The Entire "Street Fighter V" Cast Ranked By Design

Street Fighter 4 was released in 2008, which feels like ages ago.

Street Fighter 4 capitalized on this, and kept the classic characters mostly the same. The newest addition to the franchise is pretty ambitious in terms of design.In addition to four new characters, many of the returning fightersw have updated designs.

Every Street Fighter has one very out-of-place weirdo and F.A.N.G. is the newest kid in the crew. His body type certainly is unique and it's pretty hilarious that he wears sunglasses inside. Unfortunately, he seems like a poor parody of a Chinese martial artist and that doesn't make him feel like a World Warrior.

TL;DR: A poison-based Chinese assassin sounds great, but it would be nice if they designed him with a bit more respect.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

The main GREAT thing about R. Mika's design is that her personality really shines through; she's the type of babyface wrestler the crowd frickin' LOVES. But while the idea of a hyper energetic and muscular wrestler is great, Rainbow Mika has too many issues. The sexy bunny thing is pretty played out and too many of her attacks focus on her butt. There may be a reference in her design I'm not getting, but that just goes to show you how much she fails at being a World Warrior. Thankfully, her new moves are dope and she's a blast to play.

TL;DR: Love the idea of a high-flying woman wrestler, but her visual design needed an update, preferably with less of a focus on butts.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Dhalsim is one of the original two weirdos from Street Fighter 2. He's a mystical old man who is far more powerful than he appears. This works in a kung fu flick, but unfortunately most of his moves are based on stereotypes, like yoga and curry. The series desperately needs an Indian fighter not be based on spiritual or exotic clichés. The new stance, white beard, and tattoos are smart updates, but honestly, I think he should be left in the '90s with Blanka.

TL;DR: Dhalsim's design is based too much on stereotypes about exotic Indian spirituality to really be salvaged.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Karin is a rich socialite who taugh herself kung fu. Unlike Sakura, who always seems like a high schooler, Karin now looks like she runs a damn business. Again, not a very global design, but also not an egregious stereotype.The gameplay redesigns are cool at least.

TL;DR: Doesn't really feel like a legendary fighter, but at least she's not a high schooler anymore.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Cammy was not updated much. The slickness of the leotard and her leanness are the only thing that show she's a genetically-designed assassin that could break your neck in an instant. But everything else reads very confusing. You'd think a British special operative would want to blend in, but she's wearing BRIGHT Christmas colors and a beret. Plus, she's not wearing any pants or protective gear, besides her gloves. She sorely needs a tweak like Ken or Vega to feel more universal. Her alternative costume is a step in the right direction, with the addition of very practical tools and goggles.

TL;DR: Her muscles and gloves are the main things that make her look like a fighter, but every other element is way too mishmashed.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Birdie has always been a punk and a bit of a goon. This time around, he's really embraced the crust punk thing and let himself go - he's covered in oil, new tattoos, and food. This could have been a controversial change, but personally, I think it makes sense. Birdie never seemed like someone who would really care about his appearance and he's still believable as an intimidating street brawler. The food jokes are definitely immature though.

TL;DR: He's probably the closest thing to an ACTUAL Street Fighter the game has. It would just be nice if they treated him slightly less like a joke.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Necalli is like an Aztec Wolverine if Wolverine was hairless and the Aztecs were white. He's a welcome update as the "feral fighter" in the cast. Blanka, was feeling kind of outdated in recent years. The main issue with him is that his dreadlocks are pretty badly animated and very distracting. His powered-up hair looks amazing though.The Aztec motifs he wears on his shins and waist spice up what would otherwise be a pretty generic villain design.

TL;DR: Necalli is a decent attempt at a new evil character archetype and fighting style, but his dreadlocks are a miss.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Nash's original design was pretty wacky. He wears a puffer vest with nothing underneath, cargo pants, and reading glasses. He seemed more like a vain anime hero than an American military man. He died in Alpha 3, so it was a smart move to emphasize he's a changed man, a Frankenstein's monster of sorts. The colors really pop too. The flashy greens of his boots stand out as a stark reminder of his humanity in contrast to his green skin and darker overall palette. Despite that, he'll likely feel mishmashed and old quickly.

