The 10 Most BROKEN Street Fighter Characters
Sagat
“Street Fighter” (1987)
Sagat may just be the OG broken fighting game character. Whereas other fighting game bosses somewhat hide their cheating tactics, Sagat makes it obvious that he is breaking the game and defying all programming. You’ll notice plenty of instances where he instantly blocks despite moving or preparing to attack and even several times where he deals way more damage than you could ever hope to dish out. Trust us, no one reminisces about the original “Street Fighter”, and Sagat is a major factor in that.
Chun Li
“Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike” (1999)
“Street Fighter’s” longtime leading lady has legs that can lash out a ludicrous amount of damage. (Trying saying that three times fast.) Along with one other fighter, Chun Li is considered to be one of the most overpowered characters in “3rd Strike”. In addition to boasting exceptional range, she can gain a ton of meter by landing hits and even whiffing simple attacks like her back-High Punch. And the second she gets her Level Two Super ready, she can potentially execute a touch-of-death combo. It’s hard for any other fighter to get on her level save for one character, whom we will get to later.
Luke
“Street Fighter V” (2016)
Versatility is Luke’s greatest strength, but it’s come at the cost of many folks resenting him towards the end of “Street Fighter V’s” lifespan. He comes packing with anti-airs and numerous moves that are safe on block. But what makes him more frustrating is the damage output. In his normal state, Luke is still a force to be reckoned with. However, once he starts buffing himself, he can make mincemeat out of your health bar. And considering how each fighter has different health values in this game with Luke having a pretty high health pool compared to most, yeah, Luke’s busted. Although, not as busted as another SFV fighter we’ll talk about later.
Evil Ryu
“Street Fighter IV” (2008)
Funny how a different malevolent being manages to surpass one that many consider to be more iconic. On the surface, it just looks like he’s a slightly tougher Ryu with maybe a bit of a spike in attack power. On the contrary, that isn’t what you have to worry about the most. Evil Ryu can cancel out of many other moves that normal Ryu can’t, which makes it easy for him to string more attacks together in ridiculous ways. It was so bad at launch that Capcom had to put out a patch to nerf him quite a bit. Even then, he’s still brutal to face.
Guile
“Street Fighter II: The World Warrior” (1991)
One would have thought maybe Chun-Li or Ken would be the top of the tiers with “Street Fighter II”, but no, Guile is the most OP fighter on the roster. Simply put, it’s because he’s a literal Swiss army knife. He has great potential in close quarters, but he also has a projectile in the form of Sonic Boom. Then, you have his Flash Kick which functions as a great anti-air. In other words, you have a character that excels in offense, defense, zoning, and…well, just about everything you could need.
Yun
“Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike” (1999)
Of the playable characters on the roster, Yun is right up there with Chun Li in being the best of the roster if not better. Along with insanely quick mobility and a strong mix-up game, Yun has a command grab that allows him to quickly string attacks right after. Not only that, but his level 3 Super, Genei Jin, is the best Super in the entire game as it greatly increases Yun’s speed and gives him ridiculously high hit priority. God help you if he manages to push you into a corner. And yet, Yun still isn’t THE most busted character in “3rd Strike”...somehow.
Rainbow Mika
“Street Fighter V” (2016)
Command grabs is the name of the game when you’re playing as Rainbow Mika. Understandable given that she is a pro wrestler type just like Zangief. But that isn’t what caused so many SFV players to hate her. Rainbow Mika is designed entirely around playing as aggressively as possible, and once folks found out all the crazy stuff she could do in corners, it was all over. The second Rainbow Mika has you backed into a corner, the round is over. She’s got all the closure to execute any command grab she wants, and she has enough mix-ups in her kit to keep you constantly guessing what she’ll do next. One glimpse of the corner vortex may cause you to quit SFV entirely.
Elena
“Ultra Street Fighter IV” (2014)
Elena has long been one of those characters you love to see, but hate to fight against. For starters, she boasts quite a bit of range between her kicks and crouching low punch, the latter being unusually long compared to the rest of the roster. Second, her EX Mallet Smash is extremely hard to block or counter as it boasts such a low frame count. But the most infuriating part of her kit…is the healing. Should Elena pop her Healing Super, she will regain a significant chunk of her health bar in roughly less than a second. And that’s why some folks were deeply concerned about her return in “Street Fighter 6”.
Gill
“Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike” (1999)
Whether Gill is more unfair than Sagat is up to the player. One is unfair because that’s how video games were in the 80’s. But Gill is busted for more than just input-reading or high damage output. On top of all of that, Gill has an ability where he can quickly recover large amounts of health within a moment’s notice. So, all that damage you’ve spent so much time inflicting? Gone. Combine all of that with the several opportunities he’s given to catch you in touch-of-death combos, and Gill is easily the most busted character in “Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike”.
Akuma
“Super Street Fighter II Turbo” (1994)
Akuma is just forever going to be the most broken character in “Street Fighter” history. He is everything we hate about Sagat, Gill, Evil Ryu, and every other fighting game boss under the sun. Ridiculous mobility, input-reading, instantly blocking every attack despite what he may be doing at the moment, absurd damage output - this guy has every tool you could imagine. Couple that with the already obscene speed of “Super Street Fighter II Turbo”, and you probably have the most unfair fighting game character in the 2D space.
Have you fought any of these busted characters yourself? Let us know down in the comments, and be sure to subscribe to MojoPlays for more great videos everyday!
