Tizoc
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(All images stolen from Fightersgeneration.com, google & This fantastic blog)
The video game series that’s been ported and released on dozens of systems, yet there remain platforms it is not available on, in particular a definitive release or edition.
It is the game that ushered in a gaming scene that is still strong to this day.
No one, not even Capcom could’ve predicted the popularity that Street Fighter II would receive. Now here we are 25 years later and the game continues to be one of the best and liked fighting game series, with a new successor gaming releasing soon.
For a great retrospective on the development of SF2, read this insightful Polygon article
http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history
The games
Before delving into the characters, it is best to clear up a few things: The entire SF2 ports and (re-)releases are based on the arcade versions of the games, there were primarily 5 official versions, let’s look at them in more detail:
3 games released on Capcom’s CPS-1 arcade board-
The original Street Fighter II in released in 1991, it featured 8 playable characters (technically 7 since Ryu and Ken shared the same movelist & stats IIRC) & players couldn’t use the same character as the other player.
Street Fighter II’: Champion Edition released on March 1992. Commonly known as CE, this game allowed players to use the 4 boss characters, and introduced an element that was mind-blowing for the time: You can do mirror matches. The apostrophe is pronounced as Dash.
Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting (Street Fighter II’ Turbo in Japan) released on December 1992. This is the best ver. Of the original 3 for competitive gaming IIRC, mainly as it balances stuff from CE and gives characters more special moves. Furthermore the gameplay was sped up, hence the Turbo in the tile.
There is also Street Fighter II: Rainbow Edition which is a bootleg or pirated hack version of the CPS1 games. Rainbow Edition had various versions made, but I sort of never cared for it much outside of what matches were uploaded online. You can read a little more about them here-
http://bootleggames.wikia.com/wiki/Street_Fighter_II:_Rainbow_Edition
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-21-how-hackers-reinvented-street-fighter-2
Next we have the CPS2 games-
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Super SF2 in Japan) released in 1993. This game added 4 more characters including breakout characters Dee Jay & Cammy. In addition to some rebalancing the overall presentation got an overhaul with characters getting newer character select screen art among other things. Furthermore, the game included a combo hit counter to show how many hits your chained attacks did. This version of the game became obsolete with ST however.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Super SF2X in Japan) was the last iteration of SF2 that Capcom developed at the time and was released in 1994. It is generally referred to as ST and is the game that is usually played in tournies. The game rebalances stuff from the previous game and gives each character a super move that is performed when the small gauge at the bottom of the screen is full.
The super gauge fills up only when you damage an opponent and they take any amount of damage that reduces their life gauge. It also resets at the end of each round for balance purposes. Furthermore, air juggles are incorporated allowing you to hit airbourne opponents to continue a combo.
You can also play each of the 16 characters without a super move and with alterations to their moves and stats. This gives the notion that you’ll be using their SSF2 ver. but apparently there are differences between these ‘Original’ versions and their SSF2 incarnation. Regardless ST is considered the main game of the two that is played.
Finally the game added a secret character in the form of Gouki aka Akuma, spawned from an EGM April Fool’s joke.
Generally speaking Gouki and O. Sagat are banned in tournament played, although O. Sagat is mostly Soft banned since a few scenes or tournies allow him.
All ports of the SF2 series are based on any of these 5 games, though it is quite surprising that in this day and age there isn’t a proper port of the games available on current systems.
Other noteworthy re-releases of SF2 include:
Hyper Street Fighter II
It allows you to play ANY of the 5 (or 3) versions of a character against each other. The SRK wiki as an article about it
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Hyper_Street_Fighter_2
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival/Super SF2 X Revival
Super Street Fighter II HD Remix
For a time though this was the closest one could play ST on the PS3 or 360 if they didn’t have access to Hyper SF2.
Then you have your dozens of ports and releases on 16 bit consoles and onwards.