TL;DR: They took an already weird design and added dark Frankenstein-elements to it. It works, but just barely.

Street Fightin Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Ken is the uncontrollable fire to Ryu’s tactical lightning. His head-to-toe redesign is the epitome of new school Street Fighter design. While Ryu’s gi is dirty and loose, Ken wears a tight, hi-tech workout shirt with his clean red gi let down. The ripped sleeves are gone and his whole ensemble has a way more expensive look suited for a millionaire, whereas in the past it was just a colorful ripoff of Ryu. Ultimately I knocked points for his poorly animated face and hair - why does it look like he has two bananas on his face? The man bun is topical AF though.

TL;DR:: His new design shows a lot of thought and care was put into differentiating the kind of person Ken is from Ryu, but his face needs some work.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

If you never played SF3, there was a Brazillian Jiu Jitsu fighter named Sean who trained under Ken. Laura, introduced for the first time in SFV, is his sister. The concept is great; she's basically set up to be Sean's co-master along with Ken. The Brazilian flag colors and colorful bracelets make her stand out amongst other karate-types and link her to both Ryu/Ken AND Blanka. Unfortunately, they also went a bit overboard with the sexy Brazilian trope, forgot that she's ethnically black and Japanese, and didn't give her much of a personality.

TL;DR:: Laura design is colorful and badass. It's too bad she's oversexualized and white-washed.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, I guess. Zangief looks pretty much the same. He gained some new armor-based moves where he turns red from flexing his "iron body." His scars show that he does most of his strength training in the wild instead of in a gym. Not a lot to say here; he's a big muscly dude obsessed with himself. He kind of looks like he was carved out of clay.

TL;DR Gief is the overly muscled, heavily scarred dude he's always been, but it still works.

Street Fightin Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

SFV Bison is a natural progression and refining of his old designs. They basically added a long, impractical coat and grey hair. He now stands with his arms crossed, instead of his old athletic stance. They've basically refocused his design so you really know he's a full blown megalomaniac.

TL;DR: The aged Street Fighter V Bison looks much more regal and powerful.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Even though he may at first read like a stereotype with his headdress and loose white clothing, Rashid's design hits a few new beats that make him a little more fresh than most other Arab video game characters. The perpetual toothy grin. His tornado-parkour move set. The futuristic scouter, sandals, and backpack. He doesn't look like someone that takes fighting itself too seriously, but he's open-minded, fast, and useful in a scrap. Like most Street Figher designs he could probably cut one design element, but he would also probably fit well with the original cast if he didn't have the scouter.

TL;DR: Rashid hits some pretty tropey Middle Eastern beats, but his happy-go-lucky attitude, obsession with technology, and wind moves elevate the design.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

The Vega redesign really emphasizes his disparate elements. His new fighting stance looks poised between posturing and striking, exactly how you would imagine a ninja matador. The deep-v dress shirt fits him better than being shirtless as well. Probably the most Vega he's ever been.

TL;DR: They took all the best things about a Spanish ninja-matador and tweaked it to perfection.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

Not much has changed with Chun Li - she has mostly kept her Third Strike style of having elaborate, elegant, and effortless kung fu attacks. The same beats still work — powerful legs, iconic hairstyle, and traditional Chinese clothing punked up with bracelets and thigh-highs, an. Still one of the best fighting game designs in gaming.

TL;DR Chun-Li's still the strongest woman in the world. No need to fix what ain't broke.

Street Fightin' Rating ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊

It's hard to improve on Ryu’s universal design, but that didn’t stop Capcom from refining Ryu’s look to perfection. This time around, they fully embraced Ryu’s homeless wanderer shtick. His gi is no longer the spotless white it has been in previous game; it's dingy and grey and in need of some bleach. His gloves, probably a gift from best friend Ken, are scuffed up from use. His sleeves, as always, are ripped off. It perfectly sums up a guy whose priority is fighting and not his looks. The only fail here is his hair which has never looked good in 3D — too spiky.

TL;DR: Ryu is still the most universal fighting game character ever designed, and his obsession with being the best was advanced in Street Fighter V by his newly well-worn gear.

Street Fightin' Rating: ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊ out of ✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊✊