Makoto Mizoguchi

Makoto Mizoguchi (溝口 誠, Mizoguchi Makoto) is a character and secondary protagonist from Data East's Fighter's History series and the main hero of Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!. He is modeled after Momotaro Tsurugi from Sakigake!! Otokojuku. Falcoon states that he had the roughest time adding him into Regulation A but pressed for his appearance since Mizoguchi is his favorite character from his gaming days. He considers Mizoguchi in the game as one of his best achievements and a surprise for fans.

In Gamest's 1997 Heroes Collection, Mizoguchi ranked 46 of the staff's favorite characters. He shared the spot with seven other characters, including Samurai Shodown character Hanzo Hattori, and Virtua Fighter character, Akira Yuki.

He is voiced by Kay Inage for his The King of Fighters appearance. In the Fighter's History series, he is voiced by GORILA, who was an employee for Data East at the time.

Story
Mizoguchi is a high-school dropout who ran away from his home to join the fighting circuit. Using the techniques his father taught him, he was eventually scouted by the Chinese mafia to be their fighting champ. He is usually sent to take out his employer's rivals. As time passed, however, Mizoguchi got homesick and wanted to leave the gang. In each tournament he participates in, he tries to escape from his master only to get dragged into another hit for them.

In KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A", he somehow escaped from the mafia and visits his home. He hears of the King of Fighters tournament from his father and gets fired enough to enter. He challenges his father's student, Lucky Glauber, for his invitation, wins, and heads off for his first fun tournament in years.

Personality
Mizoguchi is a "goof-off" person. He likes to play around with everyone, but takes battle seriously (or half-seriously). He is usually used for comic relief, since he is the "dumb-but-lovable-fool" of the series.

Powers

 * Energy Projectile: Mizoguchi can fire a projectile of energy that assumes the form of a tiger.
 * Energy Attacks: Mizoguchi can increase damage of normal attacks by adding ki energy to it. In Suiko Enbu, he can also use his energy to form a stick and swing it.
 * Sheep Curse: Mizoguchi can summon a pink sheep and use it to turn his opponent into a sheep. He only uses this ability in the Suiko Enbu games, and the pink sheep is actually a reference to an earlier Data East game, Trio the Punch.

Fighting Style
His fighting style, Jissen Karate is very similar to traditional karate.

Mizoguchi is commonly referred to as a "Ryu/Ken-type", as his gameplay is similar to that of Street Fighter main character Ryu. Like most of these characters, he does have subtle differences, such as being a bare-chested character, similar to Goro Daimon. In Maximum Impact, he was adjusted to be a powerful character with a few tricks up his sleeve.

Music

 * Mizoguchi - Fighter's History
 * Mizoguchi - Fighter's History Dynamite
 * Mizoguchi - Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!
 * Mizoguchi - Suiko Enbu: Fuunsaiki
 * DENGANA-MANGANA (Dotonbori Stage) - KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A"

Game Appearances

 * Fighter's History
 * Fighter's History Dynamite
 * Fighter's History: Mizoguchi Kiki Ippatsu!!
 * Suiko Enbu - hidden character, Playstation version only
 * Suiko Enbu: Fuunsaiki - playable character
 * Joe & Mac Returns - as an enemy
 * KOF Maximum Impact Regulation "A"
 * Garou Densetsu vs Fighter's History Dynamite - playable character
 * Kenka Bancho: Badass Rumble - hidden boss

Etymology

 * The name Makoto means "sincerity" (誠).
 * Makoto's surname Mizoguchi means "groove, trench, ditch, gap, gutter, drain, gully" (溝) (mizo) and "mouth, entrance" (口) (kuchi/guchi).

Gallery
Makoto Mizoguchi