A World of Martial Arts for Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game

Let’s say you're playing Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game using only the core rulebook and Secrets of the Shadoloo but you still want a wider range of martial arts to be available to the characters. This post offers a quick and dirty way to accomplish that. It’s based on a simple premise—that you can create a reasonably large range of styles with a few tweaks to the existing martial arts in the game.


I’ve been meaning to do a more extensive job of creating and organizing a large list of styles, but it is a very time-consuming process. This is an attempt at a workable system that gets me to a large style list without the time investment needed to create entire styles from scratch. In campaign play, I imagine I would expand on this to develop a full suite of styles over time. For now, though, this will do for pick up games. (pdf copy here.)

Notes

• These are cinematic styles, so they play very fast and loose with reality. I’ve made some adjustments to named styles to make them at least somewhat better resemble their video game or real world counterparts where I had some relevant knowledge, but they’re still very loose. For example, there are still punches in styles that don’t include much punching, and so on. There’s a whole lot of artistic license in here that won’t hold up to the scrutiny of martial arts connoisseurs. I'm ok with that.
• Where the new style differs from the base style in terms of starting Chi and Willpower, the new style’s starting Chi/Will is given in the text. 
• You’ll need to reinterpret many existing moves to fit the look of the style. I haven’t included much in the way of description, but Google and Wikipedia are good starting points. For example, a move like Siberian Bear Crusher might be reinterpreted as a shoot and slam for a wrestler, a flying power bomb for a professional wrestler, and a quick forward dash followed by a wrist lock throw for Aikido. For a brawler from the streets, Flying Head Butt may stay a flying head butt… or it may be the result of dashing into someone and straight up shoulder checking them or just slamming into them, as countless Final Fight battles have shown.
• I haven’t included many heavily weapon-based styles in the list, and the styles that are included are a fairly ad hoc collection.
• Multiples are included for certain styles in order to bring the number of items on the list to 100 (there are 71 unique entries on the list), in case you want to roll up random styles from this list.

