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Dead Rising
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"...Everything went white suddenly... The war, it wasn't over.... Not for me... It never ended..."
—Cliff, on him going insane.

Cliff Hudson is a psychopath appearing in Dead Rising and a zombie appearing in Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop.

Despite being nearly 60 years old, Cliff is large, fast and heavily muscled. He is a Vietnam War veteran who, after suffering from traumatic war flashbacks, took refuge in Crislip's Home Saloon. With his guerilla warfare skills and a belief that he is still engaged in the war, Cliff begins executing zombies and capturing "prisoners of war," who are, in reality, survivors of the zombie outbreak.

He is found in Crislip's Home Saloon during the scoop The Hatchet Man.

The Hatchet Man[]

Main article: The Hatchet Man

Cliff is seen carrying a Machete in Crislip's Home Saloon. As Frank West arrives to investigate, he finds several headless zombies suspended from the ceiling with ropes. Cliff appears behind him and confronts him, demanding his name and military rank. When Frank fails to answer, Cliff accuses him of being a member of the Viet Cong and proceeds to attack him by swinging his machete at him. Frank manages to get out of the way in time, gets back on his feet, and looks cautiously around the store for Cliff.

After he is defeated, Cliff returns to his senses and explains that he had gone insane after hearing his granddaughter's dying screams as she was mauled by the undead. Before dying, Cliff hands Frank a key case containing a key to the empty store next to Crislip's Home Saloon, along with a photograph of his family. Moved by Cliff's tragic story, Frank closes his eyes out of respect.

Defeating Cliff allows Frank to rescue Josh Manning, Barbara Patterson, and Rich Atkins from the empty store. Additionally, Cliff's machete will respawn each time Frank enters Crislip's Home Saloon.

Infinity Mode[]

Main article: Infinity Mode

In Infinity Mode, Cliff first appears in Crislip's Home Saloon at the North Plaza from 1:07:00 to 2:00:00, and is armed with his Machete, Pipe Bombs, and Road Flares. In his equipment, he carries a Red Cabbage, a Baguette, a Randomizer, a Machinegun, and a Handgun. Later, Cliff appears again in Crislip's Home Saloon from 6:07:00 to 6:19:00, and he carries the same items he had before.

Chop Till You Drop[]

In Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, Cliff doesn't appear as a psychopath. Instead, he appears as a zombie. Zombie Cliff wields two machetes and attacks by wildly flailing his blades while charging after Frank. His presence can be identified by the sounds of him scraping his machetes against each other. He carries machetes but he will drop a Katana when killed.

Battle Style[]

Cliff's weapon of choice is a bloodied machete. He will also use the many trap doors in Crislip's Home Saloon to make a quick getaway and reappear on the top of the shelves out of Frank's sight. He will also attempt to ambush Frank between the warehouse shelves. Cliff can attack in several different ways:

  • Machete: Cliff's normal mode of attack is to charge at Frank, slashing with his machete, and finishing with a knee strike. He can also do a heavy attack by impaling Frank with his machete from behind. After attacking, he will dash towards the nearest trap door and escape through it.
  • Road Flares: While on the top of the shelves, Cliff will throw road flares that release thick smoke, causing Frank to have a coughing fit and immobilize for short time if he gets near. The flares can be extinguished by a Fire Extinguisher.
  • Pipe Bomb: Cliff can also throw pipe bombs while he is on the top of the shelves. If Frank is caught in the explosion, he will suffer heavy damage and be knocked off his feet.

Notes[]

  • The song that plays during his fight is "Slave" by The Evolutionaries.
  • A photo op is obtained from taking a picture of him going through one of the opened vents around the store, which will net you up to 10,000 PP.

Trivia[]

