Mike Haggar
| Mike Haggar | |
|---|---|
| Final Fight series Muscle Bomber series character | |
| File:Haggar.jpg Haggar in Capcom Fighting All-Stars | |
| First game | Final Fight |
Mike Haggar is a video game character from both the Saturday Night Slam Masters and Final Fight series. He has also made cameos and is referenced in the Street Fighter series. He was a professional wrestler who was formerly a street fighter, and mayor of Metro City. He is often referred to simply as "Haggar" or "Mayor Haggar", and seldom "Mike".
He is 46 years old during the events of the original Final Fight. He is 40 years old during the original Slam Masters (although his profile in the English version states he is the "former mayor of Metro City" ) and 50 in Final Fight 2 (according to the Japanese version) although much of the latter game's story was mutated by the Street Fighter Alpha series, including date. Haggar is 63 during the events of Final Fight: Streetwise.
History
Haggar made his debut in the original Final Fight, originally released for the arcades in 1989. Mike Haggar is described as a former "Street Fighter" turned Mayor, who has sworn to diminish the city's ever increasing crime rate after winning the election. The plot of Final Fight centers around the Mad Gear gang's attempt to manipulate the newly-elected Haggar by kidnapping his young daughter, Jessica. Instead of submitting to the gang's demands, Haggar enlists the help of Jessica's boyfriend, Cody and his friend Guy, to combat the gang and defeat their leader Belger. Of the three playable characters in the game, Haggar is the slowest and most powerful. He uses wrestling techniques such as a piledriver and the spinning clothesline (or double lariat). In addition, he also specializes in the use of a steel pipe, a pick-up weapon in the game, swinging it faster than the other characters.
Haggar appeared in two additional Final Fight sequels for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, following two different Super NES ports of the first game. In 1993's Final Fight 2, Haggar sets out to defeat the newly revived Mad Gear gang led by Retu in order to rescue Rena and Genryusai, Guy's fiance and master respectively. In this game Haggar is joined by Maki, Guy's sister-in-law and Bushin-style fighter, as well as Carlos, a South American swordsman who is friends with Haggar. Haggar's appearance did not change much between the two games (other than a slight change in Haggar's outfit), however he did gain Zangief's spinning piledriver, replacing his regular piledriver, as a special move.
In 1995's Final Fight 3 (Final Fight Tough in Japan), Haggar is rejoined by Guy and the two team up with Lucia, a female cop, and another ex-Street Fighter named Dean to battle the Skull Cross gang, a new criminal organization that has taken over Mad Gear's position by becoming the new dominant gang of Metro City. Haggar's design is changed drastically from the previous Final Fight games, with the character being given a pony tail and shorts. Haggar was also given a new super combo called the "Final Hammer", which is actually a series of various wrestling moves.
In addition to the two Final Fight sequels for the Super NES, Haggar also appeared in a trilogy of pro wrestling games by Capcom: Saturday Night Slam Masters in 1993, which was followed by an updated version titled Muscle Bomber Duo and a sequel titled Ring of Destruction: Slam Masters II in 1994. According to the original Japanese plot, the games are actually set before Final Fight and depicts Haggar's professional wrestling career prior to being elected mayor. However, the English localization of the series removes all references of the games being set in the past and even goes as far to describe Haggar as the "former mayor of Metro City". Haggar is loosely modeled after Randy Savage in the game. His ring name is Mike "Macho" Haggar and the games even features a winning pose in which he lifts his daughter Jessica onto his shoulder, which is reminiscent of Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth.
Haggar did not appear as a playable character again until 1999's Final Fight Revenge, an American-developed competitive fighting game set immediately after the events of the original Final Fight. Haggar's story in Revenge revolves once again around the disappearance of his daughter, who has disappeared following a series of riots in Metro City. Jessica's disappearance is not resolved in Haggar's ending, which is instead a recreation of Rolento's ending in Street Fighter Alpha 2, which depicts Rolento's attempt to takeover the city.
Haggar's most recent appearance was in Final Fight Streetwise, released in 2005. In Streetwise, Haggar runs a gym, 'Mike's Mat and Muscle', and a dock 'Mike's Maritime Maintenance'. He has seemingly isolated himself from most of Metro City, and says many of its citizens have forgotten about him. He aids Kyle (the player's character in the game) by teaching him grappling moves.
Appearance
Haggar in Final Fight wore Olive trousers with brown shoes and a brown strap over his right shoulder -- his most recognizable outfit. In Slam Masters he wore green tights with red trim and wrestling boots. Final Fight 2 saw him wear leather pants with armored boots, and in Final Fight 3 he grew a long ponytail and wore an outfit similar to his wrestling gear in Slam Masters but with tight cycling shorts. In Final Fight: Streetwise, Haggar wears black gloves and shoes, a green tanktop with cargo pants, complete with the original brown strap.
Family
Jessica is Haggar's daughter, and also the first game's damsel in distress. She is also Cody's girlfriend in the first game. She has long blonde hair and usually wears a red cocktail dress. She is carried off by Damnd in the beginning and taken to Mad Gear's hideout. She is held tightly by Belger in his lap, but escapes after his wheelchair is broken. Ultimately, she is saved by Cody and the rest in the game's ending. After Final Fight, Jessica only made cameo appearances in other games, such as stepping into the ring to celebrate her father's victories in the Slam Masters series (which is chronologically set before Final Fight). Her disappearance in the beginning of Final Fight Revenge plays a central role in that game's storyline, but is never resolved in any of the characters' endings. However, she's shown in Alex's Capcom Fighting Evolution ending rooting for her father in a wrestling match between Alex and Haggar, though it's uncertain how much weight this appearance warrants.
In Slam Masters, she has a sub-profile that describes her as a good person with a gentle character. Because of her looks, she gets hit on frequently. Her nickname is "Pretty Doll". She was born in 1963, 164cm tall, weighs 50kg, and her measurements are B90 W58 H88. Her attacks are listed as "Eye-liner attack" and "nice body".
Haggar's wife died before Final Fight, and possibly before Slam Masters. Her name is never given, and he hasn't remarried.
Other appearances
Despite his background as a former Street Fighter, Haggar never actually appeared as a playable character in the Street Fighter games, although the two series take place in a shared fictional universe. Instead, a Russian wrestler named Zangief appears in Street Fighter II, using similar moves to Haggar. The two characters had been described as rivals, despite never being playable in the same games. Zangief even has a spinning version of Haggar's pile driver.
Haggar has made a few cameo appearances in the Street Fighter games. Particularly in Guy's stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Alpha 3, in which he has J in a headlock. He also appears in Rolento's ending in Alpha 2, which is the basis for Haggar's ending in Final Fight Revenge.
Haggar is one of many Capcom characters to be included in Namco x Capcom. He is voiced by Tessho Genda, who also voiced his rival Zangief in the Capcom vs. SNK series.
Quotes
- "Once I grab ya... You're going for a ride!" (before a match in Saturday Night Slam Masters, referring to his spinning piledriver)
- "Drop me a line so I can visit your hospital room!" (after a win in Saturday Night Slam Masters)
Trivia
- Haggar was the mayor of Metro City, nine years before a real-life former wrestler, Jesse Ventura, became mayor of Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.