| Characters of theStreet Fighter III series | |
|---|---|
 Promotional art of the cast ofStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike, as drawn by Daigo Ikeno. | |
| First game | Street Fighter III: New Generation (1997) |
| Created by | Capcom |
Street Fighter III is aCapcom developedfighting game series and part of theirStreet Fighter franchise. Intended as the follow up toStreet Fighter II and its subsequent re-releases, the series began with the arcade release ofStreet Fighter III: New Generation in 1997. The games featured a whole new cast, with the only returning members beingRyu andKen, two characters introduced in the firstStreet Fighter video game. Subsequent sequels would add additional characters, with the third game, namedStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike also seeing the return ofChun-Li fromStreet Fighter II.
Production atCapcom on the first game in the series started in 1994, and was initially planned to be a separate fighting game franchise entirely.Street Fighter II series producer Noritaka Funamizu felt fatigued with theStreet Fighter franchise due to dwindling sales on home consoles, and the emerging3D fighting game market thanks to titles such asVirtua Fighter. Capcom however insisted to stick with 2Dsprites for their games, and to this end started development on theCPS-3 arcade hardware to support higher color counts for said sprites. When executives at the company pushed for a follow-up toII, Funamizu instead wanted to try and make a new game entirely. At this point, producer Tomoshi Sadamoto at the company had started work on a game titledNew Generation. Capcom character designerAkira Yasuda felt that the game's roster lacked personality. Additionally he asserted the company was likely going to make the game into aStreet Fighter title, and suggested pre-emptively to add that franchise's protagonistRyu to the game's roster. He proved correct, as the game was re-christenedStreet Fighter III: New Generation'.[1]
Though several other characters were also initially considered for inclusion from theStreet Fighter II roster, particularlyKen andChun-Li, the development team instead chose to focus on a mostly original cast. This proved some difficulty however for Sadamoto as he felt most of the designs were not as well established as those inII, and had particular difficulty in creating female character designs. Yasuda however suggested to make the first female character a ninja, stating "Ninjas are cool!" While this led to the creation of Ibuki, another idea suggested was to introduce a character that was "Yuki in Africa" based off modelYuki Uchida. Yasuda designed the character, leading to the creation ofElena, which helped solidify the development team's vision for the rest of the game's roster. As development progressedKen, Ryu's counterpart character from the series, was later also added to the roster.[2][1] Meanwhile when choosing a protagonist, they selected an American character, Alex, as they felt martial arts were more popular at the time in America and wanted to target that audience.[3]
The finalized cast however still proved difficult to create. Yasuda continued to work on the character designs, attempting to stay within Sadamoto's design constraints unlike previous games where he made the design choices more directly. In an interview with gaming websitePolygon, when asked if in retrospect the game would have done better if it had not been aStreet Fighter title, Yasuda stated while he liked some of the characters, "if I had to change the past, I'd rather just not have worked on that game at all". Meanwhile, Capcom's North American branch's design support for the title, Chris Tang, expressed shock at seeing the new character designs once they were revealed, with the character Oro in particular causing him to question if Yasuda had left Capcom. Other issues arose from a lack of software support to develop for the CPS-3 hardware, and the amount of detail the higher resolutions demanded of the designs. Character balance also proved an issue, as unlike other Capcom fighting games each developer was in charge of fine tuning their own character's gameplay, resulting in some feeling more suitable forStreet Fighter's gameplay, while others felt more in line with Capcom'sDarkstalkers fighting game franchise.[1] The long development meanwhile caused one planned character, Hugo, to be delayed until the game's follow up title,Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact, alongside other new character and returning characterAkuma.[3]
