Spotlight: Street Fighter IV's Abel

Abel. The man with amnesia and a mysterious past that eludes him. Why am I suddenly talking about this guy? Well, for one thing, he's a fighter with unique moves to use and exploit in the latest incarnation of Street Fighter, and while he's not as memorable as Street Fighter III's Alex, people playing Street Fighter IV have and will learn how to respect him once they see this guy up close and personal. In the meantime, let's look at an interesting factoid about the character I found.

Last night while browsing the web, I chanced upon this Kotaku post, where an initial character design and sketch of a Street Fighter IV character was revealed. The drawing was of an effeminate judo fighter, who was actually the prototype of what was to become Abel, one of the four new fighters who made their debut in SF IV. While it would have been confusing to see the French fighter we know turn out like this, it's an interesting design that could be recycled into a new character that could appear in the upcoming Super Street Fighter IV. Then again, I'd rather see Makoto from SF III: Third Strike make a comeback. Moving away from that, let's talk about Abel again, and how he turned out to be in the final product, which looked like this:

Despite his menacing looking presence, Abel is actually quite a humble person, and likes to apologize a lot. Any of you who's played Street Fighter IV should be quite familiar with his background. He's a french mercenary and mixed martial artist whose past is shrouded in mystery thanks to his state of amnesia. He enters the tournament to investigate Shadaloo and the mysterious organization called S.I.N, as they may have the answers he is looking for. By the game's end, not much is resolved from the story save for his connection to the game's final boss, Seth. I won't be spoiling the details though, as there may be readers who'd like to do a little digging on Abel's past themselves. Let's just say it's a pretty common Sci-Fi plot device, and it's just a simple matter of putting two and two together. You'll figure out the rest right away.

As a fighter, Abel likes to get up close and personal with opponents, with more emphasis on grappling techniques. He's the kind of guy who'll come up close and unleash severe punishment on the people who like to block a lot. True, he's not a full grappler like Zangief, but he makes up for brute strength by adding a little speed and flexibility to his arsenal. You can see the guy in action through this video link, demonstrating a fight between him and the Emperor Of Muay Thai, Sagat.

SF IV Fight - Abel vs Sagat
Abel's supers also require successful hits and openings in order for them to connect and deal massive damage. They can be used as a finisher to chained combos, and his ULTRA combo is devastating if it successfully connects. Funny thing about it is it looks EXACTLY like Captain America's "Final Justice" Super Move from the Marvel Vs Capcom games. See the comparison below:

Captain America's Final Justice in action

Then comes the other...

Abel performing his Ultra move, called "Soulless"
See the similarities? Despite that, Abel is a force to be reckoned with. Never underestimate him in battle.