Goddard began designing Dee Jay by drawing a sketch of him and sending it to the Japanese team. He sent the film "The King of the Kickboxers" by copying a VHS tape and sending it through FedEx. He designed him as a "positive, fun character," implementing elements such as him being Jamaican, a "fun-loving guy," and a person who is trying to "jump-start his music career while kicking a lot of ass." While the design on his pants originally said "MANTIS," but was changed to say "MAXIMUM." This was because his sprite facing left was a mirror image of his sprite facing right, and the N and S in "MANTIS" would be reversed on the left sprite. According to Goddard, "we decided that Mantis wasn't going to work down the side of his pants, so we opted for Maximum." Soon after, Dee Jay was adapted into the 1994 "Street Fighter" film, played by Miguel A. Núñez Jr. with his musical background replaced by computer skills. As one of the only characters to be created by an American designer", Street Fighter" co-creator Akira Nishitani commented that he only learned the story behind the character's creation decades after.