Alex (アレックス,Arekkusu) is a wrestler from New York who first appears inStreet Fighter III: New Generation, and his design and character are based onHulk Hogan.[4] He serves as a protagonist of Street Fighter III. His parents died at a young age, so he was raised by his father's friend, Tom, who trained him in fighting. InNew Generation, Tom loses a fight withGill, the president of the Illuminati and gets injured as a result. This angered Alex and prompted him to enter the third World Warrior tournament hosted by Gill in order to kill him. Alex beats Gill and wins the tournament, but spares Gill, who is impressed about Alex's skills after their encounter. Alex eventually returns to Tom as a changed person after fighting various people around the world.[5][6][7]Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact[8] retconsNew Generation, but Alex's story stays the same, but he now has a rivalry withHugo, a German pro wrestler of extreme height. Alex returns inStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike[9] with a slightly different personality. He meetsRyu and fought him, only to lose, in which Ryu told Alex to explore the world and find worthy fighters.[10]
Alex makes an appearance inTatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars as a playable character, alongside otherStreet Fighter characters, Ryu and Chun-Li. He also appears inCapcom Fighting All-Stars andCapcom Fighting Evolution.[11][12] Alex reappears as a playable character inStreet Fighter V as the first of 6 characters to be released after the game's launch in 2016.[13] In the story mode ofStreet Fighter V, "A Shadow Falls", Alex is first shown winning a pro-wrestling tournament. He then competes in a tag-team exhibition match withLaura againstZangief andR. Mika, which is broadcast live on television. However the signal cuts out due to a Black Moon detonating over New York City, causing a blackout.Dhalsim comes to his trailer, wanting the chess piece, but Alex believes Dhalsim is a mugger and fights him. Dhalsim successfully convinces Alex otherwise and receives the chess piece from Alex. Dhalsim then tells Alex that big things will happen to him in the future, foreshadowing his role as the main character of theStreet Fighter III series, and teleports away.[14][15]
Alex was created early in development to be the series' protagonist, and was designed by Akira Yasuda. Early versions of his character established him as a police officer that used to be aprofessional wrestler, influenced by how popular theWorld Wrestling Federation (later renamed WWE) was at the time. They wanted a character that stood apart from Ryu, and was intended to be a simple protagonist so the supporting cast could be "flashy", with Sadamoto comparing it to how mangaSaint Seiya approached its cast.[3]
In December 1997, Alex ranked 44th on Gamest's "Top 50" video game characters, tying with Goro Daimon, and in January 1998 was named the 22nd-best character of the preceding year, tying withRyuji Yamazaki.[16][17]IGN voted Alex one of their top 25 fighters.[18] He was ranked as the sixth-bestStreet Fighter character byUGO.com.[19] Alex was also named as 10th-best character in the series byComplex.[20]
Dudley (ダッドリー,Daddorī) is an upper classheavyweight boxer fromBritain with powerful techniques and speed. He seeks perfection both in and out of the ring, always behaving as an impeccable gentleman. He is also the son of an athlete who later became a successful businessman. When his father's business began to fail when he was in college, Dudley was able to recover his losses thanks to his boxing career.[5][21] InStreet Fighter III: 2nd Impact,[22] he fights outside a London pub called theSherlock Holmes, whileKnightsbridge tube station and theHarrods department store can be seen in his 3rd Strike background. When his father's prizedJaguar XK120 is purchased from a debtor's auction, Dudley goes after the buyer, a man named Gill. InStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Dudley has received the honorary title of "Sir"[23] after making a comeback and winning the championship title, and is invited into a contest that will be held in the presence of the royal family. Now known as Sir Dudlington, he decides to travel the world and improve himself before the day of the match.[10] He is also shown to have a great interest in the gardens of his illustrious country estate, occasionally losing track of time, or getting lost, as shown in hisThird Strike ending.
InSuper Street Fighter IV, Dudley returns as a playable character and joins the tournament in search of new roses for his garden. He also claims he needs something to get his mind off of his missing car and encountersBalrog who challenges him to a fight. In his ending, he is shown lamenting the fact that he was unable to procure the new roses for his garden. As he does so, Dudley notices a flower bloom and comments on its beauty to his butler, Mr Gotch. He also appears viaDLC inStreet Fighter X Tekken with his official tag partner,Elena.[24] In a small cameo, Dudley can be seen in the background of the England stage inCapcom vs. SNK 2, reading a newspaper while wearing boxing gloves, and he has another small cameo in Pyron's ending inCapcom Fighting Jam.
