Sheng Hong

Sheng Long is a character hoax related to the Street Fighter series, created by Electronic Gaming Monthly as an April Fools' prank in 1992. Conceived by editor Ken Williams due to a mistranslation suggesting the existence of a character named Sheng Long in the Capcom fighting game Street Fighter II, the publication released an article describing a method to fight the character in the game. Despite intending it to be an obvious joke, many players took it seriously, and other publications reprinted the details as fact without verifying its legitimacy, causing the Sheng Long hoax to spread worldwide. As a result, the magazine later acknowledged it was indeed a hoax, though revisited the concept for a similar joke in 1997. Claiming Sheng Long would appear in Street Fighter III, they provided a backstory for the character and an appearance designed by editor Mike Vallas. Despite the article trailing off and being incomplete, it resulted in confusion between the North American and Japanese branches of Capcom, with the former calling the latter to ask why they had not been informed about the character. As a character and a hoax, Sheng Long has been described as one of the most famous and well-known legends related to video gaming by publications such as UGO.com and GameSpot. Several publications have attributed the creation of Street Fighter character Akuma, who was added to Super Street Fighter II Turbo as a secret boss with several similarities to the original joke. Fan appeal for the character affected later Capcom titles, with public requests for the inclusion of Sheng Long in an actual video game leading to the consideration of his inclusion in the Street Fighter: The Movie video game and the appearance of the character Gouken as both a secret boss and playable character in Street Fighter IV. Capcom has also added in-game achievements referencing Sheng Long in Street Fighter II re-releases, and for the 25th anniversary of the hoax temporarily posted artwork and a profile for the character on their website, this time designed by Shigenori "Kiki" Kiwata. This version of the character was later reused for his appearance as a non-player character in the World Tour mode of Street Fighter 6, acting as a high-difficulty optional boss.