| Chun-Li | |
|---|---|
 | |
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Series |
Street Fighter |
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Debut |
Street Fighter II (1991) |
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Console of origin |
Arcade |
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Species |
Human |
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Gender |
Female |
Chun-Li (Japanese/Chinese Traditional: 春麗, Chun Rii, Chinese Simplified: 春丽) is a character in the Street Fighter series. She is the first female player character that appears in the series, and the first playable character to appear in a 1-on-1 fighting game. Introduced in Street Fighter II, Chun-Li was the only female character in the game, as well as one of the youngest fighters, and while not as physically powerful as the other characters, she is by far the quickest.
Her most famous attack is the Hyakuretsukyaku ("Hundred Rending Legs", commonly known as the "Lightning Kick"), where she repeatedly kicks her opponent from a tilted standing position with incredible speed.
Description[]
Clothing[]
Chun-Li wears a qipao, a Chinese dress imported over from Manchuria that became popular among girls during the early 20th century. Her outfit is modified to allow a far wider range of movement than a normal qipao. She also wears white combat boots and a blue leotard with dark brown sheer pantyhose and blue panties underneath with her qipao. Her qipao is blue with golden accents. She was originally supposed to wear a peach-colored qipao, as seen in her in-game profile and ending in the original Street Fighter II.
During the period covered in Street Fighter Alpha, she wore an embroidered vest, unitard and athletic shoes, as well as studded wristbands. It is unclear why she chose to stop using this outfit and switch to the qipao in subsequent Street Fighter games. With the switch to the qipao, she also swapped her wristbands for large spiked bracelets.
In Street Fighter IV, Chun-Li's alternate outfit consists of a black sleeveless evening gown with gold accents at the bottom. She wears a black and gold sash held by a red rope-like belt. The outfit is completed with red shoes, gold earrings and black and gold bracelets.
In various official art, she has also been shown in her police outfit, as well as (presumably) her favorite casual attire: a varsity-style jacket, T-shirt, jeans and white tennis shoes. It has been shown in some official art that when wearing her casual attire she also wears her Alpha wristbands.
Hairstyle []
Her hairstyle is called "ox horns", a typical style in which Chinese children dress their hair; depictions of girls in Chinese paintings frequently show girls in ox horns.
During the Alpha series, she chose to wear them unadorned, while in the remaining games, she uses silk brocades and ribbons to cover them, colored white to signify the mourning of her father. These silk brocades and ribbons that cover them are sometimes called bao.
In Street Fighter IV, when wearing her alternate costume, she wears her ox horns unadorned, just like in her Alpha appearance, only this time it's held by red ropes with golden balls at the tip.
History[]
Street Fighter Alpha 2[]
Chun-Li was an Interpol investigator who had been searching for clues to the recent disappearance of her father. Getting into a friendly spar with an old teacher of hers and friend of her father, Gen, he gives her a lead into who may have killed her father—the mysterious crime syndicate Shadaloo. Finding its leader, M. Bison, she demands he tell her what happened to her father. To her surprise, Bison attacks and basically makes quick work of her, then flies away, laughing at her and telling her if she attacks him again he will kill her just like he did her father. With tears in her eyes (the last she swore to ever shed), Chun-Li swore vengeance.
Street Fighter Alpha 3[]
Chun-Li teamed up with a United States Air Force member, Charlie Nash, to try to track and take down Shadaloo. She then ran into someone she would not have expected at all. It was Charlie's good friend and fellow lieutenant, Guile. Telling Guile he should not get in over his head and to leave the two be, Chun-Li learns he has orders to bring Charlie back. Attempting to use force to stop him, Guile immediately appears and holds her in his arms telling her that she can't force Charlie to not make what is right and for good intentions; nonetheless, she insists that she and her partner be left alone, to which Guile replies that he will never abandon friends in need. Eventually, learning that Bison tricked the Air Force into canceling the planned bombing of the main Shadaloo base, she rushed over to the two soldiers to tell them they were tricked and would have to destroy the base on their own. Chun-Li with Charlie and Guile proceeded to the Shadaloo base located in Thailand to plant bombs around the base as Charlie and Guile headed inside to destroy the Psycho Drive, but Guile then came rushing out, grabbing Chun-Li and telling her Charlie had urged both of them to get away. Meanwhile Ryu was fighting with M. Bison. Along the way Chun-Li saw a young girl escaping with several others (who turned out to be Cammy) and she found Ryu and escaped with him. Later Guile told her that Charlie was inside of the Shadaloo base during the explosion marking his apparent death in the process. Despite being distraught over the initial lack of evidence to prove Shadaloo's crimes, Chun-Li managed to shut down the operations of the Shadaloo evil empire.
Street Fighter II[]
Chun-Li received an invitation to the second World Warrior tournament, and discovered that Bison had apparently survived the Thailand base's destruction. With this, she had the clear motive of destroying Shadaloo and avenging her father once again. The outcome of this tournament is not clear, although regardless of the outcome, Bison himself finally falls at the hands of Ryu's nemesis, Akuma.
