Chun-Li (春麗) is the first female playable character to appear in a 1-on-1 fighting game. Introduced in Street Fighter II, Chun-Li was the only female character in the game, and while not as physically powerful as the other characters, she was by far the quickest. Her most famous attack is the Hyakuretsukyaku (Hundred Rending Leg, commonly known as the Lightning Kick), where she repeatedly kicks her opponent from a tilted standing position with incredible speed.
Chun-Li is one of the earliest female video game protagonists to achieve widespread popularity. Prior to Street Fighter II being released in 1991, most female characters in games existed as objectives to be rescued or cast in the roles of other supporting characters, such as townspeople, girlfriends, the occasional opponent, or simply background decoration; as such, there were very few heroines in action-based video games. After the success of Street Fighter II and Chun-Li’s popularity, female protagonists became increasingly common. Since then, in games with selectable characters, at least one of them will almost always be female; and a number of games released since then have placed a female character in the lead role.
Story
Street Fighter Alpha 2
In the Street Fighter series Chun-Li was an Interpol investigator who had been searching for clues to the recent death of her father. Getting into a friendly spar with an old teacher of hers and friend of her father, Gen, he gives her a lead into who may have killed her father—the mysterious crime syndicate Shadaloo. Finding its leader, M. Bison, she demands he tell her what happened to her father. To her surprise, Bison attacks and basically makes quick work of her, then flies away, laughing at her and telling her if she attacks him again he will kill her just like he did her father. With tears in her eyes, Chun-Li swore vengeance.
Street Fighter Alpha 3
Chun-Li teamed up with a United States Air Force member, Charlie, to try to track and take down Shadaloo. She then ran into someone she would not have expected at all. It was Charlie’s good friend and fellow lieutenant, Guile. Telling Guile he should not get in over his head and to leave the two be, Chun-Li learns he has orders to bring Charlie back. Attempting to use force to stop him, she instead finds herself defeated; nonetheless, she insists that she and her partner be left alone, to which Guile replies that he will never abandon friends in need. Eventually, learning that Bison tricked the Air Force into canceling the planned bombing of the main Shadaloo base, she rushed over to the two soldiers to tell them they were tricked and would have to destroy the base on their own. Chun-Li proceeded to plant bombs about the base as Charlie and Guile headed inside to destroy the Psycho Drive, but Guile then came rushing out, grabbing Chun-Li and telling her Charlie had urged both of them to get away. Along the way, Chun-Li saw a young girl escaping with several others (who turned out to be Cammy leading the dolls away from the base). Despite being distraught over the initial lack of evidence to prove Shadaloo’s crimes, Interpol and Chun-Li managed to shut down much of the evil crime empire.
Street Fighter II
Chun-Li received an invitation to the second World Warrior tournament, and discovered that Bison had apparently survived the Thailand base’s destruction. With this, she had the clear motive of destroying Shadaloo and avenging her father once again. The outcome of this tournament is not clear. There has been no definitive answer as of yet, although regardless of the outcome, Bison himself finally falls at the hands of Ryu’s nemesis, Akuma.
Street Fighter III 3rd Strike
Having made her peace, she continued her work as a police officer, and retired from mainstream street fighting to teach young children martial arts after taking down Shadaloo for good. Urien kidnapped a young girl for his scientific projects and Chun-Li manages to catch up to him. Challenging him, she does her best to fight him and Urien, impressed by his opponent’s fighting spirit, agrees to let the child go. Since then, Chun-Li has continued to raise her adopted kids.
Pocket Fighter
This is a non-canonical story where Chun-Li hears of an escaped zoo animal. She apprehends Felicia by mistake and despite Felicia’s protests she is sent to the zoo. The next day she hears of an entertainer’s (Felicia) mysterious disappearance.
or go to the Prologues & Endings page to see video’s of this characters story.