Bison's minions (Sagat, Vega and Balrog), presumed dead in issue 8, in this version, Ryu and Ken did not know Sawada, who became presents as Captain of the United Nations's Armed Forces.
Mainichi Issho[]
Captain Sawada makes an appearance in the PlayStation 3 game Mainichi Issho, released only in Japan.[11]
Neco Drop 2[]
Sawada appears as a cat named Sawanya, with a gray camo pattern on his fur and a red pattern on his stomach referencing the Gokusatsu Jibakujin blood spray. His paws are constantly raised as an homage to Kamikaze Banzai, and he is featured in a story section called Lost Memories of Live-Action, where Sawanya attempts to make Major remember him to no avail.
Gameplay[]
Fighting style[]
Sawada's fighting style is based on a hybrid of Guile's and Fei Long's, based on his status as an Allied Nations soldier and him replacing the latter. As a result, he retains moves akin to Guile's Flash Kick, while keeping martial arts aspects.
Moveset[]
His special moves rely primarily on his legs for axe kicks and similar attacks, and his energy slash has the ability to reflect projectiles back at the opponent.
The console version of Street Fighter: The Movie, however, presented a much different version. While this version was modified to be identical to Super Street Fighter II Turbo, Sawada was left in with a modified movelist, one that turned him into a bit of a parody fighter, as well as making this the point he is actually armed with a katana. In one of his special moves, Gokusatsu Jibakujin, Sawada uses his katana blade by stabbing himself making a crescent shaped blood (or flaming blood in the Super Special version) barrier, sitting in a pose akin to one committing hara-kiri. His Super Combo, Kamikaze Banzai, involves Sawada, standing straight up, putting his hands in the air and sliding into his opponent. During the move, he is invulnerable to projectiles.
Subpages[]
Quotes[]
Main article: Sawada/Quotes
Gallery[]
Main article: Sawada/Gallery
Sprites[]
Main article: Sawada/Sprites
Trivia[]
- Sawada was most likely included to fill in for Fei Long, not so much because of time and budgetary constraints, or even character development purposes, but because in the movie, Ryu already resembled Fei Long somewhat, a resemblance that is especially apparent during his final battle with Vega.
- Sawada's theme in the arcade version of Street Fighter: The Movie is a remix of Fei Long's theme.
- His full name Kenzo Sawada is revealed on the trading cards.[1]
- At the 2006 Tokyo Game Show, the then SNK character artist, Falcoon, stated that Sawada was the first character he asked to create for SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS. Along with problems regarding copyright issues, the request itself was seen as a joke.[12]
- Sawada's face in his Shadaloo C.R.I. artwork visually resembles famous Hong Kong actor and martial artist Jackie Chan.
- Interestingly, Kenya Sawada (the actor) and Jackie Chan are close friends in real life.[13]
See also[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Sawada's SFTM trading card
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Street Fighter V Character Encyclopedia: Captain Sawada
- ↑ Kenya Sawada's official profile
- ↑ SFTM Instruction Manual
- ↑ http://www.polygon.com/features/2014/3/10/5451014/street-fighter-the-movie-what-went-wrong
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://forums.shoryuken.com/t/street-fighter-the-movie-broke-my-heart/21076/146[1]
- ↑ http://www.scribd.com/doc/6733031/SFTMTG
- ↑ Street Fighter V: A Visionary Book
- ↑ https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/jun/05/sf6-most-wanted-characters-dlc/
- ↑ https://www.eventhubs.com/news/2024/jun/30/street-fighter-movie-character-art/
- ↑ http://www.4gamer.net/games/072/G007208/20090312077/
- ↑ http://game.watch.impress.co.jp/docs/20060924/snk.htm
- ↑ http://kungfukingdom.com/interview-with-kenya-sawada/
External links[]
- Wikipedia Article
- Comic Vine
- Giant Bomb
- Sawada at the Strategy Wiki
- Guia dos Quadrinhos (in Portuguese)
| Street Fighter: The Movie Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Core Roster | Akuma · Balrog · Cammy · Chun-Li · E. Honda · Guile · Ken M. Bison · Ryu · Sagat · Sawada · Vega · Zangief | |||
| Arcade Only | Arkane · Blade · F7 · Khyber | |||
| Console Only | Blanka · Dee Jay | |||
| CPU Only | Super Bison | |||