Street Fighter Zero 2’ for the PSOne (JP release only) incidentally came with a 2nd disc that featured both Super SF2 games, which far as I’ve heard is as close to arcade perfect you could play those games at the time. The game had load times however.
Furthermore, Capcom Generations Vol. 5 is available on JP PSN and contains all 3 CPS1 SF2 games.
The characters
Now with the games out of the way, let’s move into the 8 random individuals who became video game icons, starting off with the original 8 and moving on from there
You wouldn’t be blamed for seeing Ryu as the most dull of all FG protagonists, but you can’t deny his popularity and his influence.
Ryu is from Japan, he is a martial artists who is on a never ending Warrior’s Pilgrimage (Musou Shugyo [sp]), walking the earth to become stronger and stronger. He is an arachnophobe of sorts, likely fluent in many languages, and apparently doesn’t have much in way of clothes.
I personally got to like Ryu over time, though my fav. Iteration of the character in his SF3 3S ver. For some reason he is generally depicted as the serious scowling type, but I much prefer it when he’s happy and cheery-
If you look carefully enough, you can see some hair on his chin visible in a variety of his (non-SFA) art and artwork.
In early SF2 games, he (and Ken) could not do the Tornado Kick in the air, in addition his Red Flaming Fireball was originally a glitch from the game that would color his fireball red, and would eventually become a special move of his.
Ryu’s Super Move in ST is the Shinku Haduken, a multi hitting Haduken projectile. Interestingly enough, Ryu can combo off of his super in ST in peculiar ways. Finally, like Gouki and Ken, you can see Ryu’s hands in his Haduken as it travels across the screen.
Some final tidbits: his belt reads Fuu-Rin-Ka-Zan, and his Haduken special move is inspired the canon from Space Battleship Yamato.
Ken shared the same moves and stats as Ryu in the early SF2 games, but go on to have his moves have different properties in many of the games they’ve been in together.
Ken’s Super in ST is the Shoryu Reppa where he does 2 Shoryuken uppercuts in a row.
Chun only had 2 moves early on: Lightning Kicks and Spinning Bird Kick, she would later on get Up Kicks (Tenshuo-kyaku) and a projectile attack (Ki-ko-ken) where she strikes a rather expressive stance.
Chun-li is an Interpol agent who is investigating Shadaloo who were responsible for her father’s death.
Her blue Chinese clothes belonged to her mother and wears it in her memory when fighting. The black spiked bracelets are worn so that she balances herself when performing the Spinning Bird Kick attack.
Her Super move in Super Turbo is Senretsu-kyaku, where she rushes forward with a multi hitting Lighting Kicks that juggle the opponent. Interestingly enough, you can ‘Store’ the super, if you hold the last Forward input, allowing you to walk forward a bit and have the super come out by pressing the Kick button.
Guile is known for having only special moves in every fighting game he’s been (sorta): The Sonic Boom projectile and the Flash Kick anti-air attack. Interestingly enough he had a variety of command attacks including this gravity defying maneuver (shut up I couldn't find an SF2 sprite animation)-
His super move in Super Turbo is the Double Somersault(/Flash?) Kick, where he literally does 2 Flash Kicks. The kicks are multi hitting too. It’s motion has driven me bonkers for years, until I was told I can just do the motion as: Hold Dwn-Back, HCB, then Upward motion. I felt silly never knowing that…
Guile enters the World Warriors tournament to avenge his former brother in arms, with his vengeance blindly driving him to take down Shadaloo. It is speculated that either ChunLi or Guile won the tournament, since Ryu and Sagat never fought during SF2, if SF4 is anything to go by.
Zangief is a Russian wrestler who is misunderstood as being a bad guy, but what he really is, is a Patriotic, bear hugging, Cossack dancing pro wrestler who loves his country.
Zangief was infamous at the time for his Spinning Pile Driver which could knock off 1/3 of an opponent’s health if it connected. Gief only had 2 special moves in the original SF2: His SPD and his Lariat (performed only with 3 Punch buttons and he was immobile when performing it) which he can use to dodge projectiles.