During development, they considered how boxing was seen as a "gentleman's sport" that was "currently being perfected inEngland". Feeling they had only previously portrayed boxing as being used by villainous characters, they chose England as Dudley's country of origin, and built the character's framework from there.[3] When creating his design, they gave him pronounced shoulders to emphasize his role as a boxer. Additional artwork also frequently displayed him enjoying tea, to help emphasize his British nationality.[25] Sadamoto considered Dudley they easiest character to finalize.[3]
Gill (ギル,Giru) is the main antagonist and finalboss of theStreet Fighter III series.[26] At the start of the series he is the President of the Illuminati, a secret society that has controlled the underworld for thousands of years and seeks to turn the whole world into autopia by causing an armageddon. His ultimate goal is to test the skills of several warriors and coerce them into his cause. Gill appears in his default costume as a tall, muscular man with flowing blond hair, the right side of his body colored red, and the left side colored blue, wearing nothing but aloincloth.2nd Impact introduces Gill's younger brother Urien as a player character of similar build and attire but with short hair; in addition, Urien's body is the same color on both sides. In Urien's ending, Gill is revealed to have been promoted to "Emperor" (天帝,Tentei, "Celestial Emperor") after Urien takes over Gill's former presidency, which he still holds by the time of3rd Strike[27] The blond woman who assists Gill before battle in3rd Strike is his secretaryKolin (コーリン,Kōrin), who also appears in Dudley's ending in the first two games, handing him the keys to Dudley's car.[28] Gill is not playable in any of the arcade versions of theStreet Fighter III games. However, he is selectable once he is unlocked from within the console versions of2nd Impact and3rd Strike. He appears in the ending ofStreet Fighter V revealing that Helen is in fact his secretary Kolin. Gill makes his playable debut inStreet Fighter V as a playable character in theChampion Edition update.
Her initial design was drastically different, consisting of a short haired muscular girl with glasses, wearing an outfit similar toGuy fromFinal Fight, another character he had developed. However they felt this design looked "more like a martial artist than a high-flying ninja".[29] Another pass was done with a focus on a more traditional ninja, the next drawing giving her a full bodysuit and armor over her hands, ankles and crotch.[30] Her appearance and outfit were refined further,[31] giving her a look he described as cute "even though she looks shabby". Series artist and fellow character designer Kinu Nishimura took that statement to heart and emphasized that cute aspect of her art of Ibuki, as well as designing a school outfit for the character.[32][33] Sadamoto recalled that because they were located in Japan Ibuki was much easier to find reference materials than other characters. Her unique ponytail proved a bit of a problem for the animation team, as to do it properly she had "1.2 to 1.3x the character data" of other fighters, requiring several months to complete with Sadamoto himself helping at the end.[3]
In the plots of the originalStreet Fighter III and2nd Impact,[34] Ibuki is sent by her clan to retrieve a mysterious "G file" fromGill's organization, the Illuminati. In Ibuki's game end sequence, Gill hands her the file after their battle. In3rd Strike,[35] she is shown preparing to graduate from high school and is studying for her college application exams, hoping to move away from home to enjoy a normal campus life and find a boyfriend. As part of her final exam, Ibuki is sent to find and defeat the elderly martial artist,Oro. In her3rd Strike ending, she is accepted into the fictional Sarusuberi University (私立百日紅大学,Shiritsu Sarusuberi Daigaku), at first without knowledge of its cover for an elite ninja training camp.[36]
Akunai resembling her is seen in Fei Long's ending inStreet Fighter IV (2008). She became playable inSuper Street Fighter IV (2010), where her introductory sequence shows her interacting with a fellow ninjaGuy for the first time.[37] Her story for the game depicts her looking for fun and boys to date. Ibuki also meetsSakura Kasugano, as she tries to get Sakura to introduce her to a boy.
