Make a Musou: Street Fighter Musou

Hello, and welcome to yet another article in my recurring series on The Story Arc: Make a Musou. I love Dynasty Warriors, the number of times I bring it up, and the multiple Musou related articles I’ve written should be proof enough of that. However, I am currently in a Dynasty Warriors drought as I have no interest in Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires, so I thought it was time to flex some creative writing.

But what could I do? When it comes to Dynasty Warriors content you can find whatever you want online already. For the past twenty years, the internet has been filled with character analyses, essays on the storytelling, and gameplay deconstructions. I don’t have much to add when talking about Dynasty Warriors itself. However, there is one question that everyone has had at one point in time: “What if ___ was a Musou game?”

That’s right, it’s time to pretend we’ve gone back to the Tumblr days when imagining your ideal game and talking to people about it wasn’t cringe! I have asked my friends to give me a list of franchises, and I will make a Musou roster out of each and every one of them. Last time I made a Musou roster out of the summer characters from Fate/Grand Order. This time though we’re going to be casting a much, much more iconic roster of characters as we handle one of gaming’s most well known franchise’s. This time on The Story Arc we will be making a roster for a hypothetical Street Fighter Musou!

Today I will not be writing alone however as I have brought in a co-writer to help me with this. My trusted friend and ally Jun!

How we’ll be designing the movesets!

Now, we must discuss how Musou Movesets typically work if we are going to create a wide variety of them. If you have already read my pieces on making a Batman Musou, Pokemon Musou, or Sakura Wars Musou, you may skip ahead to when we start talking about how many characters our roster will have. First, let’s go over the basics of each character’s normal attacks. You all likely know how Musou movesets work on a basic level; you string together combos consisting of light attacks and heavy attacks. However, there is a pattern that movesets typically follow that I feel need some explaining.

Pressing light attacks once and then heavy will knock enemies directly in front of you in the air, allowing for a juggle or for you yourself to transition into an attempted combo.

Pressing light attack two times and then a heavy will perform an attack that while not super powerful will hit enemies close to you, generally on your left and right.

Pressing light attacks three times and then heavy will perform an attack that, while not your strongest, will hit a wide range of enemies.

Pressing light attack four times and then a heavy will perform an attack that is either straightforward or will move you slightly forward

Finally, pressing light attack five times, and then triangle will perform an attack that does plenty of damage in a short range, the perfect attack for enemy officers.

These are the foundations of a basic Musou moveset; however, there is more to explain and think of for our roster.

The bar you have been seeing below or next to the health bars in this footage is the Musou gauge. Once it is full, you are able to unleash your most powerful attack: a Musou attack. So we’ll need to think of a Musou for everyone.

Next, we have the trickiest part of our roster, the R1/RB button. The R1/RB button is used as a weapon switch in mainline Dynasty Warriors, but various spin-offs have used it as a button that activates a unique skill or attack for a character. These attacks can span from being very average to something atypical, so thinking about each character’s uniqueness will be hard.

And that’s everything! 5 Normal combos, a musou attack, and a unique skill attacks for each character. As we go into this, I won’t describe what each and every character’s individual combos will be but rather just how we imagine them playing with a few combo examples. I will mostly focus on describing every Musou, unique, and skill attack we come up with. A fair warning as well that I won’t talk about some characters as much as others, thinking of a variety of different movesets is difficult

With everything about how we will go about this explained, let’s move on.

Our Roster Size

Before we get into picking our characters, we first need to figure out how big the roster could be. While a true dream would be everyone playable, we’re going to have to be realistic with this. Other licensed Musous started with rosters of these sizes

Berserk Musou – 8 characters
Arslan Musou – 16 characters
Dragon Quest Musou – 13 characters + 1 DLC
Touken Ranbu Musou – 15 characters
One Piece Pirate Warriors – 15 characters

In the past I used to try pick a number around that range and try to justify it, however in recent months I have made the decision that all of my rosters should try and aim for the 18 characters range so I don’t get angry comments about them being too small.

With all of that out of the way, we can finally get into talking about the characters!….is what I would normally say but for this specific Musou there is one more thing we need to talk about

Mechanics that would need to be in a Street Fight Musou

Now I don’t want to get too wild here so I won’t be making up any mechanics that haven’t been in a Musou game before, but this game should have two mechanics that Koei has used before.