Zangief’s super in ST is the Final Atomic Buster, a combination of his close range Kick and Punch grabs.
Dhalsim enters the tournament to stop Shadaloo and win the monetary reward. His son, Datta, is pen pals with Guile’s daughter, Amy as officially stated by Capcom.
In the original game, Dhalsim only had the Yoga Fire (projectile attack) and Yoga Flame, the latter has him spit a flaming stream in front him.
In ST, his Super Move is the Yoga Inferno, a multi hitting variation of his Yoga Flame.
In reality, he was a child called Jimmy who survived a plane crash over the Amazon, having gotten lost from his mother, he spent the remainder of his life in the forest. The only memento he has of his past is the anklet on his foot.
To help camouflage himself in this green environment, he gathered herbs and plants and spread his body with them to paint his skin green, learned to generate electricity of up to 1200 volts from imitating eels and somehow learned to curve his body into a human cannonball, hurling himself at a speed of 146 KM/H, which is faster than the average speed of a thrown baseball.
All that ish is 100% official canon from Capcom themselves, including being friends with Dan Hibiki.
And no he is not Guile’s old friend whom Shadaloo turned into a bio beast man, he never was.
Blanka’s super in ST is the Ground Shave Rolling, which had him do a Vertical Roll, then do a multihitting spinning ball attack on the ground.
E. Honda was the sumo fighter, and whether or not launching one’s body as a torpedo to headbutt another person is accurate sumo is up to debate. His original 2 moves consisted of a torpedo headbutt, and slapping the opponent multiple times with the palm of his hand.
He would, in later games, get additional special moves; a butt splash attack where he headbutts into the air then falls with a butt slam, and a command grab with a peculiar function: If you held the Back, Up-Back or Down-Back direction you can store the grab and it will only come out if you press the punch button when near an opponent.
He fights in a bathing house mainly because he enjoys taking a bath after Sumo practice.
Honda’s super in ST is Oni Musou, where-in he does 2 Headbutts in a row. Like Chun-li he can store his super as well in the same manner as hers.
He was disbanded from Boxing because of his violent tendencies, although whether he ever killed anyone in the Boxing Ring is unknown. Regardless, he joins up with Shadaloo and manages to reach a high position within this organization.
He is a separate character from SF1’s Mike who was just randomly named. This particular fellow was lazily named after Mike Tyson and for a short while, his portrait resembled him. Other than that, Boxer’s trademark is his fast screen traveling punches.
He was made playable in the 2nd CPS1 SF2 game, and along with the other 3 bosses, they are known as the Four Kings. In the single player mode, he is the first of the final bosses the player fights.
Boxer’s super in ST is the Crazy Buffalo, which has him perform multiple dash punches or uppercuts depending on the button pressed to perform the super, or held during the super.
Claw is the Beautiful Spanish Blood-thirsty Ninja Assassin of Shadaloo. He is also a narcissist, grossly disgusted by ugly people and thinks highly of Shadaloo’s leader.
Claw stood out from the cast for being a weapon using character, the fact that he can climb on the steel walls of his stage, his wall jumping shenanigans, and that his mask and claw can be knocked out of him, although he could pick them up. Without his claw, his punches merely lacked some range. Also he yodels.
In ST, his super move is the Rolling Izuna Drop. The motion for his super is the same as Guile’s and the input method functions the same as well. The Super meter is only consumed if he grabs the opponent, wherein he does 3 Izuna Drops.
Sagat was mainly known for his High and Low Tiger Shots and in Super Turbo for his insanely fast projectiles when playing as O. Sagat.
His Super move in ST is the Tiger Genocide where he does a Tiger Knee followed by a Tiger Uppercut.
The leader of Shadaloo who desires world conquest. He is the final boss in SF2, and his design is based on General Washizaki from the manga series RikiOh.
