The Soul Power (ソウルパワー Souru Pawā?) is a power possessed by Rose and Menat in the Street Fighter series. It is best known as the antithesis to the corrupted Psycho Power that is, most notably, wielded by M. Bison.
Description
The Soul Power is a power that changes mental and spritual power into physical power. It is the same kind of power as ki.Channelling life energy through objects makes them weapons from which the user can release concentrated energy, zap opponents, and in Rose's case, project temporary copies of herself. Rose has been shown to utilize Soul Energy with her scarf, and Menat with her orbs. The user is also capable of casting hallucinations on their opponent, but this ability does work on those who can sense the ki of another.
When Rose is asked how she obtained such power, she doesn't say much. According to some information, she has learned how to use Soul Power for several years from a person she calls "master(師)". The possibilities of Soul Power are endless. Therefore, if it is used incorrectly, it will cause a great disaster.However, in Rose's Street Fighter Alpha's backstory, her former teacher warned that Rose would one day step into the battlefield and that Soul Power is Rose's powerful weapon and an insurmountable weakness at the same time (which can resuit in the curruptive effects of Psycho Power).
Soul Power appears to cause changes to an individual's body; they will gain green markings on their faces, as revealed in the case of her master. In Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, Rose could warp the very aspect of time itself.
Rose's tarot cards have an additional link to her Soul Power, as seen when Rose quick-changes after a battle using an enlarged "The Fool" card. It is also possible for her to seal evil energy within, presumably blank, tarot cards. Despite her fortune-telling ability, she cannot see the fate of a person from the future, such as the case with Ingrid.
In Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation, the Alpha manga series, the cartoon series, and the UDON comics, Rose is the embodiment of Bison's other half. As such, she can turn into a soul and is able to manipulate space, use telepathy, as well as sense the globe around her, Soul Power also allows users such as Menat to sense the life force of another. She also gains immunity to evil powers such as the Satsui no Hado in Ryu and Psycho Power in Bison, as she was able to undo the mind control of Bison through Cammy and the DOLLS.
Concept
Given Rose's design and fighting style inspirations of Lisa Lisa from the JoJo's Bizarre Adventure series, it is likely that Soul Power is intended to be the Street Fighter counterpart to Ripple.
Practitioners
- Rose
- Menat
- Maggio (non-playable; possibly)
- Seth (via imitation)
Moves
Rose
Rose has a variety of moves that are shown to use this power; most of them contain 'Soul' within the name. Advanced versions of certain abilities are prefixed by "Aura". These moves include:
- Soul Illusion
- Soul Reflect
- Soul Spark
- Aura Soul Spark
- Illusion Spark
- Soul Satellite
- Soul Spiral
- Soul Throw
- Soul Punish
- Aura Soul Throw
- Fate Aura Spark
Menat
- Soul Reflect
- Soul Sphere
- Soul Spark
- Guardian of the Sun
- Wisdom of Thoth
- Prophecy of Thoth
- Judgement of Thoth
- The Nefertem
Seth
With the use of his Tanden Engine V-Skill, Seth is able to replicate Soul Power.
- Soul Sphere (from Menat)
- Soul Spiral (from Rose)
Trivia
- Illusion Spark and The Nefertem are the only moves that do not share either naming scheme, although the former is likely a combination of Soul Illusion and Soul Spark.
- Allen Snider's Soul Force shares a similar name to most of Rose's move, though it is completely unrelated, making this a coincidence.
- According to M. Bison in Street Fighter V, the Psycho Power is fueled by hatred, anger, fear, and despair. It is possible that Soul Power is fueled by the opposite emotions: love, calmness, hope, and happiness.
- It seems that the fighting styles of Psycho Power and Soul Power users are inherently different. So far, the Soul Power users have been elegant fighters whose refined movements get augmented while Psycho Power users have been heavier "individual hits" type of characters. Furthermore, all Soul Power wielders have been shown to use their power through a proxy (Rose with her scarf, Menat with her orb, and Maggio with his yo-yo).
- In Ingrid's Alpha 3 story, she states to be the owner of Psycho Power and to be familiar with Soul Power, possibly exceeding Rose's knowledge. Street Fighter 6 director Takayuki Nakayama has since confirmed that Ingrid's power is neither Psycho Power nor Soul Power and that she instead "uses another energy".
- In M. Bison's Street Fighter II appearances, an opponent hit by Psycho Crusher would have a blue flame rather than purple, not unlike those produced by Soul Power in later games.
- According to Rose's teacher and Violent Ken's interaction with Ryu in the UDON Comics, the origins of Soul Power and the Satsui no Hado are both linked to the supernatural and mythology (manly the mythology based on Asian myths and European myths).
- In the IDW Comic book of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. Street Fighter, Raphael has shown the potential to use Soul Power trough its negative aspects such as Psycho Power through completed mental control of his mind.