The first is Samurai Warriors 4’s cancel function. In that game you could press X at any time to immediately stop what you are doing to transition into some light attacks immediately. If a fighting game like Street Fighter was turned into a Musou it would need this.

The next thing is would need is the 1v1 duel feature from Dynasty Warriors 4 and 6. This is super self explanatory and I don’t think I need to elaborate why it would be good in a game featuring Street Fighter characters.

Character 1: Ryu

The first character on our roster shouldn’t shock anyone as he is the face of the franchise, although to be blunt a good half of this roster is completely expected picks. Anyway, Ryu is the king of vanilla. He exists to teach players the basics of the game in normal Street Fighter and as such we will make him incredibly basic here.

Ryu won’t be particularly fast or slow and he won’t be particularly weak or strong. His light attacks will involve him using basic punches while his heavy combos will be filled with iconic Street Fighter techniques.

As a first heavy combo Ryu will perform a Shoryuken and launch both himself and enemies into the air, once in midair the player should then be able to press the heavy combo button again to perform a midair Tatsumaki Senpukyaku.

The second heavy combo of Ryu’s moveset shall be a simple Jodan Nirengeki: A punch forward followed by a kick with a horizontal arc to the right.

Next as a third heavy combo we’re going to have Ryu perform a Donkey Kick that will have so much power behind it that it will cause a shockwave to harm several enemies.

Ryu’s fourth heavy combo will have him use the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku and spin forward while kicking enemies.

For Ryu’s fifth heavy combo he’ll perform the Ren Hadoken and fire 5 quick fireballs directly at an enemy in front of him to deal devastating damage.

Ryu’s Musou attack shall be the Denjin Hadouken! A much larger version of the Hadouken that will fly forward and burn through enemies. However if a Musou is used in a duel Ryu will instead perform his iconic Shin Shoryuken on them!

As an R1 special skill Ryu will use his V-Trigger 2, Kakko Fubatsu from Street Fighter 5. If attacked when the player pressed R1 he’ll punch forward and create a shockwave to harm enemies.

And that was fighting game’s most iconic character, folks! Ryu wasn’t too hard to get down as a lot of his attacks are known even to a casual like me. So now that we’ve done Ryu, let’s do Ryu again!

Character 2: Ken

Okay next up on the roster we’ve got Ken, if I were to be completely realistic with this roster I would just copy and paste Ryu’s entire moveset here as both Capcom and Koei love having clones in their roster. However this is my article and I get to do what I want! So Ken will play differently from Ryu here even though they’ll be using the same techniques!

Ken’s light attacks will be some basic punches like Ryu’s but speed wise he’ll be slightly faster with some less power behind his attacks. As stated before his heavy combos will utilize the same techniques as Ryu’s.

Ken’s first heavy combo will have him perform a Donkey Kick to send enemies in front of him flying into the air.

As a second heavy combo Ken will perform the Tatsumaki Senpukyaku and spin in place, kicking away enemies around him.

Then as a third heavy combo Ken will use his Shinryuken technique and suck in a wide radius of enemies as he performs this fiery uppercut.

For his fourth heavy combo Ken will launch forward a hadoken and hit several enemies in front of him.

Finally for his fifth heavy combo Ken will perform a Shoryuken on a foe in front of him to devastate their health bar

Ken’s Musou attack will of course be the Guren Enjinkyaku, a fiery combo of move that will propel him forward as his hits many enemies.

For her R1 special we’re going to give Ken something that feels iconic: a parry! If you were to press the button before being attacked, Ken will take no damage and take a step forward. Nothing too fancy but it’s Ken, you know?

Did I make Ken sound unique enough from Ryu? It was a task and a half but I’m satisfied with the results. Let’s move on to someone who is actually unique now.

Character 3: Chun-Li

Next up on the roster we have the face of female fighting game characters: Chun-Li! Chun-Li is easily one of the most iconic characters in this franchise so it shouldn’t shock anyone that we’re giving her a slot.

As for how she’ll play, Chun-Li will be the first speedy character on this roster. Chun Li won’t have much power behind her attacks but that won’t matter as she’ll be able to build up large combos with her light attacks. Said light attacks will be a flurry of kicks while her heavy combos will be some techniques from the games.

Chub Li’s first heavy combo will have her perform a Rankyaku to knock her and enemies into the air where she will be able to then perform the Hoyenbu with another press of the heavy combo button.

