It’s been too long since Fei-Long
The impact Bruce Lee has had on fighting games is undeniable as it feels as though just about every major fighting franchise has at least one obvious homage to master martial artist, effectively making “Bruce Lee” archetype just about as prominent a fighting game archetype as “military guy” or “ninja.”
Capcom’s Street Fighter famously created Fei-Long to fill this role as the Hong Kong fighter was part of the New Challengers update to Street Fighter 2, and has garnered plenty of fans in his relatively few appearances since. It’s been a full 16 years since the New Challenger popped up on a Street Fighter roster, however, and that’s just too long for Fei-Long, if you ask us.
Fei-Long made his debut back in Street Fighter 2, but that was only thanks to a relatively last-minute decision to use him in the place of two other Hong Kong-based characters that were originally planned to be some of SF2’s New Challengers: Yun and Yang.
From Fei’s appearance to his movements and iconic vocals, it’s nearly impossible not to see his clear connections to Bruce Lee. Capcom famously even gave the character nunchaku (perhaps most famously from Lee’s Fists of Fury), but they’re restricted entirely to one of his round win animations as he cannot use them in combat.
Fei’s introduction would also be the first time the playable cast of Street Fighter would see the rekka technique, which sees the character slide forward with up to three, progressive punch techniques in a row. The rekka maneuver has become so prominent that the term “rekka characters” has become a fairly commonplace distinction, though we’d argue it’s not quite its own character archetype.
Capcom was one of the first to bring a Bruce Lee imitation into a fighting game, but they wouldn’t be the last by far. In addition to the Street Fighter instance, you have Tekken’s Forest and Marshall Law, Mortal Kombat’s Liu Kang, Fatal Fury’s Hon Fu, Dead or Alive’s Jann Lee, and Soul Calibur’s Maxi/Li Long as just a few other obvious Lee homages.
Fei-Long wouldn’t prove popular enough to be a part of the Street Fighter Alpha series as all three Alpha games released in arcades without the martial arts movie star, but he would make it into some of the handheld or console-only versions of Alpha 3 as they brought in a number of additional characters.
Fei’s more prominent next appearance would be as part of the launch roster of 2008’s Street Fighter 4. Street Fighter 4 was widely responsible for making a huge return splash as the franchise had gone dark for nearly a decade following the lack of commercial success of Street Fighter 3.
All eyes were on the game and the master of Hitenryu wound up being one of the strongest characters in it, especially during the Arcade Edition years. Pro players in Japan, Europe, and the United States dominated with the Hong Kong combatant thanks to his ridiculously powerful rekkas (they had to be nerfed in the Ultra update) as well as the presence of unblockable set ups.
BST|Fuudo famously won Evo 2011 using Fei-Long, remaining on the winners side of the bracket for the entire event and defeating runner up Latif in a clean 3-0 grand finals sweep. Fans appreciated the action they were seeing from top-notch players like Fuudo, but such action would stop with Street Fighter 5’s 2016 release.
Though his name was prominently displayed amid one of Street Fighter 5’s Hong Kong-based stages, Fei would not appear as a playable character in any of the game’s DLC releases. He was also absent from Street Fighter 6’s launch roster, though there are clearly parts of Jamie’s gameplay that were inspired by Fei.
That brings us to the potential of Fei-Long as a DLC character in Street Fighter 6. With only four new characters each year, no one stands out as having a particularly great shot over others as being in the next batch of newcomers, but somewhat recent rumblings about Bruce Lee’s estate not agreeing to allow for his likeness to be used in games would be an easy reason to keep the character out.
Luckily, Bruce Lee’s family has publicly stated this is not the case and Street Fighter developers at Capcom have also clarified that there are no legal issues stopping them from bringing Fei back.
So Johnny Law may not be standing in the way, but is there room for a character like Fei on the SF6 roster right now? Jamie does have rekkas, but they surely do not function much in the way Fei’s traditionally have as they are combo enders and not neutral poking tools.
Indeed, looking at the current 24 character roster, Fei-Long would bring some freshness to the mix in terms of fighting style. His propensity to carry foes to the corner fits with Street Fighter 6’s meta perfectly, and though Drive System enhancements could make him overpowered, that seems to be potentially true of any given character.
Chicken Wing, a flying kick used to go over fireballs, might provide for a sudden way in against those who aren’t ready, but Drive Impact should thwart this move similar to the way it does Ken’s Dragonlash.
Rekkas can be overpowered if their frame data or push back is too advantageous on block, but developers could fairly easily ensure numbers and ranges are appropriately balanced.
Might there be other legacy Street Fighter characters that fans would be excited to see return after a similar absence? Of course, but Fei is as beloved as anyone else in this bunch and would surely see plenty of play should developers decide to welcome him to the SF6 roster.
What do you think, though? Share in the comments whether or not you’d like to see Fei join SF6, but first watch this quick trailer for Enter the Dragon from Warner Bros. to get yourself in a Kung Fu kind of mood:
If you enjoyed this look at a potential new, old Street Fighter character in SF6, be sure to take a look at our similar article about what Gouken’s return might look like.
