History WhatCouldHaveBeen / StreetFighter

[[caption-width-right:1000:Concept art of Rufus (then named King Cobra), having a ''''completely'''' different appearance, originally being a much younger, buff [[RaceLift black]] guy whose fighting style was originally going to be more like some sort of kung-fu-breakdance fusion, before being eventually changed into a middle-aged, obese, white, self taught martial artist.]]

** [[VideoGame/{{Halo}} Master Chief]] and [[VideoGame/GearsOfWar Marcus Fenix]] were considered for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 edition, but bad timing led to them being unavailable for use.

** [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]] was considered as a potential [[GuestFighter guest character]] for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation3 version, but [[VideoGame/{{Infamous}} Cole McGrath]] was chosen instead because his abilities fit a fighting game better.

** T. Hawk's proposed name was ''Geronimo'', but thankfully, a member of the American development team suggested that they change it to something else.

** Mike Haggar from ''VideoGame/FinalFight'' was originally planned to initially appear as the game's wrestling character and that his appearance would've helped [[SharedUniverse connect the two series together]] (a concept that would later be used with the appearances of Guy, Sodom, Rolento, Cody, Maki, Hugo, and Poison in both the ''VideoGame/StreetFighterAlpha'' and ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'' sub-series respectively), but later on in development, he was replaced by Zangief after the creative team had noticed that there were already three other American fighters (Ken, Guile, and Balrog) in the game. Zangief was also originally going to be named "Vodka Gobalsky".

** Two of the four new fighters in ''Super Street Fighter II'' were originally meant to be {{Head Swap}}s of each other, two Kung Fu twin brothers from Hong Kong who would be very similar yet different from each other. James Goddard argued against the idea (since Ryu and Ken were already head swaps of one another), leading to the two brothers being reworked into a single kung fu fighter, Fei Long, and the creation of an entirely new fourth fighter, Dee Jay. Also, they pitched the names "Mantis" and "JJ Bam" for the character who would eventually became Dee Jay, as well as intending for "Mantis" to be written along his pants; they settled on "Maximum" instead because [[AmbidextrousSprite it would still be readable when his sprite was flipped]]. The initial concept of the two Kung Fu twin brothers would eventually make it later on in the series via Yun and Yang in ''Street Fighter III''.
*** A few proposed gameplay mechanics never made it in, such as characters having weak points, characters taking more damage while dizzied, the ability to duck underneath projectiles, and the ability to perform juggle combos.
*** [[https://tcrf.net/Super_Street_Fighter_II_Turbo_(Arcade)%23.22The_League_Battle.22 Remnants have been discovered]] for a League mode in ''Super Street Fighter II Turbo''. Similar to ''Super Street Fighter II''[='=]s tournament mode, the game would have pit players fighting each other in a Round Robin system.

** The ''Super Street Fighter IV'' artbook proves that Strider Hiryu was originally going to be an alternate outfit for Guy.
** In the case of Abel and Rufus, their original designs were ''very'' different, especially the latter: Abel was originally a judo practitioner with a [[WeakButSkilled "the weak can beat the strong"]] gimmick. He was also a teenager and [[DudeLooksLikeALady could be mistaken for]] a [[http://images.wikia.com/streetfighter/images/3/37/Abel_girl.jpg girl]]. As for Rufus, instead of being a middle-aged, obese white guy who taught himself kung-fu, he was originally a ''young, thin (yet muscular) [[RaceLift black]]'' male who combined his kung-fu skills with breakdancing, calling it [[DanceBattler "breakung-fu"]]. [[http://fightingstreet.com/folders/artworkfolder/artworkpics/sf_art/sfiv_art/SF_IV_Concept_Art/SFIV_PC_Concept_Art_Various_12.jpg He was]] [[http://fast1.onesite.com/capcom-unity.com/user/trueststrike/66e0b707c8289b768867ec9bad21c9fd.jpg?v=154007 originally named]] [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/ba/Rufus-design1.jpg "King Cobra"]] and had a rivalry with Ken, although it most likely wouldn't have been PlayedForLaughs as it is with the version of him that made it into the game. All in all, he was redesigned, because the developers wanted an absurd, over-the-top design that would "freak people out". What's left of Cobra in the final release of ''Street Fighter IV'' is his gi, which is Ken's 1st [[DownloadableContent DLC]] costume.

** The game was originally going to have a much more realistic visual style in the vein of ''Tekken'' or ''Mortal Kombat''. Ryu's shirtless and bearded "Hot Ryu" look was going to be his default design, with the idea being that he'd only recently returned to civilization after an extended period training in the mountains. M. Bison/Dictator also would've sported a radical redesign with slicked back white hair and glowing purple TronLines. This build of the game was shelved due to worries about the photorealistic visuals being too big of a departure, as well as concerns that the more naturalistic body proportions made it difficult to tell what was going on during the fights.

** Menat went through several potential iterations before the concept of an Egyptian fortune teller was chosen. One idea was that she'd be Rita, an Italian schoolgirl delinquent [[OccidentalOtaku with a passion for manga and cosplay]]. Other ideas included her as a magician who could create birds made of Soul Power, a rhythmic gymnast, an Egyptian stick fighter and a cutsey redheaded "pizza assassin" in the vein of [[Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}} B.B. Hood]].

** Menat went through several potential iterations before the concept of an Egyptian fortune teller was chosen. One idea was that she'd be Rita, an Italian schoolgirl delinquent [[OccidentalOtaku with a passion for manga and cosplay]]. Other ideas included her as a magician who could create birds made of Soul Power, a rhythmic gymnast, an Egyptian stick fighter and a cutsey redheaded "pizza assassin" in the vein of [[Videogame/{{Darkstalkers}} B.B. Hood]].

** [[BigBad Gill]] was originally planned to wield [[LightEmUp light]] and [[CastingAShadow darkness]], but Capcom had decided to have him use [[PlayingWithFire fire]] and [[AnIcePerson ice]] instead as it would be a much better demonstration of their new CPS-III arcade hardware.