Then as a second heavy combo Chun Li will perform a Kikoanken and blast away enemies too close to her with purple energy.

For her third heavy combo Chun Li will flip onto her hands and perform the Spinning Bird Kick, knocking away enemies all around her

As a fourth heavy combo Chun Li will fire a Kikoken forward to do light damage to enemies.

The fifth and final heavy combo of Chun Li’s moveset will of course be the iconic Hyakuretsukyaku, a rapid series of kicks! I want this move to have a gimmick not often seen in Koei’s Musous but seen in games like Capcom’s Sengoku Basara. That gimmick being that I don’t want this move to end unless the player moves the analog stick or Chun-Li is hit by an enemy attack.

Chun Li’s Musou attack will have her perform the Hoyosuken, this may be another flurry of kicks like several of her other moves but it would be significantly more damaging and cover a wider radius

When pressing R1 to activate Chun-Li’s special skill she will do a short bow with one hand outstretched, after performing this apology she will gain a speed buff for a short period of time.

And that was Chun-Li, folks! Working on Chun-Li was a wake up call for me as it made me realize that this roster was going to be full of characters who are tough to write. Thankfully our next one wasn’t too hard.

Character 4: Zangief

Up fourth is Zangief and despite the slander he is not a bad guy! Zangief may not be as iconic as the characters before or after him on this list but he’s earned his place here through repeated appearances in both Street Fighter and various crossovers.

Zangief will be the first slow and powerful character on our roster. His light attacks will have him swing his fists like a truck on enemies while his heavy combos will once again be various moves from the games with an emphasis on grabs.

The first heavy combo of Zangief’s moveset will have him grab a group of enemies in front of him before quickly jumping into the air to piledrive them.

For his second heavy combo, Zangief will perform the Cyclone Lariat and begin to spin, knocking down any enemies near him.

Then as a third heavy combo, Zangief will grab an enemy and spin them around, damaging other enemies in the process!

As a fourth heavy combo, Zangief will use his Siberian Express by grabbing an enemy near him and then slamming them down on another group of enemies in front of him.

Zangief’s fifth and final heavy combo will be the Atomic Buster! He’ll grab an opponent before throwing them down on the ground, shrinking their health significantly!

Zangief’s musou attack will be the Boloshi Russian Suplex, where he’ll grab an enemy and slam them down on the ground three times. Each time he slams them on the ground the attack will create a shockwave that will harm others surrounding enemies.

For his R1 special skill the proud Russian will pull out and down a bottle of vodka, when in this state Zangief will have an attack buff for a short period of time.

Zangief is rad and I will not stand for the popular slander against him! We’ve covered a lot of heroes now so why don’t we even things out with some villains.

Character 5: M.Bison

Now for the first villainous character on our roster: M. Bison! Bison is one of gaming’s most iconic villains and you’d be dead pressed to find anyone who doesn’t recognize his face. There was no chance he wouldn’t be on here.

As for how he’ll play, Bison is a character defined by confidence and overwhelming pressure. He won’t be dashing around or rampaging like our previous four characters. He won’t have a noticeable speed difference from Zangief but his heavy combos won’t move him at all, making it hard to rank up combos with him. Bison’s light attacks involve some devastating punches while his heavy combos will have him perform devastating Psycho techniques that will eat through the health of enemies they do hit

As a first heavy combo, M Bison will use his Psycho Blast on a group of foes in front of him to knock them directly into the air.

The second heavy combo of Bison’s moveset will have him jump directly into the air before swiftly falling onto enemies that moved where he was standing in a Head Press maneuver.

Bison’s third heavy combo will perform the Psycho Knee Press and cartwheel at enemies around him.

For his fourth heavy combo, M Bison will drill through enemies in midair with his Psycho Crusher technique.

Finally for his fifth heavy combo, M. Bison will use his Psycho Crusher technique and create a pillar of purple fire in front of him that will eat through the health of enemies.

Bison’s Musou attack will be the Ultimate Psycho Crusher! This musou will be a significantly larger and more powerful version of his fourth heavy combo, not only damaging those in front of him but also dragging in those he misses.

Bison’s R1 special will be one that emphasizes his sheer power and villainy. When activating, his hands will glow with purple psycho aura and for a short period of time any of his attacks will have a chance to instantly normal enemies.

