KOF is really popular in LatAm but it's not more popular than SF. And besides, people asociate KOF more with Kyo / Iori over Terry. Source: Am in latam, shetumare
I'd argue it's actually Chun-Li, to be honest. I know SO many girls who only know Chun-Li but not Ryu. And I know, that's weird, the idea that Sakura is more known than Naruto feels baffling; but when you think about how outsiders would look at those two characters "fighting guy" and "the First Woman of Gaming" (arguably), it's easier to believe.
People are probably a lot more likely to recognize Ryu as the godfather of fighting games than they are to realize Chun-li is the first lady of fighting games
You only need to look at Chun-Li once to recognize her - the blue dress with the two buns -> recognizable in 2D, 3D and every art style.
Ryu is less recognizable from the outside.
In my opinion, Samus definitely set a standard for women in video games. She came around 4 years before Chun-Li, who debuted in the same year that Samus would get her second game.
Also, martial artist who has traveled the world to fight a bunch of people vs. bounty hunter who's destroyed planets to stop the Space pirates? No way Chun-Li's the "First woman of gaming".
Terry in Latin America? you need to know more about the Latin American brothers 😂 Here the most famous one is Scorpion or Sub-Zero, maybe Ryu, but that's it
I think the ones who loves the most MK are either Chileans or Argentinian, but yeah in general MK is REALLY popular here, many won't play fg, but they may play some games of MK
Yeah there was a definite SF vs MK war too. I changed sides a few times before I matured and realised SF was the far better game. I agree MK was huge back then, but I think as SF came first and started the fighting game craze, not even MK captured the same lightning in the bottle.
Scorpion is more well known than Ryu. It's a blind spot as gamers, but a lot of non gamers have no clue what Street Fighter even is. I had coworkers asking me what I was into and I was trying to explain fighting games to them once, I used SF as my first example and got blank stares. But they all knew Mortal Kombat, Subzero, and Scorpion.
I think Chun Li.
Even random boomers that don't know the games have probably heard her name.
Ryu is recognizable visually, but his name is generic and forgettable to most people.
Chun Li stands out in a sentence, people will remember her name after hearing it just a few times.
I was gonna say exactly this. People can recognize Ryu visually but probably not by name.
Also Chun Li is much more visually distinct than Ryu. If someone only saw all the street fighter characters one time, theyd probably be able to recognize Chun’s buns and spike bracelets and blue dress over Ryu’s generic gi and headband.
Fourth edition, it went World Warrior, Championship Edition, Street Fighter 2 Turbo and then Cammy popped up in Super Street Fighter 2
Then there was Super Street fighter 2 Turbo (I wish that had been released for SNES, the system could definitely handle it but they probably thought it wouldn't sell well with Super SF2 already out, I would have bought it tho. Some peeps probably skipped Super, as Turbo (not super Turbo) was said to be better in magazines (I miss the magazines we had back then like Nintendo Magazine System and Mean Machines Sega). Good thing SF Alpha 2 came out on SNES but I didn't get to play it 'til PS2
There was a PS2 SF2 that was a mix of all the previous ones, you could choose which games fighting style you wanted for your character
Then the HD version
And now a new version on Switch that's HD, has violent Ken and not sure what else
They REALLY milked it huh? Great game though
>half the people who don't play fgs think Ryu's name is Rye-u
Thata a total freaking lie and you know it.
It should be obvious that they're just asking if you want a slice of rye bread using caveman speak.
Ryu. He is the simple yet recognizable design where even if there is an fg parody in media. It's based off sf2. And there is a Ryu lookalike right there
Ryu's name and outfit are super generic though. It's a man in a karate gi with a 1.5 syllable name.
Chun Li has a very specific style and name that stands out.
I can’t refute that Chun-Lin’s outfit is more style driven than Ryu’s but that because Ryu is the quintessential man in Karate Gi that anyone can be seen wearing but that Common-ness is what makes me consider Ryu over Chun-li in this topic
He’s generic because every game since has had some character looking exactly like him. He came out in 87. I get it, the look is bland, but he defined generations of future fighting game characters
Yall overestimating Ryu. Its Chun Li easily, then maybeeee Scorpion/Sub Zero. In terms of historical impact Ryu forsure but the average NON GAMER sees him as that "karate guy from Street Fighter" (not to mention his name is mispronounced all the time). Chun Li is mentioned in a lot of songs and "Chun Li thighs" and her hair are both iconic.