A World of Martial Arts

1. Aikido: Use Native American Wrestling (Chi 5, Will 2). Remove Spinning Clothesline and all Athletics maneuvers. Add Siberian Bear Crusher (4), Fireball (3) and Stunning Shout (2).
2. Aikido
3. American Ninjitsu: Use Special Forces Training (Chi 3, Willpower 4). Purchase Focus maneuvers from the Any list.
4. Bio/Cyber: Use Kabaddi (Chi 4, Will 3). Add Spinning Clothesline (4) and Turbo Spinning Clothesline (4). Assume all Focus maneuvers are powered by bio/cyber implants. (They still cost Chi.)
5. Boxing: Use Boxing. Add Boxing Punches (1), which gives a Punch version of Short, Forward, and Roundhouse Kick.
6. Boxing
7. Boxing
8. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: Use Sanbo (Chi 2, Will 5). Remove Punch maneuvers except Ear Pop. Add  Wounded Knee (2).
9. Bushin-ryu Ninjutsu: Use Wushu. Remove Fireball maneuvers. Add Elbow Smash (1) and Lightfeet (3).
10. Capoeira: Use Capoeira. Add Capoeira Kicks (1), which gives a Kick version of Jab, Strong, and Fierce Punch. Add Handstand Kick (1). Assume that rolling attacks consist of cartwheel and spinning kicks.
11. Catch Wrestling: Use Sanbo.
12. Crane Fist: Use Kung Fu. Add Crane Fist, which allows any basic punch to be made with a reach of 1, but which misses opponents within the fighter’s hex. (The Crane Fist combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
13. Dog Boxing (gouquan): Use Capoeira. Remove Backflip and Musical Accompaniment. Add Grab maneuvers from Special Forces.
14. Dragon Fist: Use Kung Fu. Add Dragon Claw (2), which adds +1 to speed, damage, and movement of any basic punch for a cost of 1 Chi. (The Dragon Claw combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
15. Drunken Fist (zuiquan): Use Wushu. Remove Rekka Ken. Add Cup Hand Strike (1), which allows a swaying block/dodge while using basic punches (-1 damage, +1 soak when using a Basic Punch). (The Cup Hand combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
16. Eagle Claw: Use Native American Wrestling. Remove Spinning Clothesline and Shockwave. Add Eagle Claw (1), which allows any basic punch to be made at -1 damage in exchange for a +1 speed to any Grab next turn. (The Eagle Claw combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
17. Eight Trigram Boxing (baguaquan—Pa Kua): Use Kung Fu (Chi 6, Will 1). Remove Kicks. Add Grabs from Native American Wrestling. Add Walking the Circle (3)—at the cost of 1 Chi, the fighter may move one hex immediately after completing an attack. (The Circle Walking combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the special maneuver it will modify.)
18. Glima: Use Native American Wrestling. Remove Diving Hawk and Thunder Strike. Add Ice Blast (3).
19. Goju-ryu Karate: Use Shotokan Karate (Chi 4, Will 3). Remove Flaming Dragon Punch, Improved Fireball, and Flying Fireball. Add Regeneration (2), Mind Reading (3), and Zen No Mind (3).
20. Goju-ryu Karate
21. Goju-ryu Karate
22. Goutetsukan Karate: Use Shotokan Karate. Add Yoga Teleport (5).
23. Grand Ultimate Boxing (taiqiquan—Tai Chi): Use Kung Fu (Chi 6, Will 2). Remove Kicks. Add Focus maneuvers from Kabaddi, except Extendible Limbs. All fire-based attacks become extended Chi attacks.
24. Grand Ultimate Boxing (Tai Chi)
25. Grand Ultimate Boxing (Tai Chi)
26. Hapkido: Use Special Forces Training (Chi 3, Will 4). Remove Cannon Drill. Add Fireball (3), Regeneration (2), and Chi Kung Healing (4).
27. Hwarang Do: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
28. Isshin-ryu Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Maka Wara (3), San He (3), and Toughskin (3).
29. Jeet Kune Do: Use Kung Fu (Chi 1, Will 6). Remove Dim Mak.
30. Judo: Use Native American Wrestling (Chi 3, Will 4). Remove Punches and Athletics maneuvers. Remove Thunderclap and Ghost Form. Add Back Roll Throw (1), Siberian Bear Crusher (4), and Fireball (3).
31. Judo
32. Judo
33. Jujutsu: Use Native American Wrestling. Add Back Roll Throw (1), Fireball (4), and Improved Fireball (4).
34. Kalari Payat: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak and Rekka Ken.
35. Kanzuki-ryu Bujutsu: Use Kung Fu (Chi 2, Will 5). Remove Dim Mak and all Fireball maneuvers. Allow Kicks to be included in Rekka Ken, which also has a prerequisite of Kick 4.
36. Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken.  Add Fireball (3) and Stunning Shout (2). Name your style of Karate.
37. Karate
38. Karate
39. Kickboxing: Use Western Kickboxing.
40. Kickboxing
41. Kickboxing
42. Kung Fu: Use Kung Fu or Wushu. (Your Choice.) Name your style of Kung Fu.
43. Kung Fu
44. Kung Fu
45. Kushti (Indian Wrestling): Use Sanbo.