M. Bison was very fun to imagine….although according to my co writer Jun he’s actually usually a fast character, oops. Hey Jun, mind uh, taking care of the next character entirely for me as I don’t like them.

Character 6: Vega

Up sixth in the roster we’ve got Street Fighters very own Tumblr Sexyman: Vega! Skeith did not have many kind things to say about Vega but he is one of the most iconic characters so here he is.

Vega in our roster would be a high-agility character who can dash around the battlefield with ease but his main gimmick would shine forth in his gimmick. Similar to Xiaoqiao in Dynasty Warriors 8 I want most of his heavy combos to send him flying into the air where he will be able to continue to juggle enemies with a fierce claw attack that will keep him in midair longer.

Vega’s first heavy combo shall be his Scarlet Terror, technique a flip kick that will send his opponents into air

The second heavy combo of Vega’s moveset will be a variation of Aurora Spin Edge, a sweeping attack that will hit enemies on all sides.

Then as a third heavy combo Vega will use grab one enemy and proceed to use his Grand Izuna Drop to slam them to the ground, hitting anyone around them on impact

For his fifth heavy combo, Vega will dashe forward claw-first and slash at multiple enemies

Finally for his fifth heavy combo, Vega will perform Rolling Crystal Flash to hit an enemy multiple times by rolling, then finish off with a slash

Vega’s musou attack will be Scarlet Mirage, a maneuver where he will will flip kick multiple times, then finish off with a slash akin to Bloody Rain in SFV

For his R1 special skill, Vega will take his mask off like in SF4, increasing his attack at the cost of his lowered defense.

Skeith here again, Vega sucks I couldn’t get any grasp on him for this roster! Let’s just move on to someone who was easier to write!

Character 7: Akuma

To cap off this trio of Street Fighter 2 villains we’ve got the devilish Akuma! Akuma is a character who shares a lot of techniques with Ryu and Ken which means I need to find yet another way to make these moves play differently from each other in a Musou game!

Gameplay wise while Ken was a slight slower Ryu, Akuma will be slightly faster but not too much. I want his techniques to feel like the ‘anti’ character so he will also break some of my usual moveset rules in favor of this. His light attacks will be the same as Ryu and Ken’s while his heavy combos will be evil versions of their techniques.

As a first heavy combo, Akuma will jump into the air and perform a Zanku Hadoken at a downward arc toward enemies.

For his second heavy combo, Akuma will perform a short Tatsumaki Zankukyaku and launch away enemies close to him.

Akuma’s third heavy combo will see him use the Dohatsu Shoten to launch himself and an enemy into the air before kicking them back down to cause a shockwave to harm other enemies.

The fourth heavy combo of Akuma’s moveset will have him perform several Goshoryukens in a row, dragging more and more enemies into the combo as he does.

Finally as a fifth and final heavy combo, Akuma will use his Sekia Goshoha and launch a deadly fireball into an enemy in front of him.

Akuma’s musou attack will be his Sekia Kuretsuha, a technique that will have him slam his palm to the earth to create a large pillar of fire around him to destroy his enemies.

When pressing R1 to activate Akuma’s special skill, the earth will briefly tremor and for a short period of time his attacks will have an earth status effect that will stun enemies and break through the blocks of generals.

Akuma is pure power and was an absolute joy to write, but God I don’t want to right about another character with the same techniques again.

Character 8: Guile

Up eighth we’ve got the character with easily the most iconic theme song on the roster: Guile! Guile is the original defensive zoner character and translating that to a Musou moveset will be hard.

Guile will be one of the slower characters in our roster but his attacks will have weight behind them. Unlike characters like Zangief earlier who could sweep his arms at enemies with his light attacks Guile will have very little range with his punches. You’ll need to either get very close to your enemies or weight for them to come to you as you combo others.

For his first heavy Guile will perform a Somersault Kick and launch enemies into the air.

As a second heavy combo Guile will perform a Sonic Boom, it won’t travel far but it will at least harm enemies near him.

Then as a third heavy combo Guille will perform Charlie’s Sonic Move ability to teleport to three separate locations and perform a punch in each.

Guille’s fourth heavy combo will have him use his Sonic Break maneuver and rapidly fire Sonic Booms in front of him.

The fifth heavy combo of Guile’s moveset will have him use Nash’s Target Down grab and choke and enemy before throwing them behind him, hopefully at other enemies.

Guile’s Musou attacks will be his Sonic Hurricane! A devastating maneuver that will see him ensnare enemies in two large Sonic Booms before they explode with pure energy.

For his R1 special Guille will create a Sonic Boom that will stay in midair in front of him. If an enemy were to run into this attack it will disappear but if he were to use a heavy combo on it, it will explode in a burst of energy!

Guile was actually the second hardest character to come up with a moveset for, second only to Vega. I had to pull attacks from his buddy Charlie to fill up space!

Now that we’re done with Guile, let’s move on to the character he’s almost always paired with.

Character 9: Cammy

Up next we’ve got a New Challenger: Cammy! Cammy has become one of the most popular characters in the franchise and I’m willing to bet that’s almost entirely because of her outfit.

Gameplay wise I imagine a Musou version of Cammy having a gimmick like Zhu Ran in Dynasty Warriors 8, one where she will never be standing still. All of her light attacks and heavy combos will have her dashing or jumping around, always on the move. Her light attacks will be a series of punches and kicks while her heavy combos will once again be techniques from the games.

The first heavy combo of Cammy’s moveset will have her perform a Cannon Spike and send enemies in front of her flying into the air.

Cammy’s second heavy combo will have her jump at an enemy in front of her and use her legs to throw them back to where she was just standing, harming enemies there in the process.

Then as a third heavy combo, Cammy will user her Axel Spin Knuckle technique to spin around enemies and kick them into each other.

For her fourth heavy combo, Cammy will perform a Delta Advance by jumping into the air and drilling forward with her legs at enemies.

As a fifth heavy combo, Cammy will jump forward at a single enemy and perform a Fatal Leg Finisher on them, utterly destroying their health.

For her Musou attack, Cammy will use her Cross Stinger Assault! A move that will have her jump into the air and dash forward at a downward angle before she bounces off an enemy and then proceed to bounce off many others, damaging them all in the process.

Cammy’s R1 special will be her Hooligan Combination! Where she can do either leg throws, slide kick, or Cannon Spike afterwards depending on how many enemies are around you.

Cammy was mostly easy to think up a moveset for but her special was a bit hard to think up so sorry if it’s a little abstract. Let’s move on to the character you’ve all been waiting for now.

Character 10: Sakura

Up next we’ve got the most popular character in the franchise: Sakura! Every single her debut this spunky girl has been winning over the hearts of fighting game players so let’s hope this moveset can do her justice!

Being yet another character with a Hadoken, Shoryuken, and a spinning kick its going to be very hard to make a Musou game Sakura player differently from her predecessors. However we’re going to attempt to by first making Sakura easily the speediest of this crew with her smoothly moving around in her light combos so she can keep moving from enemy to enemy before using her heavy combos which will utilize the same techniques as her predecessors in different ways.

The first heavy combo of Sakura’s moveset will have her perform the Tengyo Hadoken at an upward angle to launch enemies upward.

Sakura’s second heavy combo will be the Floral Spin, a sweeping kick that will knock away enemies too close to her.

As a third heavy combo, Sakura will perform three Shouokens in three separate directions to hurt a wide range of enemies.

Then for her fourth heavy combo, Sakura will use her Shunpukyaku to kick forward at enemies.

For her fifth heavy combo, Sakura will perform the Sakura Senpu, spinning toward a single enemy to damage them before finishing them off with a single kick.

Sakura’s Musou attack will have her perform her Sakura Rain. A combination of a Hadoken, Shoryuken, and Senpu that will harm enemies all around her.

Sakura’s R1 special will be extremely evil. In reference to Street Fighter EX we will have her begin to wall forward slowly, if she isn’t attacked for long enough in this state she will poke forward for an attack that can practically insta-kill enemy generals.

I love Sakura, you love Sakura, everyone loves Sakura! I hope this moveset did her justice in your eyes. Now, let’s move on to a character who debuted at around the same time but has a much smaller fanbase.

Character 11: Alex

Up eleventh on the roster we’ve got the main character of Street Fighter 3: Alex! I know very little of Alex and had to rely a lot on my co-writer Jun for this, sorry!

Alex will be one of the slower characters on this roster with a lot of force behind his attacks. His heavy combos will have a lot of knockback to keep enemies away from him.

