15 Origin Stories of Your Favorite Video Game Characters You Probably Don’t Know

GOUKEN (STREET FIGHTER)

The story of Shen Long is a well known one at this point- he was a character who only existed as part of a mistranslation, but video gaming magazine EGM took it a step further to play an elaborate April Fools joke, convincing a large number of people that he was a real character that could be unlocked upon completing a number of near-impossible tasks. Of course, when everyone found out that it was all just a joke, people were understandable disappointed at the fact that this legendary character with countless special moves wasn’t real. As such, to appease fans somewhat, when Capcom made Street Fighter IV in 2009, they included the character of Gouken, the mentor to Ryu, Ken, and Akuma, who was modelled after EGM’s sketches of Shen Long.