Sandbox / Street Fighter Alpha Updated Versions

Characters debuting in Street Fighter Alpha 2

Sakura

Exuberant Youth

^{Street Fighter Alpha}

Pleased to meet you!

Origin: Japan

Fighting style: Imitation of Ryu's Ansatsuken
Appears in: SFA2, SFIV, SFV (DLC)

Voiced by: ^note Yuko Sasamoto (Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Street Fighter EX Plus α, Street Fighter EX3, Rival Schools: United by Fate, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Capcom vs. SNK, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Namco × Capcom, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, Super Gem Fighter: Mini Mix), Aya Hisakawa (Street Fighter Alpha CD dramas), Mao Kawasaki (Street Fighter Alpha: Generations; Japanese), Misato Fukuen (Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter V; Japanese), Brittney Harvey (Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter V; English).

Full name Sakura Kasugano. A seemingly normal Japanese high school girl, Sakura decided to take on street fighting after witnessing her idol Ryu in battle. She uses a self-taught imitation of Ryu's martial art with her own versions of his special techniques. Her primary outfit is a sailor fuku and a white headband given to her by Ryu. Dan considers Sakura as his student, although she doesn't seem to think much of him.

Sakura returns in V, having finally graduated high school, and now works a part-time job at an arcade. She's also shown to be going through a rough patch, doubting her future as a fighter and wondering just what she's going to be doing for the rest of her life.

Sakura is a much more mobile and aggressive take on the Shotoclone; she has a versatile toolkit standard to the archetype, including a fireball, uppercut and Hurricane Kick, but each move has unique traits that boost her pressure game. Her Hadoken can be charged into a multi-hitting projectile or be angled upward to hit airborne opponents, her "Shouoken" has a sprint at the beginning to close in from mid-range, and her "Shunpukyaku" has her leap up while kicking, avoiding low attacks. Overall, Sakura is encouraged to take big risks in exchange for very rewarding combos and mix-ups, and is much more nimble alternative to classic Shotos like Ryu.

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• Acceptable Feminine Goals and Traits: In V, Sakura decides that rather than continue fighting, what she really wants to do is get married and have children. She calls this her particular form of "strength".
• All Women Love Shoes: In her USFIV victory quote against Poison, Sakura states that she likes Poison's shoes.
• Anti-Air: She has several unique normals that let her swat airborne fighters like "Chin Buster Kick", "Furiko Upper", and "Pendulum Upper", not to mention her own dragon punch and her skyward Hadoken.
• Ascended Fangirl:
  • She began street-fighting because of her intense fascination with Ryu. Eventually, all of her fascinations would come true when she meets Ryu himself, and by proving that she's a worthy fighter, Sakura eventually becomes Ryu's apprentice.
  • In one comic continuity, before she started fangirling Ryu, Sakura was a huge fan of E. Honda, the sumo wrestler, and trained herself to be like him — including lamenting just how much weight she still had to gain.
  • Chun-Li's hero worship of Ryu in the Street Fighter manga would become the basis for Sakura.
• Badass Adorable: Few Street Fighter characters are this cute and this powerful, with even Ken stating that Sakura can match Ryu blow for blow.
• Bash Brothers: She has gained many throughout the series, with some of her friends in the Rival Schools cast being her first. Other notable ones include Ryu, Ken, Chun-Li, Cammy and Guile.
• Bathos: In one win pose, despite being hyped up and serious, her sneaker flies off her foot and bops her on the head.
• Blood Knight: A really friendly version of the archetype; she's out to test her abilities and be able to stand toe to toes with the World Warriors, so she's always happy to accept a battle.
• Boyish Short Hair: She has noticeably shorter hair than most of the female fighters in the series. It's essentially a looser, more feminine version of Ryu's haircut.
• Breakout Character: Since her debut in Alpha 2, she became one of the Street Fighter series' most popular characters. She even won the first official Street Fighter character poll held by Capcom in 2017, and has appeared in multiple crossover titles, such as Marvel Vs. Capcom, Puzzle Fighter, Rival Schools and Monster Hunter.
• The Cameo: She appears at the end of Karin's story mode in V, still wearing her school uniform.
• Charged Attack: Sakura can exchange her Hadoken's range or size by charging it (in the Alpha series this is accomplished by pressing the punch button two or three times for up to three levels while in IV just holding the punch button will enlarge the projectile by up to two levels).
• Close-Range Combatant: Sakura's tools usually lean towards risky melee combat, with many of her specials being best used as gap-closers. Even her Hadoken has a shorter range than the likes of Ryu's. While still quite versatile in her own right, there's a higher risk-reward dynamic associated with her because of her ability to combo and mix up.
• Cooldown Hug: She gives one to Ryu who's very much losing himself to his Satsui no Hado in The Ties That Bind. It works at the last moment.
• Coming of Age: This becomes the plot focus for Sakura in V. Now an adult, Sakura begins to question what she wants to do with her life and if dedicating herself to competitive fighting is really what she wants. In her story mode, she decides after a sparring match with Ryu that settling down and starting a family is achieving strength and fulfillment in her own right.
• Costume Inertia: She's still wearing her seifuku in IV (set after the Alpha games) as it was felt by the dev team to be too iconic to change. In-universe, it's handwaved by her considering it to be appropriate fighting attire, despite her having finished school. Her seifuku reappears as her 'nostalgia costume' in V, and is used for her Alpha arcade path.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: In the Sakura Ganbaru manga, she faces her first defeat at the hands of Ken — obvious right? Unknown to everyone but Dan, she actually managed to break five of Ken's ribs with the Midare Zakura and deal more damage than shown.
• Cute Bruiser: Very cute and can go toe-to-toe with far more experienced fighters.
• The Cutie: Sakura's very sweet, cute and optimistic, and a Hero-Worshipper to Ryu, acting as a strong emotional anchor for the older World Warrior.
• A Day in the Limelight:
  • She's the subject of UDON Comics' first Legends four-issue mini-arcs, which details her life back in Japan after she and Ryu go their separate ways, as well as her over-competitive relationship with Karin.
  • She has her own manga miniseries in Masahiko Nakahira's Sakura Ganbaru!, which details her rise into the Street Fighting circuit and her search for Ryu —befriending so many other fighters and touching so many lives that it basically elevates her to messianic levels.
• Distaff Counterpart: Gameplaywise, to Ryu and Ken as a female Shotoclone. In V, Sakura's DLC costume is the spitting image of the generic outfit all the Shotoclone characters have used since the original Street Fighter, to the point she looks almost exactly like a younger Ryu, which is lampshaded in Sakura Ganbaru, where Ken wonders if she's Ryu's secret love child or younger sister.
• Dogged Nice Girl: Not only does she really want Ryu to train her personally, despite him telling her he could not as he still has much to learn himself, it is also heavily implied that her admiration towards Ryu has developed into full on romantic feelings by the time of IV and V — so much that she gets embarrassed talking about having a child around him. Yet as fighting is—literally—everything for Ryu, and while it's obvious that he does care for her, he's not really the type to consider things like romance in the first place. Sakura remains smitten:
  (Vs. Sagat) I totally understand your obsession with Ryu. Isn't he just dreamy?
  (Ultra Combo finish against Ibuki in her rival battle) Let me tell you, Ryu is so dreamy.
• Fanservice: Despite her personality not being at all provocative, her design is another matter, with attacks like her F+MK command normal, where she does a wheel-kick with her rear leg, giving the player a gratuitous shot of her butt.
• Fragile Speedster: She's nowhere near as bulky and durable as shotos like Ryu and Ken but makes up for it with very strong movement options; she's very light on her feet with a faster walk speed, plus her Shou'ouken and Shunpukyaku both give big bursts of movement on windup. She also has Sakura Drop to surprise attack crouching opponents and, at least in V, a combat roll that can be followed up with a knee strike.
• Gamer Chick: She likes playing video games (except with her little brother, since he always wins), and as of V, she now works a part-time job at an arcade.
• Genki Girl: She's cheerful and optimistic virtually all the time, with her victory animations seeing her jump up and down in elation.
• Go Through Me: In Alpha 3, she takes a full-powered Psycho Crusher to the gut to protect an unconscious Ryu and Maki. This and Sagat's appearance snap Ryu out of his Brainwashed and Crazy status.
• Growing Up Sucks: Discussed in V, where Sakura laments that becoming an adult and getting a job means she can no longer travel the world and take part in fighting tournaments like she used to, and that the time is coming for her to hang up the gloves and become a contributing member of society.
• Guest Fighter:
  • She appears in Rival Schools, where it's established that she's childhood friends with Hinata and Natsu. It's also implied she was the one to invite Akira to participate in V.
  • She makes a guest appearance in Fortnite.
  • She appears in the second SF expansion for Brawlhalla, alongside Ken, Dhalsim, M.Bison, and Luke.
• Hard Work Hardly Works:
  • Sakura taught herself martial arts, special attacks, and Ki-based manoeuvres by emulating Ryu after seeing him on TV; she learned how to shoot energy blasts from her hands without any formal training. Sakura is not against putting in the work, she just doesn't have to. As a fighter, she's still a serious-minded and focused individual, trying to apply Ryu's philosophy that every fight brings a new opportunity to learn, but her technique remains unrefined because she continues to apply what works for her instead of honing it (like Ryu might) because her natural talent is enough.
  • In the Sakura Ganbaru! manga adaptation, Dan demonstrates his Gadoken and explains the basics of Ki Manipulation to Sakura. It takes her less than a minute to perform a complete (albeit still weak) version of the Hadoken, and in no time at all she's using full-power versions of the technique. Seeing this, an outraged Dan pauses for a minute to comment on the absolutely terrifying potential she possesses. A later Hadoken battle between Sakura and Ken obliterates AN ENTIRE CITY BLOCK.
  • In the Super Street Fighter comic book by UDON, Sakura ends up (albeit briefly) tapping into the Satsui No Hado enough to get Akuma's attention through pure determination.
• Hero-Worshipper: Sakura is Ryu's no.1 fangirl and aspires to become his student in the hopes of becoming just like him. Since he's refused to train her, she's become a capable martial artist in her own right by emulating his style. The fighting gloves she wears were even Ryu's old training pads, which he gave to her as a parting gift.
• Home Stage: Literally with the "Kasugano Residence" stage in Alpha 2 and V, set in her backyard in Japan.
• Hurricane Kick: Her Shunpuukyaku. Rather than floating above the ground horizontally, it's more of a hopping spin kick. The EX version ends with a final kick to send her opponent flying, opening up combo opportunities.
• Iconic Sequel Character: Sakura has been one of the most beloved characters in the franchise since her introduction, but wasn't introduced until the second Alpha game.
• Interclass Friendship: Her and Karin are friends despite Karin being ridiculously rich, while Sakura is middle class at best. The manga adaptation and Alpha 3 reveal that this is because Sakura is responsible for handing Karin her first major defeat.
• Kamehame Hadoken: Like all Shotoclones, Sakura can use the Hadoken. Her fireballs are a bit weaker in raw damage than average, but she can also charge it up for extra damage (in exchange for range) as well as fire it up at an angle as an Anti-Air.
• Ki Manipulation: Noteworthy in that she never learned how, she just can. Although in the UDON Comics series this is tackled in more detail, making it something that doesn't simply come automatically (she travels around with Ryu for a bit and has to discover the ability through self-introspection and focus).
• Losing a Shoe in the Struggle: Well post match anyway and Played for Laughs. Her original win pose in the Alpha series has her do a short kata finishing with a kick... after which her sneaker will (sometimes) fly off and hit her in the head.
• Loony Fan: Aside from her adoration of Ryu, when we first see her in the UDON comics, she's a crazy fan of E. Honda's. This is adapted into the games, but not to the loony levels of the comics. Her number one is still Ryu, but she genuinely supports E. Honda's sumo-promoting efforts.
  Sakura: When I grow up, I want to be just like him!
  Kei: Y-you want to weigh 400 pounds?!
  Sakura: If I can! I've already entered a bunch of hot dog eating contests to help me bulk up, and...
• Luminescent Blush: Sakura has an adorable one in her V Story Mode when she realizes that she was talking about getting married and having kids, and talking about this with her crush, rapidly changing the subject.
• Marilyn Maneuver: Several of her win poses feature her skirt fluttering about.
• Martial Arts Headband: Her white headband is actually the headband that Ryu wore in the original Street Fighter and Alpha. Ryu gave it to her and switched to his iconic red headband, which was originally worn by Ken to tie back his hair. By the time of V, though, she's upgraded to her very own red headband.
• Meaningful Name: Her given name means cherry blossom in Japan, although it's officially spelled in hiragana (さくら). Her surname, Kasugano (春日野) means "Sunny Field in Spring".
• Mistaken for Related: When she encounters Ken in Sakura Ganbaru!, Ken is struck by how much she reminds him of Ryu — so much that he thought she was his younger sister he never heard of.
• Modesty Shorts: She wears red PE bloomers with her dogi top in one of her alternate costumes. In V, she wears pants and a red sports-bra underneath her dogi.
• Morality Pet: To Ryu on occasion, whenever he's taken over by the Satsui no Hado.
  • The best example is her Alpha 3 ending, where she stands defiantly in front of Bison to protect Ryu from his fully-powered form, but Bison swats her away and looms in to kill her. Ryu temporarily goes berserk and proceeds to tear Bison a new one.
  • In the Ties That Bind, when Ryu loses himself to the Hadou after Cammy is brutalized by C. Viper, it takes a crying, pleading Sakura to calm him back into sanity.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: Sakura has a much slimmer and lighter build than her peers, but can take down fighters twice her size.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Her Battle Outfit in V is obviously a Ryu costume, but the alternate colors act as references to all of the other karate gi wearing characters in the series. Color 2 is Ryu's Alpha palette, Color 5 is Ken, Color 7 is Akuma and Color 10 is Dan.
  • Her V story mode has her ponder having a family. Albeit non-canon, in her ending in Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter, she is shown as a mother answering her child's question about a photo of her beating the bosses of the game.
• Nice Girl: Passionate about street fighting but otherwise very cheerful and friendly. She's a good sport too (as it would be what Ryu wanted).
• Odd Friendship: When she isn't sparring with Ryu or Karin, Sakura can most likely be found hanging out with Dan and Blanka. In fact, Sakura and Dan are two of the only people aside from Blanka's mother to call him by his real name, Jimmy.
• Older Than They Look: Looks like a high school student in IV, but she's actually the same age as Cammy (early 20s).
• Ordinary High-School Student: During the Alpha series her school outfit is genuine, as she's still in high school. By the time of IV, this is not the case (she's said to have graduated) and she only wears the uniform because it's comfortable combat-wear. However there isn't any evidence of this outside of offhand mentions in non-game sources so it may or may not be true (IV as a whole doesn't quite fit with the timeline set up before it). As of V she's confirmed to have graduated and is working part-time at an arcade, sporting a pachinko parlor worker's uniform.
• Passing the Torch: The franchise frequently hints that Sakura is the top candidate of inheriting Ryu's martial arts legacy should he ever decide to take an apprentice one day.
  • In Super Street Fighter, Sakura has graduated, and is now living with Ryu almost full-time and learning from him. This puts her in a very bad place when Ryu is abducted...
  • In V, her DLC costume is practically the same costume as Ryu's older design!^note In a mirror match between Ryu and either of Sakura's first two costume colors... She's the slightly shorter and slimmer one.
  • Discussed in V; Sakura mentions that Ryu is getting on in years and that he may never find the answers he is looking for, thus should be looking to pass down Gouken's version of the Ansatsuken to a future generation. She doesn't get to suggesting '...to his children' due to realising who she's talking to...
• Power Copying: Of the Taskmaster variety; she learned Ansatsuken techniques merely by watching them. Not even watching them in person, but simply through videos of them. While they aren't the exact refined techniques, it's still outstanding and prodigal mimicry, especially self-taught Ki Manipulation (it's even enough to get Akuma to respect her).
• Precocious Crush: She's implied to have some hidden feelings for Ryu who's at least 10-15 years her senior.
• Primary-Color Champion: Her classic look has red gloves and sneakers, a blue skirt, and a yellow neckerchief.
• The Rival: Karin. Sakura was the first fighter to defeat Karin after the latter's long-lasting win streak. Karin set her sights on evening the score for a long time. After a while though, their dynamic evolved into a Friendly Rivalry, and Karin has since conceded that Sakura is the better fighter between the two.
• Sailor Fuku: She's a teenager in the Alpha games and wears a junior-high uniform, but finally changes to a brand new, grown-up look in V, having graduated from high-school, and sports a pachinko parlour attendant uniform as her default costume, and a training dogi (reminiscent of her look at the end of Alpha 2's manga adaptation) as a DLC costume.
• School Uniforms are the New Black: In the Alpha series, she engages in martial arts battles in her school uniform. In IV, when she takes a plane to visit Ken, she dons the outfit and continues to wear it despite having graduated some time ago. V finally put an end to this by giving her a new outfit and confirming that she graduated high school.
• Shared Signature Move: Alongside all of her other special moves being tied to her admiration of Ryu, Sakura also has learned his super move, Shinku Hadoken.
• She's All Grown Up: In V, Sakura has finally graduated from high-school and works part-time at a local arcade. This heralds a brand new, grown up look for her, and her main outfit in V is her arcade worker uniform, which is based on that of a classic pachinko parlour◊ attendant◊, complete with blouse, waistcoat, neck-scarf and headset.
• She Cleans Up Nicely:
  • In The Ties that Bind, she sports a cute dress while Chun-Li wears a white Qipao. It doesn't stick, and Sakura's still wearing her Martial Arts Headband, quickly discarding the dress to put her more practical fuku back on.
  • In IV, she has a floral dress alternate costume complete with a cute headband in the same material.
  • In V, she manages to make a pachinko attendant's uniform look GOOD.
• Ship Tease: Her relationship with Ryu is expanded upon in her V Story Mode. Sakura, in a moment of introspection, imparts Ryu with the idea of perhaps having children... while trying hard to not say, too blatantly, with who.
• Shotoclone: A self-styled version. She can manipulate ki like the actual practitioners but her techniques are unrefined, meaning her execution of the signature attacks don't mimic the real versions. Her Hadoken is a Charged Attack, her Shoryuken has a running start, and her Hurricane Kick requires her to jump instead of just soaring horizontally to her target. In V, she has the same costume as every other Shotoclone in the form of a fairly conventional martial arts gi.
• Shoryuken: Shou'ouken, with a little jog leading into it, which actually scores more hits into the attack.
• Spirited Competitor: Although she idolizes Ryu and does whatever she can to emulate him and his lifestyle, her emotions and personality hedge closer to Elena's, finding fighting to be a fun pastime and as a way to connect with other people.
• Super Mode: Both of her V-Triggers in V give her HUGE boosts in power. Her first, "Haru Arashi", empowers all of her projectiles, gaining more advantage on hit for landing Hadokens and even being able to combo off of them. Her second, "Sakura Senpu", empowers her Shou'ouken and Shunpukyaku, granting even more hits and being able to naturally combo off each other without burning her super meter.
• Superpowered Evil Side:
  • Parodied by 'Dark Sakura' in the Marvel Vs. series. She hasn't actually turned evil, she's just got wicked sunburn, the power of which Doctor Strange helps her to harness, allowing her to bypass Hyper Combos.
  • The UDON comics play it straight, with Dark Sakura being the result of her succumbing to the Satsui no Hado.
• Surpassed the Teacher: Some media present her as Dan's student, where she learns a lot of Ansatsuken basics before striking out on her own when she plateaus under his tutelage. In the UDON comics, it's implied Ryu is her actual teacher, and Dan is just used to placate her parents.
• Talented, but Trained: She is incredibly talented and taught herself how to fight and perform the Hadouken, but as her IV story mode shows, she is an insanely diligent trainee.
• Talent vs. Training: Sakura is a self-taught fighter whose style is an unrefined, yet still effective, imitation of Ryu's moves. By contrast, her rival Karin is formally trained in her family's Kanzuki-ryu martial arts which is an amalgamation of the best techniques of other fighting styles.
• Tarot Motifs: Sakura represents The Sun in the 30th Anniversary Tarot Deck. The Sun represents happiness and optimism, which Sakura has in spades.
• Teen Genius: With how absurdly quick she took to learning advanced martial arts techniques like the Hadoken, Sakura is a very talented fighter for her age, able to pick up Ryu's moves without formal training. Her competitors have all been training their entire lives, making her a walking anomaly of talent.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The tomboy to Karin's girly-girl.
• Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Sakura's among the most tomboyish girls in the series, and certainly the most recognizable. She does have her fair share of alternate outfits which show that she still enjoys dressing girly as well, and she's stated to be relatively good at cooking in Ultra IV. In V, she also comes around to entertaining the thought of starting a family and being a mother.
• Training from Hell: Despite her natural talent and lack of formal training Sakura puts herself under a vigorous conditioning regimen that is beyond what a girl her age can do:
  (SSFIV Prologue)..Today's Training regiment: 100 laps around the deck, 500 push-ups, 500 sit-ups, 500 pull-ups, and 800 squats...
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: V introduces a V-Skill, "Haru Hayate", that has Sakura roll forward and can be followed up with a knee strike. The move has a ton of synergy with her other attacks, being cancellable from normals and even her Hadoken, granting a wealth of mix-up opportunities.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Her fighting style is self-taught, and she is able to do a Hadoken without any formal training. It's further demonstrated by her Hurricane Kick; while Ryu's practiced one involves him soaring through the air like a helicopter, her's is basically a spinning hop.
• Unstoppable Rage: Played for Laughs in the Alpha 2 manga; push Sakura far enough and she'll enter a rage-fueled state where her eyes dim and she's way less merciful when fighting, not to mention she has a TERRIFYING◊ Nightmare Face to boot.
• Variant Power Copying: While she's able to imitate Ryu's techniques, they aren't the exact versions due to being self-taught. And while she's gotten time to get formal training, her moves remain as is — not because they're weaker or inferior, but simply because they simply work better that way for her.
• Whole Costume Reference:
  • IV gives her an outfit that's an exact replica of Ryu's classic torn gi.
  • Sakura's Story Costume in V is the real uniform worn by employees at the Plaza Capcom arcade.
• Worthy Opponent: The majority of her opponents are impressed by her skills and potential and they know that she will become a great fighter. It says a lot when Akuma's chief complaint is that she's only imitating the Ansatsuken rather than properly learning it. In the UDON comic series, he even leaves her alive when she briefly taps into the Satsui-no-Hado, saying that she has the potential to get stronger and that one day, he might fight her for real.

