Gill

Overview

Gill is the final boss in every version of Street Fighter III. He is distinguished by a very particular color scheme, an symmetrical Red and Blue skin.

Gill is presented as a cult leader who would become a benevolent monarch over his worthy subjects. However, his cult uses kidnapping, coercion, DNA manipulation, brainwashing, and extreme force in order to select their chosen people. His appearance is characterized by his half red and half blue muscular body and long blond hair. He bears a distinct and intentional resemblance to the Greek Gods.

Gill's symmetrical color scheme was a device for Capcom to display the graphical power of the CPS-3 board. In previous SF games, details such as Sagat's eyepatch would switch depending on which way the character was facing.

Originally, Gill was to be colored black and white. It was later decided to color him red and blue, to better show off the game's graphical power. The black and white palette is used as a secondary color. Additionally, Gill was designed wearing a thong to show off as much of his red and blue hues as possible. In SFIII, when Gill is facing right, his attacks are fire-based, while if he's facing left, his attacks are ice-based.

The sprite of Gill's secretary, Kolin, has an intentionally asymmetrical haircut, so, like Gill, she appears graphically impressive when rotating from facing one direction to another, instead of being a mirrored sprite.

History

As they have done with many other characters, Capcom provided a very precise backstory for Gill.

Despite his ridiculous appearance, Gill is the leader of a mysterious cult-like organization called the Illuminati which has manipulated world events for over 2000 years, and is dedicated to the salvation of mankind, and creation of a new utopia.

The Illuminati had genetically enhanced Gill in his youth, increasing his strength and speed so that he could participate in an intense hand-to-hand combat training program. Gill became the top student out of the hundreds of enhanced warriors involved, surpassing even his own jealous brother, Urien.

According to Illuminati legend, the soul of the previous Illuminati Emperor would be reincarnated into a new body after death; the organization determined, through the results of their special training program, that the latest incarnation of the Emperor was Gill. Therefore, at the age of 22, Gill was appointed President of the Illuminati. Urien was overlooked due to his emotional instability, and appointed vice president under Gill.

Later, Urien challenged Gill for the presidency of the Illuminati and succeeded. Urien then became the president of the Illuminati. However, Gill was not demoted. In fact, he was promoted out of the title of president and became the new Emperor and messiah.

Under Gill, the Illuminati continued to gain power and resources, acquiring capital and estates through various business transactions. When the organization came into possession of a certain Jaguar automobile from the father of a British heavyweight boxing champion known as Dudley, Gill himself was challenged by the pugilist in order to have the automotive heirloom returned. Gill, being respectful of powerful fighting ability, agreed to return the precious car, as its financial worth was insignificant compared to the coffers of his organization.

The Illuminati continued to conduct genetic enhancements and other intrusive mutations on humans, either kidnapping their subjects or creating them artificially, in a development series known as the G-Project. These experiments resulted in the creation of the super soldiers known as Necro and Twelve, enhanced beings designed to carry out the bidding of the Illuminati. This project also led to the abduction of a young girl who was under the care of the ICPO agent Chun-Li.

With the aid of his faithful secretary Kolin (pronounced like "Colleen") and despite his younger brother's meddling, Gill organized the third World Warrior tournament with the aim of finding those strong enough to be worthy of repopulating humanity after the end of the world.

The Illuminati required a living messiah because their prophecies dictated that the rapture was imminent, thus signalling the end of humanity. Their messiah would be the one who would bring salvation and create a new Eden for the worthy remainder of mankind. Gill's ending from Street Fighter III: Second Impact states that "'When the sun sets on the Soliton Mountain, the black moon will break into seven pieces and fall on the people "Ultania". Nothing can prevent this.... Death and destruction will violate the land. Misery and suffering will assault the people.... Then, after 130 days of nothingness, a boy who controls the elements will come to save the people.' -From the Book of Miraha 3:11-". This is the Illuminati's prophecy for the events that signify the end of the world, which will take place in 2200 AD. The "boy who controls the elements" refers to Gill, and the prophecy predicts that he will act as humanity's saviour. Gill, however, planned to create this utopia ahead of the prophesied date, deeming himself powerful enough to do so. In his Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ending, Gill collects the most powerful fighters in the world, parts the ocean by sheer force of will, and leads them to his perfect promised land, where they would be safe from the world's destruction. Gill described this destruction to Yun as two opposing forces of the world becoming imbalanced. Gill's power lies in his own perfect balance of forces. This balance is so complete that it is evident in his own body, with the opposing forces of fire and ice separated in perfect symmetry. Gill appears to be able to inflict this balance on others, as demonstrated on Alex in Gill's 3rd Strike ending. This ending also displays him doing the same to the entire island where the promised land exists.

Fighting Style and Techniques

Gill is much more powerful than every other character in Street Fighter III, so he is unselectable during regular gameplay.

However, in home versions of Street Fighter III, Gill can be selected after he has been defeated at least once by every character. He is even selectable in Xbox Live matchmaking service games, providing players the opportunity to choose an unusually powerful character during head-to-head play. The only way to play as a copy of Gill in the arcade version of Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike is to use Twelve's X.C.O.P.Y.

Gill is fast, inflicts heavy damage, does an extremely large amount of stun, and can string together very long juggles. He can also inflict block damage with normal attacks, which makes it difficult to employ defensive strategies against him. This also makes it virtually impossible to achieve a perfect victory against Gill.

One dangerous element of Gill's is his Resurrection Super Art. If his lifebar is emptied by the player but his Super Arts bar is completely filled, Gill will rise from the ground with his health partially restored. In 3rd Strike, Gill has the potential to restore all of his health, however if the player hits him in his rising animation frames his recovery will stop. During his rising animation his opponent is constantly pushed away from him, making it difficult for a player or their projectiles to get near him.

Gill's fighting style involves the manipulation of fire and ice, and special moves including clotheslines, headbutts, and kneedrops, all of which would later be adapted and used by his brother, Urien. When using his Pyrokinesis ("movement of fire") and Cryokinesis ("movement of ice") projectiles, he will use the fire-based attack when his red half is facing the screen, and the chilling strike if his blue half is prominent. Both attacks have the same properties. Gill has the Super Art Resurrection, if KO'd while his super art meter is full he will automatically perform a reversal. Gill returns to life, rising off the floor and pushing away the opponent, initially regaining a quarter of his life, and gradually regaining the rest. One can hit him out of regeneration moments after he rises off the floor. In Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, he gains a super art called Meteor Strike, where twenty or so Cryo and Pyrokinesis will fall from the sky onto the opposite halve of the screen from his position. This can eliminate 80% of an opponent's life bar on connection, but will not hit an opponent crouching directly next to him under normal circumstances. In Street Fighter: 3rd Strike he gained the Super Art Seraphic Wing, in which Gill will rise in the air and six wings form on his back and emit lightwaves from his body. Not only does this move cover the entire screen and do ludicrous damage (approximately 20-30% of your lifebar when blocked, 20 hits and 90-100% if it hits depending on damage settings), it is impossible to evade, making Seraphic Wing Gill's most powerful ability. The only weakness is it has a decent wind up while he is rising, though after that it is completely invulnerable. While it is possible to Parry this Super Art, doing so requires expert timing. Gill also possesses the unique ability among Street Fighter III characters to use all three of his Super Arts in one battle, rather than selecting one at a time.