Street Fighter IV’s unlockable Sheng Long – an April Fools’ Day joke

We knew it! Yesterday’s Capcom blog post smelled fishy from the get-go. And we were right. News that Ryu and Ken’s master Sheng Long will be an unlockable character for the upcoming Street Fighter IV was really just an April Fools’ Day joke. More details over at the full article.

Just by yesterday’s date alone, we knew this was coming. Capcom‘s blog post that Ryu and Ken’s master Sheng Long will be an unlockable character for Street Fighter IV turns out to be nothing but another April Fools’ joke. Did you fall for it?

Capcom’s project manager Natsumi Shiozawa could have done better than recycling the long-running Sheng Long joke. If you could remember, Sheng Long was just a mix-up in translation – actually referring to Ryu’s Dragon Punch.

Going back to the original Street Fighter arcade series, Ryu would always say the macho line “You must defeat my Dragon Punch to stand a chance” each time he beats down an opponent. Lost in translation, Sheng Long would sometimes appear instead of Dragon Punch.

However, Capcom USA has made it a habit to complicate the back stories of its characters. Thus, Sheng Long, the master of Ryu and Ken, was born. Since he appeared in an Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine hoax in 1992, Sheng Long has become one of video gaming’s most memorable myths.