History YMMV / StreetFighter

** "Strange Bedfellow" & "The World's Greatest Warrior": [[Characters/StreetFighterIIUpdatedVersions Akuma]] lacks any positive traits he has in the games and [[AdaptationalVillainy is more sadistic and eviler in this series]]. Seeking to devour both M. Bison's and Guile's chi, Akuma stirs up chaos across both factions, laying waste to a city and blowing up a power plant--causing a blackout and setting a whole city on fire--all to instigate two factions into war. Akuma watches as both Bison and Guile fight each other to the death planning to kill either one of them to devour their chi. Akuma would later attack [[CainAndAbel his brother]], draining him of his chi which would slowly kill him if Akuma isn't defeated.

** [[Characters/StreetFighterMBison M. Bison]] is once again the power-hungry and despicable leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Shadaloo]]. Originally taught in the ways of Soul Power, Bison discovered and embraced Psycho Power in its stead, choosing to pay his old teacher a visit to demonstrate his might, wiping out the village where she resided and killing its inhabitants. In the present, Bison acts as the world's most dangerous terrorist leader, killing the loved ones of several characters, [[ArmsDealer selling weapons to terrorists]], and kidnapping and [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashing young women to act as his merciless enforcers]], notably ordering Juni to murder her own mother to test her indoctrination. When one of his most precious assets--a female clone of himself named "Killer Bee"--is freed from her brainwashing to begin a new life as Cammy, Bison holds her newfound friends hostage to force her back into his service. Eventually, Bison completes the almighty Psycho Drive weapon, using it to annihilate several manned navy vessels and hold the rest of the world at gunpoint. Bison then hosts a tournament reserved for powerful warriors, aiming to brainwash them for his army. When Akuma appears and ruins his plans, Bison calls it quits and tries to [[GrandTheftMe steal Cammy's body]] to save himself.

** [[Characters/StreetFighterMBison M. Bison]], once again a monstrous megalomaniac, is the ruthless leader of [[NebulousEvilOrganisation Shadaloo]] seeking world domination. Prior to the series, Bison has Cammy's parents murdered and brainwashes her into being a loyal servant to him. Bison makes various terrorist attacks across the globe, such as attempting to experiment on humans with a deadly virus; attempting to blow up a reactor to kill millions of people; forcing Guile to [[MindRape relive his worst memories]] in order to brainwash him and fight his own allies; threatening to use a plane filled with bombs to destroy cities; and trying to destroy all of North America by causing a [[ColonyDrop comet to crash-land on Earth]]. Bison would later try to have Guile fight Cammy, knowing they're close friends. After using the Statue of Kali on himself, Bison decided that if he can't rule the world he might as well [[OmnicidalManiac destroy it]]. To this end, he steals the Doomsday Code to activate every nuclear weapon on the planet to nuke the entire world.

* MagnificentBastard: The charismatic, witty [[Characters/StreetFighterMBison M. Bison]] clawed his way from a mere drug dealer and killer to rule Shadaloo via brilliance and skill. Attempting to [[TakeOverTheWorld conquer the world]], Bison demands ransoms for hostages as a front for his real scheme of turning captives into new SuperSoldiers, to [[WellIntentionedExtremist wipe away all distinctions between mankind so the world may know peace under his fist]]. Bison intends to force nations to submit to him economically and utilize his own currency in place of theirs, while putting in a multitude of contingencies against the heroes when they come to stop him. With a respect towards Colonel Guile, his nemesis, Bison also enters into battle with a set number of advantages to empower himself, even as he savors the chance to engage and kill Guile in direct combat. Rarely taking anything personally, Bison brings a unique charm to his dark [[VisionaryVillain vision]], convinced his rule is best for all humanity.

** "Strange Bedfellow" & "The World's Greatest Warrior": [[Characters/StreetFighterAkuma Akuma]] lacks any positive traits he has in the games and [[AdaptationalVillainy is more sadistic and eviler in this series]]. Seeking to devour both M. Bison's and Guile's chi, Akuma stirs up chaos across both factions, laying waste to a city and blowing up a power plant--causing a blackout and setting a whole city on fire--all to instigate two factions into war. Akuma watches as both Bison and Guile fight each other to the death planning to kill either one of them to devour their chi. Akuma would later attack [[CainAndAbel his brother]], draining him of his chi which would slowly kill him if Akuma isn't defeated.

