Street Fighter Martial Arts Styles

One of the joys of Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game is selecting your character's martial arts style, but after playing the game for a while, the list of styles offered in the core rules starts to feel a little slim. This is made worse if you're much of a street fighter canon fan by the fact that the RPG gets so much wrong about the characters and their martial arts. A lot more information is more readily available about the game characters now than it used to be, and the game itself has been expanded quite a lot since the early to mid-nineties, when the RPG was published.

Over the years of playing the RPG, we've added a lot of martial arts styles to fill these gaps. Now I'm thinking about embarking on a redevelopment of our styles, and I thought I'd share the process on this blog.

My first stop will be the street fighter video game series, which will give me a core list of martial arts styles to include. Later I'll fill out the list with major styles that are missing, or just with cool styles I'd like to see available in the game.

Below, I've listed all the characters from the street fighter series of games, along with my notes about their martial arts styles. These notes probably don't line up perfectly with any particular list out there, but they're pretty close. There's a certain amount of room for interpretation in the canon, and these are my current thoughts. I've gleaned this list from strategy guides and artbooks (both U.S. and Japanese), manga, the Street Fighter canon plot guide, and Udon's recent offerings, like the very cool Street Fighter World Warrior Encyclopedia.

I'll talk more about my thinking process on some of these in the comments or in a future post.

Abel: Martial Arts, Judo

Adon: Muay Thai

Alex: Pro Wrestling, Special Forces Training

Balrog (Claw): Ninjutsu, Bullfighting

Birdie: Street Fighting

Blanka: Self-Taught Amazon Jungle Fighting

C. Viper: Secret Agent Training, Gadgeteer

Cammy: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Delta Red Special Forces Training

Chun Li: Kung Fu (aka 中国拳法), Taiqi, Police Training, Acrobat

Cody: Street Fighting

Dan: Saikyo-ryu, claims to teach Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do

Dee Jay: Kickboxing, Sonic

Dhalsim: Yoga

Dudley: Boxing

E. Honda: Sumo

Eagle: Stick Fighting

El Fuerte: Lucha Libre

Elena: Capoeira

Fei Long: Soaring Heavens Kung Fu (Fei Tin Kuen 飛天拳)

Geki: Ninjutsu

Gen: Crane Kung Fu, Mantis Kung Fu, Ànshāquán (暗殺拳)

Gill: Illuminati Martial Arts

Gouken: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Gouki: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Guile: Martial Arts, Special Forces Training, Sonic

Guy: Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu, Street Fighting

Hakan: Turkish Oil Wrestling (Yagh Gures)

Hugo: Pro Wrestling

Ibuki: Ninjutsu

Ingrid: The spiritual or psychic energy that is purportedly the true source of Psycho Power/Soul Power

Joe: Street Fighting

Juli: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Psycho Power

Juni: Shadoloo Assassin Training, Psycho Power

Juri: Tae Kwon Do, Feng Shui Engine Power

Karin: Kanzuki-ryu Kakutojutsu, Judo, Sambo, Eight Direction Fist (Bājíquán八極拳) all confirmed specifically, also purported to know all martial arts (as noted in Ganbaru Sakura)

Ken: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳)

Lee: Kung Fu

Maki: Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu

Makoto: Rindokan Karate

Mike: Boxing

Mike Bison (Boxer): Boxing

Nash (Charlie): Martial Arts, Special Forces Training, Sonic

Necro: Biocyber

Oro: Senjutsu

Q: ?

R. Mika: Pro Wrestling

Remy: Martial Arts, (possibly Savate)

Retsu: Shorinji Kempo

Rolento: Red Beret Special Forces Training

Rose: Soul Power

Rufus: Kung Fu, Snake Kung Fu, (Self Taught)

Ryu: Karate, Ansatsuken (暗殺拳), Judo, Tae Kwon Do

Sagat: Muay Thai

Sakura: Karate, Self-Taught, imitation of Ryu’s Ansatsuken (暗殺拳) techniques

Sean: Karate, imitation of Ken’s Ansatsuken (暗殺拳) techniques

Seth: Feng Shui Engine Power

Sodom: Self-Taught Japanese Martial Arts (Sumo, Kendo, Iaido, Kobudo, Judo, Karate, Ninjutsu, etc.)