His exact origins are unknown, and he may even go by many aliases, but all that is known is that he commands the most powerful criminal organization: Shadaloo. He fights using negative energy known as Psycho Power. It also allows him to survive in case his physical body is destroyed, which is what happened in the events of SF Zero 3. His SF2 body is weaker than his previous one before it got destroyed.
In the finals, he is killed by Gouki and thus this current body of his is destroyed resulting in him getting a new body created for him by the events of SF4.
Shadaloo has been known to deal in a lot of shady business from drugs to cloning, and Cammy was once a soldier of Shadaloo.
His Super move in ST is the Knee Press Knightmare, wherein he does 2 Knee Presses that end with the opponent being in a juggle state.
The video game series that’s been ported and released on dozens of systems, yet there remain platforms it is not available on, in particular a definitive release or edition.
It is the game that ushered in a gaming scene that is still strong to this day.
No one, not even Capcom could’ve predicted the popularity that Street Fighter II would receive. Now here we are 25 years later and the game continues to be one of the best and liked fighting game series, with a new successor gaming releasing soon.
For a great retrospective on the development of SF2, read this insightful Polygon article
http://www.polygon.com/a/street-fighter-2-oral-history
The games
Before delving into the characters, it is best to clear up a few things: The entire SF2 ports and (re-)releases are based on the arcade versions of the games, there were primarily 5 official versions, let’s look at them in more detail:
3 games released on Capcom’s CPS-1 arcade board-
The original Street Fighter II in released in 1991, it featured 8 playable characters (technically 7 since Ryu and Ken shared the same movelist & stats IIRC) & players couldn’t use the same character as the other player.
Street Fighter II’: Champion Edition released on March 1992. Commonly known as CE, this game allowed players to use the 4 boss characters, and introduced an element that was mind-blowing for the time: You can do mirror matches. The apostrophe is pronounced as Dash.
Street Fighter II’: Hyper Fighting (Street Fighter II’ Turbo in Japan) released on December 1992. This is the best ver. Of the original 3 for competitive gaming IIRC, mainly as it balances stuff from CE and gives characters more special moves. Furthermore the gameplay was sped up, hence the Turbo in the tile.
There is also Street Fighter II: Rainbow Edition which is a bootleg or pirated hack version of the CPS1 games. Rainbow Edition had various versions made, but I sort of never cared for it much outside of what matches were uploaded online. You can read a little more about them here-
http://bootleggames.wikia.com/wiki/Street_Fighter_II:_Rainbow_Edition
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-02-21-how-hackers-reinvented-street-fighter-2
Next we have the CPS2 games-
Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers (Super SF2 in Japan) released in 1993. This game added 4 more characters including breakout characters Dee Jay & Cammy. In addition to some rebalancing the overall presentation got an overhaul with characters getting newer character select screen art among other things. Furthermore, the game included a combo hit counter to show how many hits your chained attacks did. This version of the game became obsolete with ST however.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo (Super SF2X in Japan) was the last iteration of SF2 that Capcom developed at the time and was released in 1994. It is generally referred to as ST and is the game that is usually played in tournies. The game rebalances stuff from the previous game and gives each character a super move that is performed when the small gauge at the bottom of the screen is full.
The super gauge fills up only when you damage an opponent and they take any amount of damage that reduces their life gauge. It also resets at the end of each round for balance purposes. Furthermore, air juggles are incorporated allowing you to hit airbourne opponents to continue a combo.
You can also play each of the 16 characters without a super move and with alterations to their moves and stats. This gives the notion that you’ll be using their SSF2 ver. but apparently there are differences between these ‘Original’ versions and their SSF2 incarnation. Regardless ST is considered the main game of the two that is played.
Finally the game added a secret character in the form of Gouki aka Akuma, spawned from an EGM April Fool’s joke.
Generally speaking Gouki and O. Sagat are banned in tournament played, although O. Sagat is mostly Soft banned since a few scenes or tournies allow him.
