For over 30 years, the Street Fighter series has been the flagship fighting series, especially when it comes to 2D fighters, selling tens of millions of copies, with the most popular game in the series Street Fighter 2 still being ported to systems today. Street Fighter played a key role in helping to save the arcade industry in the early 90s with Street Fighter 2 and helped pave the way for many new fighting franchises that wanted a piece of the action, including games such as Mortal Kombat. Here are the top 10 best Street Fighter characters of all time.
10. Adon
First appearing as a non-playable character in the original Street Fighter game, Adon would finally become playable in the Street Fighter Alpha series, with Adon being a student of Sagat so plays very similar to him. Adon has appeared in most games since the Street Fighter Alpha series, becoming a great alternative to Sagat.
9. Juri
First making an appearance in Street Fighter IV, the South Korean Taekwondo specialist works for the game’s main boss Seth. Her move list combines a very fast playing style with a combination of melee and ranged attacks, making her a very versatile fighter to use and my personal go-to character in the game. Juri proved to be popular among fans and made another appearance as a DLC character in Street Fighter V.
8. Gill
Gill serves as the main boss character in the Street Fighter 3 games and is one of the most difficult bosses in the series, with him coming back to life after defeating him in two rounds, with the player needing to defeat him once again without their own health bar being regenerated. The half red half blue character has a very hard-hitting move list and went on to make his first appearance since the 90s in Street Fighter V.
7. Guile
In North America, Guile was originally meant to be pushed as the face of the franchise, becoming a G.I. Joe type of action figure. Although it didn’t work out for Guile, he has still remained a popular character in the series, being the main character in the live-action Street Fighter movie and appearing in many games. Plus, his theme song is one of the best pieces of video game music of all time, and it really goes with everything.
6. Vega
Vega was a sub-boss in Street Fighter 2. The character is very fast and agile, at the expense of weaker attacks. But, if you know how to use him then he can be devastating, often able to drain large amounts of health from his opponents in a single combo. Vega has gone on to appear in many future titles and is still a popular character today.
5. Akuma
Akuma was created following the popular Shen Long hoax, which saw a mistranslation turned into a myth that Shen Long could be unlocked in Street Fighter 2. Eventually, Capcom created Akuma, a character similar to Ryu and Ken, except much more powerful with the ability to perform special moves in the air. He has since become a mainstay in the series and even appeared as a crossover character in Tekken 7, playing a key part in the story mode.
4. Sagat
Sagat served as the boss in the first Street Fighter game and has since been a key character in future titles, appearing in every Street Fighter game except the first three Street Fighter 3 games. Serving as the main boss of the first Street Fighter game, the Muay Thai master has played a key role in the overall story of the series. As a character, Sagat is very powerful to both play as and against, although his Street Fighter 2 AI is one of the cheapest in the series.
3. Chun-Li
Chun-Li has been a mainstay in the Street Fighter series since Street Fighter 2, appearing in every game since as well as many crossover titles. She is a very agile character with quick movements and fast attacks. Along with Ryu, Guile, and Cammy, she recently appeared as a character in Fortnite.
2. M. Bison
M. Bison served as the main villain in Street Fighter 2 as well as being a key character in many future titles. The dictator was also a focal part of the live-action Street Fighter movie, played by the incredible Raul Julia in his last ever role.
1. Ryu/Ken
It was only fair to group Ryu and Ken together since they are pretty much the same character just with minor differences. The two are easily the most iconic characters in the series, when you think of Street Fighter you think of these. Both Ryu and Ken have appeared in every Street Fighter game to date, as well as many crossover titles. One of the reasons why they’ve remained so popular is because they are very easy to use, with their special moves being very simple to pull off. It is worth noting though that they are easy to learn but difficult to master characters.
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