10 Most Popular Street Fighter Characters
4. M. Bison
First Appearance: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
The evil leader of Shadaloo, M. Bison features as the main villain of Street Fighter. He first appeared as the final boss in 1991’s Street Fighter II: The World Warrior before making his playable debut in 1992’s Street Fighter II: Champion Edition.
Just to confuse matters, M. Bison is known as Vega in the Japanese releases of the Street Fighter franchise. The characters Balrog, Vega and M. Bison had their names swapped around in the western releases. To alleviate the confusion between regions, they are often referred to as ‘Boxer’, ‘Claw’ and ‘Dictator’, with M. Bison having the Dictator nickname.
M. Bison is linked to many characters' stories through the franchise. Chun-Li seeks to take down Bison for the death of her father, which was caused by Shadaloo. Guile has a similar hatred for Bison, as it was Shadaloo who was responsible for the death of his friend Charlie Nash. Cammy White was created as a clone of Bison and she, along with the other Dolls, serve as substitute bodies for the tyrant.
M. Bison is one of the most recognisable bosses and villains in fighting game history. Due to his nature as a boss character, when he became playable in the later iterations of Street Fighter II, he was much stronger than many characters on the base roster, giving M. Bison a notoriety among fans which has endured throughout the franchise.