Ibuki reappears as a playable character inStreet Fighter V as aDLC character.[38] In her prologue story, Ibuki finally finishes her ninja assignment and is informed by her friend Sakura about the party invitation sent from her rivalKarin Kanzuki. Arriving at the Kanzuki Estate, Ibuki fights and defeatBirdie and Karin. After the fight, Karin lets her stay at the party with handsome boys and gives her the contract which has been approved by the Shinobi village to work with her. Ibuki also appears in the ending ofR. Mika's prologue story, rejecting her offer in muscle training which angers R. Mika who beats her in a fight. Ibuki and R. Mika continue to argue and bicker through the course of the game's main story, "A Shadow Falls", which begins when they and Karin travel to theNew York City to find out who is behind the activation of the seven Black Moons, eventually finding out it is a Shadaloo plot. During the first infiltration of the Shadaloo base, Ibuki fightsBalrog but fails to beat him. She then uses her smoke bomb to distract the enemies and the two successfully escape with it until they reunited with Karin. They witnessZangief beatAbel, Ibuki watching in disgust while R. Mika idolizes him. In the final assault against Shadaloo, Ibuki and R. Mika fight off Shadaloo soldiers. Ibuki is last seen watching Shadaloo's destruction with the other fighters.[39]
Asuper deformed version of Ibuki is a playable character in the fighting gameSuper Gem Fighter Mini Mix /Pocket Fighter (1997),[40] in which she sneaks off from her ninja training for an ice cream in Tokyo.[41] Ibuki is playable in the mobile puzzle gameStreet Fighter: Puzzle Spirits (2014),[42] and appears as a card in the browser-based social gameOnimusha Soul (2012)[43] and in person inStreet Fighter Battle Combination (2015).[44][45] Her cards also appear inSNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters Clash (1999) andSNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighters DS (2007). She has a cameo inCapcom Fighting Evolution /Capcom Fighting Jam (2004).
Ibuki also appears in the crossover fighting game,Street Fighter X Tekken (2012), withRolento as her tag team partner.[46] In it, she is persuaded by her village leaders to accept Rolento's request for a joint mission to theSouth Pole, serving as his advisor on infiltration.[47] In the story mode, Rolento initially addresses the very annoyed Ibuki asprivate but "promotes" her to the rank ofsergeant by the end of the game. According to a backstory for theStreet Fighter X Tekken DLC ninja costume-swap for theTekken series'Asuka Kazama, Asuka was sent Ibuki's village to learn the ninja arts from her.[48] Ibuki's ownTekken swap costume is in the style ofYoshimitsu, with her latest assignment having her join his Manji Clan.[49]
Ryota Niitsuma originally considered her for inclusion as a playable character inTatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2008), but she was ultimately cut due to time constraints.[50] The "head student at Ibuki's ninja village" was supposed to be a new player character in the rejected concept ofStreet Fighter IV Flashback byBackbone Entertainment,[51]
IGN's Jesse Schedeen stated "Ibuki is an apple that falls a bit far from the ninja tree. She's not a musclebound brute, but a young, quirky girl still finding her way in the world," adding that her eccentric nature was "part of what makes her so fun."[52] Martin Robinson ofAskMen stated "ninjas might be ten-a-penny in videogames, but none are as effortlessly cool as Ibuki" and added that she "is one of a handful of characters worth salvaging fromStreet Fighter III."[53] Gavin Jasper ofDen of Geek praised her as "too fun not to like", noting her complex life specifically and giving additional praise to her role as thestraight man to Rolento's eccentric behavior inStreet Fighter X Tekken.[54]Paste stated "her design, both aesthetically and as a fighter, is actually pretty strong", further calling her the best ninja of the series "by far".[55] Amanda LaPergola and Becky Chambers ofThe Mary Sue praised her status as a ninja, but criticized the emphasis of her story on her story on meeting boys, a trait they felt was too common amongst female characters in theStreet Fighter universe.[56]
Necro (ネクロ,Nekuro), whose real name isIllia (イリヤ,Iriya), was born in a poor Russian village near a lake. He is the third of four children, with two older brothers and a younger sister. He also has massive data. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he wanders off from his home village and into the vicinity ofMoscow, where he comes into contact with Gill's organization, which remodels hisDNA to turn him into a living weapon, granting him superhuman flexibility.[57] His fighting style is simulated by a computer, then programmed into his brain with cyber implants.[5][58] Necro has a long reach and can use throws and electrocution. In his ending, he is tricked by Gill and left for dead in a facility, until he is rescued by a young girl namedEffie (エフィー,Efī), and the pair go on a journey together. Necro's story is the same in2nd Impact, in which he gains the nickname "super electromagnetic alien". In this game, however, he also has a role as one of Hugo's potential final bosses and tag partners, forming the tag team "Thunderbolt". In3rd Strike,[59] Necro and Effie are pursued by agents of the organization, but still live in hope of "truth and liberty". In his ending, Necro saves Effie from falling and thwarts agents of the Illuminati at the Siberian railroad.[10][60]
