Capcom's Street Fighter and Final Fight franchises are essentially becoming one and the same. The two iconic video game series already share nine characters, and there are four shared characters in Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition alone. Even smaller, lesser known characters like Abigail and Lucia have made appearances in Street Fighter.
Despite all that, there are still even more Final Fight characters who seem like ideal candidates for a one-on-one fighting game. Now, CBR is taking a look at some of the best potential Final Fight characters who could join the Street Fighter franchise and considering what their fighting styles might be like.
Carlos Miyamoto
As one of the main characters from Final Fight 2, Carlos is a unique character as he's one of the few characters from the franchise that uses a weapon that isn't picked up from the ground. In addition to his training in Kenpo and Karate for hand to hand combat, Carlos wields a katana. There aren't many weapon users in Street Fighter,so he would automatically stand out from the increasingly crowded roster.
Carlos' play-style would lend itself well to fast punch attacks, similar to Guy, but incorporate his sword to end combos or stun enemies. His special moves, super, and v-skill and triggers could also incorporate his sword. Since he is trained in two fighting styles, his v-skill could be him switching between his unarmed and sword style. Zeku already has something similar with his two forms, and Carlos could even use combos that switch between his dueling styles.
His sword could be the slower of the two but deals more damage. It would be a lot of fun if his style switching was cancelable in between combos. This would mean you could extend a combo or at least the damage by switching in between the two forms. It would also give more options to the player as to what could be done.
Mike Haggar
Even though Final Fight's Mike Haggar has already factored into the backstories of several fighters, the wrestler-turned-mayor still hasn't actually appeared as a playable character in a Street Fighter game. He's even appeared alongside some fighters in crossover titles like Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite.
While his combat style would probably be very similar to Zangief's grappling, there could still be enough room for him to exist in the franchise too, especially the game already includes other similar characters like Ryu and Ken. Haggar typically utilizes temporary weapons in his gameplay in the Marvel vs Capcom games, similar to Cody. He could do the same in Street Fighter in order to differentiate him from Zangief, which would make him a more aggressive grappler.
Zangief is built so that his strategy is to wait for the opponent to make a mistake so he can get in and punish them for their mistake for big damage. Haggar could operate as more of a rushdown character who specializes in running in and slamming anyone who gets in his way.
Damnd / Thrasher
Thrasher is the first Mad Gear character you see when you load up Final Fight and is one of the more memorable characters in the game. He has a big frame and likes to get in close to cause big damage. In the world of Street Fighter, he would essentially function like a more dense-heavy version of Birdie. In the original Final Fight, he often would run away from you, sit on a nearby cement perch and have his underlings attack you. Instead of his massive frame being used to overwhelm opponents, it could be used to prevent any attacks from opponents.
Damnd has already been playable in Final Fight Revenge, but there he was essentially treated as a Blanka clone who could curl himself into a ball. While that's a bizarre sight, he does known how to do a flip jump, so a multi-purpose attack similar to Akuma's jumping attacks would make sense for the character.
Kyle Travers
Kyle Traverse is the star of the Final Fight series most unloved release, Final Fight Streetwise. Kyle Travers is Cody's brother and fights similarly to him. His brother Cody was the main protagonist of the original Final Fight. However, he was later remade to be a criminal who couldn't stop street fighting and then later, he became the (reluctant) mayor of Metro City. Kyle is portrayed as a tough guy who was into underground Fight Clubs and had a mean streak to him originally. Considering the transformation that Cody went through, Kyle's arc could take him in a number of different, possibly more peaceful directions.
Logically, Kyle would have a fighting style that's essentially a dirtier, more impactful version of Cody's style. The objective with his fighting style is to keep the opponent down and end the fight quick, so this would include big haymaker punches, double axe handles and gut kicks. That fighting style would also be in line with his fighting style in Streetwise, Kyle could have an emphasis on kicks rather than punches like his brother. In some ways, he could be like a more aggressive version of Final Fight's original champion.