Amir-Hamza
- Aug 1, 2020
- 4 min read

World Fighting Game Characters: Europe Part 2 East Europe

Updated: Nov 3, 2021

Dead or Alive's Russian Bayman vs Tekken's Russian Sergei Dragunov

They say that the fighting game community (FGC) is one of the most diverse fan communities within the videogame industry. But not only is the community diverse. So are the characters in each game as many intend to represent a country and usually the martial art of said country. So we wanna list how diverse the Characters of fighting games are. To be clear the games that we will include feature characters who debut from these games. So no Injustice or Marvel vs Capcom or Smash Brothers characters. Just characters created for fighting games.

Fighting Games Included are 3 Count Bout, Aggressors of Dark Kombat, ARMS, Art of Fighting, Battle Arena Toshinden, Battle of the Beast Gods/Savage Reign, Breakers, Buriki One, Darkstalkers, Dead or Alive, Dual Blades, Ehrgeiz, Eternal Champions, Fatal Fury, Fight Fever, Fighter's History, Fighter's Impact, Fighting Layer, Fighting EX Layer, Final Fight: Revenge, Guilty Gear, Kakuto Chojin, Kaiser Knuckle/Global Champion, Killer Instinct, King of Fighters, King of Monsters, Knuckle Heads Mace; The Dark Age, Martial Champion, Mortal Kombat, Omen of Sorrow, Power Instinct, Power/Deadly Moves/Athlete, Power Stone, Punch Out, Rage of the Dragons, Samurai Shodown, Saturday Night Slam Masters, Skullgirls, Soul Calibur, Street Fighter, Tekken, Tuff E Nuff, Virtua Fighter, War Gods and World Heroes.

UN Geoscheme of Europe. East Europe in Red

As Europe is a very heavily represented region in the fighting game franchise. We decided to see which parts of Europe gets the most rep and which countries in each European regions. Also saves space as this article would be too long. So here we use the UN Geoscheme for Europe which divides Europe into for four regions. South, East, West and North Europe. Here we will cover East Europe to start with. We are covering character from East Europe according to the UN Geoscheme definition and we will also acknowledge ethnic minorities and diaspora communities such as a Spaniard living in the UK can count.

No Social, Political or otherwise unnecessary offensive comments please as this article is to share and celebrate culture and diversity.

Russia

Sofia from Battle Arena Toshinden

Nicola Zaza from Battle of the Beast Gods

Ivan Sokolov from Buriki One

Bayman from Dead or Alive

Jetta Maxx from Eternal Champions

Karnov from Fighter's History

Chelnov from Fighter's History

Millia Rage from Guilty Gear

Potemkin from Guilty Gear

(From a fictional floating Island country of Zepp, possibly man made and based heavily on Russian culture. Zepp is likely a man made island of Russias)

Gonzales from Kaiser Knuckle

Mira Fallegeros from Killer Instinct

(She is Brazilian originally of pardo origin but now lives in as a Vampire in Russia and even speak Russian indicating that she's adopted her new nationality.)

Hinako Shijou from King of Fighters

(Is ethnically half Russian but consider herself Japanese)

Duke Burkoff from King of Fighters

(Unknown but believed to be Russian)

Antonov from King of Fighters

Geon from King of Monsters

Vagnad Rovnosky from Power Moves

Vodka Drunkenski/Soda Popinski from Punch Out

Sonia Romanenko from Rage of the Dragon

Biff Slamkovic/Aleksey Zalazof from Slam Masters

Zangief from Street Fighter

Necro from Street Fighter

Decapre from Street Fighter

(Unknown if she is Cammy's Twin or Clone or Genetic Template. But if they are twins or if she is the Genetic Template. They are ethnically Russian)

Kolin from Street Fighter

(currently unknown but was likely from a separatist movement in Russian during the Soviet Union era hinted by her in game story. Theories on her origin link to the fall of the Soviet Union and possibly ties her to Abkhazia, Circassia, Transnistria or South Ossetia. South Ossetia seems to line up the best, based off her story)

JACK-Series from Tekken

Dr.Bosconovitch from Tekken

Sergei Dragunov from Tekken

Alisa Bosconovitch from Tekken

Rasputin from World Heroes

Romania

Demitri Maximoff from Darkstalkers

Donovan Baine from Darkstalkers

(Officially Unknown but is possibly a Romanian of Romani Gypsy origin, his Indian Buddhist motif could be a reference to the Romani Gypsies originating from Asia)

Vladislav III from Omen of Sorrow

(unsurprisingly another Romanian Vampire character)

Eliza from Tekken

(Was trapped in Monaco under the Rochefort family mansion, but is believed to be Romanian)

Bulgaria

Tusk from Killer Instinct

(His stage Icehaven is his ship in Sweden but the music has chants in Bulgarian indicating that he lived in Bulgaria at some point and has ported at Sweden. This is an honourary inclusion as Tusk's origins states he has been mistaken for Germanic Barbarians, Nordic Vikings but his true origin is unknown and that he is an immortal traveler)

Czechia

Smoke from Mortal Kombat

(Real name is Tomas Vrbada and is from Prague, Czech Republic)

Bloody Marie from Skullgirls

(Her real name is Marie Korbel. Korbel is a Czech name)

Poland

Skarlet from Mortal Kombat

(An honourary inclusion as Skarlet's voice actress Beata Pozniak uses her natural Polish accent despite Skarlet being a genetic experiment from Outworld. The accent is the only Polish reference in a fighting game characters motif or culture. The East European accent may have been a reference to Hungarian Countess and Murderer Elizabeth Bathory who was infamous for Bathing in her victims blood.)