Unlike Ryu, Ken lacked any early design sketches, with the work progressing directly to the sprite design phase.[61] The development team found his design easily to build around, but with3rd Strike they focused on improving the character's gameplay and adding more leg-based techniques to help subtly differentiate him further from Ryu.[62]
Oro (オロ)[63] is an ancientmartial arts master who lives a secluded life of an immortalhermit.[64] His lack of attachments has allowed him to exceed his legendary fighting skills beyond those of an ordinary person, though he does seem to have a weakness for cute girls. He attained such extraordinary abilities through the mastery of an extreme fighting style known as senjutsu (仙術). He sets out on a journey to find a worthy successor of his secrets in order to kill time. Through the use of magic, he sealed one of his arms in order to even the odds in favor of his opponents as he could accidentally seriously injure or kill his opponent if he did not.[65][58] Oro decides that the only martial artist he met worthy of inheriting his secrets wasRyu.
Oro later reappears inStreet Fighter V duringDhalsim's character story as Dhalsim encounters him while teaching a police officer named Mahesh how to breathe fire. Oro engages a discussion with the yoga master about mastering one skill before he leaves sensing another interesting person in the area. He was later mentioned in Karin's character story as Karin travels to India to find Oro, but is told by Dhalsim that he had already left a few days prior. He is also seen in Menat's character story whenMenat, sent by her masterRose, warns him of an evil power in their world, which Oro is already aware of. He was made a playable character in the game's fifth season, in which he confers with Rose and Dhalsim about this lingering Psycho Power left behind afterM. Bison's defeat. He once again fights using only one arm, carrying a tortoise named Yamasen in the other. Outside of the video game series, Oro also appears in theStreet Fighter Legends: Ibuki comic book miniseries whereIbuki's final ninja exam is to challenge him. Together with her friendsElena andMakoto, she goes to the shrine onMount Atago, where Oro has travelled to meditate. After the fight, Oro says that she actually made him think about using both hands and commends her on an entertaining challenge.
Despite appearing only inSFIII at the time, Oro was voted 35th-most popular out of 85Street Fighter characters in Capcom's own poll for the 15th anniversary ofStreet Fighter.[66] Oro also ranked 21st in a worldwideStreet Fighter character poll held between 2017 and 2018.[3]UGO Networks listed Oro as one of the top 50Street Fighter characters due to his "unorthodox, powerful, and unique" design.[67] He also ranked inDen of Geek,Complex, andPaste Magazine's favoriteStreet Fighter characters lists.[68][69][70] Meanwhile,GamesRadar named Oro one of the worstStreet Fighter characters.[71]
The character that became Oro was originally planned to be aBrazilianJiu Jitsu fighter, inspired by theGracie family. As development progressed, they looked over previously suggested designs, and Oro's finalized appearance stood out to the development team, with the sprite art team pushing to utilize it so they could see the character in motion.[3] Oro's additional art was designed to make him look more intimidating than his in-game sprites. At one point in development he was also intended to have a scar on his back.[72]
Ryu's design required few early design sketches because of how recognizable the character had become within the company. In particular they wanted to emphasize his white headbang, in contrast to the red headband that was exclusive to theStreet Fighter Alpha series of games that had released duringNew Generation's development.[61]
Sean Matsuda (ショーン・マツダ,Shōn Matsuda) is a young boy from an average home inBrazil and the younger brother of Laura. Impressed by Ken's performance at a martial arts rally, Sean seeks to become his disciple, calling him "Master Ken". An intense but courteous young man, Sean is determined to win no matter what. He was once trained by his grandfather, who was of Japanese descent. Sean's greatest weakness is receiving attacks while attacking. He dreams of creating his original special moves.[5][73][74] It is Sean who leads the basketball parry bonus round in3rd Strike. In his ending, he becomes Ken's disciple, only to be told that he needs to defeat Ryu to become worthy. In3rd Strike,[75] Sean is allowed to participate in a martial arts tournament, but Ken tells him that his current skills will not even get him through the preliminaries and that he needs to develop his own style. In his3rd Strike ending, Sean dreams that he has won the championship title, but in fact he loses in the qualifying rounds as a result of his lack of training.[76][10] Sean makes a cameo appearance in Ryu's ending and intro inMarvel vs. Capcom, and as a supporting character inStreet Fighter V.
