Mike Tyson figuring out that he's Balrog/ M Bison

[superpunch]

Balrog, a clone of Mike Tyson, was called M. Bison (sounds like Mike Tyson, right?) in Japan's Street Fighter II. When it was moved to America, they changed his name to Balrog. And they changed the boss' name to M. Bison.

Here's a video of Mike Tyson finding that out 20 years later:



And here's an article:

The former boxing heavyweight champion Mike Tyson is pretty well aware of his video game presence in the classic boxing video game Punch-Out!!, since it remains a classic staple from the NES era. But imagine our surprise – and his – when he had no idea that he was the basis for a legendary boss character from the 1991 fighting game Street Fighter II.

https://prosportsextra.com/mike-tys...-his-lookalike-balrog-from-street-fighter-ii/

 

[Anaconda99]

I never realized lol

 

[Goodfella86]

Had no clue, but it seems kinda obvious now. Interesting tidbit.

 

[EndlessCritic]

Yes, the names are swapped in Japan.

In Japan, the dude with the claws is Balrog, M. Bison is the boxer, and Vega is the final boss.

 

[hillelslovak87]

Ken was also modeled after Don Johnson. The more you know.

 

[Mortal Wombat]

Sagat was made after a real Muay Thai fighter that the makers watched fight in Thailand.

 

[Mortal Wombat]

Also Dhalsim was made after Gandhi

jokes

 

[DEV.Woulf]

Yeah. All these posts are true. They based a lot of the characters on real life figures. Heck, even the composer stole the intro of a Cheap Trick song for Ken's theme and got away with it.

Playing SF2 my whole childhood I was shocked about the name switch. But when I watched this Evo battle back in 2006 it really hit home that he is based on Tyson. The Balrog name seems kinda stupid now.

 

[treelo]

You guys didnt realise that he was based on Tyson....hes basically a cartoon version of him..and wears boxing gloves ffs

 

[Arcturus]

Not just Mike but every major beatemup game had a character based I think that was based on Bruce Lee. Liu Kang from Mortal Kombat, Fei Long from Street Fighter and Marshall Law from Tekken

 

[orca]

wow so he didnt know all this time?maybe hes lying

 

[burningspear]

wow so he didnt know all this time?maybe hes lying

Maybe? Remember when he told Rogan he'd never drank a cup of coffee? Seems to play loose with the truth.

 

[MakeSherdogGreatAgain]

Well, to be fair, when Tyson was in Japan, he was busy banging Japanese girls "like Caligula ate grapes" in his own words. I don't think he was much of a gamer when street fighter was out. He probably still isn't much of a gamer if I had to guess.

 

[Deleted member 449757]

Ken's and Zangief's stages also originated from Charles Bronson movies.

What surprises me is that Tyson never knew about the Balrog thing. He actually posted a couple of times on social media that he loves Street Fighter.

 

[koipin]

Tyson knew back in the day.
Hes a big man for weed these days so that snippet of info may have been overwritten by something else.
Probably a carrot chasing a pair of false teeth.

 

[spookdier]

Rumour has it that E Honda was based on Ronda Rousey.

 

[MCS]

Rumour has it that E Honda was based on Ronda Rousey.

 

[Th3Sav4ge]

even as a child like 4-5 years old you can tell thats mike tyson. how has he gone this long without knowing or someone bringing it up?


im trying to find and old video. every character was based on someone famous or ideas thrown together

Spoiler: Andre the giant is Hugo

obviously mike tyson is balrog.

Spoiler: Sylvester stalone is Guile

fei long bruce lee.

 

[DEV.Woulf]

Rumour has it that E Honda was based on Ronda Rousey.

 

[cottagecheesefan]

grappler and striker. sambo base

Fedor is Dan

Dan is not Fedor lol. Dan first appeared in SF:Alpha in 1995.

edit: also pretty cray that so many people (on a fighting forum) did not know Tyson is Balrog/M.Bison. So obvious lol