Rolento

Perfect Soldier

^{Street Fighter Alpha}

^{Capcom Fighters Network}

Mission complete!

Origin: USA

Fighting style: Military Martial Arts
Appears in: SFA2, USFIV

Voiced by: ^note Jin Yamanoi (Street Fighter Alpha 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3, Capcom vs. SNK 2, Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultra Street Fighter IV; Japanese), Jon St. John (Final Fight Revenge), Dameon Clarke (Street Fighter X Tekken, Ultra Street Fighter IV; English [as Alan Smithe])

Full name Rolento F. Schugerg. A German-American mercenary, Rolento formerly served the United States' Red Berets special forces unit before joining Mad Gear as its sub-leader, managing the gang's secret drug plant located at Metro City's Industrial Area in the original Final Fight. After the downfall of the gang, he decided to create a Utopian nation of elite soldiers, hoping to recruit both former allies (Sodom) and adversaries (Guy and Cody), to his cause. Reappears in IV trying to defeat Seth and take his technology for his army.

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• Beating A Dead Player: One of his win poses involves throwing a grenade at his fallen opponent.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Rolento has an extremely simplistic, binary view of the world and the people around him; either you're a soldier for his jingoistic crusade or you're an enemy.
• Blatant Lies: "Me... dictator? Me... insane? Negative! Absolutely negative!"
• The Bus Came Back: Returned to the main series in USFIV, after a good 10 years + absence.
• Colonel Badass: As seen in his Ultra arcade intro.
• Cult of Personality: His overriding goal throughout all of his post-Final Fight appearances is to recruit able-bodied fighters to his militaristic cause and generally spread the word of his vision. By the time of his reappearance in USFIV, he seems to have succeeded and already has legions of obedient troops at his command.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Crazy military man he may be, but he wants people to be able to make their own decisions in his utopia. Which is why he destroys the Psycho Drive in Alpha 3, rather than claim it for himself.
  • In his rival battle against Cody in Alpha 3, he's shocked and appalled at Cody becoming a convict.
• Flechette Storm: Hurls a knife at his opponent from mid-air for one of his special moves.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Rolento was initially presented as relatively comical in Alpha. Come USFIV and we see him as incredibly competent, commanding a massive military force, obliterating Seth with grenades and taking over S.I.N.'s headquarters, meaning their technology and secrets are his for the taking.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Sports a mysterious scar on his face, enhancing his Ax-Crazy personality.
• Mad Bomber: He uses grenades in close combat, for crying out loud!
• Monochromatic Eyes: In-game and in the majority of his character artworks, used to signify his insanity.
• N.G.O. Superpower: In USFIV, he is shown to finally be in command of a full-on, independent paramilitary organisation which is engaged in some unspecified desert conflict.
• No Brows: Which adds to his slightly unhinged persona.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner: "I've an offer for you. I offer you a glorious death - in battle!" He says this right before blowing Seth up with grenades in his USFIV ending.
• Razor Floss: For his "Take No Prisoner" super, he lassos his opponent with a wire, then loops it over a hook held by one of his cronies to hang the victim. Fortunately, it doesn't actually cut the opponent but the move is Darker and Edgier for the series on the whole. In USFIV, the wire is upgraded to a rope.
• Signature Headgear: Usually a signature red beret. His alternate costumes in USFIV have him wearing a janitor's cap and a magician's cloak.
• Slasher Smile: In his IV versus portrait.
• Spectacular Spinning: Patriot Circle — a multi-hitting attack in which he rapidly spins his baton into the opponent.
• Spell My Name With An S: His name is misspelled "Rolent" in Final Fight 2 and in his Alpha 2 ending — likely because his name, originally meant to be "Laurent", has been mis-romanized.
• Stuff Blowing Up: He defeats Seth with lots of grenades, to the point that the room around them has turned into a crumbling ruin.
• Tarot Motifs: Rolento represents The Hanged Man in the 30th Anniversary Tarot Deck. The Hanged Man represents commitment and self-sacrifice, representing Rolento's determination to create his utopia. It's also likely a reference to Rolento's super in which he literally hangs his opponent.
• Throw Down the Bomblet: His super in USFIV involves him hurling multiple grenades onto his prone opponent.
• Unnecessary Combat Roll: All the freaking time — they should have called him Roll-ento while they were at it. However, rolling is far from unnecessary for him, since it's actually the basis of his acrobatic combat style.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: He might be a bit crazy, a former crime syndicate boss, and plotting to seize control of the entire world, but he very much believes he will be able to create a perfect society and describes his cause to his soldiers as "nothing less than to save the world" in his USFIV intro.
• Walking Armory: In a series where most of the cast fights with their bare fists, Rolento is the most heavily-armed combatant, carrying a metal baton, knives, a ring of grenades, and a nasty length of wire that he uses to lynch the opponent for one of his supers.
• Wall Jumper: His Mekong Delta Escape.

Evil Ryu

For tropes on him, see Ryu's page. For Kage, the physical manifestation of Evil Ryu, check Street Fighter V.

Characters debuting in Street Fighter Alpha 3

Cody

Metro City's New Mayor

^{Street Fighter Alpha}

Desk work just isn't my thing, you know? Looks like I can have a little fun now.

Origin: USA

Fighting style: Underworld brawling
Appears in: SFA3, SSFIV, SFV (DLC)

Voiced by: ^note Nobutoshi Canna (Final Fight CD), Michael Dobson (Street Fighter TV Series), Kōichi Yamadera (Street Fighter Alpha 3), Nobuyuki Hiyama (Street Fighter Alpha 3 Drama Album), Rick Calvert (Final Fight Revenge), Daisuke Kishio (Super Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter V; Japanese), Michael T. Coleman (Super Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter X Tekken, Street Fighter V; English)

Portrayed by: ^note Kenny Omega (Street Fighter V character trailer)

Full name Cody Travers. An American martial arts expert, specializing in knife fighting, Cody is a born street fighter who became known as the "Hero of Metro City" after rescuing his childhood sweetheart Jessica from the Mad Gear gang in Final Fight. However, he ended up becoming addicted to street fighting and was framed by his old nemesis Edi E. for acts of assault committed by Poison. While in jail he breaks up with his girlfriend and most of his friends abandon him. He manages to escape during a jail riot. He appears again in Super Street Fighter IV on a quest to stop the threat that Seth possess to the world.

He reappears again in V, having gone through quite the transformation, having officially ditched his handcuffs and prison uniform, donned a nice suit, and became the new mayor of Metro City, after being exonerated of his crimes by Mike Haggar.