Sean's pierced ears were something they felt was difficult to properly portray in his artwork. Additionally, they had considered having his palms and the soles of his feet be paler, but scrapped this concept during development.[61]
In their backstory,[77] The Lee Brothers,Yun (ユン) andYang (ヤン) were separated from their birth parents when they were young. They were raised by an adoptive grandfather who runs a restaurant inHong Kong and have eight underground bosses as godfathers. By the time ofStreet Fighter III, the two brothers are the leaders of their local town. Yun, the elder of the two, is described as being more responsible, while his younger brother Yang is calmer and more analytical.[78]
InStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike,[79][80] Yun and Yang set off to fight a mysterious organization (Gill's group, the Illuminati) threatening to take over their village.[81] In their respective endings, Yun and Yang end up driving away Gill from their home town and the two return home to be greeted by their female friend Houmei and her younger sister Shaomei, who both harbor a respective crush on Yun and Yang.
Prior toStreet Fighter 6, when their cousin, Jamie was still a young kid, the brothers saved him from being beaten by common thugs, thus serving as Jamie's inspiration to be a fighter like them.
After theStreet Fighter III series, Yun appeared as a playable characterCapcom vs. SNK 2, in the portable versions ofStreet Fighter Alpha 3 for theGame Boy Advance andPlayStation Portable and inCapcom Fighting Jam. They both later appeared as playable characters inSuper Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition.
The twins later made a cameo inChun-Li's introductorycutscene in the console versions ofStreet Fighter IV and in again in her ending inSuper Street Fighter IV. They also made a cameo in the Half Pipe stage inStreet Fighter X Tekken.
The Lee brothers were intended to be "popular from the start", and "flashier" than series protagonist Alex. In particular their designs were built around the parry system, a new gameplay element unique toStreet Fighter III, and they were given kung fu as a martial art to highlight this aspect. In addition to giving them the most consideration during development, they also wanted to emphasize the pair's boyish youth.[3]
Hugo (ヒューゴー,Hyūgō) is a member of theAndore family, recurring enemies in theFinal Fight series whose designs are based off real lifeprofessional wrestlerAndre the Giant. A German man of massive height, he acts as a professional wrestler himself. Managed by fellowFinal Fight characterPoison, they seek to develop their ownwrestling promotion by forcibly recruiting other fighters. Hugo would return alongside Poison for its sequel as well asUltra Street Fighter IV,Street Fighter V,SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, andStreet Fighter x Tekken.
Within series lore, Gill andUrien (ユリアン,Yurian) are the children of gifted parents who excelled physically and intellectually.[82] The Illuminati separated the brothers from their birth parents at the age of six and gave them a specialized education to become candidates for the organization's presidency. Gill was ultimately chosen, leaving Urien bitter with resentment.[5][83] In2nd Impact, Urien challenges Gill for the presidency. He eventually gains the title, only to learn that Gill has been promoted to Emperor, the true leader of the Illuminati, whose existence is known only to its presidents and chairmen. In3rd Strike, in spite of his new position, Urien still resents the supremacy of his brother.[84] He decides to eliminate Gill permanently and destroys the preservation facility where Gill is still recovering.[85] During the character introduction that precedes every match inStreet Fighter III, he is presented as wearing business attire prior to the beginning of his fight, where shortly afterwards his skin darkens and his clothes disappear, leaving him wearing only a white loincloth like Gill.
