Not all World Warriors are created equal. The Street Fighter series may have revolutionized fighting games with its diverse cast of characters, but making sure that they all have a chance against each other is an arduous balancing act. Whenever a new game comes out, it doesn’t take long before message boards erupt with “tier lists” that attempt to rank the cast by strength.

The best of the best are known as the top tier. These are the ones who have the strongest options, dictate competitive play, and receive the most colorful insults. As Street Fighter celebrates its 25th anniversary, let’s look back on some of the greatest versions of these competitors.

Guile (Street Fighter II: The World Warrior)

When Capcom developed Street Fighter II, they didn’t know that people would analyze every frame of animation and piece of data they could find if it meant victory. It was probably inevitable that someone would be game-breaking, and Guile earned those honors. The military veteran mauled everyone except Dhalsim, who was a distant second, and he had an assortment of character-freezing glitches at his disposal.

 

M. Bison (Street Fighter II: Champion Edition)

The first of many Street Fighter II updates, Champion Edition allowed players to control the four bosses and partake in a mirror match (duking it out with the same character). The developers were still new to this whole “balance” thing, though, so M. Bison’s playable form was almost as his final boss iteration. His hard-to-hit Psycho Crusher did tremendous damage even if the opponent guards.


 

Sagat (Super Street Fighter 2)

This version of the "Muai Thai emperor" is actually better known from Super Street Fighter II: Turbo, where you can use him through a character-select screen code. “Old Sagat” couldn’t use the then-new Super Combos, but he did more damage and had faster Tiger Shots. While other top characters faired well against him, he manhandled others to the point that Japanese players “soft banned” him -- he’s tournament legal, but a gentleman’s agreement forbids using him.

 

Akuma (Super Street Fighter II: Turbo)

In “Super Turbo,” players could use this secret boss through a special code, but unlike Old Sagat, Akuma is outright banned due to how stupidly powerful he is. The tale of this ogre doesn’t end here though: When designer and tournament player David Sirlin rebalanced the game for an HD Remix update years later, he tried to turn battles against Akuma into a fair fight. Ultimately, tournaments still banned him because of his ability to lockdown foes with his air fireball.

 

Rose (Street Fighter Alpha 2)

Rose is my favorite character, so of course I'm going to talk about her when she elite. Sirlin also wrote the book Playing to Win, where he discusses a SFA2 tournament where he couldn’t beat a Chun-Li player in the final match and switched to Rose being her having a difficult time against the Chinese champion. Knowing the size and speed of the psychic’s crouching medium punch, or "low strong," Sirlin abused the move throughout the finals – sometimes using it 18 times in a row – to win the tournament.
 

Dhalsim (Street Fighter Alpha 3)

While the huge roster and multiple modes made this game a favorite among casual fans, Alpha 3 didn't have the longevity in tournament play of other titles in the franchise. This game featured Custom Combos that would create an after-image that repeats a character's attacks, which led to loops of the same moves over and over for big damage. You can imagine what that means for Dhalsim, who can use it for both half-life combos and to augment his already great long-range game.