Sakura Kasugano is a Street Fighter character first introduced in Street Fighter Alpha 2. She is a 16-year-old (as of Street Fighter Alpha 3) Japanese schoolgirl who has an intense fascination with Ryu. She has managed to copy and learn some of Ryu's techniques, but really wants him to train her personally.
Story
Chronologically-wise, Sakura first appeared in Rival Schools where she was involved in the adventure between her school and various others in Aohura city. Fighting in it, she realized how much it meant to her to protect something she cared about.
Sakura first appeared in Street Fighter Alpha 2, where she had begun to participate in street fighting after watching Ryu win the first World Warrior tournament. She was searching for him and wished for him to train her to be a better fighter.
She met up with many interesting people along the way, and eventually came across Ryu, who was still stressed over the Satsui no Hado that had corrupted him - he told her he could not train her as he still had much to learn himself. He sparred with her for a bit and as he began to leave, she took a picture of him to remember him by.
She was still fighting in Street Fighter Alpha 3 and decided to travel the world to find Ryu. She started off in her native Japan and fought the sumo wrestler E. Honda, who mentioned Ryu was going off to such places as India and Thailand. She also fought a rematch with her rival Karin Kanzuki, and though Karin won the fight, admitted Sakura was better and she had learned winning was not everything. Thereafter traveling with her self-proclaimed sensei, Dan, she met his friend Blanka along the way and was promised a match with him.
She continued to search the world for Ryu, eventually ditching Dan and finding Ryu's friend and rival Ken. She commented to him how she loved to fight to better herself, and finding inspiration in those words himself, Ken and Sakura eventually found Ryu in Thailand, where he was actually being brainwashed by M. Bison. Sagat had come by this time to find the scene as well, and as Sagat took on Ryu, both Ken and Sakura took on Bison. A combination of Sakura being hurt by Bison and Sagat's urgings finally snapped Ryu out of the mind control and he smacked Bison away, forcing him to retreat. He told Sakura then he was not ready to train her and fight a rematch with her yet, and walked off, Sakura watching him go.
In Super Street Fighter IV Sakura returns to fight again, still searching for Ryu. This time, it is heavily implied that her admiration toward Ryu has developed into a full-on crush. Her win quote against Sagat has her admitting that she understands his obsession with Ryu, adding "Isn't he just dreamy?". Some time after the end of the second World Warrior tournament, she confronts Dan about whether he knows anything about where Ryu might be. Dan, not wanting to appear out of the loop, says that a new tournament is rumored to be about to start, and that Ken will be participating, speculating that Ryu will also be there. Ecstatic, Sakura immediately runs off to enter. She, Dan and Blanka depart on a cruise ship on which she endures a gruelling self-imposed training regime.
Marvel Story
Sakura was not one of the initial Street Fighters pulled into the Marvel Universe, but she did arrive for the second event during Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Sakura, having not yet fully mastered her own style of fighting, felt the most disoriented as a result of being in a different universe, and found that her fighting abilities were slightly altered. She was unable to control the direction of her Hadoukens and found them launching up towards the sky. However, she was excited to find that she could throw them in mid-air down towards the ground. But that was not the end of the oddities that Sakura encountered.
Taking a break between matches, Sakura laid down in a field and fell asleep. When she awoke, she found herself unusually sunburned for the short duration that she had lain there. Though slightly in pain, she proceeded to compete in the effort to defeat Apocalypse. However, not only did she find that her original fighting style had returned, she was even more powerful than before, capable of performing attacks in a manner similar to Akuma, but feeling no murder intent thirst. Over the course of the events, her sunburned faded and her fighting abilities returned to the way they were when she first arrived.
During the events of the first Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, after Apocalypse was defeated and Ryu was helping some of the Marvel heroes battle Onslaught, she accompanied a very distraught Zangief to see a man known as Dr. Strange. While Dr. Strange helped Zangief cope with the presence of his mechanical doppelganger, he also taught Sakura how to tap into the fighting energy that was produced as a result of her sunburn so that she could use it at will. It took a tremendous amount of energy and concentration, but when she returned to help the warriors fight Abyss in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes, she did indeed find that she had the ability to transform herself into her sunburned variant when she accumulated enough energy.
Appearance
Sakura typically fights in her school's uniform, a blue and white short-skirted sailor fuku (seifuku) with the collar popped and a yellow tie around the collar, held together by a blue and white striped band. She wears a red top under her uniform, sparring gloves, and a white headband. Her "Sunburned Sakura" variant changes the color of her sailor fuku and the band holding the tie around her collar to black and white and her skin and hair to a darker brown, but beside these changes, Sakura and her "Sunburned" variant are exactly the same.