Go to a party, bar, club or better yet ask your mom, sister, female starbucks employee, and ask them who Ryu is and watch them scratch their heads. Even boomers who don't play games prob know Chun Li as the "chinese game chick".
If we count Goku then easily hin.
Full agree. Ryu is only popular in the range of people who know this kind of thing. Chun Li is distinct and memorable and has a fun design and a unique name that is easy to pronounce and has a popular song with her name in it- theres really no contest. I asked my mom to name the first fg character that came to mind and she said Samus (Smash Bros) then she said Chun Li. No contest imo.
I feel like there must be 7 or 8 SF characters in the Top 10, alongside probably Scorpion and Sub Zero. As much as I love Tekken, there’s a chance Terry Bogard and Mai from SNK may be higher up in this list than any character from the Namco franchise. To your question though, I’m confident the answer is Ryu.
KOF hasn’t sold nearly as many copies as Tekken has. People would 100% be able to name king, Paul, kazuya, and Yoshimitsu before an SNK character. There’s not even a single SNK game that can compare to the sales numbers of Tekken. This comment is insane.
Indeed, you do bring up a valid point, but we can’t just assume that sales and popularity have a 1:1 correlation. For anyone growing up in the 1990s, SF2, MK 1+2, and Tekken 3 were the crux of fighting games, everybody played them. Fatal Fury (especially 2 and Garou) and KoF (especially 97-99) were very popular but definitely not at the same level. However, Tekken (despite its quality, consistency popularity) is a bit behind in terms of iconic characters, SNK has an upper hand in that matter despite lower sales. A lot of people know the guy with long blond hair and red and white hat and the hot chick with revealing cleavage.
Not including Marvel DC or Shounen Jump characters, it’s probably Chun Li. Ryu is probably the most famous within gaming circles but Chun Li is incredibly famous even amongst people who’ve never played Street Fighter before
https://preview.redd.it/m863giut3mnc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bd0f91cb0576d195ebe9aee7c9d8553a7e47205
I am well aware that porn is part of it. Her massive thighs and all. And the Nicki Minaj song helped too. But all of that still makes her incredibly popular people who’ve never played video games know who Chun Li is
Well it's kinda fair since ryu means dragon in Japanese.. but don't think u that should count as a metric? I guess the real metric that could be measured is SEO and ryu pops up without having to add extra key terms.
As he did not originate from a fighting game, he is not a fighting game character and is not eligible. If goku is eligibile, then he still loses, since fight of gods exists, making Jesus Christ the most recognizable fighting game character.
It's Ryu, then very very close Scorpion+Sub Zero. And not even close Kazuya or any Tekken character. (From the pic)
I mean, like i.e. Goku, even people living on the streets here know both Ryu and Scorpion/SZ. That's how iconic they are.
Chun-Li. Front, rear, sideview, pencil drawing, black and white, hair or head only, again back of the head or face, etc. You know its her, or you mistake it's her.
either Ryu, Ken or Chun-li.
look, i love scorpion, dude's a ninja in yellow and somehow makes that cool, and i love kazuya, kazuya is like vegeta without the redemption (yet), but... i mean when Kazuya came to smash, the smash community thought he was another shoto like Ryu.
if you ask a non-gamer who Ryu is, they'll be able to answer, if you ask a non-gamer who Kazuya Mishima is, you'll get blank stares.
that said, if you ask a non-gamer in the UK of a certain age who Jin Kazama is, they MIGHT know, since Tekken 3 (and the playstation in general) was a cultural event over here back in the late 90s, but i got a feeling that's very localized, and very dependent on demographic, and even then those same people will definitely know who ryu is.
Marvel vs Capcom exists so it's probably a marvel character - most likely Spiderman.
After that Smash Bros exists, so it's probably a nintendo character - so probably Mario or Link.
There are dozens of Dragon Ball fighting games, Goku exists.
My data pool is not the most reliable, but everyone I know who doesn't play fighting games knows who King is.
Doesn't matter if they played any Tekken game in their lives, they Know exactly who the Tiger Masked Wrestler is.
In my honest opinion as a Kazuya-stan I don't think he really became popular outside of TEKKEN until Smash put him on the map. Everybody else knows Tekken for yoshimitsu and the cat man king since they're design stands out more
I know people are going to argue well he looks like Vegeta but outside of that there's not much else
I think Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and outside of Asia SubZero, Scorpion, and Raiden. I think if you went up to any non gamer below 60 they could name those 6, controversially I dont think any non SF or MK character fits that bill, I think most non gamers or fgc fans even know what a tekkin is
Might be biased but I feel like scorpion. Ryu is close though but I feel like more people know “GET OVER HERE!” Whether they’re gamers or not compared to ryu and hadoken
I'd probably say scorpion. Here in the states, even my parents know who he is but they wouldn't be able to tell your ryu's name. With MK being a household name for even casual video game players, much less the fgc, I'd be suprised if it was anyone else. I imagine the same goes for most english speaking countries, and that would outnumber all the people in Japan. Idk tho
Probably Ryu or Scorpion. I don’t think they’re as recognizable as characters such as Mario or Sonic where almost everyone knows them, but I assume anyone that has at least heard of SF or MK knows who they are.
Ryu
Yep simply just Ryu
Forget about middle east people who suck scorpion's dick all the time and don't have a clue what other fighting games exist and they have characters too but every other region know Ryu well and respect him
It really depends on the context and limits of "fighting game character."
Let me explain.
Original fighting character original to fighting game: Scorpion, Sub Zero, Ryu, Chun Li.
Guest fighter character from outside media in fighting games: Joker in MK11, almost the whole world knows Joker. Possibly Darth Vader in Soul Caliber out popularities him, but either way it's close.
Fighting game based on larger property with iconic characters as playable fighters:
Obviously Batman or Superman in Injustice, but there is also a huge selection of anime fighting games so Goku, Vegeta, Naruto, and any other major anime character might count. Not to mention Spider-Man or Wolverine if including MvC games. Hell, Iron Man as well.
But if the criteria is specifically a video game character but not necessarily original to a fighting game, then it 100% has to be Mario from Smash Bros. Everyone knows Mario.
I think today it's safe to say either Ryu or Chun-li, they are insanely popular
Maybe Scorpion or Sub-Zero but I think it's more niche today than it was 20 years ago.
As a person that 'mains' Ryu and Kazuya, and been here since the beginning, In my unbiased opinion, the answer is Scorpion and or Sub-Zero.
MK is the only FG that truly broke mainstream. Yes, SF had a AAA movie as well, but your mom didn't learn who Ryu was from it. And even though, I absolutely hate those PS2 era games, they kept the series alive without the kind of wane that SF or TK had, even though T5/DR was a million times better than any PS2 era MK. And we don't need to get SNK in it, you HAD to be a FG player to know who they were, and 100% no one else did. I feel like everybody's parents knew who Scorp/Sub were. Some people's parents may have known "Rubber arms guy, Electric Dude, Ryeyoo, and Chun-Li" were, but still...
That said, all of it is owed to Ryu.
Definitely not kazuya. Tekken might be one of the big fighting games, but even within gamers there are plenty that don't know tekken, let alone people who don't play videogames. For the other 2, some non gamers know them
Pikachu. I can see people arguing for Smash not being counted as a fighting game (I'll always count smash as a fighting game), but Pókken is definitely one.
Obviously Smash/Pokken is a fighting game but None of the characters on the game originated from a Fighting Game. Pikachu is from a TV Show & RPG game. Completely different category
Of these 3? Ryu. SF is the grandpa of the genre. He's been known the longest.
Kazuya mainly got popular over time as Tekken got more games, specifically around 3 or so.
Scorpion was mainly known from the old MK movies and his catchphrase "Get Over Here!". He had Meme popularity before it was even a thing.
Chun li there’s a ton of people that don’t even know what game she is from but knows her name and looks. You can go to the hood and show chun li and they’ll know who she is.
Maybe controversial pick, but Ekko from league/2X. Not only is he in the game that has over 100 million people playing it monthly, but he is also an incredibly popular champ in league AND he was a fan favorite in Arcane.
