Street Fighter: Ranking All the Characters

10. CHARLIE NASH

First appearance: Street Fighter Alpha

Charlie and Guile are like Captain America and Bucky Barnes with the roles reversed. At first, it seemed that Charlie was the sidekick, but despite getting killed off a bunch in the Alpha games, the suggestion is that he’s Guile’s inspiration even before his existence became about revenge. Charlie’s simply cooler in seemingly every way, from his one-handed Sonic Booms to his split Flash Kicks to his ridiculous hair to the fact that he wears glasses merely for fashion reasons.

Recently, Charlie's resurfaced as a deranged, mindwiped freakshow. His story in the latest game is tragic, but it's also a good piece of closure, even if we didn't get enough Guile/Charlie interaction.

Related Article: The Strange History of Charlie Nash

9. ALEX

First appearance: Street Fighter III

In a way, Alex is like a parody of Guile. While Guile abandoned his family in the name of revenge, there was still righteousness to his mission. Alex goes after Gill, not because he’s a weirdo cultist, but because he beat Alex’s father figure in a fight. Fairly. The guy has a short fuse and doesn't think things through, is what I'm getting at.

Alex is the highlight of Street Fighter III for me. His grappler moveset is an endless blast, whether it’s catching people with rolling DDTs, rolling German suplexes, or jumping powerbombs. Something about his line delivery gives it an extra bit of oomph when you’re slamming your opponent. Even him yelling something as simple as “WEAK!” sounds rugged.

I’m glad he’s become popular enough to get a DLC spot in Street Fighter V. I’m all about watching he and Birdie take part in a headbutt duel.

8. CAMMY WHITE

First appearance: Super Street Fighter II

Cammy is a great window into how completely evil M. Bison is and how even an angel can rise out of Hell. Cammy is a clone of Bison, and for some reason, of all the Dolls, she’s the one who isn’t allowed to wear pants. (Bison is kind of an odd guy.) Despite being a brainwashed killing machine created for the sake of being a spare body for Bison, Cammy is able to become a genuine hero and the world is a better place for her existing.

Ever since appearing in Super Street Fighter II, Cammy’s gymnastic assassin fighting style has helped make an impact, and she’s become one of the series’ staples. I mean, the exposed cheeks have helped keep people interested, but even then, she’s able to stand alone based purely on her twisty, flippy offense and determined coldness.

She’s Jamie Lee Curtis’ main, by the way. Who are you to question Jamie Lee Curtis?

7. SAKURA KASUGANO

First appearance: Street Fighter Alpha 2

Even though anyone who watches one of her fights has to be immediately added to a government watch list, Sakura is easily one of the best characters in the series. She’s Ryu’s fangirl, but more than that. She represents all that’s good and wholesome about Ryu and his actions. She’s the #1 example of meaning in Ryu’s life, which I’ll expand on when I get to his entry...

A plucky go-getter, Sakura kind of has her own little corner of the Street Fighter universe etched out for herself, sort of making her the queen of the lower tier. As she grows in experience and ability, she’s befriended by the likes of Dan, Blanka, Karin, Ibuki, and those crazy Rival Schools kids. She may fight like “ghetto Ryu,” but she’s able to carve her own path.

If Akuma is Ryu’s devil on the shoulder, then Sakura is the angel, trying to keep him honest. Ryu may feel that her hero worship is off-base, but that’s because she believes in him more than he believes in himself and she probably isn’t wrong.

6. DAN HIBIKI

First appearance: Street Fighter Alpha

How could I not have the Master of Saikyo in the top ten? Dan Hibiki is a riot, existing for the sake of laughing at SNK’s blatant Ryu and Ken knockoffs Ryo and Robert. The fact that they added in Ryo’s black undershirt, despite Dan otherwise being a Ryu headswap, is especially inspired. Dan is the ultimate fan favorite. 

Even though he’s a joke, Dan still has a somewhat serious story arc that makes him endearing. His father was killed by Sagat. He learned just a little bit under Gouken, but was kicked out for wanting vengeance. Through an eventual victory of Sagat (a fight Sagat sandbagged out of sympathy), Dan found a new calling in life. Even if he is an idiot who’s so completely full of himself, Dan is still a genuinely good man who takes care of his friends. He came out all right in the end.

The rub is that even if Gouken were to try and give Dan another shot to learn, he’d be too full of himself to pay it any mind.

5. CODY TRAVERS

First appearance: Final Fight
First appearance in Street Fighter: Street Fighter Alpha 3

Cody started out as the boring one in the Final Fight trio. He was neither the American ninja nor the prototype Jesse Ventura. He was just the guy in street clothes who got the girl. Then he showed up in the U.S. cartoon and he was a terrible redneck mess. But Cody immediately became amazing the moment they put him in Alpha 3.

Instead of living happily ever after, Final Fight Revenge ruined him completely on an emotional level. He became addicted to fighting to the point that it ruined every bit of goodwill that came from saving the city and being practically family with the mayor himself. Cody is what Ken could have become. Not taking a turn for the dark like Evil Ryu, but instead becoming an addict whose very life is hollow boredom brought on by self-imposed isolation.

Cody still holds two secrets in him. One is that despite his criminal status and apathy, he’s still a good person, and the only one willing to point it out is his old friend Guy. The other is that Cody is apparently one of the best fighters in the Street Fighter universe. He’s supposed to be on Akuma’s level, but doesn’t assert himself enough for anyone to really take notice. He’s too busy acting out of boredom and handicapping himself with giant handcuffs to really fulfill his potential.