* FandomRivalry: ''Street Fighter'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' was one of the biggest ones in fighting game history. Due to both games being highly innovative in their genre, many fighting game fans in the [[TheNineties '90s]] debated on which series was better and/or who would win between Sub-Zero or Ryu. When both series regained their popularity in the [[MediaNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation of consoles]], this largely settled into a FriendlyRivalry between the fandoms, with many on both sides hoping for a proper crossover.

** Ryu and Chun-Li have almost no canonical interest in romance, nor a stated interest in each other. And yet {{Fanon}} ''really'' likes the idea of pairing them. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'''s "Hot Package" [[https://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/StreetFighterV.jpg special edition cover art]] only adds more fuel to the fire. The ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterEX Street Fighter EX2 Plus]]'' manhua actually has them ''getting married''. Some officially licensed merchandise also get in on the act, such as this [[https://gamingtrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pockyxsf_illust_a-605x900.jpg Ryu x Chun Li-themed]] limited edition ''Pocky'' [[https://geekculture.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pocky-ko-street-fighter-3.jpg box art]] from 2019, designed by none other than renowned ''Street Fighter'' artist Kinu Nishimura.
** His [[AmbiguouslyGay questionable orientation]] aside, fans have [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gief_and_mika.jpg toyed with the idea]] of Zangief getting together with his [[HeroWorshipper No. 1 fan]], R. Mika.

** Ryu, unsurprisingly. Ships range from, well, Chun-Li, to Cammy, to Ken, to [[MentorShip Sakura]], and just about every other character you can think of.
** Chun-Li also gets this as the series' de-facto mascot alongside Ryu. She's been shipped with the latter himself, Ken, Guile, Cammy, Juri… the list just goes on.
** Fittingly enough, Juri also invites this with her rather, [[LesYay "playful" demeanor]] towards Cammy and Chun-Li. And if that wasn't enough, she's also been shipped with ''[=SF6=]'' newcomers Kimberly (since the two had their reveal trailers debut simultaneously) and Manon ([[CrackPairing of course she has]]).

* FandomRivalry: ''Street Fighter'' and ''Franchise/MortalKombat'' was one of the biggest ones in fighting game history. Due to both games being highly innovative in their genre, many fighting game fans in the [[TheNineties '90s]] debated on which series was better and/or who would win between Sub-Zero or Ryu. When both series regained their popularity in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSeventhGenerationOfConsoleVideoGames seventh generation of consoles]], this largely settled into a FriendlyRivalry between the fandoms, with many on both sides hoping for a proper crossover.

** In the games, Cammy is [[AmazonianBeauty a muscular Amazon]] with a British or Japanese accent. So, this role obviously goes to tiny Australian pop princess Music/KylieMinogue. She was apparently cast at the absolute last minute before shooting began in South East Queensland, because they needed someone in Australia who could be counted on to learn lines ''fast''. Lucky for them Minogue had experience as a [[Series/{{Neighbours}} soap opera actress]] and could do exactly that.

* EvilIsSexy:
** Most of the Dolls, pre-HeelFaceTurn. Especially Cammy. [[{{Stripperific}} Take three]] [[FormFittingWardrobe guesses why.]]
** It's easy to forget that Juri is actually a ''villain'' - in her ''SFIV'' debut, at least. Didn't stop her from gaining quite a following, though. Again, just take a good look at her [[MsFanservice to know why]].
** Vega/Claw is, of course, the token male example in the series. And even ''he'' knows it since he'll remind you of it every waking second.
** Avert your gaze for the leader of TheIlluminati himself, Gill. If his speeches won't convince you that he's your savior, then his looks definitely will. Urien is also not too bad in this respect, either - if only because he fights by default [[BadassInANiceSuit in a snazzy suit]] in ''SFV''.
** On the topic of the Illuminati, there's Gill's SexySecretary, Kolin. Her default outfit doesn't show a whole lot beyond her legs, but some of her other outfits show off [[HartmanHips her curves]] quite well.
** JP is rather dashing [[SilverFox for his age]]. Being a SharpDressedMan with a very muscular build (''especially'' for his age) probably doesn't hurt.
** A.K.I garnered this reaction immediately after her teaser trailer went live. Being a pupil of F.A.N.G, despite being as ObviouslyEvil as you can get, that hasn't exactly stopped some from looking at her and going, "I can fix her."

