Cody Travers

Context

Cody Travers appeared in an old brawling game – Final Fight, in 1989.

He’s among the fighting game characters who have kept returning and joined bigger franchises. Specifically, Cody became an occasional member of the Street Fighters cast.

He’s a good anti-heroic brawler with a checkered past that could fit into a lot of different campaigns.

Background

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History

Final Fight One

Cody was told by Haggar that Jessica had been kidnapped by Mad Gear! Being a hero, he set off to save his friend since childhood and now girlfriend. He heard about Mad Gear member Damnd being the one who kidnapped her and went to the slums of Metro City to find him.

Damnd told him that he was too late and that he thought Cody got scared and ran away. Cody defeated him, but still couldn’t find Jessica.

Cody then found out that Belger in the Uptown area of Metro City was holding her. He hit the Westside of Metro City, where he ran into a cop who was also a member of Mad Gear. Disgusted by how corrupt Metro City was to the point where even a policeman would join Mad Gear, Cody defeated him, too.

He reached the end, he ran into Mad Gear member Abigail. Abigail made a comment about all the fun Jessica must be having with Belger. Enraged, Cody defeated him, too. Finally, Cody reached Uptown.

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Eventually, joining up with his friend Guy and Haggar, Cody reached the top of Belger’s skyscraper. Belger told Cody that he was glad that Cody had come, and that Cody was the strongest. He asked Cody to join Mad Gear and then he’d free Jessica. But Cody refused, defenestrated him and sent plummeting to his death.

As Jessica reunited with her father, Cody and Guy left. Jessica eventually caught up to them and called out to Cody, but he didn’t turn to face her. Guy, seeing this, leaped in front of Cody and knocked him down so that Jessica could catch up, then Jessica asked why he was leaving.

Cody told her that he wished he could stay with her, but he couldn’t, as long as evil stalked the streets. Seeing what a hero Cody was, Jessica kissed him and Final Fight One ended.

Street Fighter Alpha 3

Cody used to be a hero, famous for saving Metro City. Bored with the peaceful life, he kept fighting, day and night until he was jailed. One day, he managed to break out of prison. Wandering outside, he now sought something that would satisfy him.

He ran into ex-Mad Gear member Rolento, who wished to recruit Cody into his new army. But Rolento then saw what Cody had become. He was frustrated that he had searched so hard for a warrior like Cody only to find someone so corrupted. However Cody responded that he was just a loner, not corrupted.

Cody then remarked about how Rolento was still playing his stupid military games. Rolento snapped back that it was Cody’s dead spirit that was what reeked of true stupidity. After seeing him in jail clothes Rolento decided that Cody wasn’t really top material for his army, and left.

Eventually, Cody ran into his old friend, Guy. Guy was shocked when he saw what happened to Cody! He was an escaped convict, jailed for always beating people up! How could a hero have fallen so far? Cody, however, realized that he never was a hero, at all. He was just faking it.

The truth was that Cody was fighting evil just because he enjoyed fighting so much, not because of a sense of justice. Guy, however, could see that deep down, in the end, Cody was still a good guy. The targets he always sought to beat up were bad guys, so even if Cody did it for the sake of the fight, he was still a hero in the end.

Guy wanted to reform Cody and get him back on the good path. But he eventually accepted that Cody had to live his own life, so they went their separate ways. Before they parted, however, Cody said that fighting the bad guys was fun. Guy asked if he wanted to go back to Metro City, and Cody remarked that perhaps he would go back to Metro City when the time was right, again, some day.

Final Fight Streetwise

Cody had been growing old and slow. His knees had failed him and he no longer fought. But he continued to coach his younger brother Kyle, realizing all the potential his brother still had. Still, Kyle’s progress was slow, and he was tired of waiting. The need to fight was still inside him.

One day he found something that could help and so he made a deal with Stiff and Bella. They gave him a new drug called GLOW that would let him get back into the fight again.

Unfortunately, he had no idea who Bella really was (and presumably had no idea about GLOW’s side effects). Stiff came to the Barfly to order Cody to go see Bella again, but Cody said that he knew the deal and refused because he was too busy having a drink with his brother.