For his first heavy combo, Alex will perform a Lariat and send enemies flying into the air.

Then for his second heavy combo Alex will use his Slash Elbow attack to swap away enemies.

The third heavy combo of Alex’s moveset will have him use a Flash Chop, swiping away enemies close to him.

As a fourth heavy combo, Alex will use his Flying Cross Chop and jump into the air before landing on enemies in front of him.

The fifth and final heavy combo of Alex’s moveset will be his Sledge Hammer technique! He’ll charge forward and deliver a devastating punch that will not only deal massive damage to an enemy but send them flying into other enemies.

For his Musou, Alex will perform the Heavy Hammer! An attack that will have him grab an enemy and then Suplex them onto another group of enemies!

Alex’s R1 special will have him wind up his arm to give his next heavy combo some extra damage behind it, however if he is hit before he uses it he will lose this effect.

I apologize ahead of time for the lack of SF3 characters on this roster because I wanted to represent the whole franchise but when half the roster is already taken up by iconic SF2 characters and SF5 has a lot of characters practically built for a Musou it was 3 that needed to get shafted. Anyway, let’s now move on to a character from 5

Character 12: Menat

Up twelfth on the roster we’ve got who I personally think is the cutest looking Street Fighter girl: Menat! Now while that is my primary reason for wanting Menat on the roster that’s not the only reason she’s here. Menat is special in that she’ll be one of the few characters on this roster that won’t be a hand to hand fighter!

Yes, that’s right Menat has an actual weapon in the form of a crystal ball she controls in midair. For the sake of having moveset variety we will have her control this orb and smack enemies around with it for her light attacks!

The first heavy combo of Menat’s moveset will have her throw her orb low by the feet of enemies before having it launch into the air, taking the enemies up with it.

Menat’s second heavy combo will jump atop her orb several times as if she was playing hopscotch to create small shockwaves to harm enemies around her.

As a third heavy combo Menat will call upon the Wisdom of Thoth to summon several orbs and send them flying in multiple directions around her.

For her fourth heavy combo, Menat will jump and kick her orb forward to send it flying at enemies before having it return to her.

Finally for her fifth heavy combo, Menat will use her Soul Sphere move to draw an enemy close to here before electrifying them with her orb.

Menat’s Musou attack will be her Nefretem technique. Where she will have her orb rapidly flying in several directions in front of her as she reads the increasingly short future of enemies.

For her R1 special Menat’s orb will become surrounded by electricity, giving her status effects and electric status effect that will spread damage between enemies for a short period of time.

Menat was the easiest character to make a moveset for by far. It cannot be understated how much easier it is to write a weapon user than a fistfighter. Anyway, back to fist fighters!

Character 13: Zeku

Next up on the roster we have Zeku! Just as Street Fighter 4 ate the Final Fight franchise, Street Fighter 5 consumed the Strider series. Zeku was one of the cooler additions to Street Fighter 5 as although his is one big Strider reference he had his own interesting thing going for him too.

As for how he’ll play I’ll need to break my usual order and describe Zeku’s R1 special now. Zeku had both an old and young form in Street Fighter 5 so for this Musou he’ll have the ability to switch between them instantly. Old Zeku will be slow and powerful with methodical looking attacks while young Zeku will be fast and deal less damage. Although they’ll play differently and have slightly different animations both forms of Zeku will utilize the same attacks.

For his first heavy combo Zeku will perform his Fukuro technique and send enemies flying into the air with his palm before teleporting up there himself to continue attacking them.

The second combo of Zeku’s moveset will have him grab an enemy and sit on them in a meditating pose similar to his Bushin Sandoku Otoshi move and cause a small shockwave that will knock away enemies near him.

Zeku’s third heavy combo will have him run in a circle on his toes like a ninja to deliver punches to enemies around him.

As a fourth heavy combo Zeku will use his Bushin Gram~Teki and perform a sweeping horizontal kick that will send razor sharp energy forward at enemies.

Finally for his fifth heavy combo, Zeku will do a flip jump to grab an enemy before toss them to the ground and jumping to another.

For his Musou attack Zeku will do what every ninja in fiction does and teleport around rapidly in different directions as he attacks enemies. Street Fighter 5 called this maneuver the Batsuzan Gaisei and thus so shall we.

Rest in Peace, Strider. May you live on through the Street Fighter franchise. Anyway, next up on the list we’ve got another popular character.

