Samurai Goroh

Samurai Goroh is character from the F-Zero series. He is Captain Falcon's rival. He first appeared in F-Zero for the SNES in 1991. He pilots the Fire Stingray.

Main Series

Before his career as a F-Zero pilot, Samurai Goroh was rumored to have been in the Internova Police at the same time as Captain Falcon, a possible reason for their rivalry. Although his homeworld is unknown, it's been said that he is a Japanese American and his main base of operations is Red Canyon. Despite his large frame, he is extremely athletic and can perform multiple backflips. Despite his skills in racing and fighting, Captain Falcon always manages to show him up.

Besides Captain Falcon, Goroh has made his own share of foes in the past. During Goroh's many illegal ventures, he left behind Antonio Guster, his former right-hand man, to be captured by the Space Allies. He also has a son, Dai Goroh, who is an expert swordsman and admires his father. Despite this, Goroh has little luck controlling his son.

Samurai Goroh competed in the first F-Zero race in 2560, competing against Pico, Dr. Stewart, and Captain Falcon; though Falcon was the one to win the tournament.

Goroh presumably returned to his criminal activities when the F-Zero races were closed, but returned to the race track when the F-Zero races began again as the F-Zero X tournament. His goal continues to be to thwart Captain Falcon, whether in the tournament or ambushing the Captain in rocky canyons.

GP Legend

In the anime-inspired games F-Zero: GP Legend and Climax, Samurai Goroh is a space thief whose motto is "Steal, but never kill." He is married to Lisa Brilliant, but apparently has no son yet. Antonio Guster is his brother-in-law due to Antonio being Lisa's brother.

He has his own story path in GP Legend. He gets in a race in Red Canyon and has trouble performing due to a poisoned needle being hidden in his cockpit. He meets up with Lisa shortly after and accuses her of poisoning him, but she won't hear what he has to say unless he beats her in a race. She claims to not know who he is and Goroh concludes she has amnesia. He can't do anything about it because his own life is on the line and he continues on.

He ends up running into Captain Falcon who was in the middle of hunting down a bounty. Goroh challenges Falcon to a race and after winning his 10th race against him (after 165 losses), he concludes that Falcon couldn't have been the one who did it. He ends up at the Sand Ocean and ends up running into Black Shadow, but is able to outrun him in a race. He finally tracks Antonio down at the Grand Prix after figuring out he was the one behind it. After beating Guster in the Grand Prix, Antonio is forced to give up the antidote, allowing Goroh to return to his life of crime and villainy.

Characteristics

As described in the first F-Zero game which was released for the SNES, Samurai Goroh is the boss of a renegade group of bandits known to hide out in Red Canyon. Even though his homeworld is unknown, F-Zero stated that Goroh is believed to be a Japanese American. In the first F-Zero game, he was "believed to be in his early 40s", then was 44 in F-Zero X and 45 in F-Zero GX. A tattered and huge warrior, Samurai Goroh is a massive man with the muscles to back up his boastfulness and his notorious profession. He is also an amazing athlete, able to perform such feats as multiple backflips in succession despite his gigantic, hulking frame. He wears a T-shirt missing its sleeves along with a leather vest. He carries a hip pouch and wears dark blue pants with a belt made of a long strand of red fabric.

Samurai Goroh and his friend and partner Antonio Guster spent years hunting down criminals and fine-tuning their vehicles for faster speeds and better performance when they were once employed in the Internova Police Force. They were eventually removed from the force and separated since they went to extreme measures to capture some suspects. Goroh blamed Antonio Guster for the incident, and now the two share a bitter relationship. After the exoneration from being a cop, Samurai Goroh became a bounty hunter, but his life isn't much different. Other than the fact his pay improved, he still continues to track down criminals. Racing in the F-Zero championship opened up the opportunity for him to constantly modify his Fire Stingray as well, keeping it highly tuned.

Appearances

Video games

By F-Zero X, Goroh and Captain Falcon have expressed their considerable differences in the past and are still bitter rivals. They are kept separated throughout the season by the officials until the Death Race, where every racer competes in a giant tournament of mayhem. Fans rejoice at seeing these two put together under such conditions.

In F-Zero GX Samurai Goroh is the leader of a group of space thieves and a bounty hunter - Goroh claims to be renowned and talented like Captain Falcon and intends to establish himself as one. However, Falcon always beats him to the newest and most profitable projects, leaving Samurai Goroh jealous and bitter. Goroh enters every Grand Prix in hopes to defeat his rival, Captain Falcon and will never stop trying to defeat him. In F-Zero GX's story mode, he catches Falcon and forces him to race where the winner gets to keep the loser's machine. Naturally, Falcon wins the race and drives away while Goroh threatens that he will be at the next Grand Prix. In F-Zero GP Legend, after you defeat Falcon with the Stingray, Falcon reveals that while he may have 10 wins against him, he has 135 losses.

Cameo appearances

Samurai Goroh and the Fire Stingray appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In the introduction sequence, he is seen racing Captain Falcon. Falcon bashes the Fire Stingray off of Mute City and then the Fire Stingray collides with the television screen and explodes. Samurai Goroh also has his own trophy in the game, and the Fire Stingray appears on a trophy displaying all of the F-Zero Racers. Samurai Goroh also appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. for 3DS / Wii U as a guest character, summoned by an Assist Trophy. He chases after the opponent(s) of whomever summoned him, slashing wildly with his sword.

Other media

The F-Zero: GP Legend TV series Samurai Goroh, voiced by Yasunobu Iwata in the Japanese version, was featured in this fifty-one episode anime, which originally aired on Japan's TV Tokyo from 2003 - 2004. Fifteen English-language episodes were produced before the show's cancellation in America.

Based on the video game F-Zero: GP Legend, the series presented Samurai Goroh's persona basically the same way done in the video games. His motto in the show is "steal, but never kill".