The original
Street Fighter EX features 17 characters (two of them being computer-controlled bosses), growing to 23 for the home release. With a total of 18 new characters in the three games of the
Street Fighter EX series, this represents the largest original set of characters introduced in a single
Street Fighter series. Several of these characters would appear in other games produced by Arika, such as
Fighting EX Layer.
Introduced in Street Fighter EX Alongside new characters developed exclusively for the game, several mainline
Street Fighter characters also appear in the game:
Ryu,
Ken Masters,
Chun-Li,
Zangief,
Guile,
M. Bison (who is an unplayable boss), and
Akuma (who is a hidden character). • appears as a secret character in the original
Street Fighter EX and as a regular character in
Street Fighter EX Plus and
EX Plus α, is a fighter who was said to be the strongest freestyle
karate fighter on the American karate circuit, until he experienced his first defeat against a young Ken Masters at the All-American Martial Arts Tournament. Ken told Allen that he was only a "big fish in a small pond". Motivated by these words, Allen sets out to prove that he can be the best not only in America, but in the world. Although absent in
Street Fighter EX2 and subsequent games, he makes an appearance in the Arika-developed arcade game
Fighting Layer, where he seeks to defeat the strongest opponent on South Island. Allen returns in
Fighting EX Layer, determined to defeat the recently revived Garuda to prove himself. He is voiced by
Osamu Hosoi in the
EX series, and
Daisuke Yokota in
Fighting EX Layer. • , appears as a secret character in the original
Street Fighter EX and as a regular character in
Street Fighter EX Plus and
EX Plus α. She is the daughter of a wealthy European family. She fights wearing a light blue leotard and long boots. In addition to receiving a formal education, Blair has trained herself in various combat sports, believing that one day she will need to know how to defend her loved ones as well as herself. She travels the world to hone her skills with her bodyguard Cracker Jack, whom her mother has hired to protect her. Blair is acquainted with Pullum, as they are both members of the International Debutante Club. Her butler is called Sebastian. Like Allen, Blair appears in Arika's arcade fighting game
Fighting Layer, in which she takes a sudden trip to South Island. She is also mentioned in Jack's ending in
Street Fighter EX3. Blair is a playable character in
Fighting EX Layer, hiring Vulcano Rosso to help her search for Jack after he flees to America. She is voiced by
Hikari Tachibana in the
EX series, and
Rui Tanabe in
Fighting EX Layer. • , is a bat-wielding former bouncer from Las Vegas, known for his unstoppable punches. While being pursued by an unknown organization, he becomes Blair's bodyguard to travel the world and flee his pursuers. In
Street Fighter EX2, his younger sister is kidnapped by an underground fighting champion named Bharat. In
Street Fighter EX2 Plus, he continues to be pursued by the mysterious organization, and by the end of
Street Fighter EX3 he seeks refuge in Blair's mansion. In
Fighting EX Layer, Jack escapes the organization by leaving Blair's employ and fleeing to America. He is voiced by
Banjō Ginga in the
EX series, and
Yoshimitsu Shimoyama in
Fighting EX Layer. • , makes his first appearance as a hidden character in the original
Street Fighter EX. He is a popular wrestling champion from India who seeks to challenge other wrestlers such as Zangief and Victor Ortega (from the
Saturday Night Slam Masters series). He agrees to become Pullum Purna's bodyguard, hoping to use the opportunity to travel the world and fight many wrestlers. He is absent from the original
Street Fighter EX2, but returns in
Street Fighter EX2 Plus, in which he obtains another opportunity to fight against more wrestlers around the world after Pullum becomes a princess. In
Street Fighter EX3, he has a special ending if the player finishes the single-player mode with Zangief as his tag-partner. In
Fighting EX Layer, Darun is nearly killed by Garuda, so he resigns from being Pullum's bodyguard so he can train to defeat the demon. He is voiced by
Takashi Nagasako. • , whose real name is , is a German-American mercenary seeking revenge against Guile. His back-story for
Street Fighter EX2 establishes that he was raised in a mercenary training facility, where he was trained in the use of weapons similar to Rolento's, such as knives, grenades, and wires. Dark once served in the American armed forces. He was in a special forces unit led by Guile when it became involved in a scuffle against a rival unit led by Rolento. Holger was the sole survivor of his unit, but suffered tremendous physical and mental scars. He seeks revenge against Guile, feeling that he did not train him sufficiently. During the development of
Street Fighter EX, the developers nicknamed him . In July 2011, a video from an Arika 3DS test project, called
Fighting Sample, was released featuring Dark. In
Fighting EX Layer, Dark is influenced by Garuda's negative energy into becoming a serial killer. He is voiced by
Wataru Takagi. • first appears as a non-playable boss character in the original
Street Fighter EX, but becomes a playable character in subsequent installments. Built around the concept of "a badass with a sword hidden on his back". According to his back-story in the original
Street Fighter EX, he was created by the souls of dead men who were consumed by the
Satsui no Hadō, although his revised back-story in
Street Fighter EX2 suggests that he has an accumulation of negative feelings such as anger, hatred, envy, treachery, and despair. Garuda's form is said to change depending on his opponent: he takes a strong form against warriors seeking strength and feeds on the hatred of warriors who are seeking vengeance. Garuda returns as the antagonist of
