The Top 10 ‘Street Fighter’ Characters of All Time
Within the Epilogue Gaming community we have a monthly vote between games whose titles we as a whole regard as worthwhile experiences that warrant either initial playthroughs for some as well as replays for others. We call this interaction between ourselves the Game Club which is welcome to anyone interested and this month’s current highlighted game is Street Fighter II. I don’t know how many of these have been created, but given that it’s the last moments for this current Game Club it felt like a good excuse to push this iteration out and show some love for a series that most certainly deserves all I can muster. A lot of the love obviously comes from being one of the founders of the fighting game genre and constantly shaping its future, but another side of the prestige comes from the cast of characters whose names and designs stand the test of time and battle.
10. Sakura Kasugano
It feels right to start this list off with not just a Shotokan, but someone that survived being another parallel to Ryu. Rather than a companion piece, she still lives on as her own character whose fan base rivals that of the man himself, Ryu. And for anyone unsure of what I’m referring to when I say “Shotokan” I’m not referring to the style of karate people in the world currently study, but more the style of character design Street Fighter shaped, which is still mimicked by many other fighting games to this day. Like most characters, Sakura hasn’t changed much in terms of fighting style or moveset through the years and personally I don’t have much to gripe about that. She is almost always followed by sakura petals, and her current iteration in Street Fighter V is probably my favorite design so far.
9. Zangief
Probably the most popular video game grappler to be created, Zangief is the character everyone either hated to fight or use. There was rarely an inbetween. He’s a giant muscular man that loves his home country of Russia and regularly wrestles bears when training for various fighting circuits. Sometimes referred to as the “Red Cyclone” and occasionally modeled for a cyborg, Zangief was the image of grappling perfection and landing a well read Spinning Pile Driver will never stop getting me giddy.
8. Makoto
Honestly, a lot of the love I have for Makoto comes from watching tournaments rather than actual time I had playing the character. Specifically Street Fighter III 3rd Strike tournaments and even more specifically watching the player Tominaga (I hope I didn’t butcher that spelling) play Makoto in the Cooperation Cup. So many people hate it, but watching Makoto nearly delete the other character off a throw is hilarious to me and pairs beautifully with 3rd Strike’s immaculate animations.
7. Zeku
First introduced in Street Fighter V, Zeku is the newest character in this list, but quickly rose to being one of my favorite characters due to both his gameplay and what he means for another game series from Capcom. Zeku is a ninja who created the bushinryu style of fighting that has been earlier represented by the character Guy from Final Fight as well as his Street Fighter IV representation. Zeku is also credited to being the creator of the Strider force from the Strider series who appears in multiple Marvel Vs Capcom titles. Zeku is believed to be the 1st Strider and his gameplay focuses as a stance style character where his two stances are completely different forms that change his normal and special attacks. He is tons of fun to use and I always get a kick out of watching players like Infectious and AngryBird compete with the character, showing off Zeku’s potential.
6. Karin Kanzuki
Another character that came from the Street Fighter Alpha series, Karin fit the snooty rich girl trope to the T. Her main rival being Sakura (whom I mentioned earlier in the list) after being the first challenger to defeat Karin in a match. From then on to Street Fighter V, Karin still tracks Sakura down for a good fight. Not unlike the relationship Ken Masters has with Ryu. In terms of gameplay through the series, Karin has mostly been a “footsies” dependent character with strong payout. “Footsies” for the uninitiated is a term used in fighting games that mostly refers to punishing your opponent for using an attack at the wrong time as well as forcing the opponent into situations that benefit your playstyle rather than theirs. Her current design, both visual and gameplay, put her as an easy inclusion for this list and is a character I recommend for anyone building good fundamentals.
5. Chun-Li
The First Lady of Fighting Games herself, Chun-Li might just be the most recognizable character on this list and for good reasons. Debuting in Street Fighter II, Chun-Li was designed against the idea of women characters being weaker than the hulking male characters that appear to have truck tires stuffed into their torso. Capcom designed Chun-Li as a master of Chinese martial arts with a personal stake against the main villain, M. Bison. Of course, the aspect of Chun-Li that everyone comments on are her legs; more specifically, her thighs. Funnily enough, the main character designer for Street Fighter, Akira Yasuda, apparently has a huge fetish for thighs (I’m about it). Even the head producer of Street Fighter, Yoshinori Ono, laughed when he saw the drastic design change from the Street Fighter II series to Street Fighter III which gave us the legs we all recognize and love. In addition to consistently being a strong character to play as in Street Fighter III 3rd Strike and Street Fighter V Champion Edition, Chun-Li’s popularity is only growing and shows no sign of stopping.
