General Bison - Conception and Development

Conception and Development

In Japan, the character is named Vega (ベガ, Bega?), derived from the star of the same name. However, during localization of Street Fighter II for the English language market, Capcom's North American branch felt that the name sounded non-threatening to North American audiences for the game's final boss and was more suitable for the Spanish cage fighter Balrog. At this same time another concern arose that the name of another character, Mike Bison, conceived as a parody of real-life boxer Mike Tyson, would be a legal liability for Capcom. As a result, the characters swapped names, and the game's final boss was dubbed M. Bison for English language appearances of the character. Capcom has never explained what "M" stands for, calling it "part of the character's mystery". Regardless, Bison has been addressed as Master Bison in Street Fighter Alpha 3 repeatedly, as well as in the animated movie. In his introduction before a fight in (Super) Street Fighter IV, he refers to himself as "The Mighty Bison". (Neither is correct as both are merely loose translations of "Vega-sama" ) In endings in Alpha 2, he is referred to by a henchman as Commander Bison.

When developing Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, it was decided to give him a more muscular appearance, rather than have him resemble "a middle aged man", while his face was modified to appear somewhat demonic. This appearance was later carried onto the Street Fighter Alpha series, featured as his original appearance before the Street Fighter II series.

The first source of inspiration for M. Bison's design came from the character General Washizaki, one of the main villains of the popular martial arts manga Riki-Oh. However Bison's image and supernatural prowess are also widely considered to have been inspired by Yasunori Kato, the mystical antagonist of the influential fantasy novel series Teito Monogatari, especially its subsequent cinematic adaptations.