1 More Countdown

Top 10 Favorite Street Fighter Characters

It’s no secret that I love the Street Fighter series. When I was a kid, I swore by Mortal Kombat but now that I’ve grown my love for the Street Fighter series has as well. I play Third Strike at least once a week on XBLA, and ain’t too bad if I do say so myself.

 

As my love of the Street Fighter series grew, so did my urge to play all the games in the series. I’ve played the Street Fighter 2-4, the Alpha series, Street Fighter X Tekken, even Gem Fighter and the Street Fighter EX series (Skullomania!) So my knowledge of the series is pretty vast. So I figured I’d count down my favorite characters in the series. Now keep in mind there are a lot of Street Fighter characters so your favorite might not be on the list, but I’m sure it’d be in the Top 20.

 

Without further ado, let’s begin.

 

10.) Rolento

Rolento is actually one of the few characters on this list who did not make his or her first appearance in a Street Fighter game. Instead Rolento made his debut as the fourth level boss in the original Final Fight. However, he has appeared in some of the Alpha series and is scheduled to appear in Ultra Street Fighter IV.

 

Rolento is a no nonsense military man. His one and only goal is to create an army of strong fighters in order to create a Utopia. His one and only focus is on the mission and this is almost comical at times to see how serious he takes things.

 

Rolento is a tricky character most notable for his use of his staff (or whatever that is) and grenades… seriously, who brings grenades to a Street Fighter tournament?

 

9.) Adon

Adon is actually one of the first characters from the series to appear on this list. He was in the very first Street Fighter game (the one no one talks about) and since then has made appearances in the Street Fighter Alpha series, and most recently Street Fighter 4.

 

Adon is an arrogant bastard, and that’s why I like him so much. He is stubborn and wants to prove himself to be the best, but most importantly he wants to show that he is different and superior to his former teacher, Sagat. He hates Sagat for losing to Ryu in the first Street Fighter tournament and believes Sagat has gone soft. He thinks power is everything and seeks the ultimate power that he believes is held by Akuma.

 

Similar to Sagat, Adon is a master of Muay Thai fighting. However, being of a more narrow build and wanting to differentiate himself from Sagat, Adon developed a more acrobatic style of Muay Thai. This results in a lot of flips and a lot of kicks. The best way to play as Adon is to use his speed and tricky special moves in combination to get your opponent confused. Unfortunately his special moves are easy to counter, so it’s a catch 22. He’s quick, and fits my play style perfectly.

 

8.) E. Honda

E. Honda or Edmund Honda is the sumo wrestler who made his first debut in Street Fighter 2. He is one of the most popular characters, appearing in several games in the series and HE IS NOT HAWAIIAN!

 

As mentioned above, E. Honda is a sumo wrestler. He fights in the Street Fighter tournaments to prove that Sumo is a valid and dangerous fighting style. He is even trying to get Sumo into the Olympics. He joined the second Street Fighter tournament to prove the worth of Sumo, but also to investigate claims that Shadaloo is giving other sumo wrestlers biochemical drugs. E. Honda is just an honorable fighter. He doesn’t seem to clash with anyone or make a huge impact in the stories. He’s just tired of people disrespecting his fighting style.

 

As a sumo wrestler, E. Honda is slow but strong… supposedly. He has two main special move one is a flying headbutt that is great for covering long distances quickly and the hundred hand slap which is great for inflicting damage and pushing your opponent back. In SF4, E. Honda has command grab that is loathed by many, but loved by me.

 

7.) Q

Q is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, shrouded by a conundrum… seriously… WTF is he? He made his first playable appears in Street Fighter III: Third Strike but many claim to see him in the background of Ken’s Stage from Street Fighter II.

 

As mentioned above, not much is known about Q. He might be a robot or he might be a man. When electrified he doesn’t show a skeleton, but he seems to have hair and skin, but he has glowing yellow eyes, but he has human-like movements/behaviors, but when he uses a super attack a robotic female voice seems to come from him… I HAVE NO IDEA! One popular opinion is that Q is actually what remains of Chun-Li’s father which would explain the detective attire, but I always thought he looked like a robotic version of H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man. The one thing we know about Q for sure is that he’s wanted by the CIA because they believe he’s responsible for natural disasters.

 

Q is a tough character to main in Third Strike. He has the highest stamina in the game (which can be increased by taunting up to 3 times) however, he is quite slow and has low priority moves. The best way to play Q is defensively, relying on his health and stamina to wait out an opponent… then you make that opponent S the D.

 

6.) El Fuerte

With the arrival of Street Fighter IV and all the updates to that game there were numerous new characters added as well. We saw Juri the sexy and terrifying femme fatale , Hakan the oiled up *shudders* grappler, and El Fuerte the Mexican luchador.

 

El Fuerte is obsessed with only two things, cooking and fighting. He tends to approach either one of these passions with an energy and excitement few can replicate. His reason to join the Street Fighter tournament is purely food related. He wants to meet other fighters and find out what they eat and about food from their homeland to improve his own menu. Despite this, El Fuerte is not that good of a cook. He believes combining delicious ingredients will make food even more delicious even if they don’t match like chocolate and garlic.

 

El Fuerte is a tough fighter to learn, but dangerous. There’s a reason he’s one of my mains in SSF4. El Fuerte is above rushing and mixups. He has a run that can be turned into an overhead, low hit, or grab with the press of a button. In addition, El Fuerte has crazy speed, a wall jump, and an air grab. He’s tough to predict.

 

5.) R. Mika

You may be asking yourself, “who the hell is that?” but I love R. Mika and you should too. R. Mika or Rainbow Mika made her one and only appearance in Street Fighter Alpha 3, but I cannot wait for her to return to the series.

 

R. Mika is an odd character to say the least. She’s always seen in a flamboyant blue and white wrestling outfit (that is Kuma’s alternate outfit in Street Fighter x Tekken) and is the only blonde-haired, blue-eyed Japanese street fighter I can think of. R. Mika is a tomboy, but that has to be expected for someone who idolizes wrestling as much as she does. She is obsessed with wrestling and idolizes Zangief. He wants to be better than him one day and become a pro-wrestler. What I like about Mika is that she’s not a pro, her technique is rough but it can be deadly. Unfortunately, some people see Mika as a joke character because she hits people with her ass with moves such as the flying peach and shooting peach, but that ass is a lethal weapon.

 

As with other wrestlers, R. Mika’s strength comes with her command grabs. These grabs are great for close quarters fighting, but terrible against projectile spammers and zoners. However, unlike other grapplers she is very quick. This is a great asset (haha… ASSet) to get around the opponents defense and deliver some devastating grabs.

 

4.) Chun-Li

Good ole thunder-thighs takes the number four spot on this list. When I pick a character I tend to go with super quick or super slow, this is why I immediately fell in love with Chun-Li in her Street Fighter 2 debut. She couldn’t hit as hard, but she was very quick.

 

Chun-Li is way too happy in spite of her tragic upbringing. When she was young her father went missing. Chun-Li became an Interpol agent and began investigating her father’s disappearance. Upon further investigation she discovers her father was killed by Shadaloo, but more importantly by M. Bison (that big jerk). The rest of the game generally revolve around Chun-Li trying to capture or kill Bison in the name of vengeance.

 

Chun-Li was the first girl in the series, and was the first fast character. She is all about the kicks. Her signature move is Hyakuretsukyaku whatever the hell that means, I call it lightning kicks. She also defies the laws of gravity by spin-kicking like a top with her Spinning Bird Kick. Watch out for her legs, their terrifying.

 

3.) Remy

The next two entries are my mains for Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. I had a tough time debating on which would go in which spot. I had to decide, so I based it on which character I have more fun playing as instead of which character I’m better as. In the number 3 spot is Remy, aka French Guile. He made his debut in Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and hasn’t appeared in any game since.