All ports of the SF2 series are based on any of these 5 games, though it is quite surprising that in this day and age there isn’t a proper port of the games available on current systems.
Other noteworthy re-releases of SF2 include:
Hyper Street Fighter II
This is a compilation release of sorts, released first on PS2 and Xbox at the time then released to Arcades.
It allows you to play ANY of the 5 (or 3) versions of a character against each other. The SRK wiki as an article about it
http://wiki.shoryuken.com/Hyper_Street_Fighter_2
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Revival/Super SF2 X Revival
This is a port of ST for the GBA but features various new artwork and background stages not from the original games. Furthermore it utilizes a mishmash of SNES and Arcade spritework. One notable stage is Guile’s where a plane can be seen in the background, and that Dictator’s stage is deep within the Shadaloo base-
Super Street Fighter II HD Remix
The PS360 era was weird with how it handled re-releases of classic games. UDON were huge fans of the SF series and were tasked with redrawing the original sprites for an ‘HD’ re-release of Super Turbo which would’ve featured balance changes. Turns out the balances weren’t that appreciated and while you could play with the ORIGINAL sprites, the backgrounds were the redrawn UDON style.
For a time though this was the closest one could play ST on the PS3 or 360 if they didn’t have access to Hyper SF2.
Then you have your dozens of ports and releases on 16 bit consoles and onwards.
Street Fighter Zero 2’ for the PSOne (JP release only) incidentally came with a 2nd disc that featured both Super SF2 games, which far as I’ve heard is as close to arcade perfect you could play those games at the time. The game had load times however.
Furthermore, Capcom Generations Vol. 5 is available on JP PSN and contains all 3 CPS1 SF2 games.
The characters
Now with the games out of the way, let’s move into the 8 random individuals who became video game icons, starting off with the original 8 and moving on from there
Ryu is the archetypical martial arts guy, whom many FG protagonists are inspired by his design (e.g. Akira from VF, Hanzo from WH, Zen from Rumble Fish to name a few).
You wouldn’t be blamed for seeing Ryu as the most dull of all FG protagonists, but you can’t deny his popularity and his influence.
Ryu is from Japan, he is a martial artists who is on a never ending Warrior’s Pilgrimage (Musou Shugyo [sp]), walking the earth to become stronger and stronger. He is an arachnophobe of sorts, likely fluent in many languages, and apparently doesn’t have much in way of clothes.
I personally got to like Ryu over time, though my fav. Iteration of the character in his SF3 3S ver. For some reason he is generally depicted as the serious scowling type, but I much prefer it when he’s happy and cheery-
If you look carefully enough, you can see some hair on his chin visible in a variety of his (non-SFA) art and artwork.
In early SF2 games, he (and Ken) could not do the Tornado Kick in the air, in addition his Red Flaming Fireball was originally a glitch from the game that would color his fireball red, and would eventually become a special move of his.
Ryu’s Super Move in ST is the Shinku Haduken, a multi hitting Haduken projectile. Interestingly enough, Ryu can combo off of his super in ST in peculiar ways. Finally, like Gouki and Ken, you can see Ryu’s hands in his Haduken as it travels across the screen.
Some final tidbits: his belt reads Fuu-Rin-Ka-Zan, and his Haduken special move is inspired the canon from Space Battleship Yamato.
Ken is the American martial arts guy, if Ryu was the serious guy, Ken was the easy going cocky opposite. Ken is known for his bright red gi, his blonde dyed hair, and for him being able to do a flaming Shoryuken, his trademark move.
Ken shared the same moves and stats as Ryu in the early SF2 games, but go on to have his moves have different properties in many of the games they’ve been in together.
Ken’s Super in ST is the Shoryu Reppa where he does 2 Shoryuken uppercuts in a row.
ChunLi is pretty much the most popular female FG character, although I personally never bothered to play her in any game she’s been in.