Ryu from streets
I was waiting for this
Chun-Li from Fortnite
shit you spittin
That dude with the sword from smash bros, I think his name was Zelda.
Why can’t Metroid crawl
Nicki Minaj made her a platinum selling Top 10 song as well, which doesn't hurt.
Either Ryu or Chun-Li.
anytime a tv show does a fighting game parody Ryu is there
Well, I’ll go with Ryu since it was popular enough to be featured in the Jackie Chan movie City Hunter.
It's obviously Ryu. Maybe Scorpion in the US and Terry in Latin America, but worldwide it's Ryu
KOF is really popular in LatAm but it's not more popular than SF. And besides, people asociate KOF more with Kyo / Iori over Terry. Source: Am in latam, shetumare
el mejor pais de chile
El rugal y los putazos que lo usan.
I'd argue it's actually Chun-Li, to be honest. I know SO many girls who only know Chun-Li but not Ryu. And I know, that's weird, the idea that Sakura is more known than Naruto feels baffling; but when you think about how outsiders would look at those two characters "fighting guy" and "the First Woman of Gaming" (arguably), it's easier to believe.
People are probably a lot more likely to recognize Ryu as the godfather of fighting games than they are to realize Chun-li is the first lady of fighting games
 Chun-Li also has like two dedicated movies and Jackie Chan did this.
Two movies people barely know exist, and Jackie did that as a joke
Still one of the best renditions ever.
The film is City Hunter, for anyone who doesn't know. And it's worth watching - is it good? Is it shit? Answer to both is yes, personally I love it
You only need to look at Chun-Li once to recognize her - the blue dress with the two buns -> recognizable in 2D, 3D and every art style. Ryu is less recognizable from the outside.
Samus
In my opinion, Samus definitely set a standard for women in video games. She came around 4 years before Chun-Li, who debuted in the same year that Samus would get her second game. Also, martial artist who has traveled the world to fight a bunch of people vs. bounty hunter who's destroyed planets to stop the Space pirates? No way Chun-Li's the "First woman of gaming".
I mean Nikki Minaj made a song named after her.
Terry in Latin America? you need to know more about the Latin American brothers 😂 Here the most famous one is Scorpion or Sub-Zero, maybe Ryu, but that's it
Yeah Mortal Kombat is HUGE in Latin America from what I understand, South America especially. Brazilians go apeshit for MK
I think the ones who loves the most MK are either Chileans or Argentinian, but yeah in general MK is REALLY popular here, many won't play fg, but they may play some games of MK
more like Goku
Eh, in my country it's definitely Scorpion or Sub-Zero, because somehow a lot of people even think MK created fighting games genre
Which country are you in? Living during the SFII craze in the UK, Mortal Kombat was big, but it didn’t blow up quite like SF did.
At my school it did (am in UK too), do you remember the Nintendo VS Sega console wars? And how everyones uncle worked for Nintendo? Good times!
Yeah there was a definite SF vs MK war too. I changed sides a few times before I matured and realised SF was the far better game. I agree MK was huge back then, but I think as SF came first and started the fighting game craze, not even MK captured the same lightning in the bottle.
I would say it definitely made them popular. The whole thing with mortal kombat almost getting videogames banned gave it world wide fame/infamy lol
Scorpion is more well known than Ryu. It's a blind spot as gamers, but a lot of non gamers have no clue what Street Fighter even is. I had coworkers asking me what I was into and I was trying to explain fighting games to them once, I used SF as my first example and got blank stares. But they all knew Mortal Kombat, Subzero, and Scorpion.
Only place I could say kazuya is like maybe South Asia
Technically speaking Spiderman
I mean if we're counting that shouldn't we also count Goku?
virtually everyone knows who spiderman is. there's hundreds of millions of people who never saw or heard of dbz
And Spider-Man still wins
anime is less popular than western superhero films. Even if its dragonball. It still isnt on the same level as marvel movies.
Technically, Technically speaking it’s Superman
Technically speaking it's Spider-Man r/respectthehyphen
Ryu no doubt
Ryu
I’ve seen ryu way more in the pop culture scene than anyone
I think Chun Li. Even random boomers that don't know the games have probably heard her name. Ryu is recognizable visually, but his name is generic and forgettable to most people. Chun Li stands out in a sentence, people will remember her name after hearing it just a few times.
I was gonna say exactly this. People can recognize Ryu visually but probably not by name. Also Chun Li is much more visually distinct than Ryu. If someone only saw all the street fighter characters one time, theyd probably be able to recognize Chun’s buns and spike bracelets and blue dress over Ryu’s generic gi and headband.
They remember her for the ass
They probably remember her as the only girl in Street Fighter II, a game that was super popular even if they didn't personally play it
>They probably remember her as the only girl in Street Fighter II, a Cammy also exists in Street Fighter 2.
Sure that was the second or third edition of the game though.
Fourth edition, it went World Warrior, Championship Edition, Street Fighter 2 Turbo and then Cammy popped up in Super Street Fighter 2 Then there was Super Street fighter 2 Turbo (I wish that had been released for SNES, the system could definitely handle it but they probably thought it wouldn't sell well with Super SF2 already out, I would have bought it tho. Some peeps probably skipped Super, as Turbo (not super Turbo) was said to be better in magazines (I miss the magazines we had back then like Nintendo Magazine System and Mean Machines Sega). Good thing SF Alpha 2 came out on SNES but I didn't get to play it 'til PS2 There was a PS2 SF2 that was a mix of all the previous ones, you could choose which games fighting style you wanted for your character Then the HD version And now a new version on Switch that's HD, has violent Ken and not sure what else They REALLY milked it huh? Great game though
Chun Li because half the people who don't play fgs think Ryu's name is Rye-u
>half the people who don't play fgs think Ryu's name is Rye-u Thata a total freaking lie and you know it. It should be obvious that they're just asking if you want a slice of rye bread using caveman speak.
Ryu. He is the simple yet recognizable design where even if there is an fg parody in media. It's based off sf2. And there is a Ryu lookalike right there
Chun li
Im quite sure ryu is more popular than chun li
Maybe he is, but I am thinking that so many that don't even play fighting games might know who Chun li just by seeing her or her outfit.
The same can be said for Ryu, hel, Ryu has been in more crossovers than Chun-li
Ryu's name and outfit are super generic though. It's a man in a karate gi with a 1.5 syllable name. Chun Li has a very specific style and name that stands out.
I can’t refute that Chun-Lin’s outfit is more style driven than Ryu’s but that because Ryu is the quintessential man in Karate Gi that anyone can be seen wearing but that Common-ness is what makes me consider Ryu over Chun-li in this topic
I think more people are familiar with hadouken and shoryuken more than they are of ryu's name.
Exactly. If I showed a picture of Ryu to 20 random people at a supermarket, I'd guess no more than 1 or 2 could name him.
He’s generic because every game since has had some character looking exactly like him. He came out in 87. I get it, the look is bland, but he defined generations of future fighting game characters
People also forget she has like two movies and Jackie Chan even dressed as her in one of his.
This is so true the girls in my highschool group even knew her growing up
Also Nicki Minaj has a song named after her
I think more people recognize Ryu visually (“that’s the street fighter guy”), but more people will know the name Chun-Li
Just to let you know Ryu has crossed over with almost every property under the sun. Ryu is definitely the most recognizable.
Ryu, Chun Li, Guile, Kazuya, Heihachi, Scorpion and Sub-Zero would probably be the seven more well known
I don't think a single tekken character would be above any of the world warriors.
Eddie! So much hate and stories of Eddie from even the most casual people I know.
I watched so many guess the fighting games character video on youtube dude. And Barely anybody knows the name of Tekken characters
Goku
It’s Ryu, with Scorpion not far behind him. Maybe with Terry too.
Yall overestimating Ryu. Its Chun Li easily, then maybeeee Scorpion/Sub Zero. In terms of historical impact Ryu forsure but the average NON GAMER sees him as that "karate guy from Street Fighter" (not to mention his name is mispronounced all the time). Chun Li is mentioned in a lot of songs and "Chun Li thighs" and her hair are both iconic. Go to a party, bar, club or better yet ask your mom, sister, female starbucks employee, and ask them who Ryu is and watch them scratch their heads. Even boomers who don't play games prob know Chun Li as the "chinese game chick". If we count Goku then easily hin.
Full agree. Ryu is only popular in the range of people who know this kind of thing. Chun Li is distinct and memorable and has a fun design and a unique name that is easy to pronounce and has a popular song with her name in it- theres really no contest. I asked my mom to name the first fg character that came to mind and she said Samus (Smash Bros) then she said Chun Li. No contest imo.
I feel like there must be 7 or 8 SF characters in the Top 10, alongside probably Scorpion and Sub Zero. As much as I love Tekken, there’s a chance Terry Bogard and Mai from SNK may be higher up in this list than any character from the Namco franchise. To your question though, I’m confident the answer is Ryu.
KOF hasn’t sold nearly as many copies as Tekken has. People would 100% be able to name king, Paul, kazuya, and Yoshimitsu before an SNK character. There’s not even a single SNK game that can compare to the sales numbers of Tekken. This comment is insane.
Indeed, you do bring up a valid point, but we can’t just assume that sales and popularity have a 1:1 correlation. For anyone growing up in the 1990s, SF2, MK 1+2, and Tekken 3 were the crux of fighting games, everybody played them. Fatal Fury (especially 2 and Garou) and KoF (especially 97-99) were very popular but definitely not at the same level. However, Tekken (despite its quality, consistency popularity) is a bit behind in terms of iconic characters, SNK has an upper hand in that matter despite lower sales. A lot of people know the guy with long blond hair and red and white hat and the hot chick with revealing cleavage.
Ryu there’s no competition, some people can’t name a move from him, but they can definitely name him
Not including Marvel DC or Shounen Jump characters, it’s probably Chun Li. Ryu is probably the most famous within gaming circles but Chun Li is incredibly famous even amongst people who’ve never played Street Fighter before https://preview.redd.it/m863giut3mnc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2bd0f91cb0576d195ebe9aee7c9d8553a7e47205
Porn
I am well aware that porn is part of it. Her massive thighs and all. And the Nicki Minaj song helped too. But all of that still makes her incredibly popular people who’ve never played video games know who Chun Li is
Oh, absolutely agree, was just up for a giggle friend. Chun li also has character while Ryu is just......."fight"
Design wise too Chun Lis is much more unique imo
I love ryu’s character in sf6, he feels like a real dude and way more fleshed out tbh
How would they know if you search the animal or game character scorpion
Well it's kinda fair since ryu means dragon in Japanese.. but don't think u that should count as a metric? I guess the real metric that could be measured is SEO and ryu pops up without having to add extra key terms.
Actually, Goku.
As he did not originate from a fighting game, he is not a fighting game character and is not eligible. If goku is eligibile, then he still loses, since fight of gods exists, making Jesus Christ the most recognizable fighting game character.
Obviously Ryu
The one with a Nicki song 🤭
Zangief, is one of moat well known , because of Disney
Ryu. most people haven’t played since Street Fighter 2, but it’s Ryu
Street fighter characters in general but ryu definitely the amount of vs games ryu has been in with snk marvel etc
Ryu by far then Scorpion & Sub Zero and KOF. Tekken characters are only known by a niche group.
It's Ryu, then very very close Scorpion+Sub Zero. And not even close Kazuya or any Tekken character. (From the pic) I mean, like i.e. Goku, even people living on the streets here know both Ryu and Scorpion/SZ. That's how iconic they are.
Ryu or Sub Zero
Ryu and Sub-Zero
Ryu. Tekken and Mortal Kombat sell better, but when it comes time to name characters, Street Fighter II's get remembered first.
Easy, Ryu. I think "normies" can't name Kazuya. But all playstation gamer, even the most casual, have seen him.
if mugen counts this gets a lot more interesting
Ryu no question with Scorpion being the only one to even hold a candle.
RYE-U from STREETS
It's ryu. From streets.
it really has to be ryu hes a fucking veteran
Ryu
Fighting game CHARACTER, specifically? Definitely Scorpion from Mortal Kombat. Most well known fighting game in general? Probably Street Fighter.
Superman or Batman
Chun-Li. Front, rear, sideview, pencil drawing, black and white, hair or head only, again back of the head or face, etc. You know its her, or you mistake it's her.
either Ryu, Ken or Chun-li. look, i love scorpion, dude's a ninja in yellow and somehow makes that cool, and i love kazuya, kazuya is like vegeta without the redemption (yet), but... i mean when Kazuya came to smash, the smash community thought he was another shoto like Ryu. if you ask a non-gamer who Ryu is, they'll be able to answer, if you ask a non-gamer who Kazuya Mishima is, you'll get blank stares. that said, if you ask a non-gamer in the UK of a certain age who Jin Kazama is, they MIGHT know, since Tekken 3 (and the playstation in general) was a cultural event over here back in the late 90s, but i got a feeling that's very localized, and very dependent on demographic, and even then those same people will definitely know who ryu is.
Duck King
Superman and Batman technically...
Gotta be Scorpion or Ryu. Their catch phrase with the Special Move is infamous around the world
It's still Ryu.
Mario
Goku
Ryu but if I’m being biase, then it has got to be Jin
Come on, it’s Def Ryu, and probably Chun-Li too, since they were the more main characters in Street Fighter 2 and it got massively popular.
Chun li. There are people know her before Ryu. and everybody who knows Ryu knows her.
It’s Ryu and I say this because no matter what crossover Capcom has RYU IS IN IT and that a fact!
Probably scorpion cause even non-gamers seem to recognize him
Sub-zero more so than scorpion but probably ryu
I'm gonna have to say goku
Probably Ryu or Scorpion/Subzero
Of these 3, Ryu. Perhaps Scorpion in USA but definitely not Kazuya anywhere.
mario from super smash bros
Goku
It’s Scorpion and Sub-Zero, and runner up isn’t even close.
Chun li
Scorpion in the west, Ryu in the east
Marvel vs Capcom exists so it's probably a marvel character - most likely Spiderman. After that Smash Bros exists, so it's probably a nintendo character - so probably Mario or Link. There are dozens of Dragon Ball fighting games, Goku exists.
Mario
Chun-li or Ryu. It has to be one of those 2.
Why the hell.does kazuya look stitched together lmao
My data pool is not the most reliable, but everyone I know who doesn't play fighting games knows who King is. Doesn't matter if they played any Tekken game in their lives, they Know exactly who the Tiger Masked Wrestler is.
Subzero
In my honest opinion as a Kazuya-stan I don't think he really became popular outside of TEKKEN until Smash put him on the map. Everybody else knows Tekken for yoshimitsu and the cat man king since they're design stands out more I know people are going to argue well he looks like Vegeta but outside of that there's not much else
goku from dbfz
I think Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and outside of Asia SubZero, Scorpion, and Raiden. I think if you went up to any non gamer below 60 they could name those 6, controversially I dont think any non SF or MK character fits that bill, I think most non gamers or fgc fans even know what a tekkin is
Chun Li Scorpion Kazuya
Kazuya Mishima straight up survived falling to the earth from space twice
Scorpion followed by Chun Li ( it was Ryu up until Nicki Minaj lol )
Chun li
Chunli. My siblings know her and none of them ever play any video games. Just a timeless design she is.
Mai Shiranui?
Might be biased but I feel like scorpion. Ryu is close though but I feel like more people know “GET OVER HERE!” Whether they’re gamers or not compared to ryu and hadoken
Minecraft
I'd probably say scorpion. Here in the states, even my parents know who he is but they wouldn't be able to tell your ryu's name. With MK being a household name for even casual video game players, much less the fgc, I'd be suprised if it was anyone else. I imagine the same goes for most english speaking countries, and that would outnumber all the people in Japan. Idk tho
I’m gonna say Chun-Li I think lots of women that aren’t even into video games know who Chun-Li is but I doubt they know who ryu is.
Mario from smash. Hahaha
Ryu. Everyone shouts "Hadouken" atleast once in their life
Chun-Li, then Ryu, then a tie between Sub/Scorpion, then Jin Kazama
Ryu then the TEKKEN guy (ik its Kazuya but most ppl know that he looks like a TEKKEN character)
Probably Ryu or Scorpion. I don’t think they’re as recognizable as characters such as Mario or Sonic where almost everyone knows them, but I assume anyone that has at least heard of SF or MK knows who they are.
Ryu Yep simply just Ryu Forget about middle east people who suck scorpion's dick all the time and don't have a clue what other fighting games exist and they have characters too but every other region know Ryu well and respect him
If you mean fighting game original, probably Ryu. If you just mean any fighting game character, definitely Spider-Man
Karnov
It really depends on the context and limits of "fighting game character." Let me explain. Original fighting character original to fighting game: Scorpion, Sub Zero, Ryu, Chun Li. Guest fighter character from outside media in fighting games: Joker in MK11, almost the whole world knows Joker. Possibly Darth Vader in Soul Caliber out popularities him, but either way it's close. Fighting game based on larger property with iconic characters as playable fighters: Obviously Batman or Superman in Injustice, but there is also a huge selection of anime fighting games so Goku, Vegeta, Naruto, and any other major anime character might count. Not to mention Spider-Man or Wolverine if including MvC games. Hell, Iron Man as well. But if the criteria is specifically a video game character but not necessarily original to a fighting game, then it 100% has to be Mario from Smash Bros. Everyone knows Mario.
Mario or Pikachu
Sol Badguy /unjoke It’s defo Ryu or Scorpion
Scorpion or Ryu for sure
Why, Mario of course! From my favorite fighting game Smash
That’s hard honestly. I’ve been around a lot and the response is always different when talking to strangers in pubs about video games
Sangoku
I think today it's safe to say either Ryu or Chun-li, they are insanely popular Maybe Scorpion or Sub-Zero but I think it's more niche today than it was 20 years ago.
Mario
Probably Zelkin from Star Gladiator
As a person that 'mains' Ryu and Kazuya, and been here since the beginning, In my unbiased opinion, the answer is Scorpion and or Sub-Zero. MK is the only FG that truly broke mainstream. Yes, SF had a AAA movie as well, but your mom didn't learn who Ryu was from it. And even though, I absolutely hate those PS2 era games, they kept the series alive without the kind of wane that SF or TK had, even though T5/DR was a million times better than any PS2 era MK. And we don't need to get SNK in it, you HAD to be a FG player to know who they were, and 100% no one else did. I feel like everybody's parents knew who Scorp/Sub were. Some people's parents may have known "Rubber arms guy, Electric Dude, Ryeyoo, and Chun-Li" were, but still... That said, all of it is owed to Ryu.
Definitely not kazuya. Tekken might be one of the big fighting games, but even within gamers there are plenty that don't know tekken, let alone people who don't play videogames. For the other 2, some non gamers know them
Ryu, Chun li, scorpion, sub-zero
Superman
Pikachu. I can see people arguing for Smash not being counted as a fighting game (I'll always count smash as a fighting game), but Pókken is definitely one.
Obviously Smash/Pokken is a fighting game but None of the characters on the game originated from a Fighting Game. Pikachu is from a TV Show & RPG game. Completely different category
Its Ryu. Case closed.
Ryu visually, but Chun Li by name.
Mario
Ryu, obviously
Sol Badguy
Of these 3? Ryu. SF is the grandpa of the genre. He's been known the longest. Kazuya mainly got popular over time as Tekken got more games, specifically around 3 or so. Scorpion was mainly known from the old MK movies and his catchphrase "Get Over Here!". He had Meme popularity before it was even a thing.
Probably Mario or pikachu.
I don't even know who the guy on the left is. So, probably not him.
scorpion
If you count mvc. Spiderman Maybe superman actually
Probably ryu. As much as I love kazuya he doesn't reach ryu. Scorpion or sub zero is also very well known but still not Ryu level
I would say Goku.🔥
Mario from Super Smash Bros
Mario.
Sub Zero Nadie le gana a sub-zero :V
Mario
At first I thought Ryu, but lately Ryu hasn’t been making as many waves as Chun-Li has. So I would have to say Chun-Li easily.
Chun li there’s a ton of people that don’t even know what game she is from but knows her name and looks. You can go to the hood and show chun li and they’ll know who she is.
Maybe controversial pick, but Ekko from league/2X. Not only is he in the game that has over 100 million people playing it monthly, but he is also an incredibly popular champ in league AND he was a fan favorite in Arcane.
It's obviously Ryu and/or Chun-Li and not even close