Gameplay
Sakura fights in an emulation of Ryu's fighting style. In the Marvel vs. Capcom series (under her "Hiyakeshita Sakura" version), the Street Fighter EX series and Rival Schools, she also gains the Shun Goku Satsu and in Marvel vs. Capcom, {C}Sakura is able to launch her Hadouken in the air, but it is bigger in appearance. Her Shinkuu Hadouken is similar to Ryu's when she is in her "Sunburned Sakura" variant.
Special Attacks
- Hadoken - Sakura can successfully manipulate ki and is subsequently able to perform the "Hadouken" energy attack (however, due to her lack of training, she cannot throw it the full length of the arena like Ken or Ryu can). Unlike Ryu and other practitioners of the same art, she can control the size of her Hadouken and throw larger Hadoukens that sacrifice range and execution speed for size (up to 3 times larger). In the Marvel vs. Capcom series, she throws her Hadokens diagonally upwards. In the air, this is angled diagonally down-towards, but she hangs in the air for a good portion of time after tossing this out, which makes it punishable if you're not careful. Your Hard Punch Fireballs offer the most range. The Dark version is pretty much Akuma's Fireball. Light Punch doesn't travel as far as Hard Punch. When done in the air this comes out at a down-towards angle.
- Shouo'u Ken - Sakura's version of Ryu's Shoryuken sees her running before executing the attack. The weak version is very similar to a normal Shoryuken, but with an extended delay; when performed with the Fierce punch button. The attack can hit 6 times as she is running toward her opponent. This attack has a very fast start up time making it easy to combo with, plus when done in the air, it will typically do more damage than the ground-based version. The strength of the button pressed controls the range and damage. The Dark version is basically the same thing as her regular Charging Uppercut, but the animation is changed slightly when performed on the ground.
- Shunpuu Kyaku - Sakura's version of Ryu's Tatsumaki Senpukyaku. Instead of sailing through the air, Sakura's version rises then falls in an arcing pattern and traditionally only goes about 60% of the screen at its longest range and has a bit of start up time, so you have to really set this up for it to combo. The Light Kick version stays fairly low to the ground, and Hard Kick has a really big arc which makes it difficult to hit with unless your enemy is airborne. When used in the air, it alters the trajectory of your jump just a bit which can put you in an unexpected position making it more difficult for your opponent to anti air you.
- Ashura Senkuu - Sakura phases through her opponent by sliding left or right. Similar to Akuma's teleport. Sakura can only use this attack in her Dark form.
Assist Attacks
| Type | Assist | Counter | Cross-Over | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ī± | Dash | Shouo'uken | Shouo'uken | Haru Ichiban |
| Ī² | Projectile | Hadoken | Hadoken | Shinku Hadoken |
| Ī³ | Expansion | Shunpukyaku | Shunpukyaku | Midare Zakura |
Hyper Combos
- Shinkuu Hadouken - A much improved version of your Arcing Fireball attack, except this one cannot be done in the air. A great anti air Hyper though, which takes off a healthy portion of life if you connect with it fully. The Dark version shoots a beam of Fireballs across the screen, much like Ryu's signature Hyper move. A quick start up time makes this ridiculously easy to combo into, plus the damage is very nice as well.
- Midare Zakura - Sakura's version of the Shoryu-Reppa, scoring pretty good damage if this connects, but it has a solid bit of start up time meaning it can be hard to connect with in combos.
- Haru Ichiban - Very fast start up with this Hyper move and it does even more damage than your Hyper Uppercut, but this comes at the price of not having a lot of range and sometimes missing entirely when you could have sworn it should combo. Still, if you can find ways to consistently hit with it, it's a very potent attack. The Dark version spins straight up, but has really bad range. Use this when your enemy is directly above you to fully connect. A solid anti-air if your aim is really good.
- Dark Sakura Transformation - Sakura transforms into Dark Sakura until you repeat the command to turn back into regular Sakura. In this mode, Sakura becomes consumed with the Satsui no Hado (much like Akuma) gainning different Special and Hyper moves.
- Shun Goku Satsu - Only available in Dark mode, Sakura can unleash the Satsui no Hado and perform Akuma's trademark attack, the Instant Hell Kill.
Tag Partner
Marvel Superheroes Vs. Street Fighter
- Dan Hibiki
- Blackheart
- Ryu
- Spiderman
Theme Song
Marvel Super Heroes Vs Street Fighter-Theme of Sakura
Artwork
Sprites
See Also
Sakura's moves in Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes