Why Does Street Fighter Have a Character Named ‘Sodom’?
It’s not surprising that Capcom censored Sodom’s name for the Super NES port of Final Fight. What is actually surprising is that he was called this in any incarnation of any game, especially considering that the two things most people would associate with this particular name don’t have any bearing on the character. Sodom, after all, is a white guy who loves Japanese culture and who is also a member of a criminal gang, with nothing about him to suggest the biblical city or the sex acts we associate with it.
Given how Capcom has fleshed out this character in the years since he debuted in Final Fight, however, his name came around to making more sense; it would actually be appropriate if Sodom doesn’t understand the implications of his name. Essentially, he’s a lousy communicator and might be the biggest language fail in video games — in English and in Japanese.
For both the 1991 Super NES port of Final Fight and then also the 1996 port of Street Fighter Alpha 2, Sodom was rebranded as Katana, I’m sure because people at Capcom USA realized the original Japanese name would raise eyebrows, especially considering the console’s more family-friendly reputation. I guess the new name works, even if Sodom fights with katana only sometimes and might be more famous for the pair of baton-like jitte he wields otherwise. He’s not been playable in a Street Fighter game ever since the Alpha series, but he has hovered in the background of the extended Street Fighter/Final Fight universe — sometimes literally and always going by his proper Japanese name, however confusing it may be.
Street Fighter IV: Andore vs. Rolento in the foreground, but Sodom versus Mike Haggar in the background.
This brings up a question, however: Why does Sodom have a name that invokes such specific associations if there’s nothing about him to associate with anything sexual or biblical?
The short answer is he’s most likely named for the German metal band Sodom. As far as I know, no one who worked on the 1989 arcade title has ever owned up to this, but a number of the characters created for Final Fight share names with bands from the era. Here, look:
Easily the most famous and most popular of the Final Fight baddies, Poison takes her name from the glam metal band Poison. There’s not much of a “why” here, I should point out. There’s nothing about Poison’s look that seems especially inspired by the band’s aesthetic, and she doesn’t use actual poison in her attacks. It’s almost like Capcom drew a list of bands they liked, drew a list of character designs and then drew lines.
The generic enemies Axl and Slash would seem to be named after Axl Rose and Slash from Guns N’ Roses. Again, the association seems more or less arbitrary. In this case, however, the Shadaloo Combat Research Institute art for the Final Fight Slash was restyled years after the fact to look even more like the IRL one.
Roxy, who was and basically still is a palette swap of Poison and who seems doomed to live forever in her shadow, would seem to be named after Roxy Music.
The Super NES port of Final Fight swapped out Poison and Roxy for entirely new male characters, apparently because having the game’s heroes beat up female gang members didn’t fit the Nintendo aesthetic… even if Billy and Jimmy were doing that to Linda in the NES port of Double Dragon years earlier. (Yes, there is probably a post here.) Anyway, the replacement for Poison and Roxy ended up being two lanky punks named Billy and Sid, presumably named after Billy Idol and Sid Vicious.
G. Oriber would seem to take his name from Graham Oliver, former member of the British heavy metal band Saxon.
It’s a bit of a stretch, but the enemy Holly Wood could be a nod to the band Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the lead singer of which was Holly Johnson.
Simons is possibly a reference to Gene Simmons, even if his updated Street Fighter V look more resembles a genderflipped Grace Jones — a definite improvement.
Damnd seems to take his name from the British punk band The Damned, and that is compounded by the fact that many of his Street Fighter 6 moves are named after songs by that band. (Incidentally, Street Fighter 6 changes his name to Thrasher Damnd, at least in the English localization, as a means of explaining the gentler name he was given for the Super NES port. Basically, they Charlie Nashed him.)
And finally it seems like Abigail might get his name from the 1987 King Diamond album Abigail, with the link being the fact that King Diamond’s eye make-up sometimes looks like the Final Fight character’s. He’s actually an outlier in that there would be a visual association here, if he’s truly named after the album.
All this is to prove that yes, it’s plausible and even likely that Sodom the character was named for Sodom the band, in which case none of biblical and/or sexual associations we have with the name are necessarily intentional. Those same associations, however, are probably what motivated the band to pick that name, because a good metal band should have a name that evokes the dangerous, the sacrilegious or the provocative, and this name hits all three. But here’s where we have to take a short break from video games to explain how a city in the Bible became associated with both wickedness and gay sex, even if we might be misreading the story all these years later.