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/JeanClaudeVanDamme being cast as Guile, apparently at the behest of Capcom executives and one of the first ones cast. It fits with the whole "guy who kicks people" aspect, but there's an inherent and undeniable silliness in Guile --[[EagleLand an all-American U.S. soldier]] [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment who proudly hails from the United States of America]]-- having a Belgian accent [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMV2hnlcmgU thicker than waffle batter]].
** Exactly whose idea was it to cast a 52-year-old classically-trained theater actor with absolutely zero martial arts background in an action movie based on a video game? Creator/RaulJulia's [[SoMyKidsCanWatch kids]], that's who. However, as it turns out, he's by far the most memorable character of the movie for his LargeHam performance, so it all turned out good.
** In the games, Cammy is [[AmazonianBeauty a muscular Amazon]] with a British or Japanese accent. So, this role obviously goes to tiny Australian pop princess Music/KylieMinogue. She was apparently cast at the absolute last minute before shooting began in South East Queensland, because they needed someone in Australia who could be counted on to learn lines ''fast''. Lucky for them Minogue had experience as a [[Series/{{Neighbours}} soap opera actress]] and could do exactly that.

* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: Blanka is well-liked by Brazilian gamers despite him being associated with a quite stereotypical view of the Amazon Jungle. This is because ''Street Fighter II'' was the first widespread example of an individual video game character explicitly representing the country.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Bison's famous declaration of ButForMeItWasTuesday after Chun-Li gives her backstory conveniently ignores that she painted him as a coward. Is he so self absorbed that he missed that detail completely, or does he sincerely think Chun-Li must be remembering wrong or making it up since he can't imagine himself fleeing the way she described?

* StarTrekMovieCurse: The canonical entries. The [[VideoGame/StreetFighterII second]] and [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIV fourth]] games in the series are remembered as the games that respectively launched and reinvigorated the fighting game genres. The [[VideoGame/StreetFighterI first game]], which played very differently, [[SequelDisplacement has been largely forgotten in the shadow of its successors]], the [[VideoGame/StreetFighterIII third is seen as great]] but not ''quite'' on the level of the second (except in competitive circles, but even then the game wasn't viewed very positively [[VindicatedByHistory in the early days]]), and the [[VideoGame/StreetFighterV fifth]] is highly divisive due to the limited features and it being seen as too unfriendly for casual gamers.

** Ryu and Chun-Li have almost no canonical interest in romance, nor an interest in each other. And get {{Fanon}} ''really'' likes the idea of pairing them. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'''s "Hot Package" [[https://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/StreetFighterV.jpg special edition cover art]] only adds more fuel to the fire. The ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterEX Street Fighter EX2 Plus]]'' manhua actually has them ''getting married''. Some officially licensed merchandise also get in on the act, such as this [[https://gamingtrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pockyxsf_illust_a-605x900.jpg Ryu x Chun Li-themed]] limited edition ''Pocky'' [[https://geekculture.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pocky-ko-street-fighter-3.jpg box art]] from 2019, designed by none other than renowned ''Street Fighter'' artist Kinu Nishimura.

** Juri/Cody and Juri/Adon, as far as ''hetero'' [[DepravedBisexual Juri]] pairings go.

** {{Fanon}} ''really'' likes the idea of Ryu/Chun-Li. ''VideoGame/StreetFighterV'''s "Hot Package" [[https://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/StreetFighterV.jpg special edition cover art]] only adds more fuel to the fire. The ''[[VideoGame/StreetFighterEX Street Fighter EX2 Plus]]'' manhua actually has them ''getting married''. Some officially licensed merchandise also get in on the act, such as this [[https://gamingtrend.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pockyxsf_illust_a-605x900.jpg Ryu x Chun Li-themed]] limited edition ''Pocky'' [[https://geekculture.co/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/pocky-ko-street-fighter-3.jpg box art]] from 2019, designed by none other than renowned ''Street Fighter'' artist Kinu Nishimura.