Chun only had 2 moves early on: Lightning Kicks and Spinning Bird Kick, she would later on get Up Kicks (Tenshuo-kyaku) and a projectile attack (Ki-ko-ken) where she strikes a rather expressive stance.
Chun-li is an Interpol agent who is investigating Shadaloo who were responsible for her father’s death.
Her blue Chinese clothes belonged to her mother and wears it in her memory when fighting. The black spiked bracelets are worn so that she balances herself when performing the Spinning Bird Kick attack.
Her Super move in Super Turbo is Senretsu-kyaku, where she rushes forward with a multi hitting Lighting Kicks that juggle the opponent. Interestingly enough, you can ‘Store’ the super, if you hold the last Forward input, allowing you to walk forward a bit and have the super come out by pressing the Kick button.
For a time, Guile was the embodiment of America in fighting game form: For crying out loud he has the dang AMERICAN FLAG tattooed on his arm, and the most American haircut ever at the time.
Guile is known for having only special moves in every fighting game he’s been (sorta): The Sonic Boom projectile and the Flash Kick anti-air attack. Interestingly enough he had a variety of command attacks including this gravity defying maneuver (shut up I couldn't find an SF2 sprite animation)-
His super move in Super Turbo is the Double Somersault(/Flash?) Kick, where he literally does 2 Flash Kicks. The kicks are multi hitting too. It’s motion has driven me bonkers for years, until I was told I can just do the motion as: Hold Dwn-Back, HCB, then Upward motion. I felt silly never knowing that…
Guile enters the World Warriors tournament to avenge his former brother in arms, with his vengeance blindly driving him to take down Shadaloo. It is speculated that either ChunLi or Guile won the tournament, since Ryu and Sagat never fought during SF2, if SF4 is anything to go by.
Rumor has it that Haggar was considered for SF2, but doing so would mean the game would have 4 characters from the US along with Guile, Ken and Boxer. So Haggar was replaced by good old Gief and the rest is history.
Zangief is a Russian wrestler who is misunderstood as being a bad guy, but what he really is, is a Patriotic, bear hugging, Cossack dancing pro wrestler who loves his country.
Zangief was infamous at the time for his Spinning Pile Driver which could knock off 1/3 of an opponent’s health if it connected. Gief only had 2 special moves in the original SF2: His SPD and his Lariat (performed only with 3 Punch buttons and he was immobile when performing it) which he can use to dodge projectiles.
Zangief’s super in ST is the Final Atomic Buster, a combination of his close range Kick and Punch grabs.
Dhalsim stood out from the cast by being that skinny brown guy who can hit you from a full screen away, and thus was his rise to fame. In the first games there was a glitch that would have him teleport or disappear, which would then be turned into a special move.
Dhalsim enters the tournament to stop Shadaloo and win the monetary reward. His son, Datta, is pen pals with Guile’s daughter, Amy as officially stated by Capcom.
In the original game, Dhalsim only had the Yoga Fire (projectile attack) and Yoga Flame, the latter has him spit a flaming stream in front him.
In ST, his Super Move is the Yoga Inferno, a multi hitting variation of his Yoga Flame.
Blanka was the green paint skinned Beast Man from Brazil, and his trademark special moves where generating electricity, and curving into a ball and ramming straight at your face with himself.
In reality, he was a child called Jimmy who survived a plane crash over the Amazon, having gotten lost from his mother, he spent the remainder of his life in the forest. The only memento he has of his past is the anklet on his foot.
To help camouflage himself in this green environment, he gathered herbs and plants and spread his body with them to paint his skin green, learned to generate electricity of up to 1200 volts from imitating eels and somehow learned to curve his body into a human cannonball, hurling himself at a speed of 146 KM/H, which is faster than the average speed of a thrown baseball.
All that ish is 100% official canon from Capcom themselves, including being friends with Dan Hibiki.
And no he is not Guile’s old friend whom Shadaloo turned into a bio beast man, he never was.
