Shadoloo

Shadoloo (often spelled as Shadowloo, Shadaloo and Shadowlaw, Japanese: シャドルー) is a fictitious international crime syndicate which is featured prominently in Capcom's Street Fighter series.

Shadoloo in the Street Fighter series

Shadoloo first appeared in Street Fighter II. Initially listed as merely "a mysterious crime organization" it mentioned little more than listing some of its ranks. Lead by M. Bison, Shadoloo's base in Thailand (appearing to be vaguely near Bangkok) played host to the second World Warrior tournament. Also listed in as Shadaloo members were the other three boss characters. In order of seniority they were: Balrog, Vega, and Sagat (the end boss of Street Fighter). Initially Shadoloo's goals and scope were ambiguous at best. They appeared to be smugglers though of what is not explained. M. Bison is described as "ruling his empire with an iron fist" possibly indicating that he controlled some independent territory. Each of the bosses motivated by their own selfish desires, and accepted M. Bison's offer to join his rank based on wealth or opportunity. Balrog was hired on as an enforcer to expand his wallet, whereas Vega was a well paid assassin. Sagat was listed as the most powerful Street Fighter by far and was motivated by revenge against Ryu. Some of the characters (specifically Chun-Li and Guile) are involved in this tournament to defeat M. Bison and Shadaloo.

As more games in the series were produced, more and more bits of information regarding Shadoloo came to light. In Super Street Fighter II it was learned that Shadoloo was responsible for the massacre of T. Hawk's tribe, and smuggled drugs or weapons. In addition, a storyline skimping on details was introduced between Cammy and Bison, alluding to the fact that Cammy did work for Bison before her bout with amnesia. During the Alpha series, Shadoloo's motives capabilities and scope grew tremendously. This crime organization appeared to be paramilitary with very powerful capabilities. Shadoloo had identified bases in Thailand and Brazil (at the least) which seemed to contain enough advanced technology and weapon capabilities to rival a medium sized nation. Bison had control of a very large VTOL jet, and employed mad scientists to create cyborgs, clones, mind control rays, satellites, powerful weaponry, large scale attack robots, and the Psycho Drive. In Street Fighter Alpha 3, a series of convoluted plots shows the downfall of at least one of Shadoloo's bases and a great weakening of Bison. Shadoloo would continue to have a large presence during the second World Warrior tournament. However, the end of that tournament resulted in the death of Bison by Akuma. Tidbits of storyline info indicate that after Bison's death, Balrog sought to replace him as the head of Shadoloo. Due to him being horribly inadequate for the leadership of such a vast empire, Chun-Li was able to systematically shut down Shadoloo operations to the point of its total collapse.

Among the assets that Shadoloo has had over the years, existed an Island somewhere off the coast of Thailand. In Street Fighter: The Story Telling Game, this island is located where the present day island of Phuket is. In this RPG, the Island is called Mriganka and it along with some territory on the mainland had been seized from Thailand and declared independence. In addition to having a mountain carved in the likenesses of all four main bosses, this officially unnamed island was also shown to contain a huge stadium, a variety of golden temples, a cavern located atop a large spire, a swimming pool whose floor opens into a missile silo, a submarine docking port, a nuclear powerplant, a subway, and many sublevels that contain a variety of high tech weapons and monstrosities.

Shadoloo in other appearances

In Street Fighter II: The Movie, Bison was the head of a group named Shadowlaw. His goals were never clearly stated, but as a means of increasing his powerbase he sent out 'monitor cyborgs' (in fact androids) to observe street fighters around the world. He then planned to collect the most powerful of the fighters, and assimilate them by giving them the choice of "join me or die." It appeared that stubborn fighters would be captured and brainwashed to serve Bison entirely; exemplified by how he treated the captured Ken.

In this movie Shadowlaw had bases through at least some of Asia, with one specifically in Thailand. He also had a tremendous VTOL jet, which he used to fly from continent to continent. His base in Thailand displayed very advanced technology and appeared extensive. He also organized mob conventions (as governed by Balrog) and ordered the assassination of no less than two political figures and Chun-Li. Eventually Bison was defeated by Ryu and Ken together and seemingly met his demise. At the very end of the movie though, he is shown driving a large semi-trailer, trying to mow down Ryu.

In the live action movie Street Fighter, Shadoloo was a country somewhere bordering Thailand. Its crazed dictator, Bison, kidnapped and ransomed Allied Nation relief workers. Warring with the UN, he employed such names as Dr. Dhalsim, Zangief, and Dee Jay. His army was of ambiguous size and force, and his plans seemed to be megalomaniacal world domination. He worked hard to 'create' a powerful fighter in the form of Carlos Blanka, via chemical/genetic influence. In the end he was killed by the good guys.

Shadoloo Traits

Street Fighters who have officially been members of Shadoloo are: M. Bison and the 12 Dolls: Enero, Fevrier, März, Aprile, Satsuki, Juni, Juli, Santamu, Xiayu, Jianyu, Noembulu, Decapre & Cammy, Balrog, Vega, Sagat, and Birdie. Depending on which stories are considered cannonical, sometimes Evil Ryu, Evil Ken, and Rose are also included. The four original members (Vega, Sagat, Balrog and Bison) are referred as the Shi-Ten-Nou （四天王）or "Four Devas" in the Japanese versions.

The insignia for Shadoloo is a winged-skull which has a lightning bolt (forming an "S" for Shadoloo) etched in between the eyes on its forehead.