After a huge bar fight with Stiff’s goons, Cody finally went along with Stiff after Stiff knocked out Kyle. Later, Cody was free to pit fight in Little Italy for Vitto. Finally, he was back in the game.

He fought to his heart’s content and won a lot of money for Vitto in the pit-fights of Little Italy. But the Metro City police began to take notice and it didn’t take long for Vitto to realize that Cody was hooked on GLOW. Knowing that Cody was dirty, Vitto had to let him go.

Hooked on GLOW

By now, Cody had become addicted to GLOW. Its effects on him were readily apparent, with his eyes glowing green and his mental stability crumbling. For whatever reason (perhaps to get more GLOW), Cody headed back to Stiff’s headquarters at the Bijou Hotel. The only person waiting for him there was Kyle.

Cody demanded that Kyle stop following him and go home, but then was approached by police Sgt. Sims, who told Kyle to step away so he could arrest Cody. However, Kyle stopped Sims before he could shoot Cody, who escaped.

Increasingly addicted to GLOW, Cody was getting more and more destructive. Even Bella was starting to think he was becoming too much trouble and decided to tell his assassin Blades later that he might need to kill Cody. Guy, using his genin and his resources, had finally managed to capture Cody and held him at Lou’s basement.

By the time Kyle had arrived, Cody had completely descended into madness. He could only scream at Kyle random commands that made no sense.

Kyle left to get revenge on whoever had done that to Cody. But Cody had become too powerful and even Guy couldn’t contain him. He broke out again. Later, Bella would find him. By then, Stiff was dead courtesy of Kyle, and Bella needed a new fighter to take Stiff’s place in his grand scheme.

Seeing an opportunity, he took advantage of GLOW’s apparent brainwashing properties and forced GLOW’s creator, Dr. Chang, to proceed with massive GLOW experiments on Cody at his headquarters at Little Italy’s church.

GLOW monster

Kyle eventually arrived at the church. He fought through Bella’s other horsemen of the Apocalypse; War, Famine, and Pestilence, and finally confronted Bella on the church rooftop. He demanded to see his brother, so Bella told him that he felt Kyle’s pain, for he used to have a brother he cared about as well.

Bella told Kyle that long ago, his own brother came to America seeking happiness. But then Cody savagely killed him. Kyle was stumped about this, telling Bella that Cody was a hero who did more good for the city than Bella could ever dream of.

Bella brushed him off, proclaiming that his suffering led to his inspiration, which in turn would lead to Kyle’s death! At this, he pointed to the side, and Kyle turned his head only to see his own brother. Cody was now horribly mutated from GLOW into a sort of hulk with green glowing eyes and the word “DEATH” carved into his chest.

Bella proclaimed that he would have an eye for an eye, a brother for a brother, Cain to Abel, and now he was going to kill Cody’s brother, as well. Pissed, Kyle told Bella that he’d be praying for his own dead when Kyle was through with him.

Hearing this, Bella proclaimed that his name was not actually Bella — he was Belger! He was the brother of the leader of Mad Gear that Cody killed years ago. His prized Horseman of Death, Cody, attacked Kyle.

Not my brother’s keeper

Cody Death, completely consumed by the GLOW, was unable to listen to Kyle’s pleas. But upon hitting Kyle, he struggled with himself to stop. Kyle took advantage of this, and eventually defeated his own brother. But Father Belger then revived him with GLOW and told him that he would be fighting at Death’s side.

Belger attempted to take Kyle out with grenades and rocket launchers while Cody Death attacked with burning GLOW flames and sheer brute force. But eventually Cody Death was taken down again. Belger then attempted to revive Cody while fighting off Kyle with a machine gun and his sword, putting him into position for Kyle’s own attacks.

Eventually, Cody Death finally got up and tried to kill Kyle one last time. Kyle again tried to get Cody to recognize him. But at that moment, Cody Death was shot in the back by Belger, who proclaimed that he would not allow his vengeance to be taken away from him and that he’d kill Kyle himself.

Belger then approached Kyle with his gun pointed, but Cody Death got up and launched himself at Belger, sending the two of them flying off the rooftop.