It’s like he’s broken in the fighting sense, but he’s too emotionally broken to care.

4. VEGA

First appearance: Street Fighter II

Few people in this world have ever had their shit figured out more than Vega.

He’s a matador by day and a ninja assassin by night. He’s a high-ranking part of an untouchable criminal empire, but is cool with letting the leader lead because who wants that responsibility? He spends his spare time killing people in cage matches. He has his own personal sense of honor, but in a disgusting, self-serving, prejudice way.

Vega is a psychotic serial killer, but refined enough that he’s able to enjoy a life of rubbing elbows with the elite. All while wearing a glorified hockey mask and giant claw, because if I could get away with such a thing, I know I would. The only problem with his existence is the burden of having to work closely with a disrespectful beast of a man whose face is uglified from years of hard-hitting boxing matches.

I never got the hang of playing as Vega after all these years, but I still respect how great his set is put together. The moment Street Fighter II: Championship Edition came out and we were told we could play as the bosses, I was psyched as hell to finally use that flippy, yodeling son of a bitch who climbed cages before slashing your face or suplexing you.

3. AKUMA

First appearance: Super Street Fighter II: Turbo

Akuma is the boogeyman of the martial arts world. A twisted monster who murdered (sort of) his own brother to prove a point. He wants to drive Ryu to darkness for the sake of competition. He literally tears people’s souls apart with his bare hands in a move so out of control that we aren’t allowed to even see it happen.

Yet at the end of the day, it’s hard to even label him as simply “evil.” He’s beyond the duality. He foregoes the ideas of being merciless for the sake of being merciless. He’s strangely respectful to children and doesn’t kill unless he has reason—either because someone has agreed to a fight to the death or because someone outright tries to go after him.

Even his behavior around Ryu amounts to: “This is what you want! You don't seem to grasp it, but this is exactly what you want!”

Of course, when you see Ryu give into his killing intent, he becomes drunk on his own power. Not Akuma. He’s mastered what he’s become and exists as a demon on his own terms (while Oni is what happens when he loses himself completely). He’s his own man and does what he wants, even if it works to humanity’s advantage, such as vaporizing M. Bison. It’s not up to him whether his actions are considered good or evil, and he honestly couldn't care less.

2. RYU

First appearance: Street Fighter

“Ryu is so boring.” – nearly everyone

I don’t agree. I used to, but Ryu’s grown on me over the years. His interest in the art of fighting and excitement in challenging others, whether the weathered and powerful or the young and green, best represents the fanbase who dedicate so much of their time to taking on all comers around the world in virtual battles. Ryu doesn’t act out of heroism but because every opponent is an adventure, making him an easy fit when faced with everyone from Sodom to Terry Bogard to Dr. Strange to Mr. Game and Watch.

Since the Alpha games, Ryu’s been portrayed as kind of a martial arts Luke Skywalker, trying to fight against the path to the dark side. That’s not what makes him so interesting, though. What really sold me on him is Masahiko Nakahira’s manga stories, which culminated in Street Fighter III: Ryu Final. That story was about Ryu coming to terms with what he truly is. Not a man who will become the greatest fighter of all time, but the man who makes everyone better for fighting with him.

Ryu is the saint of battle. People like Birdie, Sakura, Sagat, Hugo, and so on become better, fulfilled, and more driven simply for knowing him. He’s likely the main reason Ken remains in the circuit. In Third Strike, the last canon game in terms of chronology, the series’ new hero, Alex, gains a spark to follow in Ryu’s footsteps just because getting his ass kicked in a fight was so exhilarating.

Ryu’s the center. He holds the world together.

1. SAGAT

First appearance: Street Fighter

Like I mentioned before, Ryu’s inner-battle storyline is a bit too on the nose. The plot device he struggles with (the Dark Hadou) is basically magic. Sagat walks a similar path as Ryu’s journey, but his is defined by actions and decisions, not spiritual roid rage. It makes him a more complex person who spends various games walking through an arc of redemption and self-discovery.

Sagat starts the series off as a kind of shitty guy with a gigantic ego. Humility doesn’t suit him and he goes off the deep end, becoming a major part of a terrorist organization while equating hatred to drive and power. He ultimately finds out that it doesn’t suit him and goes out of his way to prevent Dan Hibiki—a man he wronged—from becoming just like him. Sagat redeems himself in various ways and ends up seeing the world the way Ryu does.

All that and the guy is a stone cold badass. He’s a statue made of battle damage. His ending in Street Fighter X Tekken has him turn his back on gaining godly power because it’s beneath him. Hell, go check out his subplot in Ryu Final. There’s a story in there about him taking a series of bullets to the chest to save two orphans that’s so amazing that Capcom’s decided to make those kids part of canon.

In the end, even if he’s betrayed his terrorist status and has become a bit of an antihero, his personality reflects the way he fights. Kind of like Ryu, but far more blunt, unforgiving, and controlling. There are no kid gloves on him. The King of Muay Thai demands excellence and won’t settle for less.

So what do you think? Who did I rank too high or too low? Did I get your porridge just right? Let me know in the comments, though try to show your work. Sell me on it. You think I gave Ingrid an unfair shake? Think Cody is really a big pile of dumb? Okay, sure. At least let me know why.

Gavin Jasper probably would’ve put Mike Haggar in the top ten if he qualified. Oh well. You must follow Gavin on Twitter to stand a chance!