 

As I mentioned above Remy is a French version of Guile, but there’s more to him than that. Remy has long turquoise hair, thin-build, wears a leather jacket, and is very similar to King of Fighters’ Iori Yagami. Many people think Remy is emo, I think he’s insane. When Remy was young, his father left him and his sister all alone. Therefore, Remy hates fighting and fighter, but is a fighter himself. When his sister died he preserved her body in ice and focused on his hatred. He seems calm, but he is filled with such angst and anger that Alex thinks he’s a psychopath who needs psychiatric help. He kind of reminds me of Norman Bates with a silent psycho lurking behind a kind fallacious mask.

 

Remy’s fighting is very similar to Guile, but there are enough differences to make him his own character. Remy has his own flash kick and sonic boom, however he has a divekick and a low-hitting sonic boom that makes him one of the most effective zoning characters in the game. Just don’t pick his Blue Nocturne super… it’s dumb.

 

2.) Twelve

Twelve is my other main in Third Strike, although I admit I’m not too good with him. Nevertheless, Twelve is a shape-shifting genetic experiment that was mass produced by the games main antagonist and boss, Gill. His only appearance was in Third Strike, but I’d love for him and his copy ability to be ported over.

 

Twelve was created by Gill to be the perfect soldier. He is a ruthless killing machine, who’s supposed to be resistant to damage (but has one of the lowest health in the damn game) and follow orders directly. The coolest thing about Twelve is his ability to manipulate his body. He generally appears as a tall, featureless male however that’s not all he can do. Twelve can manipulate his arms into blades and axes, crawl under projectiles, and even fly through the air like a bat.

 

Twelve is another character who is tricky to predict. He can fly through the air and perform a strong dive used to surprise your enemies. He can also zone player with a special attack that can make spikes erupt from the ground either close, medium or far. The problem with Twelve is that many players will become predictable with him by staying in the air as often as possible. This is where Twelve’s taunt comes in handy as it will turn Twelve invisible for a few second. Twelve’s greatest ability is his super called X-Copy which allows Twelve to take on the appearance and moveset of his opponent, with increased damage. It’s a great tool to through your opponent off balance by making them fight against themselves.

 

1.) Dhalsim

Now before you ask where is Ryu or Ken? Well they’re not in my personal Top 10. I never really enjoyed Shoto characters. If I had to include them, Ryu would be in the number 12 spot and Ken would be somewhere closer to 20.  Also 11 would be Hugo. Nevertheless, Dhalsim is my favorite character from the series. If you didn’t already know, Dhalsim is the stretchy yoga Indian fighter who made his debut Street Fighter 2 and has been my main in every game he’s been in.

 

Dhalsim is another contradictory character, in that he abhors violence however he often finds himself in fights and tournaments. Despite this, Dhalsim is not a self-serving fighter. He doesn’t fight to be the strongest or best, but instead for others. In the Alpha games and Street Fighter II he fights to raise money for his village, and in Street Fighter IV he fights to destroy a damn and bring water to his village. He has a soft spot for the children of his village and wears the skulls of children who died in a plague around his neck in remembrance. Dhalsim is a very mature fighter, he shows his opponents respect and keeps all emotion out of the fight. He seems to be in a state of constant meditation and self-realization fighting because it’s necessary and not because he wants to.

 

Playing as Dhalsim means keeping opponents at a distance. Due to his intense yoga training, or something, Dhalsim has the ability to stretch his limbs across great distances. In addition, he has a fireball projectile (which apparently is an illusion so that’s why it doesn’t burn Hakan to a crisp) and a teleport. All of these means when playing as Dhalsim it’s a keep away game. But that’s not the only strategy. Dhalsim is great for mixups with his slide, dive kick move, teleport, and extremely fast recovery time on his SFIV ultra move. He’s a character many people overlook because of his low damage and defense, but my favorite of all time in the series.

 

Well, that was my list 1 More Castle! I hope you thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m off to play some Street Fighter because all this writing about the series has renewed my interest. Next time we will tackle my Top 10 Favorite Mortal Ko… wait… that’s way too predictable.

 

Next time I’ll write about something completely different… like a man with three buttocks?

 

Happy Gaming.