Street Fighter Video Game Characters

When Street Fighter II landed in arcades, it changed the fighting game world. Ryu and Ken became iconic characters, paving the way for the future of the genre.

Sakura Kasugano is a Japanese high school girl who idolizes Ryu and wants to be his apprentice. Her spunky personality and powerful fighting skills have made her a fan favorite.

Ryu

Ryu is the face of the Street fighter franchise. He is a calm, collected character who believes in the philosophy of balance and discipline. He fights to help people in trouble and never seeks vengeance or glory. He was the first character introduced in the series and has had a long running rivalry with Ken Masters.

When he was young Ryu met Mr. Masters’ son Ken who was very spoiled and reckless. Ryu took the master’s only child under his wing and taught him discipline. Ryu’s training was interrupted when he heard calls of darkness coming from within himself. These callings caused him to partially embrace his inner bloodlust and shot forth his first Hadouken infused with dark energy.

This ruined his balance and sent him down a dark path that would continue in the lore of the franchise. In the end, he defeats Akuma and seals the Dark Hado. He is left barefoot and wandering the world, finding worthy opponents to test his strength against. This was the true ending to a long rivalry that could have ended in any number of ways including: Ryu beating Akuma but sparing him, Ryu killing Akuma, or Ryu saving him and sending him down a dark path.

Sakura Kasugano

Sakura Kasugano is a schoolgirl that is inspired by Ryu’s fighting style and becomes a fighter herself. She uses her skill to take down bullies at her school and become popular in the process.

She can utilize the same hadoukens as Ryu and Ken, but their projectiles travel in different patterns. She also has her own version of the Shoryuken, the shouoken. She can use a number of other attacks that are not usually available to other characters such as a long range 4 frame normal that hits standing and crouching opponents and a powerful body blow finisher in the form of a spinning leg kick.

The character is popular for her combo-heavy playstyle and her fun backstory. She was ranked fifth on the 2007 list of “Best Girl of PSP” by Joystiq, while GameDaily called her one of their top 22 Street Fighter characters of all time. In addition to her popularity as a fighter, Sakura is well-known for her appearances in other Capcom spinoffs and crossover games. She has even appeared in a number of movies.

Chun-Li

Chun-Li is a police officer who fights crime with her martial arts skills. She is the most popular female character in the Street Fighter franchise and a trailblazer for female characters in fighting video games. Chun-Li is a powerful and skilled striker, with a well balanced attack between kicks and punches and her famous Spinning Bird Kick. She is also known for her fast air throws and acrobatic moves.

Chun-Li has a strong sense of justice, and is motivated by her desire to avenge the death of her father. Her character is also a caring mother and cares deeply about kids, expressing her repugnance at the kidnapping of a child in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and showing a strong interest in the ‘trained’ children of Shadowlaw (she even confronts Vega while he is trying to garrote her daughter in the later Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike).

Chun-Li has made appearances in many other Capcom games, including all titles in the long-running series Marvel vs. Capcom (including a dark version of her that underwent harsh experiments on Bison’s orders and was transformed into a brainwashed cyborg), as well as the non-canonical spin-off series Street Fighter EX and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, and the mobile game Street Fighter Battle Combination.

Akuma

Akuma is a black-clad martial arts expert who specializes in the martial art of judo. He is one of the strongest characters in the Street Fighter universe and is able to destroy small islands, sink submarines, create hurricane kicks, and even survive deep underwater. He was a disciple of Goutetsu but he left him after being corrupted by Shadaloo.

The character has a katana strapped to his right wrist, and wears prayer beads around his neck. His karate style is characterized by a series of rapid strikes. His rage and desire for power make him an intimidating opponent. He also has the ability to employ his ki to move through space, making him invulnerable to attacks. The kanji (ten) appears on his back during some win animations, which means “sky” or “heaven” in Japanese.

Although many players consider him a villain, Akuma does not commit any awful crimes. He has a strong passion for training and is determined to become the strongest warrior he can be, so he does not consider morality in his path.

Vega

After the success of Street Fighter II, Capcom opted to expand the franchise and release a prequel game (Street Fighter Alpha) along with sequels and spinoffs. Despite some duds, the series grew into a cultural phenomenon and many of its characters became ingrained in video game history.

Among the most popular characters from the first series of games are Guy and Vega, both of whom are quick-moving ninjas with chain combos that can be executed by connecting their normal attacks together. Though he didn’t appear in Street Fighter III, Vega is one of the most popular characters from the Alpha games, and he continues to make appearances in later entries in the series.

Almost every entry in the Street Fighter franchise features a cast of memorable characters, and some have even made cameos in other games, like Wreck-It Ralph (again, officially used with Capcom’s permission), Darkstalkers, and the Arika-developed Fighting EX Layer which was designed as an Alternate Continuity to the main canon of the series from the start. Of course, there’s also the fact that Street Fighter’s roster of iconic characters is featured in all kinds of merchandise and memes.