Top 10 Most Prominent Street Fighter Characters

[Randoman]

Yeah, another Street Fighter topic by me, and another "most prominent character list from a fighting game series" list by me. Don't worry, I'm not banning boss only characters like I did with Mortal Kombat, since Street Fighter doesn't really have any. And when I say most prominent, that means amount of appearances in the Street Fighter series counts for more than popularity (so Ken would be more prominent than Chun-Li, since Ken has been in more Street Fighter games), though prominence in terms of being promoted in Street Fighter media or well known also plays a role.

So anyways, I was thinking about who are the top 10 most prominent Street Fighter characters in order are. Even though there are some really obvious picks (eg: Ryu, Ken, Sagat, M. Bison, Akuma, and Chun Li), I couldn't really think of who the next four most prominent are after those six. I'm not really familiar with the Alpha (besides Alpha 2) and Street Fighter III series either, so I'll want your guys' input there.

So far I'm thinking this would be the list:

1. Ryu

2. Ken

3. Sagat

4. M. Bison

5. Chun Li

6. Akuma

7. Dhalsim

8. Zangief

9. Guile

10. Cammy

Yeah, 7-10 are probably bad picks for prominent characters. I was thinking Dan and Sakura should be in there, but I don't think they have as many playable appearances as those four.

Also, does anyone have a link to the results of that Official Most Popular Street Fighter Character poll that was done by Capcom a while back? All I remember was that Ryu, Ken, and Akuma were 1st, 2nd, and 3rd respectively, and that R. Mika was #1 in Japan in terms of votes (despite only being in one game).

[shadowofchaos]

I would think Guile would be *SLIGHTLY* higher because of meme status.

[amadeuscho]

1. Ryu

2. Ken
3. Chun Li

4. Akuma

5. M. Bison

6. Guile

7. Sagat

8. Zangief

9. Dhalsim

10. Blanka

Ryu and Ken are tied together. Chun Li and Akuma are next due to their prominence in the post Street Fighter 4 era, as well their appearances in crossovers. Chun Li is onw of the most well known females in gaming. M. Bison is the series signature antagonist, despite being it just for 2 and the Alpha series. Guile is very prominent due to his status in SF2, as well his well known nature. Sagat is high up due to his appearances in the series since the beginning. Zangief is high up due to being the archetypal grappler, while Dhalsim and Blanka round out the list due to shee memorability.

None of the Alpha characters outshine and of the SF and SF2 created characters, but those closest would be Sakura, Dan, and Guy. Sakura appears SFA2 and is pretty defining of Alpha. Dan also for the same reason, and he also popularized the joke character archetype. He's also just a really fun parody. Guy is boosted by his Final Fight appearances in addition to his Alpha appearance, as a character in FF and FF3.

Street Fighter 3's notable characters are Dudley, Yun, and Ibuki. All have strong designs and Ibuki appears more often than any other Street Fighter 3 character, probably due to her popularity. Yun would also be very high up. Pre-Street Fighter, Yun was the most prominent characterm but post SF4 Ibuki might surpass him.

Street Fighter 4's lone stand out character is Crimson Viper. Although the other designs are great, she stands out by far. She also appeared in MvC3.

If you didn't want to favor SF2, the list would look more like this:

1. Ryu

2. Ken
3. Chun Li

4. Akuma

5. M. Bison

6. Guile

7. Sakura

8. Ibuki or Yun

9. Crimson Viper

10. Dan

[Gemma]

Here is the article for the character poll from Eventhubs: http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2013/mar/29/results-capcoms-street-fighter-favorite-characters-popularity-poll/

I feel Viewful J's list is really solid, especially the top six.

Though, is Dhalsim really top ten material? I would think Blanka and Cammy would beat him out.

(mostly copypasta)

1. Ryu

2. Ken
3. Chun Li

4. Akuma

5. M. Bison

6. Guile

7. Sagat

8. Zangief

9. Blanka

10. Cammy

[Randoman]

Your guys' lists are quite solid (I'm a bit skeptical on Viewtiful_J's second list, which I'll explain later). Yeah, after the first five (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Chun Li, M. Bison), it's quite hard to determine who's the next most prominent in Street Fighter.