  • In Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, he no longer refers to Frank as "Viet Cong" or a "communist." Instead, he refers to Frank as a "mole" and an "animal" in the military sense.
  • Cliff is one of few psychopaths to be shown sympathy by Frank.
  • The woman and child seen in Cliff's family picture bear some resemblance to Connie and Dakota, although there is no confirmed relation between them.
  • He, Dwight Boykin, Adam Kane and Sgt. Hilde Schmittendorf are the only psychopaths with a military background who are not final bosses.
    • Out of all the psychopaths with military backgrounds, he is the only one who does not wear a uniform.
  • In Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop, the sound effect of zombie Cliff scraping his machetes together is the same sound effect which is used when Larry is sharpening his cleaver.
  • The voice actor for Cliff Hudson, Steve Blum, also voices the psychopath Roger Hall.
  • He bears a resemblance to Woody Harrelson and Michael Rooker due to their similar facial features, but Cliff has a younger appearance compared to the real life actors. Coincidentally, all three characters are involved in major zombie outbreaks between games, television, and film. Harrelson was in the zombie film series Zombieland, while Rooker starred in the early seasons of The Walking Dead.
  • The decapitated zombies hanging from the ceiling and blood-streaked walls and floors are permanent after the battle with Cliff.
  • Cliff Hudson shares several similarities with Dean Wayne, a survivor from Dead Rising 2 in the mission Shell Shocked. Both men have been in the army, are veterans of war and also shout "Name and rank, soldier!" when they spot the main protagonist.
  • Cliff also relates to Dwight Boykin since both go insane from war related experiences.
  • In the first shown trailer for Dead Rising and in the Japanese version of the game, the zombies that are hanging from the ceiling in Cliffs fighting ground still have their heads. This was probably done to avoid censorship for extreme blood and gore, which was not allowed in some countries.
  • His scoop is called "The Hatchet Man", though he wields a machete.
  • Cliff is, out of all Psychopaths, the one that is most sane when you defeat him. He is also the only psychopath that actually wants to give you something useful (the keys to the empty store) before he dies.
  • Cliff, Brandon Whittaker from Dead Rising 2 and Zhi from Dead Rising 3 are the only two psychopaths who are able to teleport, although Cliff and Brandon have a reasonable explanation.
  • At 58 years old, Cliff is the second oldest psychopath encountered in the series after Sean Keanan, who is four years older.
  • Cliff is 58 years old, though he has the appearance of a 40-year-old. Considering how surprisingly strong and fast he is for his age, it is possible that he simply ages well thanks to exercise and dieting.
  • His battle strategy of using tunnels as an ambush strategy indicates that Cliff had served as a tunnel rat during the Vietnam war, tunnel rats were soldiers who would traverse Viet Cong tunnels to perform underground search and destroy missions. Tunnel rats were composed of soldiers from America, Australia, New Zealand, and South Vietnam, they were introduced in 1968 and lasted until 1975. Tunnel rats were an unofficial specialty for volunteer combat engineers and infantrymen from Australia and the United States who cleared and destroyed enemy tunnel complexes. However, the maximum height for a tunnel rat was 5 feet 5 inches (165 cm) tall, whereas in game, Cliff stands well over 6 feet tall as he's shown to be a head taller than Frank, who appears to be of average height.
  • According to the timeline of events; Cliff was born in 1948 and would have participated in the war between the late 1960s and early 1970s. Considering the idea that he might have served as a tunnel rat, he might have served in Vietnam at 19–27 years old (which would possibly make him a Captain or Sergeant).
  • The decapitated zombies references how American soldiers would decapitate Viet Cong soldiers to demoralize the enemy. According to a folk tale, U.S soldiers would also put the ace of spades on the body to intimidate the enemy since the U.S soldiers believed the Viet Cong saw the card as a symbol of death and ill-fortune.
  • Strangely, machetes were never used as weapons in the Vietnam war, as the soldiers believed machetes were too loud to be of any use in the war. Machetes were only used to cut through the vegetation, eliminating any form stealth in the process. Considering how Cliff is stuck in a flashback, he likely picked up a machete because it was the only weapon that was familiar to him and available on hand. It is shown in the first cutscene that Cliff is actually trying to torture Frank for information, not kill him, indicating that Cliff was only using a machete for intimidation purposes as well as offensive purposes.

Gallery[]

References[]


v · e · d
Major Characters
Frank West - Brad Garrison - Jessica McCarney - Isabela Keyes - Russell Barnaby - Otis Washington - Carlito Keyes
Survivors
Rich Atkins - David Bailey - Mindy Baker - Wayne Blackwell - Bill Brenton - Kelly Carpenter - Paul Carson - Nathan Crabbe - Lilly Deacon - Rachel Decker - Nick Evans - Michelle Feltz - Ross Folk - Jennifer Gorman - Tad Hawthorne - Gil Jimenez - Kindell Johnson - Cheryl Jones - Shinji Kitano - Alyssa Laurent - Josh Manning - Ray Mathison - Leroy McKenna - Jeff Meyer - Natalie Meyer - Sally Mills - Kay Nelson - Barbara Patterson - Jonathan Picardsen - Simone Ravendark - Sophie Richards - Floyd Sanders - Ronald Shiner - Beth Shrake - Greg Simpson - Gordon Stalworth - Janet Star - Leah Stein - Brett Styles - Aaron Swoop - Yuu Tanaka - Burt Thompson - Heather Tompkins - Pamela Tompkins - Susan Walsh - Tonya Waters - Debbie Willett - Jolie Wu
Psychopaths
Paul Carson - Steven Chapman - Larry Chiang - Sam Franklin - Roger Hall - Jack Hall - Thomas Hall - Cliff Hudson - Reginald Jenkins - Sean Keanan - Adam MacIntyre - Brock Mason - Cletus Samson - Jo Slade - Special Forces - Miguel Sanchez - Kent Swanson - True Eye
Victims
Armed Woman - Connie - Dakota - Female Motorist - Ed DeLuca - Lindsay Harris - Chris Hines - Ryan LaRosa - Male Motorist - Freddie May - Todd Mendell - Alan Peterson - Kathy Peterson - Mark Quemada - James Ramsey - Brian Reynolds - Sid - Dana Simms - Special Forces Escort - Special Forces Guard - Grace Stein - Verlene Willis
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