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• 10-Minute Retirement: Every time he decides to stop fighting and just keep to himself, his inner heroism and desire for justice prevent him from idly standing by while people like Bison or Gill are around.
• Action Politician: He's become the new mayor of Metro City in V, having replaced Mike Haggar.
• Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Normally, unless something or somebody is threatening the world (or especially Metro City) at large, Cody is perfectly content to stay locked up in prison. But just ask the entire Mad Gear Gang how bad of an idea it is to piss him off. Not even the resident villains of the series risk getting Cody's undivided attention.
• Badass Normal: In a game where most characters have Ki Manipulation, Cody just uses rocks, knives, wrenches, steel pipes and dust. Aside from his ability to create miniature tornadoes with the sheer force of his punches, Cody's fighting style is probably the most fitting for a series called Street Fighter.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: In V, he wears a spiffy looking suit as his default costume, having ditched his prison garb. He also has a white tuxedo outfit as one of his alternate costumes.
• Batter Up!: Cody has been known to use a pipe as a weapon, but in V, he uses it like a makeshift bat, hitting rocks at the opponent like baseballs. He also has a grab attack where he'll use the opponent as the ball.
• Because I'm Good At It: He's actually pretty burnt out on fighting and just wants to retire to a simpler life but he keeps diving back into situations where he can start fights or finds an excuse to get in one (evildoer, strong opponent, what have you) because he thinks it's the only talent he has.
• Berserk Button: Corrupt cops, if several of his win quotes are anything to go by.
• Blood Knight: Deconstructed; he went to jail for always starting brawls under the slightest provocation, despite his connections with Mayor Mike Haggar, and he looks obviously bored everytime he fights — presumably because he doesn't get any satisfaction out of fighting anymore and continues to do so only because he is simply addicted to it. The original trumped-up charges that landed him in prison were actually assaults committed by Poison. In other words, it may well be that Cody didn't actually develop these tendencies until he was falsely convicted for them.
• Blow You Away:
  • As evidenced by Criminal Upper, Cody can swing with enough force to drum up a small twister.
  • In V, he's able to actually throw tornadoes, and his Critical Art is basically his Criminal Upper attack, only the tornado it creates is much bigger.
• Boisterous Bruiser: It takes a lot to bring out this side of him, but pique his interest and put up a good fight, and he's actually rather enthusiastic. By the the time of V, this seems to be his default attitude.
• Book Dumb: Cody is hilariously incompetent at most of his new duties as Mayor of Metro City. Fortunately, Haggar has planned ahead and assigned a hypercompetent Sexy Secretary named Maisie Marlowe to help him out.
• Boring, but Practical: In V, a game where the Super Modes can involve charging with electricity, gaining a body hard as steel, and so on, his involves him just whipping out a knife or bat. That said, they extend the reach of his normals, give him new moves (a slash flurry with the knife, and baseball-inspired stuff with the pipe), and give him more combo and pressure opportunities.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: On the brilliant side, he can potentially be one the most powerful fighters in the world. On the lazy side, his cynicism and apathy prevents him from trying. In V, he can potentially be just as good a mayor as Haggar used to be but the problem is he's not a big fan of all the responsibility the job entails, so he tends to shirk his duties to go around fighting criminals, even for minor offenses like illegal parking, as Abigail can attest.
• Byronic Hero: Prior to V, Cody was a truly tragic, flawed figure who managed to be his own worst enemy. He became a sullen Blood Knight who didn't care about anything but punching people to feel alive. This attitude not only landed him in jail, but cost him the girlfriend he risked his life to save. Come V, however, he has begun a redemption arc, which has led to him succeeding Haggar as the Mayor of Metro City.
• Call-Back: His moveset in V pulls heavily from his original appearance in Final Fight. His Double Kick V-Skill even causes him slight recoverable damage, just as it did in the original game.
• Cardboard Prison: What the prison in Metro City is to Cody. He always returns, but the fact that it can't hold him is a problem.
• Character Catchphrase: "Bingo!" and "Jackpot!", when calling his specials.
• Cerebus Retcon: According to Final Fight's endings, he lives happily with Jessica. According to Street Fighter, they break up, he becomes an apathetic Blood Knight, and he did time in prison until V.
• Chained by Fashion: Cody's handcuffs in Alpha 3 and SSFIV which he could easily remove at any time.
• Character Shilling: Cody's undeniably badass, but other than his ending in IV, where he defeats one of the 26 copies of Seth, he doesn't particularly do anything to suggest that he's as powerful as he's stated to be by other members of the cast. Why an Omnicidal Maniac like Oni would praise a guy who throws dirt and swings pipes and wrenches about when he's capable of reducing anyone human to Ludicrous Gibs remains a mystery.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Through seemingly nothing but his fighting experience and training, Cody is so unbelievably strong that he can create miniature tornadoes through the sheer force of his punches.
• Clothing Damage: Using the costume code on Cody's Final Fight outfit rips up his shirt.
• Clothing Switch: His Story costume in V has him wearing Haggar's pants, and it shows. They're much too big for him, and the only reason they aren't around his ankles is because of the shoulder-strap belt holding them up — and it's barely doing its job since the top of his underwear is plainly visible.
• Combat Pragmatist: While he does have formal martial arts training, Cody specializes in dirty fighting, such as the use of knives, pipes, and throwing clumps of dirt and rocks into his opponent's eyes. Being a literal street fighter, it makes sense he wouldn't restrain himself too much.
  • In SSFIV, his Last Dread Dust Ultra begins with his trademark "kicking sand in the opponent's eye routine" before following up with a wrench-aided bludgeoning, uppercutting them with said wrench, and then winding up and knocking them out of the park... with a metal pipe.
  • In Alpha 3, he has attack on wakeup called Bad Spray. In SSFIV, he adds Zonk Knuckle to his arsenal — a sucker punch.
  • In V, he still has his knife with him, but only pulls it out as his V-Trigger I. It seems that Haggar, in his letter to Cody as the previous mayor, told him to only use weapons in situations that require them. Same deal with lead pipes, which he can only brandish with his V-Trigger II.
• Combat Sadomasochist: Since his time in jail, Cody has developed a certain appreciation for dishing out and receiving pain. It's more present in SFxT due to Character Exaggeration, but it's certainly noticeable in the main series.
  Hurts, don't it?
• Costume Inertia: When the Super update of IV was in development, Capcom considered putting Cody back into his white shirt and blue jeans from the Final Fight series, but fans preferred his blue-and-white prison jumpsuit from Alpha 3. Thus, the "striped prison uniform and handcuffs" apparel became his default outfit for all of his appearances outside of the beat-em-up trilogy he debuted in, including the crossover games and the Street Fighter UDON comics. In V, his default is a nice suit, since Cody is now mayor, with his prison uniform and his Final Fight clothes being selectable as alternate costumes.
• Darker and Edgier: His transition over to Street Fighter from Final Fight was not what people were expecting, to say the least.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ever since he was jailed.
• Devious Daggers: A heroic version. A knife will mysteriously appear on the battlefield in both Alpha 3 and SSFIV during Cody's matches, in reference to the original Final Fight, where he is the best character with knives. In V, his knife use is limited to his V-Trigger I, due to Haggar's instruction to only use weapons when absolutely necessary, despite this, he will still brandish it in his intro.
• Distracted by the Sexy: A subtle example in his Alpha 2 background cameo on Guy's stage. If a female fighter happens to pass by him, his gaze will stray from Jessica and towards the character, and he'll grin. This prompts a slap in the face from Jessica.
• Dull Surprise: After spending time as a jailbird, his default expression is fatigued disinterest, exemplified by his bland Oh, Crap! face in SSFIV when faced with an Ultra.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Before becoming playable in Alpha 3, he makes an appearance in the background of Guy's Alpha 2 stage, wearing his classic Final Fight clothes and standing with Jessica.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: In V, Cody keeps his hair slicked back, adding to his cleaned up look as the new mayor of Metro City.
• Fallen Hero: The man who saved Metro city becomes a common jailbird in the Alpha-era. Thankfully, he bounces back farther then he fell, going from a convict constantly in and out of jail to being the mayor of Metro City.
• Flat-Earth Atheist: As befitting the fact he's become a Straw Nihilist.
  If your god is real... couldn't he just make it rain on your village?
• Good Old Fisticuffs: In V, Cody tries to downplay his previous Combat Pragmatist ways and rely more on his fists, only using knives, pipes and rocks when absolutely necessary as his V-Triggers.
• Goofy Print Underwear: His Story outfit in V exposes the top part of his underwear, and for some reason, he's wearing boxers with a cartoon drawing of a cow on them. This cow is actually a power-up called a Holstein, which appeared in several old Capcom arcade games.
• Had to Be Sharp: According to Cody, the old slums in Metro City forced him to grow up learning how to fight and provide for himself.
• A Handful for an Eye: Cody has a habit of kicking dust at his opponents. In V, he has a wakeup move where he grabs a handful of sand and throws it at his opponent.
• Handwraps of Awesome: In the Final Fight series, Cody has blue bandages around his wrists and the lower half of his hands; in the Street Fighter series, they are replaced by white bandages that cover his hands completely, and leave only the fingers exposed.
• He Cleans Up Nicely: In V, Cody has finally started to turn his life around, getting a shave, slicking back his hair, and swapping out the prison uniform and handcuffs for a slick waistcoat and a fancy watch. His Battle Outfit also fits the bill, with it being a fancy white tux.
• Hidden Heart of Gold: Deep down, Cody does agree with Guy over the idea that he's still a good person, and wants to become a true hero again. The reason that Cody does not take the last steps out of anti-heroism is that he has a fear of the past repeating itself, as well as self-hatred. Furthermore, even though Cody insists that he is not a hero anymore, he clearly still feels the need to fight the forces of evil.
• Honor Before Reason:
  • During the ending of Final Fight, he refuses to settle down to a happy life with Jessica in order to keep fighting crime.
  • Cody can break out of prison whenever he wants, but he feels that he deserved to be arrested for his own fight-happy tendencies, and therefore willingly returns to his cell.
• Hunk: Textbook definition. Especially noticeable with his Story costume in V, where he has no shirt and partially exposed underwear.
  Ibuki: (Vs. Cody) I'm loving the whole edgy, bad boy heartthrob mayor thing you got going on! It's kinda hot!
• Hurricane Kick: His 1st V-Skill in V is a classic move from the original Final Fight, the Double Kick, where he jumps in the air and does two kicks in both directions.
• Hyperspace Arsenal: Cody inexplicably stashes a pipe and an adjustable wrench about his person, usually pulled out from behind his back.
• I Know Madden Kombat: One of his Super Modes in V involves using a pipe and rock with baseball-inspired moves.
• "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Guy believes that there is still a hero somewhere deep enough within Cody. Cody, cynical as he is, doesn't appear to buy it, but both of his endings prove otherwise. Cody actually does agree with Guy over the idea that he is still a hero, but will not admit it, or even allow it to convince himself that he is not too dangerous to approach. Prior to V, Mike Haggar snaps him out of it, leading Cody to become mayor.
• I'm Not a Hero, I'm...: During the Alpha and IV eras. In his win quote against Bison, Cody says he also considers himself to be "villainous", but still needs to take Bison down.
• Institutional Apparel: Gets the horizontal stripes variant in Alpha 3, which becomes his default outfit in the Street Fighter franchise as a whole. SSFIV gives him orange scrubs as DLC. In V, his default is instead a nice suit, and the intro to Arcade Edition shows his old prison uniform lying discarded on the ground. It's still selectable as his Nostalgia costume, though.
• I Shall Taunt You: Something Cody is quite fond of, since it provokes other people into fighting him.
• Jack of All Stats:
  • While not excelling in any particular category, Cody can be competitive against almost any character; he has reasonable mobility, a viable projectile game, high stun combined with solid damage output, an excellent anti-fireball ultra, a wide variety of anti-airs, and frame-traps.
  • Invoked in-universe; Cody is explicitly stated to have developed his fighting style to be able to counter any type of opponent.
• Jade-Colored Glasses: In Alpha and IV, many of his win quotes, particularly to those who believe in a higher power (like Dhalsim or Rose) or morals (like Guile or Gouken) or other ideals, are cynical and pessimistic observations. Some of these quotes invoke Jerkass Has a Point.
• Justice Will Prevail: Cody's will to strive for justice may be exhausted and subdued, but it is still present.
• Kick the Dog: Makes a transphobic comment to Poison in the Udon comics to incite her into a berserk fury.
• Knight in Sour Armor: With the emphasis on sour. He still maintains a sense of justice but he knows the path he has to take to achieve it will lead him right back to where he came from and he beats himself up for it.
• Knuckle Cracking: He cracks his knuckles right before his Final Destruction Ultra Combo.
• Lighter and Softer: His transition from criminal in IV to Mayor in V had another 180 degrees turn. Going from a total nihilist who always thought the worst of people and life in general, to a very lighthearted guy who doesn't treat everyone like trash and actually feels like he can make a change. And while he isn't a complete clown and still does have his moments of brooding, he's verging on comic relief while in his new position as Mayor.
• Love Cannot Overcome: Despite being in a loving and stable relationship with Jessica Haggar, and Cody rescuing her from the Mad Gear, Jessica abandons him as soon as he is thrown in prison for crimes he did not commit. Played more sympathetically in the Udon comics where it's clear this is the last straw in a series of arrests for crimes he did commit but Mike Haggar bailed him out from.
• Meaningful Name: His name can be traced to an Irish word meaning "helpful".
• Mr. Fanservice: Cody's one of the most attractive male characters in the series. The is especially evident with his Story costume in V, where he's wearing Haggar's clothes. Not only does this mean he's shirtless, but the pants are much too big for him, and they droop to the point of showing the top of his underwear. There's also his victory animation, which looks like he's posing for a Calvin Klein ad.
• Mythology Gag: Cody's introduction trailer for V begins with a live-action segment of him (played by Kenny Omega) as the new mayor of Metro City, getting an ominous phone call, which is similar to what happens to Haggar in the intro to the original Final Fight. The voice on the other end of the phone is Xavier Woods, referencing when he and Kenny Omega fought each other in V during CEO 2016.
• Never Trust a Trailer: The original trailers for SSFIV depict Cody facing Chun-Li in his Rival Battle (it'd make sense, considering that she's a cop and he's a escaped convict/vigilante), but it was changed to Guy later in development. In his V trailer he also has the below outro quote that he doesn't use in the actual game:
  Punishment by fist, not a bad policy, ain't it?
• Nonchalant Dodge: Cody has the unique ability among the street fighters to completely negate the opponent's attacks by dodging them with his V-Ism Yoke ability. He gains the ability back in IV's Omega Mode with a command called Crime Sway, which returns in V as his 2nd V-Skill.
• Not Me This Time: The circumstances surrounding Cody's arrest; while he was never prosecuted for assaulting multiple thugs in clearing Metro City of the Mad Gear Gang, he did beat up a corrupt cop, Edi, along the way. Later, Poison committed several acts of assault which Edi promptly framed Cody for, landing him in jail where he developed the love of fighting that would keep him there.
• Not-So-Innocent Whistle:
  • After he wins a fight in SSFIV.
  • During his Last Dread Dust ultra, he whistles right after slamming his opponent with his pipe.
• One-Man Army: In the UDON comic, he boast to Ryu that he's used to fighting multiple opponents at a time and winning. He backs it up by nearly curb-stomping Ryu until the Satsui no Hadou kicks in, surprising Cody long enough to be coldcocked in return.
• Perma-Stubble: As part of his rougher, jailbird look in Alpha.
• Pipe Pain: Cody uses a pipe as a weapon during his second Ultra Combo in IV. In V, he utilizes the pipe as his V-Trigger II, extending the range of his HP attacks, while also giving him access to new moves. He can throw a rock into the air and hit it with the pipe towards the opponent like a baseball, or he can grab the opponent and use them as the ball.
• Rags to Riches: Went from being a hopeless convict to being the mayor of a major city in the span of one game.
• Reformed Criminal: By the time of V, Cody has completely turned his life around, going from a convict to becoming mayor. He still has a tendency to start fights for little to no reason; he beats up Abigail for simply parking illegally, and he tries to get a second fight out of Zeku before Miss Marlowe interrupts him.
• Reluctant Ruler: Being mayor wasn't exactly something he wanted, and he had the position given to him by Haggar. Although he complains about it, he does begin to find some joy in the job.
• Protectorate: One of the only things still capable of truly infuriating him is posing a threat to the outside world at large or Metro City, which he still considers his duty to protect.
• That Man Is Dead: The hero he used to be is dead and gone, he tells Chun-Li in SFIV. Whether he honestly believes it or not is another matter. As of V, he's accepted that his desire to see justice done to evildoers is a part of who he is — he just doesn't want to be put on a pedestal for it.
• Trademark Favorite Food: He likes spinach and milk.
• The Rival: To Guy.
• Sadly Mythtaken: Cody seems to have a... loose grasp on the difference between religions. He confuses Dhalsim's polytheistic Hindu religion for monotheism.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: One of his victory animations in Alpha 3 has Cody gasp and run away when he notices Edi E. chasing him with a gun and cuffs. However, Cody will occasionally knock him out.
• Seen It All: As a fighter. Unless his opponent is someone who is genuinely passionate about fighting (Ryu) or is fighting at superhuman levels (Oni), he generally snubs them for not breaking up his boredom or showing him anything new.
• Signature Laugh: Depending on the language you have him set to, it alternates between a satisfied chuckle or an ear-grating "HA HA".
• Sleepyhead: In all of his appearances outside of the Final Fight series, he almost always looks exhausted. One of his victory poses as well as some of his taunts in SSFIV involve yawning, and one taunt has him flat-out taking a nap in the middle of the match. Amusingly, if Cody gets a Game Over in SSFIV, he will not cry out in frustration or anger; instead, he will yawn and lie down on his back to sleep. Even in V, he tends to yawn a lot and is actually shown asleep and reclining in his chair during his Arcade Mode ending.
• Straw Nihilist: Being in prison does that to you, since he no longer exhibits this in V. More noticeable in SSFIV with this pearl he delivers to Dhalsim:
  If your god is real, couldn't he just make it rain on your village?
• Tragic Hero: After defeating Belger, Cody couldn't get away from fighting, causing him to be framed by crooked cop Edi and also Poison, then developing an outright addiction to fighting and breaking up with Jessica, the girl he saved. His ending in SSFIV has him willingly return to jail because that's where he believes he belongs. In spite of everything, he still can't sit idly by when he's been made aware of a threat at large.
• Trauma Conga Line: First Cody is framed for Poison's crimes, then his girlfriend leaves him while he is locked up, and then most of his other friends abandon him. By the time he shows up in Alpha 3, Cody is in a truly pitiable state.
• Unkempt Beauty: During his time in prison in the Alpha series, he's still very handsome, albeit a bit scruffy looking.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Played with. He's one of the few Street Fighter characters who's an actual street fighter in the literal sense, but he has a formal martial arts background, tempered by experience and his Combat Pragmatism. He's also powerful enough for post-Oni Akuma to show respect.
• Victory Is Boring: With Mad Gear beaten and Metro City saved, Cody's boredom has grown out of his mind; that's the main reason why he has developed the addiction to fighting that eventually helped keep him in jail.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Guy. Most of the snark comes from Cody, but it's clear that the two are still good friends. Notably, it seems that only Guy can break Cody out of his facade and send him careening at the forces of evil.
• Waistcoat of Style: His default outfit in V.
• Walking Shirtless Scene: His Story costume in V has him wearing Haggar's clothes, which does not include a shirt.
• When He Smiles: Cody generally has a bored expression on his face, only ever smiling when he's really enjoying a fight. However, he seems to be taking a more positive attitude in V.
• Willfully Weak: For a couple of reasons; he's addicted to fighting, and unless he restrains himself, most opponents would go down too quick for his liking. Also, without the restraints, he would probably brutally injure anybody he fights, and he's not too keen on that. In V, instead of keeping his cuffs on, he restrains himself by only using his fists (and tornadoes), only pulling out his trademark weapons when the fight calls for it.
• With My Hands Tied: Cody fights in his prison garb and cuffs in Alpha 3 and SSFIV to give himself a challenge. It hardly ever matters in the long run, since the chain linking his cuffs is so long, the amount of free movement he has means that he might as well have his hands free.
• Worthy Opponent: What Cody ultimately wants is someone he can have fun fighting.
• Years Too Early: He says that Sakura is no match for him now, but in a few years, she'd be a serious problem. In V, years after their first encounter, he admits she has changed a lot and he could barely recognize her, though he never acknowledges if she got as good as he thought she would become.