I'll admit, the large amount of SFII characters on the lists may seem quite biased (especially after the first 5 or 6), but seeing how they're some of the most reocurring characters and have the most playable appearances in the Street Fighter series as a whole, I'd say it's justified to stick them on a list of most prominent Street Fighter characters. If popularity was the main focus, that'd be a different story, and I'd probably have characters like C. Viper and Juri up there, despite how few appearances they've had in the Street Fighter series compared to other characters like Sagat and Zangief. Viewtiful_J's second list fits well as a most popular character list.

Anyways, I guess I'll explain some of my picks for the list, regarding ones that may not have exactly been clear.

Since Sagat was in the very first Street Fighter as the final boss, and was in all SFIV, SFA, and SFII versions, I felt his large amount of appearances warranted the place of 3rd most prominent. Though maybe I should switch him to 4th or 5th, since Chun Li and M. Bison do have around as many appearances as Sagat does, and those two are more iconic and recognizable than Sagat. Even though Akuma is also more popular, I feel Sagat's significantly larger amount of appearances than Akuma beat him out in terms of prominence.

Dhalsim and Zangief are in all SFII and SFIV versions, plus they're in SFAII and III, giving them more appearances than quite a lot of their fellow SFII characters.

Cammy has slighty less appearances compared to other SFII characters, like E. Honda or Blanka, but I think her popularity, iconicness, and her role as a strong female easily make her more prominent.

Here is the article for the character poll from Eventhubs: http://www.eventhubs.com/news/2013/mar/29/results-capcoms-street-fighter-favorite-characters-popularity-poll/

Thanks. I spent quite a lot of time trying to find that link after I lost it.

So it was Karin and not R. Mika who was #1 in Japan? Hmm... I wonder where I got R. Mika being #1 in Japan from.

[amadeuscho]

Your guys' lists are quite solid (I'm a bit skeptical on Viewtiful_J's second list, which I'll explain later). Yeah, after the first five (Ryu, Ken, Akuma, Chun Li, M. Bison), it's quite hard to determine who's the next most prominent in Street Fighter.

I'll admit, the large amount of SFII characters on the lists may seem quite biased (especially after the first 5 or 6), but seeing how they're some of the most reocurring characters and have the most playable appearances in the Street Fighter series as a whole, I'd say it's justified to stick them on a list of most prominent Street Fighter characters. If popularity was the main focus, that'd be a different story, and I'd probably have characters like C. Viper and Juri up there, despite how few appearances they've had in the Street Fighter series compared to other characters like Sagat and Zangief. Viewtiful_J's second list fits well as a most popular character list.

Anyways, I guess I'll explain some of my picks for the list, regarding ones that may not have exactly been clear.

Since Sagat was in the very first Street Fighter as the final boss, and was in all SFIV, SFA, and SFII versions, I felt his large amount of appearances warranted the place of 3rd most prominent. Though maybe I should switch him to 4th or 5th, since Chun Li and M. Bison do have around as many appearances as Sagat does, and those two are more iconic and recognizable than Sagat. Even though Akuma is also more popular, I feel Sagat's significantly larger amount of appearances than Akuma beat him out in terms of prominence.

Dhalsim and Zangief are in all SFII and SFIV versions, plus they're in SFAII and III, giving them more appearances than quite a lot of their fellow SFII characters.

Cammy has slighty less appearances compared to other SFII characters, like E. Honda or Blanka, but I think her popularity, iconicness, and her role as a strong female easily make her more prominent.

Thanks. I spent quite a lot of time trying to find that link after I lost it.

So it was Karin and not R. Mika who was #1 in Japan? Hmm... I wonder where I got R. Mika being #1 in Japan from.

When coming up with the second list, I was thinking about it like this: I can't rank characters down for being created later than others. Because that is why certain characters would be favored by considering prominence coming from number of game appearances. That would mean Dee Jay would technically rank higher than Crimson Viper, which makes no sense. Better and more iconic designs should be reflected, as well as representing multiple generations of the series. The Street Fighter fanbase has changed depending on the game currently released, and to not look at 3, Alpha, or 4 characters as equal or in a similar regard to 2's characters seems wrong to me.

As such, the most popular characters would reflect the series best, as they had the best designs and were the best received in that series. Their popularity also led to their appearance in other games in the series as well as crossovers. Crossovers actually rank high in my book, because it's like capcom saying that these characters are capable of representing the SF franchise, or their individual series (Alpha, 4, etc). I also ranked character high for setting archetypes. Hence, Dan is aided as being a strong joke character archetype.

I think Blanka ranks higher than Dhalsim now that I think about it in that first list. Dhalsim just has an iconic design to me.

