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Balrog (バルログ), known as Vega outside Japan, is one of the bosses of the Street Fighter fighting game series. He has been in the Street Fighter series ever since his debut as a boss character in Street Fighter II. He is a memorable character, not only infamous for his girl-like ponytail and battle cries, but also for the claw he wields, with his unique fighting style. Balrog uses his own fighting style of which is a blend of Spanish Ninjutsu and Bullfighting.
Balrog was born to a noble family in Barcelona, Spain. As he matured, Balrog studied Bullfighting, a cultural tradition amongst the nobles. Afterward, he went to Japan and learned Ninjutsu, a style he believed meshed well with his natural grace and agility. Returning home, Balrog combined Bullfighting with Ninjutsu and went into an underground cage fighting circuit where quickly became one of the best. Tragedy struck one day when Balrog witnessed the murder of his beautiful mother at the hands of his unattractive stepfather. Her murder was punishment for disrespecting him as his stepfather believed. Witnessing this tragic event warped Balrog's mind and from then on he lived a double life; a suave nobleman by day and a narcissistic killer by night who enjoys mutilating ugly people to death using a three-pronged wrist-mounted razor-sharp claw. His very first victim was his stepfather.
Balrog's brutal fighting skills and remorseless nature impressed the criminal leader known as Vega so much that he came to him personally with an offer to join Shadaloo. Balrog accepted Vega's offer purely to improve his own aesthetic senses.
Name change
When Street Fighter II was localized in America, Capcom was afraid of a lawsuit from Mike Tyson over a character with his likeness and a similar sounding name (Mike Bison). They decided to rotate the names of three of the four boss characters in the following manner:
- The boxer is known as M. Bison in Japan and Balrog in the US.
- The Spanish assassin/bullfighter is known as Balrog in Japan and Vega in the US.
- The evil dictator and head of Shadaloo is known as Vega in Japan and M. Bison in the US.
Since we have preference for the source media, use "balrog" to tag this character on Danbooru.
Known moves
- Flying Barcelona Attack
- Flying Barcelona Special
- Rolling Izuna Drop
- Sky High Claw
- Bloody High Claw
- Splendid Claw
- Rolling Crystal Flash
- Scarlet Terror