Capcom Reveals Street Fighter 3’s Deleted Character Concept Art

Street Fighter is one of the most iconic arcade and fighting game series. Developed by Capcom, this series came to define the childhoods of millennial gamers. The series is celebrating its 35th anniversary and through that time it has become the highest-grossing fighting game series of all time, at $12.2b, as reported by Capcom.

Now as part of celebrations of the 35th anniversary of the franchise, Capcom accounts on Twitter have been posting concept art for various Street Fighter characters. The most recent concept art tweeted by Capcom’s art team’s official Twitter account includes binned characters from Street Fighter 3.

ストⅢの最初期のキャラデザインスケッチ（SHOEI）@akiman7 #カプコンアートワーク #SF35th #ストリートファイター pic.twitter.com/St7o7hgR1i

— カプコン公式 CAP’ARTWORK (@CAPCOM_AWT) November 4, 2022

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS

• In a first, Capcom posted the concept art for Street Fighter 3’s binned characters on Twitter.
• Capcom is celebrating the franchise’s 35th anniversary.
• Since its first release in 1987, the franchise has become a top-grossing fighting game franchise of all time.
• It is also the second most-sold game developed by Capcom, only behind Resident Evil.
• The series’ next game, Street Fighter 6 will be released in 2023.

Few of these characters resemble the ones part of the Street Fighter 3 roster but most of them don’t. Indicating that they were most likely binned and never made part of the game. The concept characters include a dinosaur named Velociraptor, who some Street Fighter fans, myself included, would have loved to have in the game.

A concept character named American Ryu, aka “violent New York detective”, has an uncanny resemblance to an actual Street Fighter 3 character Alex.

There is also a goblin-like character, whose art is quite good, which left some fans wondering why it wasn’t in the game.

Other characters include a genie named Islamic Djinn, which translates to Islamic Genie or Ghost, Prankration Guy, Ninja, Rollerblade, Trickster, Professor, Businessman, Street Dancer, Marionette master or Puppet Master, and Assassin.

This seemingly unprecedented move has given SF fans new insight into the workings of Capcom’s art team.

Since its release in 1987, the Street Fighter franchise has sold about 50 million units with 94 titles released, making it the second most profitable franchise Capcom has developed. Resident Evil is at the top, selling 131 million units with 155 titles released. The franchise has also sold more than five hundred thousand arcade units.

The upcoming game of the franchise, Street Fighter 6, is planned to be released in 2023 for PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, and Xbox Series X. This will end the SF fans’ 4 years long wait.

Will Street Fighter 6 be able to continue the franchise’s legacy of being the best series in the fighting game genre? Discuss your opinions in the comments section below.