Super Street Fighter IV[]
After retiring, Chun-Li finds life less than what she had hoped for, still feeling uneasiness. Eventually, incidents involving disappearances and abductions reach her, which rouse her fighting spirit, convincing her to return to the fight. Soon, she is tracked down by Guile, who reveals to her evidence of Shadaloo's return. She tells Guile that she is not just fighting for her father but also for herself, and that she will continue to be a cop. Donning her outfit, she returns to Interpol and teams up with Guile and Cammy to take down S.I.N. and discover what really happened to M.Bison. After she recovers from being defeated by Juri Han, she enters the new international fighting tournament to take down S.I.N once and for all. On her way, she is approached by Abel, who is searching for any leads on the Shadaloo organization. During the tournament, she also pursues Gen, who is also participating, for more answers about her father's death; Gen refuses and she is unable to force him. Later she encounters Juri once more, who she tries to arrest and although she is able to defeat her she is unable to bring her into custody. Infiltrating the S.I.N. dam facility, she is trapped when Vega activates the base's self-destruct sequence. She is protected from the ensuing collapse by Gen, and is eventually rescued by Guile and Abel.
Street Fighter III: Third Strike []
Having made her peace, she continued her work as a police officer, and retired from mainstream street fighting to teach young children martial arts after taking down Shadaloo for good. Urien kidnapped a young girl for his scientific projects, and Chun-Li manages to catch up to him. Challenging him, she defeats Urien and reclaims the young girl. Since then, Chun-Li has continued to raise her adopted kids.
Personality[]
Chun-Li's original personality was depicted as a cheerful young lady who worships Ryu as her hero or idol, much like Sakura. As her story underwent development, she became more resourceful and dedicated, with a strong sense of justice. She strongly believes in protecting the innocent, yet she has no qualms with fighting. She is a highly disciplined, seasoned, and courageous warrior, and is often the voice of reason. As a detective of Interpol, she takes her work very seriously, yet she also has an elegant, sweet, and feminine personality. When it comes to fighting, Chun-Li tends to get quite competitive with other fighters and does not take defeats kindly, but after her fights, she often becomes allies - and in some cases, friends. Additionally, she has shown great resilience and determination in pursuing intense rivals, such as Bison and Juri.
Gameplay and fighting style[]
Chun-Li is the original fast character in the Street Fighter series, utilizing multiple rapid attacks rather than the slow damaging strikes of larger characters like Zangief. Her agile and swift movements are a favorite amongst game-players. It is interesting to note that in the early days of arcade fighting games, many other female characters played in a similarly speedy style, following the example set by Chun-Li. In previous games (mainly Street Fighter II) she was basically a charge character along with Guile and E.Honda but her style was changed in later games to give her a more technical feel as well as her trademark "speed" granted to the player.
Techniques[]
In almost every game, Chun-Li's signature move is the Hyakuretsukyaku, which was her ability to throw multiple kicks in one sitting. Its easy accessibility (bluntly pressing a kick button rapidly) has become a staple in many games. Her Spinning Bird Kick acts like Ryu's and Ken's own Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Chun-Li can also wall-jump, meaning that pressing in the opposite direction after touching the wall during a jump will allow her to bounce off of it. While jumping, she can perform a Stomp Kick on top of her opponent's heads. Beginning with Street Fighter Alpha, this move was replaced by the Sen'en Shuu, which was an overhead drop kick which knocked the opponent down. This, in itself, was replaced by the Hazanshu in Street Fighter III, which was a similar move where Chun-Li flipped in the air before attacking with her overhead kick. She also regained her Spinning Bird Kick in that game.
Her Kakukyakuraku was basically a move where she flips in the air and drop kicks her opponents on the head, causing them to fall down. This was replaced in Street Fighter III with the "Tenshin Shuu Kyaku" which requires her to jump all the way behind the opponent to attack, but also lets her combo afterward. Her trademark projectile is called the Kikoken, and has alternately been a motion attack and a charge attack depending on the game. Her Tenshokyaku enabled her to jump in the air and perform 3-4 consecutive kicks that can damage air born opponents.
Other notable moves that have appeared include the Sou Hakkei, a powerful palm strike that Chun-Li can do in her X-ISM mode in Street Fighter Alpha 3; the Reishiki Kikou Ken, a toned-down version of the Kikosho as it appeared in the Alpha games that Chun-Li can do at any time in the Marvel vs. Capcom series; and the Tenshin Embu in SNK vs. Capcom: SVC Chaos, a command grab similar to Yun and Yang's Zenpou Tenshin that does no damage but leaves the opponent open to a combo.
Super Attacks[]
Chun-Li's first Super Attack, the Senretsukyaku, was an extended Hyakuretsukyaku that moved Chun-Li forward and could go through fireballs. Her Kikosho, which she received in Street Fighter Alpha, was a stationary ball of energy that could hit attacks coming from above and in front. Her Hazan Tenshou Kyaku was a powered-up version of the Tenshokyaku. These moves received typical power increases in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
Her appearance in Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike saw her retain only one Super Art from before, the Kikosho, in a version that more resembled the Marvel version than the original Alpha version. Her two new Super Arts were the Houyoku Sen, a re-imagined Senretsukyaku that was made up of two flurries of rapid kicks followed by a final kick that sent the opponent upward; and the Tensei Ranka, an aerial flip-kick that ended with a final kick crashing straight downward.
In Street Fighter IV, Chun-Li gains a new Ultra Combo called Hosenka. It is very much like Houyoku Sen, except instead of kicking the opponent away after the Hyakuretsukyaku, she kicks the opponent upwards and does a powered-up Spinning Bird Kick, which causes a tornado and does significant damage. She then kicks the opponent up into the air with a lot of force, landing gracefully after the opponent falls back on to the floor.
In the latest version of Street Fighter IV (Super Street Fighter IV), one can select an Ultra Combo among Hosenka and Kikosho. The Kikosho animation is nearly identical to what is depicted in Street Fighter III: Third Strike.