Character 14: Karin

Karin is one of the best characters in this franchise for one simple reason: her fighting style is a lot like Bajiquan and Bajiquan is one of the coolest types of martial arts in the world! That is literally the only reason I need to put her on this roster.

To contrast her with her rival Sakura, Karin’s light attacks will be much slower and more methodical, but her heavy combos will give her sudden bursts of speed she can use to keep combos going.

The first heavy combo of Karin’s moveset will see her perform a Tenko, a simple upward motion with her arm that will send enemies flying into the air.

As a second heavy combo Karin will perform an Orochi, a move that will see her turn around to use her back and Elbows to knock away enemies close to her.

Karin’s third heavy combo will see her perform a fiery spin to hit several enemies before transitioning into a Mujinkyaku combo of kicks.

For Karin’s fourth heavy combo she’ll perform her Guren Ken: Two forward palm thrusts ending with a jumping maneuver.

Finally for her fifth heavy combo Karin will perform a Senha Renku, a combo that will begin with jumping forward and attacking twice with her palms before throwing a nearby enemy on the ground, heavily damaging this enemy while also causing a small shockwave.

Karin’s Musou attack shall be the Kanzuki-Ryu Hadorokushiki Hasha No Kata, which is a very long name to describe an attack that will have her perform a simple karate combo that will end with her spinning an enemy before launching that enemy into another group of enemies.

As an R1 special skill, Karin’s fists will burst to flame with the fires of youth and for a short period of time her attacks will have a fire status effect that will linger on enemies and burn through their health bars.

I love Bajiquan but man is it not built for a hypothetical Musou. I truly hope you are all still engaged this far down the roster. Next up we get a character who while I don’t think is as cute as Menat, her design is almost entirely like I want them here.

Character 15: Ibuki

Up fifteenth we’ve got Ibuki! Now if you know anything about me it’s that I love female ninjas, like a lot, so she was guaranteed a slot here!

Ibuki will be yet another fast character on this roster as you can’t have a ninja without speed! I want her to be Bolting around during her light attacks as she kicks enemies down!

For Ibuki’s first heavy combo she’ll perform a Kazekiri and kick enemies upward into the air.

Then as a second heavy combo, Ibuki will grab an enemy and launch a Raida energy ball right at their stomach, creating a blast that will also harm other nearby enemies.

Ibuki’s third heavy combo will have her perform a Rokushaku Horokudama maneuver. Which is a fancy way of saying she will pull out a bomb and throw it at enemies.

As a fourth heavy combo, Ibuki will throw four Kenai forward in a horizontal arc at enemies in front of her.

The fifth and final heavy combo of Ibuki # moveset will have her grab an enemy and perform her Raida technique, blasting them with an energy ball.

Ibuki’s Musou attack will be the Kachofugetsu, a technique that will see her kick an enemy into the air before teleporting upward to kick them back down, causing a shockwave to harm other enemies.

Ibuki’s R1 special will basically be a clone of Hanzo’s from Samurai Warriors 4, allowing her to create two Shadow Clones of herself that will mirror her attacks.

Now that we’re fifteen characters in you’ve probably noticed I’ve completely neglected to include and Street Fighter 4 representation, well let’s fix that!

Character 16: Juri

Juri is insanely popular, not only was she the breakout hit of Street Fighter 4 but she also got to represent the franchise in many crossover titles! With popularity like that it’s impossible not to consider her for this roster.

Juri will move around like a snake in her light attacks, always kicking and trying to get her legs around enemies before ensnaring them in her heavy attacks.

Juri’s first heavy combo will have her perform a Senpusha, a spinning kick that will launch enemies directly into the air.

For her second heavy combo Juri will use her Chisenkyaku technique, grabbing an enemy’s neck with her legs before slamming them down under her, causing a very small shockwave.

The third heavy combo of Juri’s moveset will have her perform a Kaisenrenkyaku, spinning upward as she kicks with a black and white aura that sucks in enemies.

As a fourth heavy combo, Juri will perform the Fuharenkyaku, a series of spinning kicks that will propel her forward as she continues to pile on enemies.

Finally for her fifth heavy combo, Juri will use her Ryodansatsy maneuver. A spinning kick that will end with her doing a split as she fatally harms an enemy.