Blanka’s super in ST is the Ground Shave Rolling, which had him do a Vertical Roll, then do a multihitting spinning ball attack on the ground.
E. (Edmond) Honda doesn’t get much face time, as in he is the only original SF2 character with the LEAST appearances in post SF2 fighting games featuring SF2 character.
E. Honda was the sumo fighter, and whether or not launching one’s body as a torpedo to headbutt another person is accurate sumo is up to debate. His original 2 moves consisted of a torpedo headbutt, and slapping the opponent multiple times with the palm of his hand.
He would, in later games, get additional special moves; a butt splash attack where he headbutts into the air then falls with a butt slam, and a command grab with a peculiar function: If you held the Back, Up-Back or Down-Back direction you can store the grab and it will only come out if you press the punch button when near an opponent.
He fights in a bathing house mainly because he enjoys taking a bath after Sumo practice.
Honda’s super in ST is Oni Musou, where-in he does 2 Headbutts in a row. Like Chun-li he can store his super as well in the same manner as hers.
Mike Bison aka Balrog aka Boxer
He was disbanded from Boxing because of his violent tendencies, although whether he ever killed anyone in the Boxing Ring is unknown. Regardless, he joins up with Shadaloo and manages to reach a high position within this organization.
He is a separate character from SF1’s Mike who was just randomly named. This particular fellow was lazily named after Mike Tyson and for a short while, his portrait resembled him. Other than that, Boxer’s trademark is his fast screen traveling punches.
He was made playable in the 2nd CPS1 SF2 game, and along with the other 3 bosses, they are known as the Four Kings. In the single player mode, he is the first of the final bosses the player fights.
Boxer’s super in ST is the Crazy Buffalo, which has him perform multiple dash punches or uppercuts depending on the button pressed to perform the super, or held during the super.
Balrog aka Vega aka Claw
Claw is the Beautiful Spanish Blood-thirsty Ninja Assassin of Shadaloo. He is also a narcissist, grossly disgusted by ugly people and thinks highly of Shadaloo’s leader.
Claw stood out from the cast for being a weapon using character, the fact that he can climb on the steel walls of his stage, his wall jumping shenanigans, and that his mask and claw can be knocked out of him, although he could pick them up. Without his claw, his punches merely lacked some range. Also he yodels.
In ST, his super move is the Rolling Izuna Drop. The motion for his super is the same as Guile’s and the input method functions the same as well. The Super meter is only consumed if he grabs the opponent, wherein he does 3 Izuna Drops.
Aside from Ryu and Ken, Sagat is the other returning character the Street Fighter game. He is a boss once more, but turns out to be one of the Four Kings of Shadaloo. After the events of SF1, Sagat received a scar through his chest from Ryu which humbled him. It is speculated that Ryu never reached the finals and thus never fought Sagat.
Sagat was mainly known for his High and Low Tiger Shots and in Super Turbo for his insanely fast projectiles when playing as O. Sagat.
His Super move in ST is the Tiger Genocide where he does a Tiger Knee followed by a Tiger Uppercut.
Vega aka (M. )Bison aka Dictator
The leader of Shadaloo who desires world conquest. He is the final boss in SF2, and his design is based on General Washizaki from the manga series RikiOh.
His exact origins are unknown, and he may even go by many aliases, but all that is known is that he commands the most powerful criminal organization: Shadaloo. He fights using negative energy known as Psycho Power. It also allows him to survive in case his physical body is destroyed, which is what happened in the events of SF Zero 3. His SF2 body is weaker than his previous one before it got destroyed.
In the finals, he is killed by Gouki and thus this current body of his is destroyed resulting in him getting a new body created for him by the events of SF4.
Shadaloo has been known to deal in a lot of shady business from drugs to cloning, and Cammy was once a soldier of Shadaloo.
His Super move in ST is the Knee Press Knightmare, wherein he does 2 Knee Presses that end with the opponent being in a juggle state.
