A character in the
video game Street Fighter 2. Vega, who hails from Spain, was also known as the Spanish Ninja, because he blended the
martial art of
Ninjitsu with his acrobatic skills of a
matador. The result was Vega's graceful yet deadly fighting style.
Vega is tall and thin with long blond hair, but also with brown hair at times, depending on which button you pressed when you selected him. He has a large tattoo of a
dragon on his chest. Vega is an
egotist, so he wears a
mask to protect his face from getting scratched or bruised. He also has a set of metal claws on one arm that he uses to attack his enemy.
Vega, who does mainly
assassin work, is a
hired thug for
M. Bison. Vega is also annoyed by the fact that the
Thai kickboxer
Sagat is M. Bison's right-hand man; Vega believes that Sagat is too ugly to be second in command.
In the
Japanese version of Street Fighter 2, this character's name is actually
Balrog. Vega was the name of the main villan, and M. Bison was the boxer who resembled
Mike Tyson. When Street Fighter II was imported into the U.S.,
Capcom switched several of the characters names around, figuring that having a boxer named M. Bison who looked like the champ would cause legal trouble.
When
Super Street Fighter 2 came out, Capcom made Vega's moves much better. I used to
beat the piss out of all those people who thought they were badasses and played as
Ryu or
Ken,as they would predictably hurl
fireball after fireball, then a
dragon punch. Using those guys takes no strategy, just the ability to push buttons. Controlling Vega, who has no fireballs to hide behind, is an art form in itself.