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26 Years Later, the Identity of the Character on Street Fighter II Turbo's Cartridge Raises Online Debate

Street Fighter II Turbo: Hyper Fighting first released on the Super Nintendo (or "Super Famicom" as it's known in Japan) in 1993. 26 years later, a Twitter user sparked an online conversation when they said that for years they thought the character shown on the game's Japanese cartridge was Ryu. "I heard that a lot of people thought that it was Chun-Li, so now I'm confused," the user, named Tekitouaki, admitted.

Tekitouaki held a poll last week to settle the question once and for all. The poll racked up almost 45,000 votes, with 20% voting for Ryu and 80% on team Chun-Li.

Even Akira 'Akiman' Yasuda, the artist who designed a number of iconic Street Fighter characters, including Chun-Li, weighed in on the debate. "It's Chun-Li," he tweeted.

Entertainment news outlet ITMedia asked CAPCOM about the identity of the character on the cartridge. CAPCOM confirmed that it was Chun-Li. The image originates from a pamphlet for the arcade version of Street Fighter II Turbo, which also shows an illustration of Ryu. The art was drawn by an artist named SHOEI.

With the debate more or less settled, Tekitouaki remarked: "It looks like I was in the minority. But don't forget! There were many elementary schoolers who assumed that it was Ryu because it was written on the package."

Source: ITMedia (Shinji Kutsuzawa) via Hachima Kikō, Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft)