World Fighting Tournament

Flyer from S.I.N.'s tournament

The World Fighting Tournament (世界格闘大会, Sekai Kakutō Taikai^?) is the primary tournament all the Street Fighters participate in. It is alternatively known as the World Warrior Tournament or simply the Street Fighter Tournament. Several different organizations have hosted this tournament.

History

M. Bison and Shadaloo hosted the World Fighting Championship in which Akuma killed Bison, though there isn't an official winner. The third was held by S.I.N., and the fourth by Gill's organization, the Illuminati, in which Alex won officially after being sought after by the organization itself. The fifth was held in Nayshall by JP's organization, Terra Network Partners, and was won by either the Avatar or Bosch.

Overview

Rules to these tournaments are not entirely known, but it can be inferred that while there are no real restrictions in the tournament, some regulations may include that participants must show and check in with staff and affiliates throughout the world under penalty of forfeiture, intent to purposely kill and grievously harm; at least for sportsmanship, performance and conduct of martial arts (ie. mutual agreement and consent to show levels of restraint or not), and to maintain entertainment value and viewership, is largely frowned upon, and depending on the sponsorship, weapons may or may not be allowed; firearms, obviously apparent, and large scale cutting/slashing weapons especially are prohibited (at least for those not of the sponsors, in regards to the latter). There's no class distinction or grade requirement and any fighting style is welcome. Locations of where to fight tend to mostly be at the discretion of the participant in most cases, with no restrictions where a fight may take place, and a representative referee/judge will always be assigned to a participant to witness their progression and fights fairly, with cross examination with other witness representatives. Winners and eligible continuing participants have their qualifying status decided by either knockout, judgement of the better participant, and will to fight (ie. deliberate forfeiture from the tournament) as decided from the results of the bouts they engage in.

Progression of tournament events and tiers are not known, but gameplay shows this by Arcade Mode. In Street Fighter II series, the contender would face Balrog, Vega and Sagat and then finally Bison. In the first two Street Fighter III games and the Street Fighter IV series, the contender would fight their rival and then fights the final boss (Gill and Seth, respectively).

Known Participants

Street Fighter II Tournament (Shadaloo)

• Ryu
• Ken
• Guile
• Chun-Li
• Cammy
• Blanka
• Dee Jay
• Dhalsim
• Fei Long
• Zangief
• T. Hawk
• E. Honda
• Balrog
• Vega
• Sagat
• M. Bison (Host)
• Akuma (Uninvited)
• Evil Ryu
• Violent Ken

Street Fighter IV Tournament (S.I.N.)

• Ryu
• Ken
• Guile
• Chun-Li
• Cammy
• Blanka
• Dee Jay
• Dhalsim
• Fei-Long
• Zangief
• T. Hawk
• E. Honda
• Abel
• C. Viper
• El Fuerte
• Rufus
• Hakan
• Juri
• Adon
• Makoto
• Dudley
• Ibuki
• Guy
• Cody
• Sakura
• Dan
• Gen
• Rose
• Yun
• Yang
• Elena
• Rolento
• Hugo
• Poison
• Decapre (Uninvited)
• Balrog
• Vega
• Sagat
• M. Bison
• Seth (Host)
• Akuma (Uninvited)
• Gouken (Uninvited)
• Evil Ryu
• Oni (Uninvited)

Street Fighter III Tournament (Illuminati)

• Ryu
• Ken
• Alex (Champion)
• Dudley
• Elena
• Sean
• Ibuki
• Yun
• Yang
• Oro
• Necro
• Urien
• Hugo
• Gill (Host)
• Akuma (Uninvited)

Street Fighter 6 Tournament (Terra Network Partners)

• Avatar (Champion/Runner-Up)
• Bosch (Champion/Runner-Up)
• JP (Host)
• Retsu
• Boris Gagarin
• Carmela
• Gora Ndiaye
• Lima Bien (3rd Place)

Trivia

• Street Fighter Alpha series, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike and Street Fighter V series are the only mainstream games that involve street fights in each saga rather than tournaments.

• In the original Street Fighter and Street Fighter Memorial Archive: Beyond the World it simply states that Ryu and Ken travel the world to become the strongest. In Sakura's Journey featured in Secret File 3, the fight between Ryu and Sagat was described as an unofficial inter-martial arts match that happened outdoors. In Ryu's backstory entry from All About Street Fighter Zero, it describes him going to Thailand and defeating 20 famous Muay Thai fighters before fighting Sagat. On February 22, 2023, Capcom released a new timeline where it one again states that Ryu and Ken embarking on a journey with no mention of a tournament.
  • The only time a tournament was mentioned was in ALL ABOUT Capcom Fighting Game 1987-2000.

• Capcom and other animation and filming studios have to date not developed a plot centered on a fighting tournament for the anime, cartoons, and films of Street Fighter, unlike most of the comic books and manga. The tournaments did however have major scenes in the Street Fighter cartoon series that was loosely based on Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers and Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation that was loosely based on Street Fighter Alpha 2. In those plots, the world warriors fight in one location and most or some of the world warriors compete in the tournaments while the other fighters from the game are absent.

• The only playable characters in the Street Fighter series that have (so far) never participated in any of the current four tournaments (the one in Alpha 3 doesn't count, as storyline-wise, most of the character stories are non-canon) are: Nash, Sodom, R. Mika, Karin, Maki, Ingrid, Juli, Juni, Remy, Twelve, Q, F.A.N.G, Laura, Rashid, Necalli, Kolin (as a playable character), Ed (also as a playable character), Abigail, Menat, Zeku, Falke, G, Kage, Lucia, Akira, Eleven, and Luke. It should be noted that Kolin and Ed both debuted as NPC's (SFIII and SSFIV, respectively) before becoming playable in SFV.
  • Additionally, all Arika characters from the EX series, all other characters from the original Rival Schools series and Slam Masters series, Bison Troopers, Captain Sawada, the Monitor Cyborg, the original characters from the crossover Marvel vs. Capcom series (namingly: Abyss, Amingo, B.O.W. Soldiers, Cyber Akuma, Dark Sakura, Mech Zangief, Ruby Heart (or her successor), Shadow, Shadow Lady, SonSon III, and Norimaro) and Shin from Street Fighter Online: Mouse Generation will likely not appear in future games or participate in any future tournaments. It's currently unknown if the other Final Fight characters will appear in the Street Fighter series.