Vega

Vega is a fictional character from the Street Fighter fighting game series. Vega is a masked, talon-wielding warrior from Spain who uses a personal fighting style combining Japanese Ninjutsu and Bullfighting, earning him the nickname the "Spanish Ninja".

Vega first appears in the original Street Fighter II as the second of four computer-controlled opponents the player faces at the end of the single-player mode, a group known as the Four Devas or Grand Masters. From Street Fighter II′: Champion Edition (the second version of the game) and onward, Vega, along with the other three boss characters, became a playable character. He reappears as a playable character in Street Fighter Alpha 3, the Street Fighter EX series (from Street Fighter EX2 and onward), the Capcom vs. SNK series, Street Fighter IV and the Super Street Fighter IV.

Vega was designed by Akira Yasuda, and was initially conceived as a brief sketch of a masked man in a ripped shirt with long, frizzy hair. This design was eventually replaced in turn with another concept, a masked ninja in a bodysuit armed with a long metal claw on his right hand. Ultimately the character's finalized appearance was a culmination of all of these, incorporating various aspects of each into the finished design.

When the original Street Fighter II was being localized for the English language market, Capcom's North America marketing staff felt that the name of the game's final boss, Vega, sounded non-threatening to North American audiences, and was more suitable for the androgynous bullfighter. As a result, the character's name was changed from Balrog to Vega for English-language appearances.