8 Famous Video Game Characters Created By Accident
3. Gouken - Street Fighter Series
Long-running video game series are usually rife with bogus theories and urban legends, and few are more widespread (and ultimately soul-crushing) than the legend of Sheng Long.
The name itself came simply from a mistranslation of the original Japanese dialogue, but when the magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly decided make this mishap into a full-blown phenomenon, fans were drawn in by the authentic-looking concept art of "Sheng Long" and the promise of battling him in-game under certain conditions.
Cruelly, the whole thing turned out to be an April Fools joke, leaving many disappointed to not get the opportunity to encounter this powerful, sensei-like character.
Naturally, the whole urban legend didn't go unnoticed by Capcom, and in 2009's Street Fighter IV, a new character by the name of Gouken was introduced who bears a clear resemblance to the fake concept art of Sheng Long shown in EGM.
It's certainly not the first time fans have pitched in to create characters (hell, it's not even the first time in Street Fighter!), but I bet those conniving writers over at EGM weren't ever expecting their hoax to be repurposed into a bona fide fighter. Maybe this was Capcom's revenge plan all along.