10 Powerful Video Game Bosses That Became Weak Playable Characters

Long-time fans of the classic Streets of Rage series will know that Shiva is quite the enigma. He’s introduced in the second game in the series, a powerful and agile foe who serves as one of Mr. X’s elite goons. He’s fought just as the game draws to a close, a boss encounter barring the way to his master.

He returns in Streets of Rage 3, where he instead serves as the game’s first boss battle. In both iterations, he’s a tough foe, sporting leaping attacks and flurries that are difficult to deal with within the confines of the games’ rather limited movement. When he’s beaten at the end of stage one, he can be unlocked for play by simply holding a button until the next level begins.

Fans were surely thrilled to learn this, but the first playable Shiva in the games left rather a lot to be desired. He did not have the arsenal of special moves that make him so much fun to play in Streets of Rage 4, and simply served as a powerful, speedy, yet very ‘vanilla’ character. His inability to use weapons (a trait carried over to the next game and perhaps a reference to his honorable nature) arguably made him a much weaker pick than the other cast members.