The BEST episodes of Street Fighter II: V season 1
Every episode of Street Fighter II: V season 1, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Street Fighter II: V season 1!
The show is a loose adaptation of the Street Fighter II games, taking several liberties with the established storyline and characters from the games. The show follows the adventures of a young Ryu and Ken, as they go through a journey to improve their martial arts skills after they both experienced a brutal defeat at the hands of Guile. During the course of the series, Ryu and Ken become acquainted with other Street Fighter characters such as Chun-Li, Fei Long, Sagat and Dhalsim. Eventually the duo find themselves involved with the criminal syndicate Shadowlaw, led by M. Bison, after defeating one of their subordinate organizations.
#1 - The Unveiled Ruler
Season 1 - Episode 16 - Aired 8/7/1995
The battle between Ken and Vega continues. Vega easily has the advantage, as he breaks both of Ken's feet, and also causes Ken to lose a lot of blood because of his claws. Despite this, Ken manages to fare pretty well against the matador, and manages to score a few hard hits in on Vega before Vega wears him down. Vega jumps atop the chandelier to use his ultimate attack, while Ken prepares to use his ultimate attack, the Shoryuken on Vega. Just as the two are about to use their ultimate attacks on each other, the episode ends.
#2 - Fight to the Finish: Round One
Season 1 - Episode 25 - Aired 10/30/1995
Ryu and Ken fight each other in a heated battle. Ryu easily overpowers Ken, as Ken refuses to fight his best friend. However, Ken eventually hits Ryu in order to defend himself, at which point Bison tells Ken that he and Ryu were born to fight this fight. The fight goes on between Ryu and Ken after this, as Ken tries to convince Ryu to snap out of it, but to no avail. Meanwhile, Cammy enters Dorai's hospital room and attempts to make a final assassination attempt on him, when Fei Long emerges from under the cover and turns on the lights in the room. Fei Long and Cammy talk, then they battle each other for Dorai's life. Finally, Guile and Nash, having successfully infiltrated Shadowlaw fortress, go their separate ways to find Ken. Guile runs into Zangief along the way, and he initiates a fight with him.
#3 - Clash of the Titans
Season 1 - Episode 15 - Aired 7/31/1995
Ken is invited to a party by Vega, although Ken doesn't know Vega sent the letter. Ken and Chun Li go to the party, while Ryu stays behind at the hotel practicing his Hadouken. When they reach the party, Chun Li drifts off into a daze, and Ken, realizing that Vega is in the steel deathmatch cage in the middle of the room where the party is being held, accepts Vega's challenge to fight for the love of Chun Li. Ken enters the ring and decides to fight Vega. Vega attacks Ken a few times, as the episode ends.
#4 - Fight to the Finish: Round Two
Season 1 - Episode 26 - Aired 11/6/1995
The fight between Guile and Zangief continues, as Guile continues to struggle in defeating Zangief. Guile manages to defeat Zangief after a while though. Fei Long and Cammy continue their fight, with Fei Long determined to protect Dorai from Cammy. Ryu and Ken continue their fight as well, with no signs of it coming to an end. Ken continues to try to convince Ryu to turn back to normal, though to no avail. Eventually, Nash fights his way into the control room of the fortress, where he finds Bison. He confronts Bison boldly, shooting a bullet into his heart. Bison uses his Psycho Power to render this bullet useless. Afterward, Bison attacks Nash relentlessly, and eventually chokes him. Nash doesn't survive the choke, and dies because of it.
#5 - Fight to the Finish: Round Three
Season 1 - Episode 27 - Aired 11/13/1995
Ryu and Ken continue their fight, as always. Nash is killed by a choke-hold Bison puts on him. Guile eventually finds his way into the control room, where he finds his friend Charlie Nash dead from Bison. Guile, realizing Bison killed Nash, rushes in to attack him with an extreme rage. Bison uses his Psycho Power to blast Guile back to the entrance of the room, where Guile stays for quite a while. Meanwhile, Fei Long and Cammy continue to fight for the life of Dorai, although Fei Long reveals to Cammy that Shadowlaw had sent her to kill Dorai, because he kept foiling their plans. Cammy did not know she was hired by a Shadowlaw agent, and so she believes Fei Long's words. Cammy goes to the hotel room where Balrog is staying, and begins to question his motives. He eventually reveals to her that he set her up, pointing a gun at her. Just as he is about to kill her, Fei Long and Barrac bust the door down, and Cammy kicks Balrog's gun out of his hand while he is distracted by the intrusion. Barrac says Balrog is under arrest, but before he is arrested, Cammy attacks Balrog for tricking her, nearly killing him. She decides to hand him over to Fei Long, and also thanks him for telling the truth.
#6 - The Despot's Commander
Season 1 - Episode 17 - Aired 8/14/1995
Ken and Vega's battle reaches its end, as Ken uses the Shoryuken to finish Vega off. Ken falls to the ground after that, badly hurt. Chun Li enters the cage after that since the love potion put on by Vega has wore off. Ken and Chun Li talk a bit, then Vega drops down from the chandelier when Ken's Shoryuken knocked him to. Vega wakes up for a brief moment here as he tries to attack Ken, but just as he falls from the chandelier, he presumably dies, as he is never seen awake again. Ken catches Vega on his back, and Bison, impressed with his skills, wants Zoltar, his assistant, to get his doctors to work on his recovery and bring him to his villa. Ryu continues to practice the Hadouken on the beach by the hotel he is staying in. Ken and Vega are taken into different rooms for recovery. Chun Li, finding this suspicious, questions Bison's doctors. The doctors give Ken a shot which makes him sleep. Bison enters the room after that and tries to take Chun Li to his villa. Chun Li refuses to go, and begins to attack Bison. Bison hurts her pretty badly, as the episode ends.
#7 - Fight to the Finish: Round Four
Season 1 - Episode 28 - Aired 11/20/1995
Ryu and Ken finally finish their fight at the end of this episode by using the Hadou-Shoryu and the Hadouken against each other. The resulting blast of energy knocks the cyberchip off of Ryu's forehead, and thus he returns to normal. Guile gets back up from Bison's Psycho Power that he was previously hit with, and stands again to face him. Bison is amused by this, but sends Chun Li to fight Guile as he doesn't have time to fight Guile personally. Ryu and Ken eventually meet up with Guile and Chun Li in the control room of the fortress. Their reunion is short-lived, however, as Bison's eagle head transports Guile and Chun Li outside to continue their battle. It also teleports Ryu, Ken, and Bison into the focal point of the universe where all the power in the universe flows, although this is not seen until the next episode.
#8 - Rising Dragon, Into the Sky
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired 9/18/1995
Ken is continually having nightmares of Chun Li being strangled by Bison, and this begins to awaken his ki and his ability to tap Hadou. After much nightmares, Ken finally wakes up, although weaker than ever, and summons the Hadou Shoryuken and manages to free himself from the chains, as well as a bust a hole in the ceiling in order to escape from the room. After escaping, Ken eventually begins to make his way deeper into the fortress in hopes of finding Ryu and Chun Li.
#9 - The Legend of Hadou Ken
Season 1 - Episode 13 - Aired 7/17/1995
Dhalsim teaches Ryu how to use Hadou. Ryu learns how to do the Hadouken technique, but he cannot control it, and thus it could kill anyone without warning and Ryu couldn't stop it. Ryu goes to the Cave of Ancients to perfect his use of the Hadouken, since it's too risky otherwise. In the cave, he fights an imaginary Guile, and then after that, he fires the Hadouken at an imaginary Dhalsim, since imagining opponents helps him focus on where to shoot the Hadouken. After the Hadouken is fired, Ryu and Ken leave India to go to Spain, since Dorai was sent to Barcelona to receive an award for shutting down the Ashura crime syndicate. Chun Li sends the letter for Ryu and Ken to come, and thus they do, as the episode ends.
#10 - Compulsion Towards Vengeance
Season 1 - Episode 21 - Aired 9/11/1995
Ryu has the cyberchip planted on his forehead by Bison. Zoltar created the chip to create Shadowlaw warriors for Bison. These cyberchips control the subject's higher brain functions, and thus as long as the cyberchip is on their forehead, Bison can control the subject as he pleases, as Zoltar demonstrates by getting a test subject to bang his head against the wall and kill himself. With Ryu under Bison's control, and Ken unconscious and chained in a bed, Guile and Nash will have to hurry in order to rescue Ken from Bison. Meanwhile, Fei Long learns of Dorai's supposed death, and rushes to the hospital to see him (he was in Barcelona because he was to film a movie there). There, Interpol Chief Barrac explains the situation to Fei Long, and Fei Long wishes to help Barrac protect Dorai from future assassination attempts, since he is still alive.
