10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Street Fighter

6. Design Document Plans For Street Fighter II

As iconic as every character is from the cast of Street Fighter II, we were almost treated to a completely different cast of characters if the leaked design documents for the game are any indication. The design prototype depicts several characters who didn't make it into the game; a Ugandan mystic, a cop in riot gear, Gen from Street Fighter I in a different costume, a grizzled man holding a whip (later inspired the design of Baz from Divekick), a ninja-type character and a design very similar to Kenshiro, series protagonist from Fist of the North Star. In addition, many characters who were featured in Street Fighter II are pictured far differently in the design documents. Blanka was originally referred to as 'beast-man' and looked more like a humanoid, with chains around his neck to possibly indicate he's some kind of slave. A version of Dhalsim is simply labelled 'Indian', depicting a generic looking Indian man in a turban, a later design has multiple limbs and the head of an elephant - a reference to the Hindu god Ganesha. Notes in the document state that Guile was integrated as a character 'for Americans to use', and that Zangief's original name was 'Vodka Garbalski', believe it or not.