The book of Genesis features the story of Lot, who is living in the city of Sodom when God sends two angels to destroy it as punishment for an unspecified sin. Lot welcomes the angels into his home, which is a nice thing to do. That night, however, the men of Sodom gather outside Lot’s house and demand that Lot present these two guests so that they can “know them,” that being a common biblical euphemism for sex. Lot asks the men not to have sex with his guests, but the men of Sodom insist. At this point, the angels tell Lot they’re going to smite the entire town, and Lot is allowed to flee with his family under the condition that they don’t look back at the destruction. They do flee, but his wife looks back and as a result, she’s turned into a pillar of salt. (It’s a very weird turn of events, and it maybe suggests why interpreting old Bible stories literally is a bad idea, but whatever.) Also destroyed is the neighboring town of Gomorrah, though it’s not explicitly stated why. We don’t get much intel on this neighboring city. Sucks to be them, I suppose.
For a long time, the popular western interpretation of this story was that Sodom was destroyed specifically for the men’s desire to have sex with the angels, which they thought were human men. Consequently, the English word sodomy refers to sex deemed sinful by society — usually sex between men but also other types of forbidden sex as well. Other interpretations of the story suggest that Sodomites’ sin might not have to do with homosexuality specifically but adultery, sexual violence in general or a lack of hospitality toward visitors, among many other things, but obviously the gay sex meaning is the one that stuck in Abrahamic cultures. It’s an extremely loaded term, which is why the German band picked it, and it’s not clear that any of that connotation was considered when Capcom assigned it to the character Sodom, who is not gay-seeming or gay-acting in any way.
Released six years after Final Fight, 1995’s Street Fighter Alpha features two playable Final Fight characters, Sodom and one of the game’s three heroes, Guy. And while this marks the official blending of the Street Fighter and Final Fight series, Final Fight was never all that separate from Street Fighter to begin with. In fact, Final Fight was developed under the working title Street Fighter ’89, as a sequel to the original Street Fighter done more in the style of Double Dragon, which was a bigger arcade hit at the time. In fact, when you think about it, Final Fight actually involves a whole lot more fighting in the streets than Street Fighter does.
Later installments of the Street Fighter Alpha series saw the inclusion of Rolento, Cody and Maki, and later Street Fighter sequels would see the inclusion of Poison, Abigail, Hugo and Lucia, not to mention countless cameos by many other Metro City residents.
In the Street Fighter Alpha games, Capcom leaned into the notion of Sodom being an otaku — an aficionado of all things Japanese, even if he doesn’t necessarily understand the culture. But this schtick actually began beforehand. In the original arcade version of Final Fight, the kanji 死, “death,” seems to be rendered incorrectly in Sodom’s character art. (Unless I’m mistaken, you never get a clear look at it on his in-game sprite.) But when the Sega CD version of the game was released, the art was modified so that the kanji was made to look even more wrong. It’s remained like that ever since — like someone intended something cool and Japanese but didn’t know enough to realize that he’d drawn it wrong.
Left to right: Sodom’s original Final Fight art, the Sega CD version with the misshapen kanji and finally his look in the Street Fighter Alpha games.
In the Street Fighter Alpha series, it becomes an even bigger part of Sodom’s character that he really wants to speak Japanese despite not knowing how to do so. In the Japanese version of the game, his dialogue comes out garbled — incomprehensible to the point that he needs an on-screen translation. Sodom’s speech is represented by a nonsensical string of English words that kinda sorta sound like the Japanese phrase he’s trying to get at. It’s like a verbal rebus puzzle.
Maybe the most famous is “DIE JOB DEATH CAR.”
Super translator Fatimah explains that he’s trying to say “大丈夫ですか?” (“Daijoubu desuka?”), which means “Are you okay?” but stated in a mocking way can mean something more at “What, are you done?” or “You good?” The subtitle the game offers for this is always slightly different, however, and it this case it’s offering “オイオイ、もうおしまいか?” (“Oi oi, mou oshimaika?”), which translates as “What, done already?”
But there’s also “GO CLACK, JAW BOOTS!”
For this one, what’s he’s trying to say is “極楽成仏” (“Gokuraku joubutsu!”), which means “attainment of buddhahood in paradise.” The subtitle below is saying “あの世へいきな!” (“Ano yo e ikina!”), which Fatimah translates as “Go to the afterlife!” — meant more in the spirit of the English “Go to hell!”
They’re not all so straightforward, however, and maybe one of the best is from Street Fighter Alpha 2, where Sodom simply says “NEVER, NEVER NOT, OH!”
The intended meaning of the Japanese, “しつこいヤロウだ” (“Shitsukoi yarōda!”), is something like “You don’t give up!” but the phrase he’s trying to say is “nebaneba natto” — the sticky fermented soybean dish. The implication, we’re supposing, is what Fatimah puts as “Gosh, you get everywhere and don’t come off.”
And finally, given the subject of this post, I had to include this one from Street Fighter Alpha 3: “EIGHT CAR GAY NEED SAY!”
The thing he’s trying to say, “えーかげんにせい” (“ēkagennisei”), is the Kansai dialect version of “いい加減にしろ” (“iikagennishiro”), meaning something like “Cut it out!” or “I can’t stand this!” but I’m just more amused by the construction “gay need say.” And the translation offered, “やってられるか!” (“yatterareruka!”) means something like “Screw that!”
(I had Fatimah look at all of Sodom’s quotes, and I’ll list them all in the miscellaneous notes section.)
I have to say, this is actually a fairly complex form of wordplay for any video game, much less a fighting game not exactly known for text. It’s also one that would be difficult to translate out of the original Japanese, especially because Japanese-ness is so central to Sodom as a character. That’s probably why the English version of the first Street Fighter Alpha just kind of shrugged and gave him a generic win quote that, unless I’m mistaken, offers no hint of his Japanophile nature.
By Street Fighter Alpha 3, however the localization team thought of a way to convey the joke to an extent, giving Sodom win quotes such as this one.
He’s meant to be saying “Ore-tachi wa muteki da” or “We are invincible,” but his lousy accent makes the third word sound like “mutt achy,” so the translation just goes with “We are dogs in pain.”
There’s also this one, where he’s mangling the Japanese version of “You’re welcome.”
He’s meaning to say “Dou itashimashite,” but again, it’s coming out as “Don’t touch my mustache.” Which is hilarious.
I’m spelling this all out because for one thing, I think it’s really funny. It’s a specific linguistic phenomenon with which I’d wager a good number of Japanese people would be familiar, and it’s being assigned to this otherwise one-note character to give him a sort of running gag. On top of that, it’s impressive that the localization team figured out a way to represent the joke in some form in the English version of the game.
Considered in the same context as Sodom’s name, however, his tendency to use words without understanding how they work or what they mean makes for an interesting parallel. In short, Sodom is sending unintentional signals with both his bad Japanese and his controversial name. In the same way that he’s trying to speak Japanese but ends up telling anyone who’s listening that he doesn’t actually understand the language, I think there’s an implication here that he picked the name Sodom to sound scary and intimidating without realizing that most people would associate it with things religious or homosexual or both — which is to say scary maybe to certain groups, laughable to others, potentially enticing to even others still. Like, in the world of the games, he maybe saw that Poison named herself after a band and decided to pick a band for his own gang name, but he just totally biffed it. What a dork!
Someone who knows more about Japanese culture would have to tell me how likely it would be that the Capcom staffers who created Final Fight and named Sodom would have realized the associations people would make with that name. I’m guessing they didn’t — not at first, anyway. Obviously, most people in the world know about sodomy in general, but they might not use that specific term. For example, Japanese Wikipedia has a whole page on the history of sodomy, for but it’s a translation of the English Wikipedia equivalent, and its title is written in the katakana ソドミー, denoting that it’s a loanword. And while Japan repealed its anti-sodomy laws in 1880, they wouldn’t have termed them this. These laws were part of the keikan (鶏姦) code, keikanritsu jourei (鶏姦律条例) being a something of Japanese equivalent to the English phrase.
But if Sodom was named back in the day without a full understanding of the name’s associations, it’s clear that Capcom knows now. While Sodom has not been seen in Street Fighter 6 so far, E. Honda mentions that Sodom gave up criminal life to work as a trucker. He frequents Honda’s restaurant, and in the game you see Sodom’s truck pulled up next to it, with a sort of pop-up clothing store operating out of it. The name of the store? Kiss Ache Away — which keeps in with Sodom’s historically faulty mastery of Japanese because it’s a play on the term 着せ替え (kisekae, “dress up”).
