Inspiration For Shun Di (VF2)

In a recently somewhat overlooked post, I expressed my disappointment with not finding the character Shun in Virtua Fighter Remix. Of course I didn't! As I came to (re)discover, Shun wasn't a playable charater till VF2, and VF Remix was a direct remake of the first incarnation, VF1.

Having done a little research on Shun's character, it seems he was a tribute to the character "Su Hai" played by martial artist Yuen Siu Tien. The videos below show perfectly the fighting style of Shun, (as demonstrated by a very young Jackie Chan) and also the "The Drunken Master" himself, in a most excellent comedic fight scene, which so brilliantly exemplifies my favourite genre of films.

So something of a tenuous Saturn Link, but I'm more than prepared to make it. Enjoy!

Plus, as a supplement, I'll throw in two clips of the legendary TV show "GamesMaster" featuring jovial Scottish host, Dominik Diamond. (I met him once when he opened a Virgin Gamestore in Stockport. As part of the opening me and Mrs.K (dressed as a frog and giant teddy bear were employed to hand out fliers...) We ended up getting pimmeled and poked by annoying white trash scallywags, but that's another story... Mr. Diamond now has a weekly page in the Daily Star newspaper. The oddly shaped headed guy with the monacle, (Gamesmaster) is actually respected astronomer Patrick Moore who has presented (and continues to present) the same TV show "The Sky At Night" for over 50 years on the BBC.

GamesMaster magazine is still sold in newsagents all over the UK.

GamesMaster VF2 Special Part 1

GamesMaster VF2 Special Part2

Shun shunned?

I was really excited about receiving my recently purchased copy of Virtua Fighter Remix (a lovely factory sealed Japanese one...) I sat down to play it... The characters looked sumptuous compared to the blocky and jagged representations of the original incarnations, and the backgrounds and fighting stages were breath-taking. All good so far!

So I decide I'm going to play as Kage Maru (I usually do...) and off I go, beating Dural on my second attempt! Lovely! A worthy addition to the Virtua Fighter family! Then something hit me, and when it did it hit me hard, like an icy blast to the stomach...

Where was Shun? The drunken master, a warrior so cool, he literally sits down in the middle of a fight for a swig of hooch! A guy so old that he has lost most of his hair, and the little he has remaining is as white as the snow on the top of Mount Fuji itself! Yet a man whose ninja skills are as supple as a shaolin monk who has just spent his eighteenth year training in a Tibetan dojo!

A man about whom wikipedia informs us...

"He is from Northern China and is considered as a sage by many. He teaches in his small training hall and had many students in the past but most have left him by now. This is due to his keen interest in taking students able to take hardship as part of the training.
While drinking with his friends, Shun hears them boasting about the success one of their student fighters in recent tournament competitions. He suddenly exclaims, "I also want to participate in the World Fighting Tournament". Shun's friends pleaded with him not to, but once Shun had mentioned his intent to fight, he was adamant and eventually joined the tournament.

During the 2nd tournament, Shun saw a suspicious shadow in one of the rings. When he followed it, it turned out to be one of his beloved disciples, a man he himself raised. He didn't have an opportunity to talk to him, but the incident filled Shun's heart with doubt. Why would they meet here? Why hadn't he heard from his student in so many years? Resolving to solve the mystery, Shun decided to enter the next tournament and find out.

After the 3rd world tournament, Shun was still unsuccessful in finding his student. One day, he received a letter from his student, informing him of his intention to escape from J6 but was recaptured eventually. Not wanting to react rashly, he waited for the next letter but it never arrived. He decides to join the 4th tournament hoping to find more information about his missing student.

Fighting style:
"Suiken" is one of the stylistic Kung-fu forms of Chinese martial arts, also called "Suishuken". The fighting posture of "Suiken" is derived from the form of a drunk, walking without balance, moving like the wind, sometimes taking a drink along the way or occasionally falling down. These attributes give the style all the necessary means of defense and offensive movements, making it one of the more interesting Virtua Fighting Styles. Shun's style and appearance are based on the character of "Su Hai" from the movie Drunken Master, played by Yuen Siu Tien"

Then it struck me... Had I purchased VF2 before VF1 all those years ago? Had I then made the assumption that he had been there in the franchise all along? Had I bought VF1 as a cheap bargain purchase and then consigned it to the back of a cupboard because it was an inferior copy of it's successor?

Was Shun, my lovely drunken master, merely an after-thought in Yu Suzuki's vision? It seemed the answer to all these questions was "yes". Shock and disappointment set in... did that make me merely an amateur Virtua Fighter fan? But I'd played every game in the franchise, other than VF5, which I had vowed to purchase as soon as budget allowed!

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I walked into "The Wiseman's Kung Fu" shop at the foot of Scarlet Hills... (sorry, did I forget to mention I was in the middle of Shenmue II on the Xbox 360??) for there on the wall at the back of the shop were reverential posters depicting our baldy hero...

Will I ever be able to pop Virtua Fighter Remix into my Saturn again? So many things are up in the air right now, so many things... For now I'll have to console myself with playing VF 4 Evolution on the PS2... LOL! ;)