#11 - Special Orders to the Iron Men
Season 1 - Episode 19 - Aired 8/28/1995
Ken's father, Mr. Masters, sends two special commandos from the United States military, Guile and Nash to rescue Ken from Bison. The reason Mr. Masters found out about Ken's abduction is because Bison called him and demanded a $1,000,000,000 ransom in exchange for Ken. The money was needed because it would give Bison and Shadowlaw the money they lost when Dorai shut down Ashura. Guile and Nash enter a helicopter after being briefed by Mr. Masters's friend from college, in order to go quickly to Spain to rescue Ken from Bison. Meanwhile, Dorai is attacked by Cammy White and is presumably killed by the assassination attempt (Dorai manages to survive the attack). On the beach, Ryu is attacked by the Shadowlaw wrestler Zangief, who was sent by Bison to take Ryu to Bison's headquarters. Ryu resists Zangief, and the episode ends.
#12 - Fight to the Finish: Final Round
Season 1 - Episode 29 - Aired 11/27/1995
Guile and Chun Li battle outside, while Ryu, Ken, and Bison in the focal point of the universe, basically just another dimension that Bison's eagle head sends them to. There, Ryu and Ken seem destined to lose, because of Bison's overwhelming Psycho Power. Ryu and Ken's fighting abilities are no match for Bison, and Guile is losing tremendously to Chun Li, since the cyberchip has made her a much more powerful opponent than she was without it. Bison uses his Psycho Crusher and Double Knee Press attacks to overpower Ryu and Ken, severely wounding both of them. They eventually find the strength needed to carry on thanks to their Hadou powers. Ken uses the Hadou-Shoryu to weaken Bison substantially (and this also knocked the cyberchip off Chun Li's head), allowing Ryu to finish him off with a Whirlwind Hurricane Kick, followed by a Rising Dragon Punch, and then finally a Hadouken. The Hadouken connected because Bison was distracted at the time, as he was charging for another Psycho Crusher attack. After Bison is gone, Ryu and Ken go back to America, then Ryu sails to an unknown location, though it is presumably his home in Japan.
#13 - Unknown Explosive Force
Season 1 - Episode 20 - Aired 9/4/1995
Ryu and Zangief fight for a brief time on the beach, but Zangief, with the help of the Shadowlaw driver, knocks out Ryu and puts him in the truck in which he came in. Just as Zangief puts Ryu into the truck, Guile and Nash land nearby, and Zangief and the Shadowlaw driver quickly escape with Ryu before Guile and Nash can confront them. Guile and Nash search the castle that Vega and Ken were in before being worked on by Bison's physicians to see if they can find Ken. The place is thoroughly cleaned out, and thus their search is futile. Meanwhile, Ryu and Bison fight each other as Ryu awakes to find himself in Shadowlaw's headquarters. Ryu fights Bison to no avail, as Bison easily overpowers him. Ryu is taunted by Bison into using the Hadouken, and when he is about to fire it, Bison uses his Psycho Power to cause Ryu to lose control of the Hadouken. The Hadouken explodes, and this, combined with the energy of Bison's Psycho Power, knocks Ryu unconscious.
#14 - Nightmare Reunion
Season 1 - Episode 24 - Aired 10/23/1995
Bison orders Ryu to focus his ki to do the Hadouken. Ryu keeps doing the Hadouken for quite a while, and Guile and Nash infiltrate the fortress to get inside and rescue Ken from Bison. Ken slowly but surely summons enough rage to use the Hadou-Shoryu to break the wall between him and Ryu. Ken, after breaking the wall, tries to convince Ryu to come with him, but Ryu doesn't answer, and stands there glaring evilly at Ken. Ken notices something is wrong with Ryu, but doesn't know what. The episode ends after that.