What’s more, the name of the employee who is running the story is Gomorrah (ゴモラ, Gomora).
Really, he couldn’t have been named anything else.
I don’t necessarily think Gomorrah’s appearance in Street Fighter 6 means that Capcom planned this from the very beginning so much as they saddled Sodom with an awkward name back in the day and gradually came to have some fun with its implications. But seeing as how Sodom was cast as a doofy loser who doesn’t understand how language works thirty years ago, it’s extra funny if Capcom named Sodom without fully exploring the implications of that name.
Again, Sodom really is the poorest communicator in video games. What a weird honor. What a dork.
Miscellaneous Notes
While a lot of the Final Fight characters seem to be named for bands, a good number of them apparently aren’t — or at least not ones anyone has thought of yet. Bill Bull, Dug, El Gado, Hugo, J, Jake, Wong Who, Edi. E, Rolento and Belger.
The Final Fight character Bred, owner of the car that gets famously trashed, doesn’t seem to be named after a band or singer, and while there’s an easy gay pun to be made here, it’s maybe more notable to point out that his overall look seems to be based on Willam Dafoe’s character from the movie Streets of Fire. And yes, I should write something up on all the elements from that film that ended up in video games.
The generic enemy Two P is not a musical reference but a reference to the Capcom shooter Forgotten Worlds. He’s specifically designed to look like the player-two character, hence the name.
One way Capcom could have embraced the implications of Sodom’s name would be to make him seen stereotypically gay, but that’s not the direction that was chosen. No, instead, it’s Eagle who got that treatment. I’m assuming it’s because of his mustache?
Eagle appeared in the original Street Fighter and then fourteen years later in Capcom vs. SNK 2 and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper. And for no real reason that I can find, someone thought it would be fun to assign him the schtick of seeming rather camp, with his win quotes referencing songs by Queen. His in-battle taunts have him saying “No time for losers,” “The show must go on” and “Shall we dance?”
All that said, it’s Guy whose name was incorrectly rendered as Gay in early versions of Final Fight. (According to Final Fight director Akira Nishitani on Twitter, “This was originally spelled GAY in the early stages of development. However, it seems that in America, the A is generally pronounced as ei, so it was spelled gay. I immediately got a complaint to change the spelling.“
FWIW, it’s widely speculated online that Guy is named for Guy Picciotto of the band Fugazi, and although this would check out time-wise with the other Final Fight music namesakes, I couldn’t find any indication that it’s actually true.
If I’m posting something about Final Fight characters and the specter of homosexuality, I really should note that between the original Final Fight and Street Fighter V, Capcom gave the generic character Jake a substantial gay glow-up.
In fact, I will at some point be doing a post on all the ways Final Fight embraces a homoerotic aesthetic, whether accidentally or not.
Poison and Rosy are not the only female Final Fight baddies to be swapped out for male versions in international releases. For the Super NES port, a generic female thug named Eliza became Robert, though apparently her male counterpart is series canon — as her twin brother. Eliza appears in Street Fighter 6 as well, but renamed Elissa presumably to prevent confusion with Ken’s wife. In Japanese, they never had the same name. Ken’s wife is イライザ, Iraiza, and this one is エリザ, Eriza.
Curiously, while many Final Fight characters have made their debut in a Street Fighter game, Mike Haggar, the only character to be playable in all three Final Fight games, has never been playable in one. I guess he’s just too busy mayoring Metro City? Haggar has been playable in Capcom Fighting All-Stars and two Marvel vs. Capcom titles, in addition to the Slam Masters games, which exist in the Street Fighter universe even if Capcom hasn’t done anything with them in years. I feel like because Street Fighter 6 uses Metro City as its hub, it would be weird for Haggar not to make an appearance.
The Street Fighter and Final Fight series are now so thoroughly enmeshed that when Final Fight: Streetwise was released in 2006, the Street Fighter character Cammy made an appearance. Even twenty years ago, it would have been weird to have a new Final Fight game that just completely ignores the Street Fighter canon,
If it seems weird to name a video game character Sodom, it’s extra weird to discover that there are a lot more places named Sodom — in honor of the original?