46. Kyokushinkai Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Osu! (use Psychokinetic Channeling) (4) and Toughskin (3).
47. Kyokushin Karate
48. Lucha Libre: Use Native American Wrestling. Remove all Focus maneuvers. Add Athletics maneuvers from Wushu.
49. Mantis Fist: Use Kung Fu. Add Mantis Fist (2), which allows any basic punch to be made at -1 damage in exchange for a -1 movement penalty to the opponent next turn. (The Mantis Fist combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
50. Mind and Body Boxing (xingyiquan—Ching-I):Use Boxing (Chi 6, Will 1). All Head Butt maneuvers become strikes (Names for Punches: Chopping Strike, Drilling Strike, Crushing Strike, Exploding Strike, Crossing Strike). All Grabs become unbalancing attacks (KD in hex)—when the boxer uses an unbalancing attack (or throw), it does not look like a throw – only a touch is necessary (Names for Grabs: Unbalancing, Taking the Root, Cutting the Root.) Add Stunning Shout (2).
51. Mongolian Wrestling (Bkyukl Bökh): Use Native American Wrestling. Replace all Sustained Hold effects with KD effects. Remove Ghost Form. Keep the Diving Hawk and Rising Hawk theme: eagles/hawks are thematically appropriate for Mongolian Wrestling.
52. Monkey Boxing: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dragon Punch, Dim Mak, and Rekka Ken. Add Beast Roll (3), Rolling Attack (3), and Vertical Rolling Attack (2).
53. Ninjutsu: Use Spanish Ninjitsu. Add all Focus maneuvers from Shotokan Karate. Name your style of Ninjutsu.
54. Old Bujutsu: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak. Make Fireball (3), Improved Fireball (3), and Flying Fireball (3). Add Stunning Shout (2).
55. Pankration: Use Sanbo.
56. Pencak Silat: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
57. Pro Wrestling: Use Sanbo.
58. Pro Wrestling
59. Psycho Power: Use Ler Drit.
60. Rindokan Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Add Maka Wara (3), San He (3), and Toughskin (3).
61. Saikyo-ryu: Use Shotokan Karate. Fireball has a range equal to Wits. Remove Improved Fireball and Flying Fireball.
62. Sambo: Use Sanbo.
63. San Shou: Use Western Kickboxing. Replaced all sustained hold effects with knockdown and throw effects (all Grabs are sweeps or throws).
64. Savate: Use Western Kickboxing. Add Flash Kick (4).
65. Secret Agent Combat Training: Use Special Forces Training.
66. Secret Agent
67. Senjutsu: Use Kabaddi.
68. Shaolin Temple Boxing: Use Kung Fu (Chi 2, Will 5).
69. Shaolin
70. Shorinji Kempo: Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak, Rekka Ken, and Dragon Kick.
71. Shorin-ryu Karate: Use Western Kickboxing.Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Fireball (3).
72. Shotokan Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Fireball (3), San He (3), and Toughskin (2).
73. Shotokan
74. Shuai Jiao: Use Native American Wrestling (Chi 4, Will 3).
75. Snake Fist: Use Kabaddi. Remove Head Butt maneuvers and all Fireball maneuvers. Add Dim Mak (4).
76. Soaring Heavens Kung Fu (feitinkuen): Use Kung Fu.
77. Spanish Ninjitsu: Use Spanish Ninjitsu.
78. Special Forces Training: Use Special Forces Training.
79. Special Forces
80. Street Fighting: Use Boxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Flying Head Butt (2).
81. Street Fighting
82. Sumai (Old Style Combat Sumo): Use Sumo.
83. Sumo: Use Native American Wrestling. Remove Diving Hawk and Thunder Strike. Replace all Sustained Hold effects with KD.
84. Tae Kwon Do: Use Wushu (SFtSG, p. 99). Remove Rekka Ken and Backflip. Add Flash Kick (4). Add Tae Kwon Do Kicks (1), which gives a Kick version of Jab, Strong, and Fierce Punch.
85. Tae Kwon Do
86. Tae Kwon Do
87. Thai Kickboxing (Muay Thai): Use Thai Kickboxing. Remove Dragon Punch (unless learned from Sagat).
88. Thai Kickboxing
89. Thunderfoot Martial Arts (Folkstyle Wrestling): Use Native American Wrestling.
90. Tiger Claw (Fu Jow Pai): Use Kung Fu. Remove Dim Mak. Add Tiger Claw, which allows a basic punch to be made at -1 movement for +1 damage. (The Tiger Claw combat card must be selected at the beginning of the turn alongside the Basic Punch it will modify.)
91. Wado-ryu Karate: Use Western Kickboxing. Remove Hyper Fist and Rekka Ken. Add Back Roll Throw (1), Back Breaker (2), and Neck Choke (1).
92. Wing Chun: Use Boxing (Chi 2, Will 5). Add Trapping Strike (Monkey Grab Punch) (1). Make Rekka Ken (4). Remove Grab and Athletics maneuvers.
93. Wing Chun
94. Wrestling: Use Sanbo. Remove all Punch, Kick, & Athletics maneuvers.
95. Wrestling
96. Wudan Temple Boxing: Use Kung Fu (Chi 5, Will 2).
97. Wudan Temple Boxing
98. Yağlı Güreş (Turkish Wrestling):  Use Sanbo.
99. Yoga: Use Kabaddi.
100. Yoga

