GamesBeat’s massive Street Fighter tournament: Decide who moves on from Division 1

We started with every Street Fighter character we could find (92), putting them all in a massive preliminaries battle that eliminated all but 32. Now we’ve assembled a single elimination tournament with your picks, as you can see in our gigantic bracket on the next page.

To crown the ultimate Street Fighter, we want you to vote for your favorite characters in a series of 1-on-1 matchups  We’ve got four polls featuring the competitors from Division 1. Ready to decide who moves on? Then vote!

Name: Guile
Country: United States
First appeared in: Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Street Fighter X Tekken
Most famous move: Sonic Boom

A member of the U.S. Air Force, William F. Guile seeks revenge against M. Bison for murdering his best friend, Charlie. On a more hilarious note, Jean-Claude Van Damme played him in the first Street Fighter movie. Yes, they got a guy with a thick Belgian accent to play the most American character in the film. Nice casting.

Name: Fei Long
Country: Hong Kong (C
First appeared in: Super Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Super Street Fighter IV
Most famous move: The Rekkaken

Fei Long is a blatant rip-off — I mean, tribute — to famous martial artist and action star Bruce Lee. First introduced as one of four new characters in Super Street Fighter II, he has gone on too … well, continue being a Bruce Lee copy. But, hey, if you’re going to virtually duplicate someone in a fighting game, you could do a lot worse.
[polldaddy poll=6582061]

Name: Sakura
Country: Japan
First appeared in: Street Fighter Alpha 2
Last seen in: Street Fighter X Tekken
Most famous move: Hadouken

The ultimate fangirl, Sakura is Ryu’s biggest admirer. She even uses most of his moves, including the Hadoken and modified versions of his Shoryuken and Hurricane Kick. OK, so she loses some points in the originality department. But she makes up for this with an abundance of enthusiasm and spunk.

Name: Balrog
Country: United States
First appeared in: Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Street Fighter X Tekken
Most famous move: Dash Straight

Balrog is an American boxer who looks a lot like Mike Tyson. In Japan, his name was actually Mike Bison, as if the resemblance wasn’t obvious enough. Fearing legal action, Capcom switched a few names around for the U.S. release, so the main villain, who was Vega, became M. Bison. And the guy with claws and a mask who was Balrog became Vega. Not confusing at all.

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Name: Blanka
Country: Brazil
First appeared in: Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Super Street Fighter IV
Most famous move: Electric Thunder

He may look like a monster, but Blanka’s just a normal person. Well, minus the green skin and orange hair. I’m not sure why he can generate electricity, though. I do know that his real name is (hilariously) Jimmy. A plane crash separated him from his mother, resulting in him growing up feral in a Brazilian jungle.

Name: Cammy
Country: United Kingdom
First appeared in: Super Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Street Fighter X Tekken
Most famous move: Cannon Spike

This British blonde bombshell may look easy on the eyes, but she’s actually some sort of clone of M. Bison … or something. It’s confusing. Cammy was another of the four new fighters introduced in Super Street Fighter II, and she has easily proven the most popular. I’m sure her lack of pants has nothing to do with this.

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Name: Dan
Country: Hong Kong (China)
First appeared in: Street Fighter Alpha
Last seen in: Super Street Fighter IV
Most famous move: Gadouken

Dan was originally an attempt by Capcom to mock its rival. You see, the other big fighting game developer of the 90s, SNK, released a game called Art of Fighting, which featured a character who looked a lot like Street Fighter poster boy Ryu. In retaliation, Capcom introduced Dan, a cocky, arrogant, pathetic, pink-wearing joke character.

Name: Dee Jay
Country: Jamaica
First appeared in: Super Street Fighter II
Last seen in: Super Street Fighter IV
Most famous move: Air Slasher

Dee Jay entered the second World Warrior tournament in Super Street Fighter II because he was looking for inspiration for his next album. I know nothing gets my creative juices flowing better than getting the crap beat out of me. Hey, I bet that album was a big hit. Get it? Because, you know, he’s a fighter, and fighters hit people.

[polldaddy poll=6582069]

Click on the image to see a larger version of the bracket.