And finally here are the rest of Sodom’s bad Japanese win quotes as well as the in-game translations offered beneath, with clarifications and suggestions by Fatimah:
What Sodom says: “DO MORE SWIM A SEND!”
What he meant to to say: どうもすみません (doumo sumimasen)
What it means: “Pardon me”, but he’s saying it in a mocking way, so it’s more at “Whoops, my bad!”
What the in-game translation says: “おっとスマネェ,” meaning something like “Whoops, my bad!”
What Sodom says: “SHOW BY HUNG JAW”
What he meant to to say: 商売繁盛 (shoubai hanjou)
What it means: “thriving/prosperous business” but meant in the sense of “I’m on a roll today!”
What the in-game translation says: “今日もゼッコーチョーだぜ,” meaning something like “I’m on a roll today.
What Sodom says: “SHOW GUN I DEATH!”
What he meant to to say: しょうがないです (shouganaidesu)
What it means: “What can you do?” or “There’s nothing you can do about it,” often translated as It can’t be helped”
What the in-game translation says: “ま、あきらめな,” meaning “Give it up!”
What Sodom says: “SHOW SEA SEND BANG!”
What he meant to to say: 笑止千万 (shoushi senban)
What it means: “Highly ridiculous”
What the in-game translation says: “笑っちまうぜ” (“Pathetic!”)
What Sodom says: “GO SHOES SHOW SUMMER!”
What he meant to to say: ご愁傷様 (goshuushousama)
What it means: “My condolences”
What the in-game translation says: “気の毒なこった!” (“What a shame!”)
What Sodom says: “OH, ME GO TOO!”
What he meant to to say: お見事 (omigoto)
What it means: “Well done”
What the in-game translation says: やるじゃねえか!” (“Not bad, eh!”)
What Sodom says: “YOU’LL SAME A SEND!”
What he meant to to say: 許せません (yurusemasen)
What it means: Literally “Unforgivable!” or “I won’t allow it!”
What the in-game translation says: “生かしちゃおかねぇぞ!” (“You won’t make it out alive!”)
What Sodom says: “DIE GET KEY, DO!”
What he meant to to say: 大激怒 (daigekidou)
What it means: Literally “fury” or “rage”
What the in-game translation says: “もうガマンならねえ!” (“I can’t take it anymore!”)
What Sodom says: “FOOL INK A THAN!”
What he meant to to say: 風林火山 (fuurin kazan)
What it means: It’s an abbreviation of a Sengoku-era battle standard taken from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War: “Move as swift as a wind, stay as silent as forest, attack as fierce as fire, undefeatable defense like a mountain.”
What the in-game translation says: “キアイがちがうぜ,” literally meaning that his opponent is lacking in battle spirit, but effectively meaning “You don’t look too good!”
What Sodom says: “SORRY DIE ZING!”
What he meant to to say: 総理大臣 (souridaijin)
What it means: Literally “prime minister”
What the in-game translation says: “オレがイチバンだな!” (“I’m the best!”) Sez Fatimah, “These keep getting funnier and funnier to me. The best because he’s the most powerful in the country if he’s prime minister?”
What Sodom says: “UP A RAY!!”
What he meant to to say: あっぱれ (appare) "Splendid/brilliant"
What it means: “Splendid” or “brilliant”
What the in-game translation says: “カンペキ!” (“Perfect!”)
What Sodom says: “OH, AT EARLY!!”
What he meant to to say: 大当たり (ooatari)
What it means: “Bullseye!” or “Right on the money”
What the in-game translation says: “きまったな!” meaning “It’s over,” in the sense of the winner of the fight having been decided
What Sodom says: “WHAT SOME BEAT?”
What he meant to say: わさび (wasabi)
What it means: It’s just the word wasabi, posed as a question.
What the in-game translation says: “ピリッときたかい?” meaning “Do you feel the sting?” in the sense that wasabi is spicy and hot. More at “You feel that?”
What Sodom says: “OH, JASMINE NURSE I!”
What he meant to to say: おやすみなさい (oyasuminasai)
What it means: “Good night”
What the in-game translation says: “そのままねてな!” literally meaning “And stay asleep” but meant more like “And stay down!” or “Stay put.” Sez Fatimah, “It’s like if you were to say ‘nighty-night!’ to your enemy before knocking their lights out.”