Martial Arts Design for Street Fighter The Storytelling Game: Core Philosophy

Here are the basic assumptions, principles, and guidelines I'll be following to develop the new martial arts list for Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game. These are in no particular order, and probably aren't complete, but they're an indication of where my thinking lies right now.

Inspiration, not simulation: Many of these styles are inspired by real martial arts, but I won't be attempting to model real martial arts in any particularly rigorous way. I'm more interested in a fantastic version of a style that captures something unique about it than I am in detailed, real world accuracy. In the real world, glima, an Icelandic belt-wrestling folkstyle, has a number of restrictions on posture and movement. In the street fighter world, that form of glima exists as a highly ritualized version of the contest, but as used in the street fighter circuit it is a style that combines fierce throws with rune-based chi powers, the icy breath of the north wind, viking berserker rage, and techniques for immediately returning to a standing position if knocked prone.


Account for video game interpretations: That said, I'd like to be able to account for all the video game characters, and video game interpretations of the martial arts will heavily influence the style lists. In the street fighter universe, yoga is a martial art, and Dhalsim is its most famous practitioner. My first stop for representing some styles will be the street fighter video games, but other quality fighting games have a lot to contribute. To that end, I'll take inspiration from SNK games like the Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, King of Fighters, and Samurai Showdown series. I'll also leave room for inspiration from Tekken and Virtua Fighter.


Look for patterns, and interpret them:This applies to the video game as well. There is a rough correspondence in the video game between Japanese martial arts and the use of hadouken style projectile attacks. It isn't a perfect fit, but it is a tendency. Of the kung fu stylists, only Chun Li has a real projectile attack. That's interesting, and I'll be building it into the style designs on some level. I'll also be looking for similar kinds of patters wherever I can find them.


Styles do not need to be balanced: Game balance won't be a primary issue when designing the styles. Players choose a martial art for their character based on a number of factors, only one of which is the effectiveness of its actual combat maneuvers. The aesthetics of the style are also an important influence. I won't be particularly worried about making sure that all styles have an equal number of maneuvers, for example. I will be trying to ensure that every style has some top-level special maneuvers. This way, if we're using our "multiple styles" rules, there will be some reason to top out in a style to get access to its highest level maneuvers.


Uniqueness, not effects-based design: There's been plenty of talk on blogs and forums about the value of glorious idiosyncrasies when it comes to powers, and I think this approach is the most true to the spirit of the original street fighter rpg. The alternative is a thoroughly effects-based design, which I've pushed the system toward in the past. It's time to pull back from that. An effects-based system can certainly be used to construct a wide variety of unique maneuvers, but they're all built from essentially the same set of core options. Street fighter maneuvers (and by extension, styles) certainly do have shared features, but I will be erring on the side of introducing uniqueness rather than systematicity when it comes to filling in the style lists.

Every Style is Unique

This post is a follow up to the Street Fighter Martial Arts Styles post from last week.

Last week, I put together a list of canon Street Fighter characters and their martial arts styles. Today, I'm doing the same thing from the opposite perspective. My basic question is something like this:

"What martial arts would I like to have available in a Street Fighter RPG campaign?"

My answer is a lot of them. The styles represented in the video games would be desirable, but they don't exhaust the list of even fairly well-known martial arts. Even Tae Kwon Do has only really been represented in a Street Fighter game since the release of Super Street Fighter IV. A number of other major styles are lacking as well, and in general the focus of the video game is (understandably) on characters rather than styles, leading to a proliferation of hybrid fighters who have essentially developed their own fighting styles.

As an aside, this strikes me as fairly realistic. It seems like every martial artist eventually opens a school, puts his name on a style, and calls it a unique martial art.

In any case, I have a draft list of martial arts for development for Street Fighter RPG play. I haven't prioritized these yet, but this is a current starting list. There's some overlap in the list, which is intentional. I have some ideas about overlapping styles that I may implement as part of developing these.

1. Acrobat: Chun Li, Pullum, Skullomania
2. Aikido:
3. Ansatsuken: Gouken, Gouki, Ryu, Ken, Gen
4. Bio/Cyber: Necro, Twelve
5. Boxing: Mike, Mike Bison (Boxer), Dudley, C. Jack
6. Bujutsu, Kanzuki-ryu: Karin Kanzuki
7. Bujutsu, Old Style: Kairi, Hokuto, Nanase
8. Bullfighting: Balrog (Claw)
9. Capoeira: Elena
10. Elemental Air:
11. Elemental Earth:
12. Elemental Fire: Gill
13. Elemental Ice: Gill
14. Elemental Water:
15. Feng Shui Engine Power: Juri, Seth
16. Gatka:
17. Giant: Birdie, Sodom, Hugo, Zangief, T. Hawk, Sagat, Hakan
18. Hapkido:
19. Hwarang Do:
20. Iaido: Sodom (Self-taught)
21. Illuminati Martial Arts: Gill, Urien
22. Jeet Kune Do:
23. Judo: Abel, Ryu, Karin, Sodom (Self-taught), Dan (Self-promoted)
24. Jujutsu:
25. Kalari Payat:
26. Karate: Ryu, Ken, Sakura, Dan, Sean, Gouken, Gouki, Sodom (Self-taught), Allen Snider
27. Karate, Goju-ryu:
28. Karate, Isshin-ryu:
29. Karate, Kyokushinkai:
30. Karate, Rindokan: Makoto
31. Karate, Shorin-ryu:
32. Karate, Shotokan:
33. Karate, Uechi-ryu:
34. Karate, Wado-ryu:
35. Kendo: Sodom (Self-Taught)
36. Kenjutsu: Hayate
37. Kickboxing: Dee Jay, Ken, Allen Snider, Blair Dame
38. Kobujutsu: Sodom (Self-taught)
39. Kung Fu: Chun Li, Li, Yun, Yang, Rufus (Self-taught), Dan
40. Kung Fu, Choi Li Fut:
41. Kung Fu, Dragon:
42. Kung Fu, Drunken Boxing:
43. Kung Fu, Eagle Claw:
44. Kung Fu, Eight Direction Fist: Karin Kanzuki
45. Kung Fu, Eight Trigram Boxing (bagua):
46. Kung Fu, Fujian White Crane:
47. Kung Fu, Grand Ultimate Fist (taiqi): Chun Li
48. Kung Fu, Hop Gar:
49. Kung Fu, Hung Gar:
50. Kung Fu, Labyrinthine Boxing (mizongyi):
51. Kung Fu, Mind and Body Boxing (xingyi):
52. Kung Fu, Monkey Boxing:
53. Kung Fu, Seven Star Praying Mantis: Gen
54. Kung Fu, Shaolin:
55. Kung Fu, Shuai Jiao:
56. Kung Fu, Snake Boxing:
57. Kung Fu, Soaring Heavens (feitinkuen): Fei Long
58. Kung Fu, Southern Mantis Boxing:
59. Kung Fu, Tibetan White Crane: Gen
60. Kung Fu, White Eyebrows:
61. Kung Fu, Wing Chun:
62. Kung Fu, Wudan:
63. Martial Arts: Guile, Remy, Nash, Abel
64. Muay Thai: Sagat, Adon
65. Muki Boxing:
66. Ninjutsu: Geki, Ibuki, Balrog (Claw)
67. Ninjutsu, American: Sodom (Self-taught) (this is a bit… loose with canon, but...)
68. Ninjutsu, Bushin-ryu: Guy, Maki
69. Ninjutsu, Kanzuki-ryu: The Ganbaru Sakura manga introduces this style in a side story; no official video game characters use it, though Karion possibly would also count it among her many styles.
70. Pankration:
71. Psycho Power / Soul Power: Lord Vega (Dictator), Juni, July, Rose (Soul Power), Ingrid
72. Saikyo-ryu: Dan
73. Sambo: Karin Kanzuki
74. Self-taught: Blanka, Sakura, Sodom
75. Senjutsu: Oro
76. Shorinji Kempo: Retsu
77. Sonic: Guile, Nash, Dee Jay
78. Special Agent Training: Crimson Viper, Sharon
79. Special Forces Training: Guile, Nash, Alex, Abel, Rolento, D. Dark
80. Special Forces, Shadoloo: Cammy, Juli, Juni
81. Ssireum:
82. Stick Fighting: Eagle
83. Street Fighting: Birdie, Cody, Guy, Joe
84. Sumo: E. Honda, Sodom
85. Tae Kwon Do: Juri, Ryu, Dan (Self-promoted)
86. Taikyon, Old Style:
87. Tang Soo Do:
88. Wrestling: T. Hawk, Zangief, El Fuerte, Hugo, Alex, R. Mika, Hakan, Darun
89. Wrestling, Catch:
90. Wrestling, Folkstyle (Thunderfoot): Thunder Hawk
91. Wrestling, Freestyle:
92. Wrestling, Greco-Roman:
93. Wrestling, Kushti: Darun
94. Wrestling, Lucha Libre: El Fuerte
95. Wrestling, Mongolian (Bkyukl Bökh):
96. Wrestling, Pro: Zangief, Alex, Hugo, R. Mika
97. Wrestling, Turkish (Yagh Gures): Hakan
98. Yoga: Dhalsim
99. Yusul:
100. ?: Q

A pdf copy of this list is available here.

Ansatsuken -- 暗殺拳 -- Ànshāquán

So, ansatsuken -- Ryu, Ken, and "Akuma's" martial art style -- isn't really a reference to a specific martial art.

I used to be confused about this, back when I first started reading... well, let's face it, studying, the Japanese Street Fighter books I was picking up in 1999-2000 when I lived in Niigata, Japan. The "Book Off" stores in Shibata, Murakami, and Niigata City were treasure hoards to me at the time, carrying gamest mooks, "All Abouts," other strategy guides, and manga that I could never have even known had existed before coming to Japan.

In those primitive, ignorant times before the internet became what it is today, we had few ways to even know these kinds of things were out there. We had to trust in Capcom USA and a pirated, fansubbed copies of the Street Fighter II movie, and yes, God Help Us, even in the story related material in licensed Street Fighter: The Storytelling Game products from White Wolf. And Capcom USA told us that Ryu and Ken studied Shotokan Karate.

So first, we had Shotokan.

And then, Japanese strategy guides told me something different. These guides and my limited Japanese told me that Ryu and Ken studied 暗殺拳. Ansatsuken. Assassination Fist martial arts. And that was a revelation.

It was also wrong. Not because the books didn't say that, in some sense, but because they didn't mean it the way I thought they did. We know better now. See, those same sources also tell us that Gen, the dying assassin in search of a death match, is a practitioner of 暗殺拳. Ànshāquán. Asassination Fist. But of course, Gen's fighting style looks nothing like Ryu and Ken's.

There's a good reason for that, of course. Because what the strategy guides were saying was this: that these fighters studied martial arts designed for the field of battle, not for sport. "Combatives," to use some contemporary US Army lingo. Ansatsuken isn't a martial art. It's more like another word for martial art, though with a particular connotation. Battlefield hand-to-hand. Unarmed killing techniques. Old style martial arts, with an emphasis on martial.

Indeed, Gouken's innovation was to transform Goutetsu's ansatsuken a martial art designed for battle to the death into an art of fighting that doesn't mean killing. In a sense, Gouken does for Goutetsu's unnamed killing techniques what real-life figures like Kano Jigoro and Funakoshi Gichin did for jujutsu and Okinawan te respectively. Transform them into modern sporting systems (judo, shotokan karate).

Now, this isn't really news. It's in version 4.9 of the Street Fighter Canon Plot Guide (and may have been in some of the earlier iterations), and even Udon's recent World Warrior Encyclopedia may be hinting at it. But I thought I'd set it down in a blog post anyway, in the interest of laying the groundwork for developing RPG styles, and as a brief explanation of some of the thought behind the tables I posted earlier.

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.