Top 10 Street Fighter Characters

10. Blanka
Everyone’s favorite green Brazilian monster, Blanka’s signature moves include curling into a ball and flying across the screen as well as the ability to generate electricity that will shock anyone who touches him. Blanka has been in almost every game since Street Fighter 2 and his fast, vicious striking style has gotten him more than a handful of fans.

9. M. Bison
The original boss of Street Fighter 2, Bison frustrated many a player in the arcade, but the gloves were off when they were finally allowed to choose him in future iterations of the game. Bison’s most famous move is the psycho crusher, where he sends himself flying towards the opponent in a blaze of glory. Add his head stomp and scissor kick moves, and you have a general worthy of the 9 spot on this list.

8. Akuma
Akuma is the evil brother of Gouken, Ken and Ryu’s sensei. Akuma made his first appearance in Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo, the last Street Fighter 2 arcade iteration, as a hidden boss. As Akuma’s backstory goes, he only fights to test himself, thus, in order to prove your worth as an opponent, you must beat all the other opponents without losing a round, while getting 3 perfect rounds on the way. Since then, he’s been a hidden boss in all his appearances, including Street Fighter 4. Akuma is extremely popular in online play, as seemingly half of all our matches online have come against him.

7. Gouken
Brother of Akuma, sensei of Ken and Ryu, best new character in Street Fighter 4. Gouken is beefy and plays differently than the afforementioned Akuma, Ken, and Ryu. His hurricane kick propels him straight up in the air, but sends him across the screen if performed in mid-air. He has no regular dragon punch, only using the attack in his super and ultra combos. His last big difference is his ability to change the angle on his fireball as well as charge/delay it. Even if Gouken weren’t totally awesome in Street Fighter 4, the fact he taught Ken and Ryu their moves makes him belong on this list.

6. Guile
The American soldier with a chip on his shoulder. Guile enters the World Warrior tournament to avenge the death of his military buddy, Charlie, which came at the hands of M. Bison. Unlike the other characters, Guile typically has the same 2 moves throughout the series. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as the sonic boom and flash kick team together quite nicely to handle opponents both far away and in the air. Guile has the coolest hair of anyone in the series.

5. Sagat
The original boss of the first Street Fighter game, Sagat rocks a pirate patch due to Dan’s father gouging his eye out, an action that would cause Sagat to kill him. Sagat also notably has a scar across his chest, which he received from Ryu in their battle from Street Fighter 1, however he has not achieved revenge for this act. After this, Sagat is delegated to #2, as right-hand man to the new boss M.Bison. Sagat is freakishly tall at 7′4″ and it shows in the game as his kicks span great lengths and can be difficult to contend with, when aided by his tiger shot, tiger knee, and the deadly tiger uppercut.

4. Chun-Li
Chun-Li was the first woman to ever grace a 1 on 1 fighter. What’s even more impressive is the fact she’s better than some of the guys. Her signature move, the lightning kick, can deal large amounts of damage in a small amount of time if the opponent doesn’t block. Her spinning bird kick and fireball are comparatively weak to other moves, but their ability to catch the other fighter off guard adds to their effectiveness. Chun-Li also has gigantic thighs.

3. Zangief
FOR MOTHER RUSSIA! Zangief has been slowly stalking the battle arena since Street Fighter 2, making any opponent foolish enough to come within the grasp of his spinning piledriver pay the price. Zangief, a world class wrestler, entered the World Warrior tournament at the behest of the president of the now-defunct Soviet Union. As a wrestler, his strength lies in his slams, but that’s not all he’s good for. His spinning lariat allows him to dodge fireballs as well as knock would-be attackers out of the air, and recently gained the banishing flat move which, oddly enough, is the perfect setup for a spinning piledriver. The crushin’ Russian also has the best chest hair of anyone in video game history.

2. Ryu
The main character of the Street Fighter series, Ryu has yet to be absent from any game in the series. A favorite for many players, Ryu’s trademark fireball has made him a formidable opponent, coupled with the hurricane kick and the dragon punch. Though he’s technically the main character, we usually opt for his sparring partner, #1 on the list:

1. Ken
While Ken isn’t the face of the franchise, he narrowly edges out Ryu with the longer reach of his dragon punch. Sure, Ryu can throw fireballs faster, but fireballs are child’s play compared to the manliness of face to face combat. The differences between Ken and Ryu weren’t always there, however, as the duo played exactly the same in the original Street Fighter and Street Fighter 2. It wasn’t until mirror matches became available that Capcom felt the need to distinguish the pair from each other. The result was good, spawning the top fighter on our list.

(Honorable Mentions: Fei Long, Cammy, Abel, Seth, Dan)

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