Fighting EX Layer, revived by absorbing Kairi's negative energy. • is the daughter of the family, who was trained in the family's style of
kobujutsu, which has been refined into her personal style that resembles the art of
aikijujutsu. She was known as as a child. When Hokuto turned 17, she was sent on a journey to find her older half-brother Kairi, who went missing years before. Unknown to Hokuto, the true purpose of her journey was not only to find her brother, but to defeat him. She has been implanted with the to exterminate her brother. In the original
Street Fighter EX, Hokuto wears a blue-white outfit resembling that of a Japanese archer, and white
hachimaki around her long hair. In
EX2, she wears a
hakama and ties her hair in a pony-tail. She reverts to her original design in
EX3. In addition to her regular version, an alternate version named is featured as secret character in
Street Fighter EX Plus. Bloody Hokuto returns in
Fighting EX Layer, now going by her original name of Shirase. Hokuto also appears as a playable character, though her ending reveals her to actually be Nanase, having been brainwashed into believing she is Hokuto. She is voiced by
Yuri Amano in the
EX series, and Yuka Igarashi in
Fighting EX Layer. • , first appears as a secret character in the original
Street Fighter EX, is depicted as an amnesiac who was initially conceived to be the main character in the
EX series. Kairi was born to the main house of the Mizukami family and was trained in the family's traditional art of
karate. He appears in the original
EX and its re-releases with long black hair and a scar over his left eye. He lost his memories while fighting an unknown challenger and now walks the "Path of the Shura", fighting to survive. He learns that he is the elder brother of Hokuto, who has been on a mission to find him. In
EX2, his hair has changed from black to white as a result of his constant battles. After confronting Hokuto and Nanase, he recovers his memories and learns that he was responsible for the death of their father. Kairi returns as the protagonist of
Fighting EX Layer, fighting to defeat Garuda after accidentally breaking the seal preventing his rebirth. He is voiced by
Kaneto Shiozawa in the
EX series, and
Yoshitaka Kure in
Fighting EX Layer. • is the daughter of Balba Purna, an Arab multimillionaire and inventor. She decides to travel the world with her bodyguard Darun when she overhears her grandfather whisper the name "Shadaloo", believing that it is the name of a person. Unknown to Pullum, the reason why her grandfather is worried about Shadaloo is that she has a blood relative working for the organization who is a candidate to become a Shadaloo executive. She is absent from the original
Street Fighter EX2 but returns in
Street Fighter EX2 Plus, in which she inherits a kingdom after the death of a relative and decides to travel the world once again with Darun to search for her missing father. Skullomania reappears in
Fighting EX Layer, having settled back into life as a salaryman but finding himself unexpectedly transforming into his superhero persona without any memory of doing so afterward. With new powers also developing as well, he sets out to find the reason behind these sudden changes. He makes later appearances in the PlayStation 2 music game
Technictix and in
Fighter Maker. A female version of Skullomania appears as a special guest character in
SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. He is voiced by
Issei Futamata, with the exception of
SNK Heroines, where the character is voiced by
Yūko Kaida.
Introduced in Street Fighter EX Plus A few months after the original version of
Street Fighter EX was released, an upgraded version titled
Street Fighter EX Plus was released in arcades on March 31, 1997. In this version, all of the hidden time-released characters are available by default, as well as Garuda and M. Bison, who were exclusively computer-controlled in the original game. This version also adds four new hidden characters, increasing the total number of playable characters to 21: Evil Ryu from
Street Fighter Alpha 2, an alternate version of Hokuto named Bloody Hokuto, and two cyborgs named Cycloid-β and Cycloid-γ. • and , both appear as secret characters in
Street Fighter EX Plus and
EX Plus α, are a pair of cyborgs that use the special techniques of other characters. Beta primarily uses command-based special moves, while Gamma specializes in charge-based moves. Both characters were based on test models used for motion capture during the development of the game. Beta is an untextured blue polygonal model resembling a male human, and Gamma is a green
wireframed model. In the Japanese version of
Street Fighter EX Plus α for the PlayStation, Gamma is given an additional back-story, a weapon secretly developed by Pullum's father Balba to annihilate a huge criminal organization. In
Street Fighter EX2 Plus, an unidentified Cycloid model appears in one of the bonus rounds.
Introduced in Street Fighter EX Plus α The
PlayStation version of the game, titled
Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha and promoted as
Street Fighter EX Plus α, was released on July 17, 1997. All of the characters from the arcade version of
EX Plus are included, along with two characters exclusive to this version, returning
Street Fighter characters
Dhalsim and
Sakura, increasing the total number of playable characters to 23. In addition, there is a hidden
bonus stage where the player has to smash barrels, similar to one of the three bonus stages from
Street Fighter II. This version also includes several game modes in addition to the Arcade mode: a dedicated two-player Versus mode, Practice mode, Team Battle mode,
Survival mode,
Time Attack mode, and Watch mode where the player witnesses a match between two computer-controlled characters. It also includes an arranged soundtrack and CG animated endings for all of the characters. ==Development==