Characters can make or break a fighting game, andCapcom’s Street Fighter characters, who have appeared in everything from Marvel Vs. Capcom to a Nicki Minaj song, need no introduction. The next installment, Street Fighter VI, is on the horizon, and its base roster - heavy on the iconic World Warriors from Street Fighter II, has some notable omissions. On top of that, SFVI’s World Tour mode begins in Final Fight’s Metro City, and seems chockfull of Easter eggs and references, highlighting the absence of these characters that much more.
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The Street Fighter universe includes everything from punk rock hooligans to Spanish matadors, Japanese school girls to whatever Skull-o-mania is. Not only are Street Fighter characters brimming with personality, but they each also have distinct play styles for players to latch on to, and use character-specific tools for their own individual expression. In the words of the Alpha 3 announcer, it’s time to “go for broke” and present the most desired unannounced Street Fighter characters.
10C. Viper (Street Fighter IV)
The CIA agent masquerading as a Shadaloo operative, C. Viper appropriately employs a bait-and-switch game plan. She has strings that look like they are honest-to-goodness combos, when in reality they are what are called “fake” or dishonest. That means there’s enough time for the opponent to interrupt C. Viper’s strings with an attack, or so it would seem.
That’s when the opponent realizes that C. Viper can feint any of her attacks, as in she can cancel them mid-windup and input another special move of her choice. This keeps the opponent guessing, allowing C. Viper to throw out fake offenses and then punish opponents for thinking they made the right read. She would be right at home with Street Fighter VI’s drive system.
9Sodom (Street Fighter Alpha)
He’s 50% Samurai, 50% Quarterback, and 1000% All-American Trucker, He’s Sodom. Sometimes Capcom takes a wild swing on a character, and the Japanophile Metro City gang leader, Sodom, is as high concept as they come. One of his special moves, the Tengu Walk, only comes out when Sodom has eaten an opponent’s reversal.
When knocked in the air, Sodom will land by doing a handstand, plunging his sais into the ground, and charging upside down into the enemy. In this way, even being knocked down can be a win condition for Sodom. Also, his ornamented truck, which was last properly seen in Street Fighter Alpha 2, is the prettiest thing on 16 wheels and deserves to be rendered in Capcom’sResident Evilengine.
8Rose (Street Fighter Alpha)
Elegant and defensive, Rose is an Italian clairvoyant who has access to four different projectiles that she can summon at once. With all this shooting at them, opponents may be tempted to jump, in which case Rose doesn’t have to move at all.
Instead, her magic scarf does all the work, grabbing opponents midair and flinging them across the screen. Other characters “play neutral” while Rose sets up her chess-like offense in steps, summoning a damage orb practically wherever she wants, making opponents dance. She also has one of the most iconic silhouettes in the franchise.
7Rolento (Street Fighter Alpha)
Allegedly, Rolento’s original name was supposed to be Lawrence, but through translation errors between Japanese and English, he became Rolento. We should be grateful for this change, because Rolento fits a lot better for an unaffiliated commando who does florid acrobatics, flinging knives and even summoningCounter-Strike-style terrorists to shank his opponents for him.
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Rolento is aggressive but tactical. He has access to fast rekkas, which are special moves with built-in follow-ups. Like a Tekken string, these successive attacks can be delayed, or even canceled into something entirely different. Just like his fellow gang brother Sodom, Rolento deserves to be in Metro City, training his army up in an abandoned industrial lot somewhere.
6Vega (Street Fighter II)
Vega is another high concept of a character - he is a sadistic and narcissistic masked matador with mommy issues. Not exactly family-friendly material. In the old times, friendships ended over this character. This is because Vega’s win condition is based around Okizeme, a Japanese term for attacking opponents as they are getting up.
Vega players are supposed to fish for knockdowns, and time an aerial attack just in time for their opponent’s wake-up animation. For the opponent being knocked down, this turns Street Fighter into a stressful blocking game, where they have to guess high or low, left or right. For the Vega, well, they’re flying around running their offense. Hopefully, Vega gets to cut into SFVI’s roster soon.
5Sean (Street Fighter III)
Sean Matsuda has been overshadowed by his older sister Laura in recent games, and the less we say about his comic relief appearances in SFV’s Story Mode the better. It’s sad that Sean, who is beloved by the fighting game community and acted as a player insert in SFIII has since been regulated to joke status in Street Fighter lore.
Despite this, Sean is extremely fun to play. He’s like a kitted-out version of Ryu or Ken, except he was way more tools at his disposal. This includes a command grab, an instant overhead, and even a spammable roll. He is intuitive in a “starter Pokemon” way, you don’t need to be a character specialist savant to have a pocket Sean. Don’t underestimate this character.
4Necro (Street Fighter III)
Necro fits very nicely into Capcom’s forays into punk and metal-inspired characters, alongside Poison, Abigail, Birdie, and Sodom, but he’s much weirder and darker than all of them. Necro looks like he could have come out of the world of Mad Max, and his fighting combines the elasticity of Dhalsim with the feral electricity of Blanka.
In addition to some mosh pit-inspired moves, Necro can stretch his arms out to command-grab opponents at midrange. His animations have a heft to them like when he raises one booted leg overhead for a few dramatic frames of a windup before bringing it crashing down. Just like Doctor Marten intended. He’s also trying to uncover a conspiracy about why he was mutated, which is kind of lovable.
3Sagat (Street Fighter I)
Sagat is maybe the most believable villain the Street Fighter series has ever had. He’s not a secret dictator who uses mind control. He’s not an ancient embodiment of evil, or some other cosmic being. Sagat is a celebrated kickboxer, and uses very few words (most of them “tiger”).
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He is tall, arrogant, and muscular in a way that is only slightly exaggerated, unlike Necro’s shoulder pad-sized deltoids or Ken’s eyebrows. Not only can he zone like a Mortal Kombat character, but he can also use his horizontal special attack, Tiger Knee in the air, inspiring future Tiger Knee users in games everywhere. He lives to fight and usually appears to be having a good time.
2Makoto (Street Fighter III)
Makoto would be right at home with the theme of youth and training that SFVI has. Like a reality show, she would contrast well against the other kids, Luke and Kimberly. Makoto, who grew up in a dojo in a remote Japanese village, has a play style that is so much more grounded in real martial arts than Ryu, Ken, Gen, or Akuma.
Her design did away with things like fireballs and dragon punches, and instead involves very simple and brutal blows which she deals with her Ryu-sized appendages. Sakura may have more magical attacks, but Makoto will actually choke her opponents out if she has to. This makes her timeless and without gimmicks. Her character design, which is focused on realism, is quite forward-looking for a game from the 1990s.
1Dudley (Street Fighter III)
Characters in Street Fighter are often iterative, and the wealthy British character Dudley is basically the final form of Eagle, fromStreet Fighter. For one, they are both Freddie Mercury references. They both are also well-dressed dandies.
Players can be both brutal and mischievous with his various command dashes and follow-ups allowing them to play ropey-dope around attacks and really hurt opponents with Dudley’s juggling ability. He’s simply fun to play and that’s why he’s number one. Also, players need to see the cut scene where Dudley drives his daddy’s Jaguar through the rough Metro City.
