Street Fighter (TV series)

Street Fighter is an animated television series based on the Street Fighter video game franchise by Capcom. The series aired as part of the USA Network's Cartoon Express and Action Extreme Team lineups. It aired 26 episodes across two 13-episode seasons, which aired from 1995 to 1997.

The show is closely based on the Street Fighter II series, but also borrows plot elements and characters from the live-action Street Fighter film and the first two Street Fighter Alpha games. It also features elements from other Capcom games, such as Saturday Night Slam Masters and Final Fight.

The cartoon has received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and fans, with many listing it as the worst addition to the franchise.

Plot
Colonel William F. Guile is the leader of the "Street Fighters", an international undercover peacekeeping force composed of martial artists from around the world. They often face off against the ruthless General Bison and his Shadaloo criminal empire. They follow a code of honor involving the keywords "discipline", "justice" and "commitment".

Characters

 * Colonel William F. Guile
 * Voiced by: Michael Donovan
 * The main protagonist of the series and the leader of the "Street Fighters", a peacekeeping force composed of several main characters from the games. He retains his rank and full name from the movie, where he is known as Colonel William F. Guile. Unlike in the games, Guile is single and has no children. He has an on-and-off relationship with an ex-girlfriend named Lucinda, who is a character created for the series, and has a mutual attraction with Cammy.


 * General M. Bison
 * Voiced by: Richard Newman
 * Like in the games, M. Bison is the ruthless and megalomaniacal ruler of Shadaloo. He serves as the main antagonist of the series.


 * Chun-Li Xiang
 * Voiced by: Donna Yamamoto
 * The lead female character of the series. Like in the games, she seeks to avenge her father, who was killed by M. Bison. Like in the movie, she works as a news reporter. In the series, her surname is "Xiang".


 * Carlos "Charlie" Blanka
 * Voiced by: Scott McNeil
 * Like in the film, Blanka is Guile's combat buddy Charlie, who was turned into a mutant by Dr. Dhalsim. He temporarily reverts to his original human form in "Eye of the Beholder", where he wears an outfit similar to the one Charlie wears in the Street Fighter Alpha games, but with a green vest; he also still wears shackles.


 * Ken Masters
 * Voiced by: Scott McNeil
 * Like in the games, Ken has a rivalry with Ryu. However, he is depicted as a traveling con-man who prefers to find ways to get rich rather than helping Guile and his team. He becomes a more prominent character during the second season and is the only character to defeat Akuma in "The World's Greatest Warrior".


 * Ryu Hoshi
 * Voiced by: Tong Lung
 * Ken's traveling partner and rival, who retains his rivalry with Sagat from the games. He is depicted as the more mature and responsible one of the duo. Like Ken, he becomes more prominent during the second season. In the series, his surname is "Hoshi", and he has a cousin named Sachi who appears in "The Hand That Feeds You", though he has no relatives in the games.


 * Cammy White
 * Voiced by: Lisa Ann Beley
 * Cammy is depicted as a member of Delta Red who harbors a mutual attraction with Guile. In "Chunnel Vision", she leaves Delta Red to become a member of Guile's team. However, she is brainwashed by M. Bison in "Cammy and the Bachelor", and throughout the rest of the series is one of his agents until her brainwashing wears off in the final episode, "Cammy Tell Me True".


 * Edmond Honda
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * E. Honda is depicted as a computer whiz who loves hacking into government files.


 * Dee Jay
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * Unlike in the film, Dee Jay is one of the heroes, and serves as the team's helicopter pilot.


 * Thunder Hawk
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * T. Hawk is a powerful flying Native American warrior.


 * Fei Long
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * Fei Long is a martial arts movie actor who is allied with the Street Fighters.


 * Dhalsim
 * Voiced by: Garry Chalk
 * Dhalsim is depicted as a former scientist who retreated to the Himalayan mountains and shunned technology after M. Bison forced him to experiment on Blanka, causing him to become a mutant.


 * Zangief
 * Voiced by: Michael Donovan
 * Zangief is depicted as one of M. Bison's recurring lackeys in the series, despite not working for him in the games. He had a similar role in the live-action film as well as in Street Fighter II V.


 * Viktor Sagat
 * Voiced by: Robert O. Smith
 * The second-in-command of Shadaloo who later turns against M. Bison during the final episode, "Cammy Tell Me True" after the latter announces his plan to unleash a nuclear holocaust upon the world.


 * Vega
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * He appears in "Eye of the Beholder" and "Face of Fury" as Blanka's rival.


 * Balrog
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * He appears in "The Medium is the Message", where he is a computer specialist working for M. Bison.


 * Akuma
 * Voiced by: Dale Wilson (Season 1); David Kaye (Season 2)
 * The evil brother of Ryu and Ken's master, Gouken. He forces M. Bison and Guile to fight against him in "Strange Bedfellows", and later fights against Ryu and Ken in "The World's Greatest Warrior".


 * Rose
 * Voiced by: Teryl Rothery
 * Like the other Alpha characters, she has a non-speaking cameo in "The Medium is the Message". She plays a major role in "The Flame and The Rose", as a mystical psychic who enlists the help of Ken and Blanka.


