Stages: Sagat

Note: the title should be read as a parody of David Bowie's "Changes" (i.e Staaa aages)

We reach the penultimate of the original 12 Street Fighter 2 characters' stages. Sagat was demoted from being the boss in the first game to the boss's right hand man in the second edition, a demotion that would forever haunt him as Bison became the default final characters while Sagat remained marred as nothing more than Ryu's evil yet respected enemy.

It just so happens that the Thailand stage is my favourite in the entire game. There is something about the giant angled sleeping Buddha statue in the background which conveys a sort of majesty that certainly goes with the character even if it doesn't necessarily go with the country. To a kid playing these games when they came out wasn't about going to Thailand because it was full of sleeping giant statues, it was the mysticism attached to the statue, how that statue defined a particular religion, a religion that was completely different from what we grew up with.

Though curiousity about Eastern philosophy wasn't the reason why this stage was my favourite. It was mainly the aesthetics of it. The way the giant Buddha reigned over the entire screen in its somber sleep at an angle that looked almost 3D in the middle of the 2D gaming world. Besides it's not like you would see a lot of it. It was a pain in the ass to get to Sagat and once you did it you'd beat him in one or two tries and then you wouldn't see it again.

I suppose its safe to assume that Sagat is a Buddhist. All of that way of the warrior junk that he shares with Ryu, how they're both looking for nothing more then a challenge because they're so badass certainly would help the assumption. How such a warrior ended up being Bison's second is certainly beyond my comprehension but he did and now is merely second fiddle. Is this a metaphor for the country of Thailand? no.

So lets get back to the giant statue. A Buddha statue representing a Buddhist country makes sense, while it certainly not the only thing that defines the country but by choosing only one aspect and doing it right they managed to make the stage especially noteworthy. Yes they could have gone with a beach scene but that could be anywhere from Phuket to Acapulco. Yes there are giant Buddha statues in other countries but there is no fighter from Myanmar.

What was Thailand up to in 1989? I'm not gonna pretend that I know but the Buddhism thing is still going on today as it was in 1989 and way before that. By choosing to convey a timeless attribute they've turned a country that is otherwise known for knock off soccer jerseys into an ethereal landscape that will forever remain unchanged. You know just like Sagat's obsession with fighting and shit.

The story as the series progressed is the same with almost every other character. Capcom moved away from individual stages in favor of random locales which could be just about anywhere. At some point the fight was held at the statues feet, though I can't figure out if thats a legit Street Fighter game or some MUGEN stage. It's a shame too because individual stages based on the old ones with today's technology would have been the balls. It might be making a comeback in Super Street Fighter IV but I'm not to happy with how thats turning out to really care. More on that in a future post.