Karin

Perfect Victor

^{Street Fighter Alpha}

I'll show you the divide in our class.

Origin: Japan

Fighting style: Kanzuki-ryu
Appears in: SFA3, SFV

Voiced by: ^note Miho Yamada (Street Fighter Alpha 3, Namco × Capcom), Aya Endo (Street Fighter V, Japanese), Lauren Landa (Street Fighter V, English)

Full name Karin Kanzuki. The extremely wealthy heiress of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, who enrolled in Sakura's school to "observe the commoners" and find a Worthy Opponent. Despite being an archetypal Rich Bitch, she's also exhibits a softer side, sponsoring R. Mika's wrestling and having a friendly rivalry with Sakura. Her Kanzuki-style martial arts are an amalgamation of various other types.

She makes a return in Street Fighter V, ditching her school uniform for a new, fancier ensemble that still retains the feel of her classic outfit. She's taken in former Shadaloo soldier Birdie as a house guest, and gone on a quest to find a Senjutsu master, best known as Oro, who fought her grandfather many years ago. She's also evidently holding her own tournament in New York.

Karin is an elegant brawler who can dominate the mid-range and set up for a devastating offense. She boasts some of the best normal attacks in her respective games — her standing Fierce punch has devastating priority and anti-air capability — with good reach, speed and safety, and many of her special moves let her juggle the opponent for combos or force them into long block strings. She's also one of the first fighters with a counter attack, being her "Yasha Gaeshi" ^note the move gets turned into her second V-Trigger in V, making fighting back against her a risky option. And when mid-combo, specials like her Guren Ken strings and Mujinkyaku chain together seamlessly for huge amounts of damage and corner-carry. It can take some work getting into her effective range given she has no projectile, but pray you don't let her get the edge on you.