4. Ibuki
First appearing in the new cast for Street Fighter III, Ibuki is a ninja from a secret village fitting her gameplay design that hadn’t yet been attempted by the series. (Much of Street Fighter III was an attempt at changing the series for the weirder which is most notably represented by characters like Twelve and Q which quickly caused Street Fighter III to be shunned by the community until the 3rd Strike version of Street Fighter III released.) Her animations and model in Street Fighter III was later talked about being the most difficult to animate in the game, which is easy to understand after watching the character in motion and witnessing what is some of my favorite sprite-work in video games to date. Ibuki’s popularity solidified her for making appearances in later versions of both Street Fighter IV and Street Fighter V – with Street Fighter V having my favorite design of Ibuki, though her Street Fighter III animations are the clear winner between the three.
3. Alex
These upcoming two characters were the hardest for me to order, but placing Alex here feels right. First appearing in Street Fighter III, Alex was treated as the main character of Street Fighter III, and unlike Ryu, my man wasn’t here to play. Alex’s arc is basically revenge against the Illuminati because their main figure, Gill, fought Alex’s best friend and mentor to the point of being hospitalized for the remainder of what is probably six titles now. Alex is here to beat face with his fighting style that is a mix of kickboxing and wrestling. In terms of visual design, it’s believed that both Hulk Hogan and Axl Rose were the main models for Alex, and the parallels even go further with the design for the character Hugo, who was modeled after Andre the Giant. Alex’s gameplay is pretty straightforward in both Street Fighter III as well as Street Fighter V, where he’s meant to be a powerhouse with devastating grapple attacks and short, powerful lariats and roundhouse to own the ground. Alex may not be that popular in the community, but he’s a personal favorite that I love using on occasion.
2. Dudley
Another representative that made their debut in Street Fighter III, Dudley is easily my favorite designed character from Street Fighter III – and it’s no contest. As a boxer from England, Dudley is one of the most laid back characters of the series that doesn’t have any aims like revenge or worldly status. Usually he’s just looking for flowers worthy of his garden or getting a car back for his dad. He also carries himself as a full fledged dandy and a peerless gentleman with one of the strongest moustaches the series has ever known. His design is simple with a clean dress shirt being tucked into bright green slacks that are in turn held together by suspenders. His only flourish being a bowtie and his bright green boxing gloves. Dudley’s moveset is also pretty simple, but another marvel to watch in motion. As a boxer he focuses mostly on quick strikes, parries, strong knockdowns, and his roses (my favorite). Not unlike the way Krillin would throw a rock in Dragonball FighterZ, Dudley can toss a rose when his opponent is knocked down for a strong setup that keeps Dudley in the advantage when in the corner. Personally, I think it’s a shame that he hasn’t been brought back in Street Fighter V, but both his Street Fighter III 3rd Strike and his Super Street Fighter IV iterations are fantastic to both watch and play with.
1. Akuma (Gouki)
The Raging Demon himself, bane of many ranked points, light of my life, Akuma is the best character Street Fighter has ever produced and that is my firm belief (bias compounding). Akuma’s first appearance was as a secret character in Super Street Fighter II Turbo in the final fight against M. Bison. Akuma just shows up, destroys M. Bison with his Raging Demon (Shun Goku Satsu) attack and takes his place as your new challenger. I don’t know many other character debuts that touch Akuma’s spice, but feel free to enlighten me. Akuma was designed to be an evil version of those that train as a Shotokan and embrace the dark Hadou (the evil version of the Satsui no Hadou which is the force you see represented when Ken or Ryu shoot a Hadouken). Akuma wears a black uniform, large prayer beads, has black eyes, a bloody red aura, and wrapped his hands in well-taught, well-worn temple rope. Everything about this man yells badass and I love it. His gameplay when in use is very similar to Ken and Ryu due to being trained in the same martial arts under the same master, but has a couple differences like a strong red fireball in addition to his malformed purple hadoukens and a demon flip that was introduced in later iterations. His biggest and best difference though comes in the form of his Raging Demon which is this super attack that looks like a teleporting grab that opens the opponent into a flash of attacks that happen instantaneously and leaves the opponent on the floor. His new version of the Shun Goku Satsu from Street Fighter V adds even more to the critical art compounding the legend that is Akuma. Bias or not, Akuma is almost always found in every Street Fighter title as well as a representative of the series in titles like Marvel Vs. Capcom, Capcom Vs. SNK, and even Tekken. Respect the Demon.
Thank you for reading. Your Patreon support keeps our community entirely Ad free.