Juri’s Musou attack will be the Sakkai Fuhazan, a simple technique that will see her flip and send a sharp burst of black and white energy forward at enemies.

When pressing R1 to activate Juri’s special, a purple aura will surround her legs and her attacks will gain a poison status effect for a short period of time.

Only two characters left so let’s move on to one of Street Figher 5’s coolest characters!

Character 17: Rashid

Up next we’ve got what is easily the best looking Street Fighter 5 character: Rashid! That’s all the reason I need to include an SF5 character on the roster as it’s hard to argue iconic status when there haven’t been any newer games.

As for how he’ll play, Rashid will be as swift as the wind itself! One of, if not the fastest character in our roster! His light attacks will involve him giving off various high kicks while his heavy combos will all involve him either spinning or utilizing literal tornadoes.

For his first heavy combo Rashid will use a Whirlwind Shot and send a small tornado forward to toss enemies into the air.

For a second heavy combo, Rashid will use his Spinning Mixer technique, rapidly spinning around and knocking away enemies near him.

The third heavy combo of Rashid’s moveset will have him use a YSSAR and create a large tornado that will spin around him and hit many enemies.

Rashid’s fourth heavy combo will have him jump into the air and kick forward at enemies with an Eagle Spike.

As a fifth heavy combo, Rashid shall perform the Spinning Mixer and at an enemy like a tornado to slice away at their health.

For his Musou attack Rashid will perform Altair and turn into a tornado, sucking in and devastating enemies’ health bars.

As an R1 special Rashid will find himself surrounded by wind for a short period of time, giving all of his attacks an extra wind status effect that will increase knockback.

Only one character left in the roster! Who’s it going to be? Well, while I said there was very little Street Fighter 3 representation in this roster I didn’t say there would be none. No, let’s now move on to who I would want to be the main antagonist of this hypothetical game.

Character 18: Gil

For our final slot we have Gil, the main antagonist of Street Fighter 3! Why did I save Gil for last? Because out of every character on this roster he is the one that makes the most sense. Think about all of Gil’s attacks in the games. This man can drive meteors, freeze the ground, create pillars of fire! He is built for a Musou game!

As for how I imagine him playing, he will be the reverse of how we designed M Bison earlier in the roster. While Bison was slow and completely stationary during his combos, Gil will be extremely fast and stationary. He will be able to run up to enemies no issue but as soon as he begins to attack he’ll come to a halt.

For his light attacks, Gil will stretch out his arms and legs for some simple combos. Being the tall person he is, his attacks will have a longer than normal reach to make up for his stopped movement. His heavy combos however will be some of the most devastating in our roster.

The first heavy combo of Gil’s moveset will have him perform a flaming uppercut to launch enemies into the air but he himself shall remain stationary for the whole attack.

Gil’s second heavy combo will have him wave his arm downward as a bolt of fire falls from the sky to burn enemies near him.

As a third heavy combo, Gil will make a fist and meteors will rain around him onto a wide radius of enemies.

For his fourth heavy combo, Gil will stomp his foot down to perform Ice of Doom as ice bursts through the ground in front of him, damaging enemies.

Finally for his fifth heavy combo, Gil will extend his arm forward and send a javelin of ice through the body of a nearby enemy, heavily damaging them.

Gil’s Musou attack will of course be Seraphic Wing. This devastating attack will see him grow several wings before the screen briefly turns black and white as his sheer presence harms enemies before everything turns back to normal.

For his R1 special move I want one of two things to happen. Either Gil will gain a fiery aura around his hands that will cause his attacks to have a fire status effect that will linger and eat away at the health bar or enemies or he will gain a cold ice-like aura that will give his attacks an ice status effect that will freeze enemies in place.


Conclusion

And that’s our roster folks! 18 characters from across Street Fighter’s history all with movesets redesigned to fit a Musou game! Is this roster completely satisfying? No, of course not, but when you’ve got a franchise with over 70 characters you cannot have a satisfying representation of the whole thing with only 18 slots. It’s just not possible. I couldn’t even include all the iconic SF2 characters because then every other game would get about one character each.

I would like to give a million thanks to my co-writer Jun for this article, without them I wouldn’t know the first thing about any of these characters. They were the backbone of this piece.

If you enjoyed this please check out the Make a Musou homepage where I have written many other Musou rosters! I swear those ones aren’t filled with fist fighters!