On the ground outside, a wounded Belger attempted to reach his gun, but Kyle kicked it out of his reach. Father Belger then proclaimed that he was Kyle’s savior, but Kyle replied that he was actually nothing and shot him in the head. He then dashed to an unconscious Cody Death and said that everything would be okay.

A time for healing

At the hospital, a beat-up Kyle and Cody were in separate hospital beds in the same room. The effects of GLOW had mostly worn off and Cody was now a normal human being again. He and Kyle joked for a bit as if nothing happened.

But when Cody finally began to ask why Kyle went through so much trouble to help him, Kyle interrupted saying that Cody would do the same for him and that it was for survival, so the two brothers punched their fists together in agreement.

They wondered when their next fight should be, at which Vanessa entered the room and told them to knock it off, because neither of them would be fighting for a while. Cody responded that at least now, his knees were better. He kicked his knees around a bit and realized something and then began to excitedly tell Kyle something about them before he noticed that Kyle is distracted by the television.

On the set, a news reporter stated that Dr. Chang had been taken in for questioning after the incident but was released. Cody asked Kyle what was wrong, but Kyle quickly shook it off and responded by saying, “Nothing.” as the news reporter stated that clean up after the devastation was starting.

Vanessa said that the nightmare was finally over and it was all just a bad memory, but she also stated this with sadness as she held onto her deceased brother’s badge. Kyle, perhaps realizing this, sarcastically replied, “Yeah, right.”

Description

Cody is a good looking, slightly larger than average, blond guy in excellent shape. He used to always wear a tight white T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, but after he want to jail he typically wore his prisons stripes even after he busted out.

By the time Streetwise starts he’s back to wearing a T-shirt and jeans.

Personality

Cody’s a thug anyway you slice it. He has enough moral responsibility to only beat up “bad guys,” but that’s about it. Things were all well and good when the city was under siege and he got to beat the crap out of a bunch of marauding gang bangers, but after the city calmed down he didn’t and he just lived to bash heads in.

He got into so much trouble that even the mayor of the city, a beautiful, loving girlfriend, and a great group of friends couldn’t keep him out of jail.

What does he do next ? He breaks out of jail and starts busting heads again and gets himself into more trouble and later even becomes a washed up has been. He then starts coaching his little brother in street fighting just to live vicariously through him.

And just when he thinks that he’s found a way to heal his battered body he gets roped in with some really unsavory characters and becomes a drug addict just so he can fight again.

Lone fighter

Worse even after several attempts made by his friends and his brother Cody continued down the same lonely path that got him to where he is and made the same boneheaded choices.

To top it all off he gets subjected to some hideous experiments goes on rampage and almost kills his own brother who’s still trying to help him and after things surprisingly work out for him and he reverts back to a normal able bodied person what’s the first thing he talks about doing?

Yup, going out and kicking ass again. He’s pretty hopeless and will likely be making the same mistakes for the rest of his life. Which may not be all that long since it seems like a freaking miracle that he’s lived this long already.

Quotes

“I saved the city, saved a girl, but I couldn’t save myself…”

“With so much riding on my fists, this will not be my final fight !”

“Come on ! Stand up ! Don’t let me down !”

“Whether you’re a human, a car or a beast ! I’ll take you on !”

“I’ve got lots of time on my hands ! How about a rematch ?”

“After waiting for so long, it feels good to do more than two moves !”

“Just remember ! This could happen to you again ! And again !”

“The world is full of bad guys ! I’ve so much work ahead of me !”

“Ha-ha ! I guess invincible isn’t your style !”

“This way of life is simply who I am. Can’t you understand that ? Or would you rather hear the sad, sad story of an ex-hero ?”

“Life was peaceful for a while, but I kept fighting anyway. Saying ’I can’t live in peace‘ would have been an easy excuse. I had no excuse and couldn’t live any other way”

“[I am going] to the underworld or to heaven. I don’t know… nobody knows.”

By Tom Eilers.

Source of Character: Final Fight video games.

Helper(s): GameFAQ (for everything that you ever wanted to know about the Street Fighter universe and more!), Darci (for editing).