rufus_character.jpg A few days ago, yet another new character for Street Fighter 4 was revealed. Rufus … a 500 pound tub of lard with a pony-tail and what looks like eye-liner. I kid you not, someone at Capcom actually thought this guy would bring joy to our hearts and smiles to our faces!

Actually, I think Capcom is too smart to think we’d like this character. I have two theories on way Rufus was made to begin with.

Another Dan

Capcom is notorious for coming out with joke characters. The best example is perhaps Dan from the Street Fighter Akpha series. The problem is, Dan is likeable! He’s a Ken and Ryu clone with a borrowed fighting style from Ryo and Robert’s looks (both from SNK’s Art of Fighting series). Dan was a character I would take against a weaker opponent to even the odds.

Rufus is no Dan by any stretch of the imagination. For starters, I don’t even know him and I dislike him already. With Dan, it was love at first sight. With Rufus, I’m just struggling to keep my lunch down.

A Diversion

I’ll be frank, I don’t like ANY of the new characters that Capcom has introduced in Street Fighter 4. D Viper looks too much like an SNK character, El Fuerte looks straight out of Virtua Fighter, and Abel looks like what my next door neighbor would look like on steroids. Still, as lackluster as those characters are, they’re a pure joy compared to Rufus!

Maybe that was the plan after all! I don’t know how most other people are reacting to the new Street Fighter 4 characters but my entourage seems to be in agreement that they generally suck. Maybe Rufus was thrown in the mix to make us feel better about the other three jokers. Seems to me this might be the most logical reason.

Either way, it seems like he’s here to stay so I’ll stop venting and just put another check mark in the “SF4 is gonna suck” column.