T. Hawk: Folkstyle Wrestling (Thunderfoot Wrestling)

Twelve: Biocyber

Urien: Illuminati Martial Arts

Vega (Dictator): Psycho Power

Yang: Kung Fu

Yun: Kung Fu

Zangief: Pro Wrestling

A pdf copy of this list is available here.

Who's Who of Street Fighter -- 1968

We're talking about setting up a historical Street Fighter campaign, set roughly around 1968-1972. This is the era of Johnny Quest (and by extension of the first generation of Team Venture). It also is a good fit for setting a space age tone, and it matches up to the beginnings of the kung fu movie explosion of the seventies.

One interesting question is what the "who's who of the Street Fighter canon" would be at this time. I've gone to my strategy guides and the Street Fighter canon plot guide, and using 1968 as a point of reference for the campaign, here's what I've come up with.

First, we only have birth dates for the core 15 characters (minus Lord Vega) from the SFII era of games and for wrestlers from Muscle Bomber. In 1968, most of the main Street Fighter characters are young children or haven't been born yet (Ryu, born in 1964, is 4 years old). But there are a few who are nearing fighting age, especially considering how early fighters seem to get into the game in Street Fighter.

The year is 1968. Zangief is 12 years old. The man who will eventually come to dominate the fighting circuit, Sagat, is 13 years old. Dhalsim is 16. Mike Haggar is 27. Oro is already a hermit in Brazil and is currently 108 (born 1860).

These ages are definite. What else do we know? Well, the Japanese strategy guides estimate Gouki's age in SSFII Turbo as around 48, which would put him at around 21-23 in 1968. Gouken would be roughly the same age.

We can extrapolate other ages from there.

Here are some canonical characters who would probably be of or near fighting age in 1968.

• Gen (based on his age in SF Zero, he'd be 50-60 years old in 1968)
• Go Hibiki (Dan is roughly the same age as Ryu, which would suggest that Go Hibiki should be old enough to have a young son. Go could easily be about the same age as Gouki and Gouken -- in his early 20s.)
• Zeku, Bushin-ryu Master (roughly the same age as Gouki and Gouken?)
  
• Retsu (same as Gouki and Gouken?)
• Li (a little younger --maybe 16, Dhalsim's age)
• Kanzuki Juro (Karin's father, he'd work well at around 18-20 -- Karin is born 1973)
• Rolento (he's late 30s to early 40s in SF Zero, which would put him around 20 in 1968)
• Chun Li's father (Chun Li is born in 1968, so her father could be in his early 20s)
  
• Remy's father (13-18)
• Belgar (end boss in Final Fight -- maybe around 21-23)

Dudley's father would be a character of the right age, but he wouldn't be a fighter (he would be a wealthy businessman or aristocrat, from what I understand.)

In addition, there's Lord Vega, who I mentioned before. His age is unknown. If he's around the same age as Chun Li's father, he'd be in his early 20s -- the same generation as Gouki and Gouken.

And then there are a few teachers from Rival Schools who might be young fighters in this era.

I'm not sure if Goutetsu would be dead yet, or not. Ryu doesn't come to train with Gouken until he's around 8 to 10 years old (again, roughly), which wouldbe around 1972-74. I think Goutetsu is dead before Ryu comes to train with Gouken. So either Goutetsu would be dead when the campaign started... or the clock would be ticking.

Some of this info is based on the Japanese strategy guides and Gamest Mooks I have laying around here. Some is based on The Street Fighter Canon Plot Guide (v4.6). Much of it is basically guesswork and creative interpretation.