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• The Ace: She's been successful in every pursuit she's ever attempted, even those that shouldn't have been humanly possible, such as the trials she had to undertake to qualify as heir to the Kanzuki Zaibatsu (like returning from the wilderness to her home, alone, when she was 9, or defeating 50 stampeding bulls in one sitting when she was 14). As if to reinforce this, throughout the V story mode, Karin is one of the few fighters who is never placed in the CPU's control (read: the losing side).
• Action Fashionista: The name of the trophy for new outfit colors is "The outfit is the highlight of battle", and Karin says this about it:
  The true créme de la créme know how to give the spectators a good show. Now go and gain new colors for your outfit.
• Adaptational Jerkass: The UDON comics portrayal of Karin is much less kind than her video game counterpart. UDON Karin is not only much more of a Rich Bitch and willing to cheat to get her way, but is also not above causing more serious harm to her opponents, like when she tries to kick Ibuki out of a moving car.
• Alliterative Name: Karin Kanzuki.
• Alpha Bitch: Very much her persona in the Sakura Ganbaru manga series in which she made her debut. The rest of her high school class do exactly as she tells them, referring to her as Miss Karin, despite being the same age, with Karin referring to them as "commoners". This haughty, snobby characterization forms the basis of her Alpha 3 persona, and many of her win-quotes are elitist and bitchy. In V, however, she Took a Level in Kindness, enough to shelter someone like Birdie, whom she would probably consider as lower than a commoner in her teenage years^*(even though her reason is to prove she can be a master good enough that no underling of hers would betray her). She still has a rather haughty attitude, though.
• Always Someone Better: Originally, Sakura could still beat her despite the years she put into studying under the Kanzuki school, which drove her a little crazy. However she manages to eventually best Sakura and the two are now on relatively equal footing, cooling down Karin's constant need to be the best at everything.
• Ascended Extra: From her origins in the Sakura-centered manga Sakura Ganbaru, to being Sakura’s rival in the Alpha series and nothing else, she graduates to being the one who gathers the World Warriors in V and ultimately one of the driving forces towards Shadaloo's downfall— a gigantic step-up in Karin's relevance in the overarching canon.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: By design, the only members of the Kanzuki family allowed to inherit the title of its matriarch/patriarch are the strongest.
• Badass Adorable: She looks the part of a demure Victorian young lady, despite being a highly skilled, confident fighter.
• Badass Boast: The Kanzuki family motto is "In Everything, Be Victorious!" A bonus short in the Street Fighter III: Ryu Final manga takes this further with "Victorious, therefore Supreme! Supreme, she is Karin Kanzuki!"
• Badass Normal: Unlike many of the other characters, including her rival Sakura, she uses no "chi" or "magic" type attacks and all of her moves are physical attacks (pretty much) grounded in reality.
• Battle Aura: The Kanzuki-ryu style's top ability allows a user to defeat enemies with their aura alone.
• The Beautiful Elite: Karin is an elite in everything — wealth, status, martial arts, beauty, etc. As we see in V, those with whom she associates are her equals in at least one of these respects.
• Big Fancy House: The Kanzuki Estate makes its on-screen debut in V as Karin's home-stage and is designed around a traditional Japanese castle, albeit with a European-style ballroom interior. The estate also has its own station, where a bullet train can be spotted arriving and departing. Shibazaki and Ishizaki (her assistant and butler respectively) cheer her on from the sidelines.
• Big Good: Takes this role in the V story mode, being the driving logistical force behind most of the fighters getting together to combat Bison.
• Break the Haughty: Interestingly, it was winning that did this for her, as her status as second-best to Sakura only amped up her desire to win and be recognized as superior. After beating Sakura, she stops being so ravenously competitive, realising it's the respect one earns for demonstrating great skill that is the real reward for doing well, not the recognition of simply being number one.
• Canon Immigrant: Karin first appeared not in the Alpha games, but in the Sakura-centric tie-in manga Sakura Ganbaru. Her presence in the series has since gone way beyond that one manga.
• Character Development: Since she was young, Karin's father has demanded that she never be second-best at anything, as victory is the Kanzuki family creed. This led her to obsessively pursuing Sakura, who handed Karin her first definitive defeat. In Alpha 3, she runs into Ken Masters (essentially her Spear Counterpart), who tells her that improvement and the thrill of fighting is more important than merely winning. After finally defeating Sakura again, Karin realizes that it was a fluke victory that could have gone either way and comes to understand Ken's advice. Upon her return in V, Karin has sincerely mellowed out and has made friends with both Sakura and many other top-class fighters. She often challenges them to test both her skills and theirs, but never out of raw anger or contempt.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: One of the few characters in the franchise with little in the way of projectile attacks or obvious use of ki. In the V story mode, she's shown to be able to utterly destroy a giant steel-reinforced door with a palm strike.
• Combat Stilettos: She sports a pair of red heeled boots in combat.
• Counter-Attack: Karin was the first character in the series to possess a counter attack. She loses the command version in V, but can use the V-Counter that every fighter has access to, and it visually resembles her Alpha one. V: Arcade Edition brings it back in the form of her V-Trigger II.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Normally Karin's eyes are brown, but in V her eyes are a lighter honey brown color, closer in tone to her hair and eyebrows.
• Cute Bruiser: All of her moves are physical attacks, despite her pretty-girl image. Even her standard throw in Alpha 3 is a brutal take-down.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Inverted with Sakura; she loses her first fight (setting off their rivalry), but after the second fight, in which she was victorious, the two become friends.
• Difficult, but Awesome: Along with Zeku and Akuma, she has the highest ‘Technical’ rating out of any character in V. Making the most out of Karin requires strict execution, good spacing, and commitments to moves that carry very heavy risk if they are successfully blocked. She also has some of the lowest health and stun values in the game, but in exchange she has one of the fastest walk speeds and damage outputs in the entire cast, and is one of the few characters who gets the most mileage out of resetting the opponent's positioning to go for even more damage.
• Distaff Counterpart: While Karin doesn't play anything like Ken, the two of them are both rich, have blonde hair, wear red, and Karin is Sakura's rival in much the same way Ken is one to Ryu, who Sakura is also a Distaff Counterpart of. Karin's shift to becoming less of a spoiled brat actually came because of Ken himself — losing to him in Alpha 3 triggered a change in her morality, much like how Gouken's training helped a younger Ken grow out of his own bratty phase.
• Dude Magnet: One of the trials she faced to inherit the family fortune was to charm 5,000 men. As one can guess, she was successful.
• Fiction 500: The Kanzuki family is one of the richest in the Street Fighter world, putting even the Masters to shame. They're so powerful that they even have control over their own orbital satellite and an army of elite ninjas, and Karin is able to gather together the eight World Warriors on a whim.
• Fille Fatale: One of the tests Karin's father demanded of her to become the Kanzuki heir was to "charm" at least 5,000 of the world's best "gentlemen". Keep in mind that this was while she was still in high school.
• Flanderization: The UDON comics really play up her competitive streak. Case in point, she buys off a hot dog eating contest so it's only her and Sakura, waits till Sakura stuffs herself silly, force feeds all of her hot dogs to her butler Ishizaki, then tries to fight her right then and there. If it wasn't for Hinata, Natsu and Shoma coming to Sakura's aid, Karin would have surely gotten away with it. And the irony is that Sakura still kicked her butt.
• Fragile Speedster: V's stat chart indicates that Karin is listed along with Zeku and Akuma in terms of technical skill and is also ranked extremely high in terms of mobility. However, she is near the bottom in fragility as well.
• Full-Name Basis: Notably, the V announcer uses her full name when she's chosen in the character select screen, which cannot be said for other fighters who have confirmed full names (Ken Masters, Cammy White, Charlie Nash, Laura Matsuda, etc.) on the roster.
• The Greatest Style: Kanzuki-ryu is one of the most elite styles in the Street Fighter world. Karin's story mode states that the best techniques of the style are those which are rare even for the heads of the family (by design, its strongest members) to fully master. Amongst its abilities is the skill to defeat enemies with nothing but a Battle Aura, and (according to Karin herself), the ability to levitate like Dhalsim. It's telling that, on V's stat chart, Karin is ranked alongside Zeku and Akuma in technical skill ranking.
• Hero Insurance: Don't worry Sakura, she'll pay for the window she destroyed to make an entrance...
• Home Stage: In the home versions of Alpha 3, she fights on the deck of her vast family yacht. In V, we’re treated to seeing her family home, “Kanzuki Estate”, a huge feudal Japanese castle with a European-style ballroom interior.
• I Am Your Opponent: One of her pre-fight intros has her butler, Ishizaki, step in to fight you before she throws a serving tray at him and takes center stage.
• Informed Ability: In her win quote against Dhalsim in V, she says that she also has the ability to levitate, something that she's never been shown doing.
• Interclass Friendship:
  • Considers Sakura to be her best friend, to the point that she went out of her way to send Ryu to talk to her when she was feeling down about her future. This is all despite Karin seemingly having all the money in the world and Sakura having to work a part-time job.
  • Birdie, though their relationship is mostly held up by the fact that Karin provides Birdie with food and shelter while Birdie acts as a sparring partner and estate bouncer. Take those away and they probably wouldn't like each other at all.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She's a snooty and entitled rich girl a lot of the time, and an even more arrogant fighter, but she's not above petting the dog every once in a while. During some of the story paths in Alpha 3, she helps out Rainbow Mika (she becomes her sponsor after Mika beats her), and eventually makes friends with her rival Sakura after finally defeating her in battle.
• Joshikousei: Like Sakura, she's a high school student — albeit an enormously wealthy one. The excuse she gives for attending a normal Japanese high school, as opposed to a private school (as one might imagine), is that she wanted to "observe the commoners". How lovely. She no longer wears a uniform as of V, having graduated.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: Her outfit in V retains her classic silhouette and colour palette, but the overall look is fancier and more regal, complete with frills on her sleeves, an ascot, and black leggings.
• Kill Sat: She commands her family’s personal satellite to destroy Shadaloo's base in her ending in Alpha 3.
• Lady of War: In training. Karin may be young, but she (usually) fights and conducts herself with elegant poise.
• Lovable Alpha Bitch: She helps others on occasion, although it's more apparent when she becomes an adult. By the time of V, she's still a haughty and confident fighter, but is nonetheless fairly friendly.
• Meaningful Name: Her given-name (花梨) means "flowering pear" in Japanese. "Karin" is also a rare example of a Japanese name (along with "Naomi") that is coincidentally cross-cultural, and used in Western (mainly Germanic and Scandinavian) countries, where it means "pure" (it's a variation of "Katherine"). Her surname "Kanzuki" (神 月) is suitably arrogant in translation and literally means "Moon Deity".
• Misery Builds Character: Her father put Karin through absolute hell when she was a child, since he wanted a worthy heir. Granted, he had to go through many of the same trials she did, but he put her through even more because she's female, and he wanted a son. Her success in each category only made Karin a stronger and more confident person.
• Modesty Shorts: Her alternate "story" costume in V is a simple black dress with modesty shorts, showing that even in her more casual attire, she’s ready to fight at any time.
• Mukokuseki: Her blonde hair, especially as it's styled in Victorian-era ringlets, makes her look more like an upper-class European than a Japanese schoolgirl. She does, however, have almond-shaped brown eyes.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: As a rich, haughty beauty, Karin performs an absolutely perfect example for her intro pose in Alpha 3 — "OHHHHHHH-ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!" — complete with her straightened palm held to the side of her mouth. She performs a similar version at the end of her Critical Art in V, as well as when she is selected, and even gamely guffaws along with Enero before their battle in the game's Story mode.
• Non-Idle Rich: She has become the head of the Kanzuki Zaibatsu by the time V rolls around.
• Odd Friendship: Even if it is most likely for business purposes, she's on good terms with Ken, Dhalsim, Zangief, Birdie, and at least knows Ryu's whereabouts.
• Ojou: She matures into one in V, running the Kanzuki Zaibatsu, arranging parties and meet-ups, and has connections with everyone in the competitive fighting world, even hiring Birdie after he defects from Shadaloo. Her old Alpha Bitch qualities and competitive streak have been toned down as well; she's on friendly terms with almost everyone who isn't working with Shadaloo, including Sakura.
• Ojou Ringlets: Her hair is curled into six large tubular ringlets. Two cascade over her shoulders and frame her face, and the other four are pinned back with a large blue bow.
• Out of Focus: Until her reappearance in V, she was absent from the series until Capcom Fighting Evolution and Namco × Capcom, and was only briefly mentioned in IV.
• Phrase Catcher: In V's Cinematic Story, Enero mimick's Karin's laugh before the two fight.
• Popularity Power: Most likely the reason for her prominent role in the V general story mode. In 2013 Capcom had two polls for the most popular character. In the West, Ryu came in at #1 and Karin wasn't even in the top 10. In Japan, Karin was #1, with Ryu being in second place.
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Karin is amongst the least sexualised women in the series, and sports a demure look in her V design, befitting someone of her socioeconomic status.
• Rich Bitch: She's amongst the wealthiest characters in the series, and on the battlefield she's quite snotty toward her opponents.
  Someone of your breeding could never stand a chance against me.
• The Rival: Sakura. It's a Friendly Rivalry, except in the UDON comics (until the Free Comic Book Day 2019 single, that is.)
• Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: An honorable, if crazy, variation. Her family has a Kill Sat and in her Alpha 3 ending, she deploys it to blast Bison's base from orbit.
• Smug Smiler: She holds most opponents in utter contempt, which is exemplified in-game where she actually closes her eyes and pokes her chin out in smug, haughty amusement whilst performing many of her standard punches/kicks (Fierce is probably the best example.)
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Very much so in V's general story mode. Karin is the one who gets the group together to eventually take down Shadaloo, she never loses, and gets more fights than most characters, including iconic ones such as Ryu, Ken, Chun, Guile and Cammy. Adding to all of this, Karin has a whopping three stages revolving around her and her family.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: In her V alternate costume, she wears a necklace incorporating the kanji character for "God" within a crescent moon shape — the family name Kanzuki means "Moon God".
• Talent vs. Training: Karin is formally trained in her family's Kanzuki-ryu martial arts, which is an amalgamation of the best techniques of other fighting styles. Her rival Sakura is a self-taught fighter whose style is an unrefined, yet still effective, imitation of Ryu's moves.
• Tarot Motifs: Karin represents Strength in the 30th Anniversary Tarot Deck. Strength represents a balance of courage, virtue, self-discipline and gentleness, all of which Karin uses to organize the heroes in V to stop Shadaloo.
• To Be a Master: She fights for the sake of upholding her family's motto of perfection.
• Token Rich Student: In the Sakura Ganbaru manga series, in which she made her debut, the ludicrously wealthy Karin attends the same perfectly ordinary Tokyo high school as her rival, the very middle-class Sakura. Her reasoning? “Observing the commoners”.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: The girly rich girl to Sakura's middle-class tomboy.
• Took a Level in Kindness: In V. In contrast to her being portrayed as an Alpha Bitch in Alpha, she's at worst a Lovable Alpha Bitch in V and sometimes she's really sweet. The UDON comics finally bring Karin more in line with her game counterpart at the end of the Free Comic Book Day 2019 single, where she fully befriends Sakura.
• You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Having nuked Bison's base from orbit via her family's killer satellite, this is all she has to say on the matter to a very puzzled Sakura:
  Some people just don't know who they're dealing with — Oh~hohohohoho!