 * Sakura Kasugano
 * Voiced by: Saffron Henderson
 * She appears in "Second to None" as a young Japanese girl who got into martial arts after witnessing Ryu's fight against Sagat.


 * Birdie
 * Voiced by: Paul Dobson
 * A henchman of M. Bison who is beaten in a fight against Chun-Li in "The Medium is the Message". He reappears in "Cammy and the Bachelor", where he works alongside Sodom.


 * Adon
 * He appears briefly in "The Medium is the Message".


 * Guy
 * Voiced by: Jim Byrnes
 * Guy makes a non-speaking cameo as Blanka's opponent in "The Medium is the Message". He plays a major role in "Final Fight", where Ryu and Ken assist him and Cody in rescuing Jessica from the Mad Gear Gang.


 * Cody
 * Voiced by: Michael Dobson
 * Cody appears in the episode "Final Fight", though he, Jessica, and other Final Fight characters had previously made cameo appearances in the tournament audience in "The Medium is the Message". As the episode in which he has a starring role is based on the events that took place before Street Fighter Alpha 3, Cody is shown to be in a healthy relationship with Jessica, and wears his civilian outfit from Final Fight.


 * Jessica Haggar
 * Voiced by: Donna Yamamoto
 * Cody's girlfriend and Haggar's daughter. In the episode "Final Fight", the Mad Gear Gang's soldier-unit kidnap her and Belger holds her for ransom.


 * Mike Haggar
 * Voiced by: Dale Wilson
 * The mayor of Metro City, who appears in the episode "Final Fight".


 * Belger
 * Voiced by: Robert O. Smith
 * The main antagonist of the episode "Final Fight". He is the leader of the Mad Gear Gang.


 * Rolento F. Schugurg
 * Voiced by: Scott McNeil
 * Belger's right-hand man and second-in-command of the Mad Gear Gang who appears in "Final Fight". He is depicted as being Italian-American, but is German-American in the games.


 * Thrasher
 * Voiced by: Michael Dobson
 * A member of the Mad Gear Gang who assists Rolento in kidnapping Jessica at the start of "Final Fight". He was originally known as "Damnd" in the games.


 * Sodom
 * One of M. Bison's lackeys and a member of the Mad Gear Gang, who appears in "The Medium is the Message", "Cammy and the Bachelor", and "Final Fight". Unlike the games, he fights without samurai weapons.


 * Colonel Sawada
 * Voiced by: Michael Dobson
 * He appears in "Keeping the Peace" and "The Hammer Strikes" as Guile's replacement in the A.N.


 * Lucinda Davila
 * Voiced by: Kathleen Barr
 * An expert medical scientist and Guile's ex-girlfriend.


 * Escher
 * Voiced by: John Payne
 * The head employer and liaison officer of the Street Fighters, who usually contacts Guile and his team to give them their missions.


 * Gouken
 * Voiced by: Robert O. Smith
 * The master of Ryu and Ken. Akuma steals his chi in "The World's Greatest Warrior", but he regains it after Ken's victory over Akuma.


 * Burke
 * Voiced by: Garry Chalk
 * The leader and field commander of Delta Red, who has a notable scar over his left eye. He was originally known as Keith Wolfman in the games.


 * Rory
 * Voiced by: Scott McNeil
 * A robust member of Delta Red, who has a cybernetic right eye and cybernetic arms. He was originally known as Matthew McCoy in the games.


 * Celia
 * Voiced by: Janyse Jaud
 * A member of Delta Red, who has a strong rivalry with Cammy. She was originally known as Lita Luwanda in the games.

Home video release
ADV Films released the complete series on Region 1 DVD. The first set, Street Fighter: Code of Honor, was released on April 13, 2003 and contains all the Season 1 episodes, while the second set, Street Fighter: Soul Powers, was released on May 13, 2003, and contains all the Season 2 episodes. Both of the DVD sets are now out of print. The "Final Fight" episode was included as unlockable content in the 2010 video game Final Fight: Double Impact. A Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector's Set of games, which includes a Blu-ray Disc of the entire TV series, was released in North America on September 18, 2012. Discotek Media re-released the series in 2015. In 2019, all of the Season 1 and Season 2 episodes were available on the Japanese VideoMarket website in Japan.

Reception
Despite lasting two seasons, Street Fighter has received a predominantly negative reception. 411Mania included the series in a 2010 feature titled "The 8 Worst Street Fighter Franchise Failures" on the grounds that "the animation was sub-Captain Planet, the story was contrived, and the dialogue was wretched". Nick Chester of Destructoid called the show "an abomination" and "spectacularly awful". 1UP.com labeled the series "really crappy" and added, "[w]hile SF fans love to quote the Street Fighter movie ... they are usually less enthusiastic about the Saturday morning cartoon". The site also included the series in their list of the "Top 5 Not-So-Classic Video Game Cartoons" on the basis of the plot: "Do you remember when Guile recruited every character in the game into a secret anti-terrorist paramilitary group? I don't either". While Street Fighter was omitted from GamesRadar's 2010 list of "truly horrendous" video game cartoons, it was still mentioned as "a terrible abomination that would have made our list if Darkstalkers hadn't knocked it off".