10 Most Popular Street Fighter Characters

First Appearance: Street Fighter Alpha 2

A common trope in fighting games is to take a character and make them into a fan of the property they are a part of. Sakura Kasugano is this character for the Street Fighter franchise, essentially being a fan girl of series protagonist Ryu.

Sakura became dedicated to fighting after seeing Ryu defeat Sagat in the first World Championship Tournament. She searches for Ryu in order for him to become her master. However, when she does ultimately find and face Ryu, he turns her down as he feels he still has much to learn himself. Sakura has also trained with other characters in the Street Fighter franchise, such as Dan Hibiki and E. Honda.

Being a fangirl of Ryu is reflected in Sakura’s gameplay. She uses many of the same techniques as Ryu, such as the ‘Hadoken’, the ‘Shouoken’ (mimicking Ryu’s ‘Shoryuken’) and the ‘Shunpukyaku’ (mimicking Ryu’s ‘Tatsumaki Senpukyaku’)

Sakura became a fast fan favourite with players of Street Fighter Alpha 2, which is widely considered to be the best game in the Alpha series. While never being a stand out character competitively, she was one of the most highly requested characters to return in Street Fighter V, making her eventual debut as part of the third DLC seasons.