#15 - The Beautiful Assassin
Season 1 - Episode 18 - Aired 8/21/1995
Bison and Chun Li fight. Chun Li hits Bison twice, but just as she is about to escape, he teleports in front of her and strangles her until she loses consciousness due to lack of oxygen. Bison, realizing he went berserk with his Psycho Power, tells his assistant, Zoltar, to bring Chun Li and Ken to his villa. Meanwhile, the assassin Cammy White, who was hired by Balrog of Interpol (or so he claims, though in truth he is a Shadowlaw agent) to kill Dorai, enters her hotel room next to where Dorai is staying. The reason for killing Dorai was because he supposedly set up a new drug syndicate every time he smashed one, with himself as boss of those drug syndicates. Also, apparently the Chief of Interpol, Barrac, agreed to this hit, but said that it has to be a secret. Dorai was sent to lead the investigation of the Shadowlaw crime syndicate. Just as Cammy is about to kill Dorai, the episode ends.
#16 - The Bloodthirsty Prince
Season 1 - Episode 14 - Aired 7/24/1995
The evil matador Vega enters a bullfighting arena to show off his skills at bullfighting. Vega notices the beauty of Chun Li the second he enters the arena, and immediately develops affection for her. He gives her a rose before fighting the bull. Vega easily defeats the bull, and then presents to Chun Li the bull's ear as proof of his victory. Chun Li becomes uneasy when around Vega after this incident. Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li meet up with Vega a couple more times after the bullfighting arena, and each time Vega shows more affection towards Chun Li. In the middle of the night when Chun Li, Ryu, and Ken are sleeping, Vega sneaks into Chun Li's hotel room and kisses her. Vega manages to cast a love potion over Chun Li, where she will only focus on him via a daze each time she sees him. Vega manages to escape the room just as Ken notices someone is there. The episode ends as Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li wake up.
#17 - The King of the Air Force
Season 1 - Episode 2 - Aired 4/17/1995
Guile and Ryu fight each other, though it is obvious Guile has the upper hand. He has much more experience and military combat training, and even though Ryu has mastered martial arts, he still cannot best Guile in the least. Guile easily overpowers Ryu, and then leaves the bar with his men, telling Ryu that he has guts. Ken takes Ryu home, then fights Guile at the Air Force Base in San Francisco. Ken loses badly as well, and then Ken and Ryu travel to Hong Kong in hopes of improving their fighting skills (their defeat at the hands of Guile gave them that motivation).
#18 - The Icy Light of Their Eyes
Season 1 - Episode 23 - Aired 10/16/1995
This episode gives a recap of what happened ever since Ryu and Ken journeyed to Barcelona. This whole segment is seven minutes long. After the recap, the actual episode begins, where Ken slowly makes his way to the main room of the headquarters, where he is separated from Chun Li and Ryu via a wall. Balrog summons Cammy to the hospital, since Dorai survived her assassination attempt, and Balrog wants him dead. Cammy begins to have suspicions on Balrog, but still follows his orders for now.
#19 - Darkness at Kowloon Palace
Season 1 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/1/1995
Ryu, Ken, and Chun Li fight their way through Kowloon Palace, defeating all the foes they encounter. Chun Li leads Ryu and Ken to the exit of Kowloon Palace, only to be stopped by the evil Lean. Lean sends his two henchmen, Sodom and Gomorrah after Ryu and Ken to stop them from escaping. Ryu and Ken defeat them, only to find Lean has Chun Li held hostage. Chun Li's father Dorai, who is the police chief of Hong Kong, shoots Lean in the hand just as he is about to fire at Ryu and Ken. Dorai, Chun Li, Ryu, and Ken then go back to the hotel they are staying in, where Chun Li tells them she will take them to go see the martial arts master Fei Long tomorrow.
#20 - The Deadly Phantom Faceoff
Season 1 - Episode 12 - Aired 7/10/1995
Ryu and Ken enter the Cave of Ancients to get the treasure out of there. The reason for this is because an evil man and his crew want the treasure for their own gain. Two of his men have already died, and he only has one remaining aside from himself. He threatens to kill the villagers of India if Ryu and Ken don't get the treasure out of the cave for him. Ryu and Ken enter the cave to get the treasure. Inside, they face each other in combat, although they do not know that the "monster" in the cave is merely a reflection of their innermost being. Ryu and Ken, after suffering serious injuries from the fight, realize that they are fighting each other, and then the monster disappears after that realization. Ryu and Ken emerge from the cave and give the treasure to the man who wants it. He then tries to kill them for outliving their "usefulness", although Dhalsim paralyzes him. Dhalsim then heals Ryu and Ken's injuries, and then the episode ends just as Dhalsim is about to teach Ryu and Ken the ways of Hadou.
#21 - The Revenge of Ashura
Season 1 - Episode 7 - Aired 6/5/1995
The evil crime organization called Ashura, who are known as cop killers, sets up a plan to kill Chun Li's father, Dorai for foiling their plans in earlier episodes. Chun Li is used as bait for Dorai's death, and when Chun Li goes to a park and waits on Ryu and Ken to come themselves, she is ambushed by an Ashura member disguised as a clown. Ryu and Ken get there just in time to save Chun Li, defeating all the Ashura foes. Chun Li, Ryu, and Ken then go to Dorai's dojo to prevent the Ashura from attacking him and killing him. Chun Li goes inside to protect Dorai, while Ken, Ryu, and Fei Long battle the Ashura to stop them from getting inside. They eventually triumph, and the Ashura flee the scene.
#22 - Visitation of the Beasts
Season 1 - Episode 11 - Aired 7/3/1995
Ryu and Ken visit India to learn about Hadou from a monk named Dhalsim who lives in northern India. Ryu and Ken fight some evil men who want to destroy Dr. Hanna's small hospital, that she says is a refuge for the poor of Calcutta. Ken makes a phone call that buys the land the men want to use as their own (that's why they try to destroy the hospital), and thus Dr. Hanna never has to worry about them again. When Ryu and Ken arrive in the village where Dhalsim is, Dhalsim refuses to teach them the ways of Hadou, because they are "beasts with an aggressive spirit", and thus are unworthy to be taught Hadou. Ryu and Ken befriend the villagers to impress Dhalsim and motivate him to teach them Hadou. Dhalsim eventually shows Ryu and Ken the Cave of Ancients, telling them never to go in there for there is a terrible monster in there. The episode ends as four men enter the cave, mad with greed. Apparently, they want the treasure in there.
#23 - The Superstar of Muay Thai
Season 1 - Episode 9 - Aired 6/19/1995
Sagat and Ryu battle each other using Muay Thai. Ryu eventually stops using Muay Thai and just uses his regular fighting style, and begins to overpower Sagat slightly. The fight ends in a draw after Sagat realizes that he and Ryu are kindred fighting spirits. Sagat vows to protect Ryu as long as he is in prison, and he calls the fight off. Nuchi then insists Sagat and Ryu continue to fight because he wants 50% of the money that was bet in the fight before it was called off by Sagat. Sagat refuses, and an angered Nuchi attempts to kill Sagat. Ryu and Sagat fight off Nuchi, and then Ken, after much work, manages to get Ryu out of prison. Ryu says farewell to Sagat, and then Ryu and Ken get in the car and the episode ends as Ryu finds out who was behind his imprisonment.
#24 - Trap, Prison, and the Scream of Truth
Season 1 - Episode 8 - Aired 6/12/1995
Ryu and Ken decide to go to Thailand in hopes of learning the fighting style of Muay Thai. Once at the airport in Bangkok, Ryu and Ken go to separate lines to get approval to get into Thailand legally. Because of this, Donu, the member of the Ashura who fled in Episode 7 after Ryu and the others thwarted their attempt to murder Dorai, sneaks up on Ryu and plants heroine in his backpack as a way to get revenge. Ryu doesn't notice this at first, and just as he and Ken go down an escalator, Ryu is caught with heroine in his backpack, and is sent to prison. There, he endures brutal torture from Warden Nuchi, as well as taunting from other prisoners. Ryu eventually attacks the two prisoners that are taunting him throughout the episode. After that, Sagat, who is "the one to fear" according to the prisoners that taunted Ryu, gets prepared to battle Ryu. Akuma makes a cameo appearance while waiting for his bags at the airport.
#25 - The Beginning of a Journey
Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 4/10/1995
Ryu receives an unexpected letter from his best friend Ken Masters. The letter tells him to come to America for a visit. The two of them have not seen each other in years, and so this is the reason Ken sends the letter. Ryu, after thinking about it, decides to go to America at Ken's request. When he arrives at the San Francisco airport, he finds Ken. The two of them then drive home to Ken's place, relax a bit, then go out for the night on Ken's motorcycle. They go into the pub called Mt. Fuji, where they beat up some military thugs who tried to fight them after Ken wooed one of their dates. Afterward, the leader of the military thugs, Guile, enters the bar and sees what Ryu and Ken have done to his men.