Big Ben (sometimes stylized as "Big-Ben"), also known as Bongo in Japan, is a recurring enemy in the Streets of Rage series, who debut in Streets of Rage 2.
Overview[]
Big Ben appears as a large, bald and obese man of Asian descent wearing suspenders and a baseball cap. He is notorious for his signature laugh, often used as a taunt after hitting the player.
Streets of Rage 2[]
In Streets of Rage 2, his arsenal of moves includes slapping the player, a jumping belly attack and occasionally breathing fire. He makes another appearance on Stage 4, at the baseball stadium. He will also appear to assist the main boss in Stage 5 (The Ship).
Streets of Rage 3[]
In Streets of Rage 3, he appears again on the second part of the first stage and throughout the game. Seems he has added a sort of "circus roll" attack to his arsenal in this game. He will get up dizzy and take a moments time to recover and is able to perform a tag team with Galsia by throwing him towards his enemies while the latter performs his elbow drop. Just like the first game, where heavy enemies cannot be thrown, he'll squash the player under his weight; Skate & Shiva are the only playable characters able to counter this.
Streets of Rage 4[]
Big Ben returns in Streets of Rage 4, showing up more often than previous games. He only attacks by running breathing fire and using a slap when getting up very close to the player; unlike in Streets of Rage 3, he can no longer pick up and throw Galsia. He can now also perform a dodge roll, which grants him super armor.
Like in Streets of Rage 2, Big Ben can be thrown by any character, although all characters, except for Floyd and Max, will require effort to lift his sizable girth to throw or slam him; as with all heavyweight enemies, his ground bounce is shorter than normal enemies.
Variants[]
Big Ben has three variants, each having increased health and employing different attacks:
- Gourmand, with a beige costume, attacks by performing a leap attack. He has the same health as Big Ben.
- Anry, with a blue costume, attacks by performing a rolling attack, which can also hit other enemies in addition to player characters. He has the same health as Big Ben and Gourmand.
- Heart, with a green costume, also attacks by performing a rolling attack, but it's significantly faster and ricochets a bit more. He has twice as much health compared to the other variants.
Big Ben and all his variants have super armor upon getting up from a knockdown, and will often use the dodge roll to get a distance from the player and use their signature attack.
Move List[]
- Slap: used by all variants. A quick slap. In Streets of Rage 2 this has two hits, with the second knocking down the player. Used in all games.
- Fire Breath: used by all variants (but only Big Ben in Streets of Rage 4). He runs towards the player while breathing fire. Very hard to intercept directly. Used in all games.
- Leap Attack: used by all variants (but only Gourmand in Streets of Rage 4). He jumps high in the air towards the player, falling on his belly. Very hard to intercept directly unless using anti-air attacks. Used in all games.
- Rolling Attack: used by Anry and Heart in Streets of Rage 4. He spins around ricocheting on the stage. He has super-armor during its entire duration.
- Dodge Roll: used by all variants in Streets of Rage 4. He'll roll around, which has super armor. Often used right after getting up from a knockdown. Anry and Heart's versions deal minor damage and knock down players.
- Bongo Special: he picks up Galsia and throws him at the player; Galsia performs an elbow drop when landing. Used in Streets of Rage 3.
Strategy[]
Big Ben and his variants are notorious for their high priority moves and high health, making them formidable enemies, especially when paired with other powerful foes. They should always be a top priority to dispatch as they're dangerous in large groups.
In Streets of Rage 4, they are notorious for their surprisingly high mobility and damage output. When fighting Big Ben, the player should avoid challenging the Fire Breath directly, instead moving away and attacking him from behind. Against Gourmand, anti-air attacks are effective to intercept his leap attack; for characters who lack a decent anti-air, dodging the attack by moving away and punish their landing. Anry / Heart are the most dangerous variant as their rolling attack has super armor for the entire duration, and they use it in quick succession, making hard for the player to punish it; the player can instead use it to their advantage, as the rolling attack will damage other enemies.
Sprites[]
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Big Ben's variation names are related to his girth (Big Ben, Buffet, Gourmand). One of those is named Heart, after the villain Mr. Heart from the Hokuto no Ken series.
- In Streets of Rage 4, Big Ben is the very first enemy that appears during the opening, being punched by Axel.
- He's revealed to be bald, much like his Streets of Rage predecessor.
- In the opening, Big Ben is shown in-game being attacked by Blaze and Axel at the start of Stage 7 and the second part of Stage 2, respectively. Big Ben never appears in neither of these spots.
- In Streets of Rage 4, Big Ben's clothes can be seen hanging on a rooftop during Stage 10.
- In Streets of Rage 4, his iconic laugh from Sega Genesis titles was re-used rather than having new voice clips recorded.