Gavin Jasper fromDen of Geek placed Urien 34th place in a ranking list ofStreet Fighter characters, noted that his role as a disgruntled underling plotting to usurp his brother calls into question who is the true main villain of theStreet Fighter III series.[86] As Urien is essentially a head and palette swap of Gill's in-game model and gameplay mechanics, Jasper praised the developers of2nd Impact for differentiating both characters by applying select variations to Gill's moveset and visual design to create Urien. Ian Walker fromKotaku noted that Urien was popular with players in both casual and competitive spheres ofStreet Fighter III due to his distinct look and abilities.[87]
When working on Chun-Li for3rd Strike, the development team ran into a problem as they needed input from Yasuda, who had originally designed the character. However, he was unreachable as he was currently working on character designs for theGundam franchise inTokyo,Japan. The development instead traveled to him, and were able to finalize her design for the game.[88]
Q, who first appears inStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike, is a mysterious individual in a trenchcoat and hat, whose face is concealed by an expressionless metal mask, based on the main character fromTokusatsu seriesRobot Detective (Robot Keiji K). Q is being tracked by the CIA because of his presence in numerous strange disasters.[10][89] Nothing of his background has yet been revealed. All of Q's techniques are named in "descriptive" form rather than with traditionally-styled move names, as if they are given by people who have watched him fight.
Remy (レミー,Remī), who first appears inStreet Fighter III: 3rd Strike, is a young turquoise-hairedsavateur from Paris who seeks revenge against his father, a martial artist who abandoned him and his sister. After Remy's sister died, he encased her body in an iced casket, which he keeps in an underwater cove in theBay of Biscay. Remy takes his aggression out on other martial artists by challenging them to battle. Remy's rival match illustrates this, as his sudden appearance and challenge surprise Alex, who thinks him nothing but a troubled man. In his ending, Remy realizes that he has been inadvertently following in his father's footsteps. He makes peace with his sister and follows a new path. His attacks are similar to that of Guile and Charlie, but no notable connection to them has been established.[90] Remy was voted 8th in Capcom's popularity poll of 85 characters for the 15th anniversary ofStreet Fighter.[66]
Twelve (トゥエルヴ,Tueruvu) is a humanoid creature with a solid white body, and has a rounded head that features black eyes and a thin mouth. Physically a prototype of the body intended for Necro,[10] Twelve is a shapeshifter that can transform parts of his body into various weapons or fully mimic other fighters.[91]
When developing Twelve, the aimed for a design that was "deliberately weird and atypical", revolving around a concept of breaking rules they'd established for the series. An early design of the character featured short and a harness, and would have had camouflage patterns on his skin. At this stage, he was intended to be a "face swap" for Necro,[91] and was initially conceived to be a "perfected" version of what Gill had intended for Necro, before becoming a prototype instead.[92] His design was meant to have simple coloring while they focused on making his movement and animation interesting, while his role in the story was meant to further flesh out Necro and Gill.[91] Several attacks were considered for his design that were never implemented, such as being able to swim on the ground,[92] and another where he could spray poison mist from his mouth.[93]
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The introduction ofStreet Fighter III's cast proved controversial at the time, particularly among the players of the franchise.[94] Matt Edwards ofEurogamer described the series' first game as "a mixture of baffling design choices" particularly in how it handled the characters, noting that many of the characters felt too similar to previous characters introduced inStreet Fighter II, with Yun, Ibuki and Alex being particular standouts in his eyes.[95] Sam Stone ofComic Book Resources meanwhile suggested by being released after theStreet Fighter Alpha series of games, which featured characters more recognizable to the fandom, Capcom was essentially competing with itself, which helped to severely hamperNew Generations sales to the point they were one-fifth of those of the much olderStreet Fighter II's and caused the franchise to remain untouched until the 2008 release ofStreet Fighter IV.[96]
Not all reception was negative however. Edwards emphasized by comparison with the release of3rd Strike the characters felt more refined, even if the introduction of Remy felt too similar to previous characterGuile.[95]Paste's Elijah Gonzalez attributed some of the series'cult favorite status to how the cast was made up of "oddball characters [...] each with a distinct look that catches the eye" that was emphasized by how well the game's pixel art expressed their personalities.[97]
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