What Sodom says: “DIE OH, JOE!”
What he meant to to say: 大往生 (daioujou)
What it means: Literally “Peaceful death”
What the in-game translation says: “トドメだ!” (“You’re finished!”)
What Sodom says: “IT’S TOE SHOW!”
What he meant to to say: 等賞 (ittoushou)
What it means: “First prize” or “gold medal”
What the in-game translation says: “オレが最強” (“I’m the strongest!”)
What Sodom says: “MAY DAY TIE!”
What he meant to to say: めでたい (medetai)
What it means: “Happy” or “auspicious”
What the in-game translation says: “やったぜ!” (“I did it!”)
What Sodom says: “MOVE YOUR SOCKS!”
What he meant to to say: 無病息災 (mubyosokusai)
What it means: “Good health”
What the in-game translation says: “オレはまだピンピンしてるぜ” (“I’m still alive and kicking”)
What Sodom says: “OH, BACK A SON!”
What he meant to to say: お馬鹿さん (obakasan)
What it means: “Dummy”
What the in-game translation says: “オツムの弱いヤローだ!” (“You’re a wuss!”)
What Sodom says: “DIE BACK SHOW!”
What he meant to to say: 大爆笑 (daibakushou)
What it means: “Roaring laughter”
What the in-game translation says: “問題外だな!” (“It’s out of the question!”)
What Sodom says: “WHIP I DO?”
What he meant to to say: 一杯どう? (ippai dou?)
What it means: “How about a drink?” in the sense of offering to meet again over a drink.
What the in-game translation says: “もう一回つきあうかい?” (“Would you like to meet again?”)
What Sodom says: “MESSY, FULL ON NEIL!”
What he meant to to say: 飯、風呂、寝る (meshi, furo, neru)
What it means: Literally “Eat, shower, sleep,” he’s saying he doesn’t have time to talk.
What the in-game translation says: “多くは語らねぇ!” (“Not much to say here!”)
What Sodom says: “KICK ON SEE MAT SHOW!”
What he meant to to say: 結婚しましょう (kekkon shimashou)
What it means: “Let’s get married!”
What the in-game translation says: “俺と組もうぜ!” (“Join me!” or “Pair up with me!”)
What Sodom says: “GOTS AND DEATH!”
What he meant to to say: 馳走様でした (gochisousamadeshita)
What it means: “Thanks” in the way you’d give before a meal
What the in-game translation says: “まあまあ、よかったぜ” (“Well, that was all well and good!”)
What Sodom says: “OH, DOLL A HOLD!”
What he meant to to say: 踊るアホウ (odoru ahou)
What it means: “Dancing fool”
What the in-game translation says: “あわれなザマだ!” (“How embarrassing!”)
What Sodom says: “AND TURN MORE SKI NEIL!”
What he meant to to say: アンタも好きねえ (anta mo suki)
What it means: “I like you”
What the in-game translation says: “あなどれねぇな” (“I like you!”), but literally meaning something like “I can’t hold you in contempt.”
What Sodom says: “NIP ON DIE SKI!”
What he meant to to say: ニッポン大好き (nippon daisuki)
What it means: Literally “I like Japan”
What the in-game translation says: “嫌いじゃねぇよアンタ!” (“I don’t dislike you!”)
What Sodom says: “OH I SO!”
What he meant to to say: おあいそ (oaiso)
What it means: Literally “compliments,” as in he’s asking for compliments
What the in-game translation says: “どぉだ!” (“How’s that!”)
What Sodom says: “MEET SAW, SHOW YOU?”
What he meant to to say: 味噌、醤油 (miso, shouyu)
What it means: Literally “miso, soy sauce,” but the intent here is something like “Felt that one, didn’t you?” Fatimah: “I have no idea what the connection here is supposed to be.”
What the in-game translation says: “ワザが効いてるだろ?” (“Felt that one, didn’t you?”)
And finally, since this post seems to be the repository for all things gay in Street Fighter, I will close with this background detail from Birdie’s stage in Street Fighter Alpha 2 — a squlid mens’ room in the London Underground.
What do we think the guy in the stall is up to? And isn’t he dressed a little bit like Ash from Streets of Rage?