* ScrappyMechanic: If you buy the ''Street Fighter 30th Anniversay Collection'', you have to be careful of which version you buy. Western/World releases ''only'' have the World releases of the series, which means that ''Super Turbo'''s infamous GameBreakingBug of a maxed out AI that makes the game nearly unplayable but for the most experienced players is in full effect. If you buy the International/Japanese version of the collection, you can select both World ''and'' Japanese versions of the games, which means you can play the JP ''Super Turbo'' without the cracked out difficulty. Naturally, unless you buy it online on consoles via a Japanese region account, all digital versions will otherwise be the World release.

* PortingDisaster: The ''Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection'' was supposed to be a celebration of the entire franchise, and stars ''almost'' every release from the very first up to ''3rd Strike'', missing only ''Hyper Street Fighter II''. However, while it's mostly fine for casual players, various downsides with the collection let it down; from the choices of what games could play online, only being four of twelve titles to which most preferred ''Alpha 2'' instead of ''Alpha 3'' among other controversies, to the awkward input delay the collection had and its "rewind" netcode that is much maligned, to the fact that the game uses Save States to launch its matches, killing most background variety in online play due to the stage being pre-designated, and even introducing oversights where one very specific match-up inexplicably starts with an abnormal turbo setting. For those who play ''Street Fighter'' seriously, it's considered one of the worst ways to experience the franchise. It's also solely the arcade releases of the games, meaning no bonus characters, rebalanced versions like ''Alpha 2 Gold'', extra modes like Dramatic Battle, being stuck with the [[GameBreakingBug horrifically broken max-difficulty AI]] of ''Super Turbo'', and so forth. Living and breathing on a faulty online doomed it to mixed reception and swift abandonment by the community.

* PortingDisaster: The ''Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection'' was supposed to be a celebration of the entire franchise, and stars ''almost'' every release from the very first up to ''3rd Strike'', missing only ''Hyper Street Fighter II''. However, while it's mostly fine for casual players, various downsides with the collection let it down; from the choices of what games could play online, only being four of twelve titles to which most preferred ''Alpha 2'' instead of ''Alpha 3'' among other controversies, to the awkward input delay the collection had and its "rewind" netcode that is much maligned, to the fact that the game uses Save States to launch its matches, killing most background variety in online play due to the stage being pre-designated, and even introducing oversights where a match inexplicably starts with an abnormal turbo setting. For those who play ''Street Fighter'' seriously, it's considered one of the worst ways to experience the franchise. It's also solely the arcade releases of the games, meaning no bonus characters, extra modes like Dramatic Battle, and so forth; living and breathing on a faulty online doomed it to mixed reception and swift abandonment by the community.

* SpecialEffectsFailure:

* PresumedFlop: Unlike the previous two video game adaptations ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' and ''Film/DoubleDragon'', ''Street Fighter'' actually managed to bring its money back in spite of the negative reception, with $99.4 million on a $35 million budget.

** Avert your gaze for the leader of the {{Illuminati}} himself, Gill. If his speeches won't convince you that he's your savior, then his looks definitely will. Urien is also not too bad in this respect, either - if only because he fights by default [[BadassInANiceSuit in a snazzy suit]] in ''SFV''.

** Ryu has been a victim of NoPronunciationGuide since the very beginning. When the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterII'' arcade game made the franchise a cultural sensation in the early [[TheNineties '90s]], Ryu's name was often mistakenly pronounced as "Ri-yoo" with a long I sound, like "Rye bread" or "Ryan". This was exasperated with [[WesternAnimation/StreetFighter the animated series not exactly knowing how to pronounce Japanese names]] and [[Film/StreetFighter the live action film not really caring to try]]. It wouldn't be until proper English dubs of the [[Anime/StreetFighterIITheAnimatedMovie first anime adaptations]] and those same experienced dubbing crews adapting ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIV'' when Ryu's name would be normalized as "Ree-yoo".

* IdiotPlot: In "No Way Out," the villains probably would have won if they just used the tanks to bust down the gate ''first''.

* SpiritualAdaptation: Heroic army lead by a handsome blond American takes on a crazy megalomaniac who wants to take over the world and his shiny-domed weapons supplier, with both sides full of colorful personalities and, in the villains' case, [[{{Mooks}} footsoldiers with unique headgear]] [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy who can't shoot worth a damn]]. Are we sure this wasn't originally a script for an unmade ''Franchise/GIJoe'' film?[[note]]Ironically, the very first ''Street Fighter'' toyline was issued under the ''G.I. Joe'' brand.[[/note]]