R. Mika

7 Colored Bomber

^{Street Fighter Alpha}

HEY! Seven colors fly to the ends of the Earth! With fiery heat from burning muscles! Brighter than the first star of the evening! Be it grapples, body slams, or blows, all will be in awe of my... RAINBOW!

Origin: Japan

Fighting style: Pro-wrestling
Appears in: SFA3, SFV

Voiced by: ^note Junko Takeuchi (Street Fighter Alpha 3; Japanese), Hiromi Igarashi (Street Fighter V; Japanese), Bonnie Gordon (Street Fighter V; English)

Full name "Rainbow" Mika Nanakawa. A female wrestler sponsored by Karin Kanzuki and a huge fan of Zangief. In Street Fighter Alpha 3 she's searching for him in order to finally have a match.

She makes her return to the series in Street Fighter V, with her tag-team partner Yamato Nadeshiko (yes, that's her ring name) assisting her in some attacks. She goes on a pilgrimage around the world with Zangief, in order to learn about "Muscle Spirit".

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• Amazonian Beauty: She's far more muscular in V than in Alpha, especially her legs, which give Chun-Li's thighs a run for their money. Across the series, only the gargantuan Marisa, debuting in 6, is more muscular overall. And while Mika's always been pretty sexualized, it gets ramped up considerably in V, as her default wrestler outfit shows even more skin than in Alpha, as do most of her alternate costumes, and her Critical Art — "Peach Assault" — has her slapping her ass before sandwiching the opponent between her and Nadeshiko's butt-cheeks.
• Ascended Extra: Before resurfacing to the fighting scene in V, Mika gets an expanded role in the UDON comic series. This also applies to her tag team partner, Nadeshiko, who originally only appeared in a single piece of artwork with Mika for Capcom Secret File.
• Ascended Fan: She's a massive fan of Zangief. Gief's V Character Story ending has her becoming his tag team partner.
• Ass Kicks You: She has no less than three attacks involving throwing herself ass-first at her opponent. This is taken up to eleven in V, with her tag team partner, Nadeshiko, getting in on the action in her "Peach Assault" Critical Art, ending the attack with a devastating Double-Ass-To-The-Face Attack!
• Assist Character: She gains one in V, with her tag team partner, Nadeshiko, coming in to help her for certain moves.
• Awesome, but Impractical: If Mika performs her full, uninterrupted speech during her V-Skill, her next throw is basically a One-Hit Kill. However, the full speech is over 15 seconds long, so unless the opponent is completely braindead or is suicidally curious, this is never going to happen in a real match.
• Berserk Button: She does not take kindly to anyone who mocks pro-wrestling, as Karin finds out in their rival fight in Alpha 3.
• Big Eater: Her V bio notes that one of her special skills is overeating.
• Blue Is Heroic: She wears a bright sky blue costume and is a popular and heroic wrestling face.
• Boobs-and-Butt Pose: Mika's official V artwork has her twisting at the waist just enough to get her chest into view, too.
• The Bus Came Back: After having been relegated to cameos since her debut game, she returns to the series in V.
• Chairman of the Brawl: Mika's V-Trigger II has Nadeshiko run in and attack the opponent with a steel folding chair.
• Combat Pragmatist: In V, she demonstrates that she's willing to throw a mic at her opponent as a weapon, and call in backup from her partner, Nadeshiko.
• Coordinated Clothes: Her and Zangief's tag-team alternate costumes in V, both wrestling singlets missing the right arm and left leg.
• Cleavage Window: She has one in Alpha 3, but it gets changed in V to be in the shape of a heart.
• Demoted to Extra: After her debut in Alpha 3 in 1998, for 18 years Mika became regulated to minor cameos (two notable ones being her brief appearance in Decapre's IV trailer, and being referenced as a costume for Kuma in Street Fighter X Tekken). However, the UDON comics turn her into an Ascended Extra, and in V, she finally reappears from the wilderness to take a spot in the base roster.
• Dynamic Akimbo: Since she takes so much after Zangief (and is a pro-wrestler herself), Mika takes this pose and embraces its Campiness. More specifically, she poses (with a finger point) right before using her Critical Art, with the camera panned right in to her butt.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Her alternate outfit in V is a wrestling singlet that is missing the left leg and the right arm, and matches Zangief's.
• Girlish Pigtails: Sports a pair of long, oddly angular ones. One would think that as a wrestler, they would get in her way.
• The Grappler: She's a professional wrestler who uses the Japanese 'puroresu' style of pro-wrestling, which involves a lot of high-flying acrobatics, rope attacks, and giant swings.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She's a blonde-haired wrestler who is one of the nicest, most enthusiastic, and innocently earnest characters in the series.
• Hero-Worshipper: She joined the tournament in Alpha 3 to get a chance to face off against champion wrestler Zangief. Basically, she is to Zangief as Sakura is to Ryu. And, in V, she is accompanying Zangief on a pilgrimage to find her "Muscle Spirit".
• Home Stage: “Sardine Beach” in Alpha 3, a fun, Japanese seaside stage. In V, she fights on the big wrestling ring stage, which she also shares with Zangief.
• Hot-Blooded: Mika has a very crowd-minded personality, so she approaches every battle with the zeal of someone performing for a large audience, complete with the vocal intensity (see No Indoor Voice).
• Large Ham: Just look at her win portrait◊. Well, she is a pro-wrestler. This is actually incorporated into her move-set in V, with her V-Skill letting her pull out a microphone and pump up the crowd (and her attacks) with a passionate promo.
• Leotard of Power: Her costume looks more like something that came out from Hugh Hefner's mind. As Maki puts it:
  You deserve to win just for wearing that insane costume!
• Loony Fan: For Zangief, whom she utterly worships and wants to be just like. Zangief, being a Large Ham Boisterous Bruiser himself, simply thinks that her loony behavior is appropriate. In V, he translates her zeal as the drive she need to attain and utilize her "muscle spirit", which is part of the reason he allows her to become his apprentice. She also has her own Loony Fan — El Fuerte. (Although only in the UDON comics, which are non-canon)
• Masked Luchador: A Japanese variation on the theme. She's a wrestler and she wears a mask alright, but her specific wrestling gimmick originated in Japan.
• Male Gaze: Her rear end rivals Cammy's as a frequent target of fanservice, and she has no qualms with smacking it as a taunt, or using it as a weapon.
• Mighty Glacier: A variation in that Mika is ranked in V as one of the lowest characters in Mobility and Range, as WELL as Power, but ranked as one of the highest in Technique. As such, she is a skill-based, rather than power-based variation which still uses the spirit of the trope — it may be difficult for her to get to you, but once she does, good luck.
• Ms. Fanservice: R. Mika's outfit wouldn't be too out of place among a Joshi puroresu circuit.^note Japanese pro wrestling. Along with R. Mika's rear getting a lot of attention in V, her costume's chest area was changed from having hearts placed where her nipples are, to losing the hearts but getting a heart-shaped cutout that exposes more of her chest.
• Mukokuseki: R. Mika's Japanese nationality contrasts strongly with her unmistakably fair, Caucasian-like complexion, blonde hair and blue eyes. She's the series most extreme example, especially as it sticks to established phenotypes on the whole. It also doesn’t help that her name, Mika, is also used in Eastern European and Scandinavian countries as a diminutive of "Mikhaila" and its variants, and so given her look and connections with Zangief, many Western sources established her as Russian when she initially debuted.
• Murderous Thighs: Her appropriately named Paradise Hold grab — an aerial frankensteiner. Her tag team attack with Nadeshiko doubles this between the two of them.
• No Indoor Voice: Her voice actress pretty much screams all of her lines at the top of her lungs. She only talks this way during an actual fight, however. This makes sense considering she's a pro wrestler.
• Out of Focus: She made no significant appearances in the 18 years since her debut in Alpha 3, despite Street Fighter project lead Yoshinori Ono saying Mika is a character he'd really like to revisit someday. True to his word, she returns to the scene in V.
• Rousing Speech: Her V-Skill has her pull out a mic and pump up the crowd with one of many hammy speeches she has prepared. The longer her speech goes on, the more powerful her throws become, and after she's done, she throws the mic at the opponent. Fully charged up, a single throw can take out nearly all of Ryu's health.
• Sexy Backless Outfit: The back of her outfit has plenty of holes to show off her back, one of them in the shape of a heart.
• Stripperiffic: Her costumes are all generally very brief leotards. In fact, during EVO 2016, player Fuudo was forced to switch from Mika's primary outfit to her story mode outfit after his first match with her, since ESPN and Disney XD deemed her regular outfit to be too revealing. Keep in mind that her story mode outfit has a serious case of underboobs going on, and that was deemed more acceptable for broadcast.
• Symbol Motif Clothing: Hearts. In Alpha 3, she has a blue heart on each breast, and in V her Cleavage Window is in the shape of a heart. She also has a heart shaped hole in the back.
• Tarot Motifs: R. Mika represents The Star in the 30th Anniversary Tarot Deck. The Star represents hope, referencing Mika's starry-eyed dream of being Zangief's tag-team partner, which she eventually accomplishes.
• Underboobs: Her story outfit in V has a heart shaped hole that exposes the bottom of her breasts.
• Use Your Head: She has a few headbutt attacks, the more memorable being one of her super combo, "Heavenly Dynamite".
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Wishes nothing more than to be the best female wrestler.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: On the cover of a Japanese magazine called Capcom Secret File◊, R. Mika is teamed up with a black Coco Chanel-haired female wrestler of named as such, who works for the same wrestling organization. She is sometimes her tag team partner, and appears in V as a part of Mika's moveset, being summonable via V-Trigger and the Peach Assault Critical Art. Despite her name, neither Nadeshiko (or Mika herself for that matter) have been shown to display the personalities associated with the trope.

Juni and Juli

Left: Juni, The Quiet Killer
Right: Juli, The Cold-Hearted Assassin

M. Bison: Now my pretty dolls... Entertain my guest...! Attack!

Origin: Germany

Fighting style: Shadaloo Elite Forces Training
Appear in: SFA3

Voiced by: ^note Akiko Komoto (Street Fighter Alpha 3, Namco × Capcom [both girls], Street Fighter V [Juni]; Japanese); Sachiko Kojima (Super Street Fighter IV Juri OAV; Japanese [Juli]), Haruka Kimura (Street Fighter IV Juri OAV, Japanese [Juni]); Kumi Tanaka (Street Fighter V [Juli], Japanese); Michelle Ruff (Street Fighter V [Juni], English); Elizabeth Maxwell (Street Fighter V [Juli], English)

Two German members of The Dolls, Bison's Elite Guard of twelve young girls who follow his every command. At the end of Alpha 3, they are released from his control and scattered throughout the world. Some of them end up training in Honda's dojo.

In the Street Fighter IV continuity, the Dolls are still in Shadaloo's "care" and under Bison's orders. After Seth finds out that Bison wants to use them to kill him, he sends out Juri to capture them so he can use them as experimentation subjects; Juni and Juli try to fight back, but are overpowered. Cammy and Guile catch up but are only able to rescue Juni, whereas Juli and the other girls are locked inside capsules and taken to Seth's laboratories. In Cammy's ending, Juni wakes up from her coma in an hospital, with Cammy taking care of her; in T. Hawk's, Juli is alive elsewhere and under the care of a kindly elder couple, but with Trauma-Induced Amnesia.

In Street Fighter V, Juli somehow got captured again by Shadaloo and instilled to the Dolls, details on how that happened are yet to be given, but in the end she is saved along with all other Dolls after Shadaloo’s downfall; Juni remained at Cammy’s side after SSFIV, Shadaloo tried to get her back but Cammy prevented the assault and Juni is never seen in peril again throughout V’s story.

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• Amazon Brigade: Two of the twelve "Shadaloo Dolls".
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Juni can scan people's Power Levels with her Stat-O-Vision, sometimes getting errors when it goes OVER NINETY THOUSAND. Also may be disposed to Power Copying since she apparently gets stronger scanning powerful warriors like Akuma.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: Like the other ten dolls, they were kidnapped and brainwashed to become Bison's personal Amazon Brigade.
• The Cameo: Juli appeared in T. Hawk's ending in IV, while Juni appeared in Cammy's. Juni appears again during Cammy's story mode in V, now living a normal life, but still hunted by Shadaloo.
• Combination Attack: When fighting together, Juni and Juli have access to Super Combos normally unavailable when they fight individually. Namely the Psycho Roll and the Death Cross Dance.
• Ditto Fighters: They have several moves of Cammy's, because they're all trained under the same Shadaloo program.
• Co-Dragons: To Bison in Alpha 3, where they appear as opponents just prior to the final battle.
• Defusing The Tykebomb: Cammy manages to do this for Juni.
• Demoted to Extra: Neither of them have been playable in a game since the Alpha trilogy. They do however still appear through extra material like character arcade endings, particularly Cammy and, in the case of Juli, T. Hawk's.
• Dual Mini Bosses: Complete with Combination Attacks.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: By the time of 6, both of them have finally been freed from Bison's control and have gone back to living peaceful lives. Juni continues to be close to Cammy and lives with her in England, and Juli eventually settled down with T. Hawk.
• Flash Step: Juni's Mach Slide, which is similar to Yang's Kaihou (she rushes forward, vanishes briefly, and then reappears closer to her foe).
• Fragile Speedster: Just like Cammy, they're both pretty frail stat-wise and don't have many defensive options, but their mobility is quite strong and versatile.
• Happy Ending Override: T.Hawk's ending in Super Street Fighter IV might not have been canon, he was that close from finding Juli, quite literally at the door's step, yet in V's Cinematic Story it shows Shadaloo got Juli again and had her back to being a brainwashed Doll, only truly being saved after its downfall; alternatively T.Hawk couldn't protect Juli when Shadaloo came knocking.
• Head Swap: Of Cammy, and in turn, of each other. Their legs are also recolored so that they look like they're wearing full-body suits instead of a leotard like Cammy.
• Heel–Face Turn: Juni's out of Shadaloo as of Street Fighter V. In the comics, she even follows in Cammy's footsteps by joining another spec ops division of the British Intelligence called Delta Blue.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: In Street Fighter V, Juni with Cammy (to the point of Les Yay).
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Juni became one in her appearance in V, no doubt having been influenced by Cammy.
• Lovely Angels: The two of them are almost never without each other; take note of how each girl has the other girl as one of their "likes."
• Multiple-Choice Past: Juli's relation to T. Hawk, the only thing definite about these two is that they came from the Thunderfoot Tribe, then Julia's relation to Thunder Hawk ranges from being just an fellow tribe member and possible childhood friend, to being his sister, to finally pulling the breaks at best friend/girlfriend status. And that's without even adding the fact that she's supposedly German. Again, UDON patches all this up.
• Non-Dubbed Grunts: They use the same vocal clips as Cammy.
• Official Couple: Juli has apparently tied the knot with T. Hawk between V and 6.
• Out of Focus: They returned for Namco × Capcom and vanished (although they both make cameos in Super SFIV).
• Self-Made Orphan: In UDON's comic series, Juni's first mission after being completely brainwashed - return home and kill her parents. (We see her killing her mother here.◊) Whether or not the other Dolls typically do this or it was an isolated thing isn't clear, though this might not be true since Aprile has a little brother who's still alive.
• Signature Headgear: Like other Dolls, both sport a black garrison cap.
• Teleport Spam: Juni's Mach Slide.
• Theme Naming: Juni and Juli are German for June and July. The rest of the Dolls are named after the other months from the year, based on their country of origin.

Characters debuting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper

Maki

The Heir to Bushin-ryu

Don't take it so seriously, I didn't!

Origin: Japan

Fighting style: Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu
Appears in: SFA3

Voiced by: ^note Miki Nagasawa (Street Fighter Alpha 3(Upper/MAX), Capcom vs. SNK 2)

Full name Maki Genryusai. Introduced in Final Fight 2, she is the younger sister of Guy's fiancee Rena and also trained in the art of the Bushin style. She was once The Leader of a biker gang during her high school years. After her sister and father are kidnapped by a revived Mad Gear, Maki enlists the help of Mike Haggar and South American swordsman Carlos Miyamoto to rescue them. Afterward, she sets off to search for Guy to challenge him for the Bushin succession.

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• Ascended Extra: Of all the characters introduced in the SNES Final Fight sequels, she was the only one to become playable in this series. She also gets an expanded role in the UDON comic series, as well as a bit part in Sakura Ganbaru!
• Badass Biker: She used to be a biker gang leader in the past. Not that you would ever know that without reading it in a manual.
• Bash Brothers: After their first fight, Sakura and Maki gained a mutual respect towards each other, and they even teamed up during the events of Alpha 3. Maki was even surprised to hear that Sakura actually fought Guy.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A female example, which will come off as confusing to players of the English versions of Final Fight 2, where she was changed into a peace-loving girl who detested violence.
• Cast from Hit Points: Just like in FF2, the Reppukyaku drains a set portion of Maki's vitality when used in CvS2 and SFA3.
• Canon Immigrant: Until Lucia appeared in V, she was the only character from any of the Final Fight sequels who had a return appearance as a player character.
• Distaff Counterpart: Her moves in Final Fight 2 are very similar to her brother-in-law, with only a few subtle differences. She has a bit more variety in Capcom vs. SNK 2 though. Personality-wise... not so much.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Sakura Ganbaru! sees Maki encounter and fight with Sakura as The Cameo as part of an advertising manga for Alpha 2's release, years ahead of Alpha 3 Upper adding Maki into the series proper.
• Highly-Visible Ninja: Like her fellow Bushin-ryu practitioners, Guy and Kimberly, she sports a bright red gi.
• Irony: She hates being treated as a damsel in distress yet ends up requiring both Guy and Sakura's intervention when she encounters Bison.
• Japanese Delinquent: According to official supplementary material, she used to be a gang leader in high school and still dyes her hair as a tribute to those days.
• The Lad-ette: Maki is a hot-blooded tomboy who loves getting into fights and tinkering with motorcycles, staying true to her delinquent past. Some artwork and in-game poses feature her assuming the classic "Slav squat" associated with delinquent characters in Japan.
• Mukokuseki: Her tumbling locks of blonde hair are at odds with her being Japanese, although it is stated that she does dye it.
• Ninja: Officially, but her appearance is far from traditional. She's part of the same clan as Guy, and bears the same orange-red color scheme and sneakers.
• Out of Focus: Aside from her stint in Alpha 3 and CvS2 and her goal to defeat Guy to become the 40th Bushin master, no mention of Maki (or any of Guy's family, for that matter) has been made since.
• Spin Attack: The Reppukyaku.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: She plays the role of tomboy to her older sister Rena, who is very much a Yamato Nadeshiko.
• Tomboyish Ponytail: Maki is a brash tomboy and former high school delinquent, and sports a tousled ponytail accordingly.
• Tsundere: Classic Type 1 (aka "tsuntsun") towards Guy, but in a non-romantic context. She's also quite "deredere" around her sister and father, which is probably why many thought she had a thing for Guy, the only Bushin ninja we've been introduced to (aside from Zeku) who was not family.
• Wall Jump: Of the command input variety; the move (Hassoukyaku) can end in either a kick or a grab.

Characters debuting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max

Ingrid

See her entry on this page: Street Fighter: Other Media

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