[Shahrivar]

No Vega/Balrog? I thought he was pretty popular. Not the same level as Ryu, M.Bison/Vega and Guile, but still up there.

[Karasz]

And here's my take on this.

1. Ryu

2. Ken

3. Guile

4. Akuma

5. Chun-Li

6. Dhalsim

7. Vega

8. Cammy

9. Blanka

10. Dan

I'd think of "most prominent Street Fighter characters" as the ones who are the most easily recognized. And it somewhat seems that these guys represent the series in terms of absurdity (Blanka, Dhalsim, Dan) and popularity (all the rest).

[Randoman]

Crossovers actually rank high in my book, because it's like capcom saying that these characters are capable of representing the SF franchise, or their individual series (Alpha, 4, etc).

I don't put too much weight into crossovers, since they can do some weird and unfair things in terms of representation. I mean, just because Zero and Bon Tronne were in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mega Man wasn't, that doesn't make Mega Man less important, prominent, or iconic than those two. Same with Baraka and Kano being in Mortal Kombat vs. DC and Kung Lao and Johnny Cage not being in.

I see where you're coming from regarding your explanation before that part, though. I mean, Dee Jay is hardly as iconic, popular, or recognizable as C. Viper, even though Dee Jay is more prominent and has shown up in a lot more Street Fighter games. And having iconic representatives for each Street Fighter series (II, Alpha, III, IV) is a good way to cover the series as a whole.

No Vega/Balrog? I thought he was pretty popular. Not the same level as Ryu, M.Bison/Vega and Guile, but still up there.

I'd say Vega's probably in the top 15, but not top 10 since quite a few characters beat him out in terms of iconicness in Street Fighter. Though he is quite popular (19th most popular SF character in the official poll that Capcom hosted that Gemma linked to) and has had a lot of appearances in the Street Fighter series. On a side note, he's my #1 favourite Street Fighter character.

[amadeuscho]

I don't put too much weight into crossovers, since they can do some weird and unfair things in terms of representation. I mean, just because Zero and Bon Tronne were in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Mega Man wasn't, that doesn't make Mega Man less important, prominent, or iconic than those two. Same with Baraka and Kano being in Mortal Kombat vs. DC and Kung Lao and Johnny Cage not being in.

I see where you're coming from regarding your explanation before that part, though. I mean, Dee Jay is hardly as iconic, popular, or recognizable as C. Viper, even though Dee Jay is more prominent and has shown up in a lot more Street Fighter games. And having iconic representatives for each Street Fighter series (II, Alpha, III, IV) is a good way to cover the series as a whole.

I'd say Vega's probably in the top 15, but not top 10 since quite a few characters beat him out in terms of iconicness in Street Fighter. Though he is quite popular (19th most popular SF character in the official poll that Capcom hosted that Gemma linked to) and has had a lot of appearances in the Street Fighter series. On a side note, he's my #1 favourite Street Fighter character.

The way I look at crossovers is that they help those included, but they never hurt those not included. Unlike USF4, where being a character from any of the other series (Alpha, Original, 3) and not being in the game shows your importance (or lack there of) to the series. It takes a lot to make it in a crossover however. It means the design has cross series appeal.

[Icon of Sin]

1. Ryu

2. Chun-Li

3. Akuma

4. Ken

5. Guile

6. Zangief

7. M. Bison

8. Cammy

9. Blanka

10. Dan

Probably the closest thing I can think of. Ken's popular but I think his popularity dwindled in the past few years as Chun-Li and Akuma are more recognizeable. Guile's memetic status may or may not be enough to surpass him even now. Zangief used to be immensely popular back in the 90's and still sort of is, Bison has a fair share of popularity for being a pretty cool villain along with Raul Julia's portrayal, even though for him it was Tuesday. I wasn't sure on who to include in the last three positions, so I just went with those that are fairly easy to recognize. Cammy's pretty popular because of dat ass, Blanka's almost a national emblem in Brazil and he's fairly easy to notice, and finally Dan is fairly well known as one of the first ever joke character in a fighting game. I really wanted to include Sagat into this, especially due to his notoriety as a kickass boss in the original and his broken status in a few games, but he'll settle for 11th place.

[MRDRHAWK]

1. Ryu

2. Chun-Li

3. Ken

4. Guile

5. M. Bison

6. Akuma

7. Zangief

8. Blanka

9. Dhalsim

10. Vega

Only 10 was hard.