Rival



A Rival is kind of a sub-boss in the Street Fighter series, demonstrating a positive or negative relationship between certain characters. This feature first appeared in the main series in Street Fighter Alpha in which different characters have different final bosses.

In the Street Fighter IV series, in Arcade Mode, a rival battle occurs immediately before the battle with Seth with the words "Now! Fight your rival!" appearing on-screen. In Super Street Fighter IV and later SF4 instalments, some characters have two rivals; which one is encountered is determined by whether the player presses all three punches or all three kicks. By default, the first rival is encountered; however if the player presses all three kicks when the "Fight your rival" message appears, they will fight the second rival. If the player is defeated by the second rival, when they restart they can select to fight the first by pressing all three punches.

Notable Rivalries
In addition to these, the original Street Fighter IV included rivalry videos for the following rivalries which have not yet had a Rival Battle in any game:
 * Ryu vs Ken: These two were trained by their master Gouken in the same martial art, though both have developed it in their own unique way. Best friends, they like to constantly test each other in a fight.
 * Ryu vs Sagat: Ryu challenged Sagat in the original World Warrior tournament, but was no match for the King of Muay Thai. Briefly succumbing to the Satsui no Hado fully, Ryu snatched victory from the jaws of defeat with a Metsu Shoryuken which scared Sagat's chest open and knock him out. Sagat swore revenge and joined Shadaloo to help him to this end, but the two later on had gained respect for each other later on, becoming more of a friendly rivalry.
 * Guile vs M. Bison: Guile has hated Bison ever since his best friend Charlie was murdered at the heartless Bison's hand. His obsession with this grudge had almost destroyed his marriage. Bison views Guile as a constant thorn in his side.
 * Chun-Li vs M. Bison: Chun-Li, like Guile, hates Bison because he killed her father. Again, Bison views Chun-Li as a potential threat who must be crushed.
 * Akuma vs Ryu: Ryu grew to despise Akuma since the latter killed the former's sensei: Gouken (though it was later revealed that Gouken survived) and wanted revenge on Akuma and his freedom from him and the Satsui no Hadou. Akuma, for his part, is obsessed with drawing out the Satsui no Hado fully from Ryu in order to have a worthy challenge. In SFIV, though, Gouken sealed it to help him control it. It is unknown how Akuma responded to this, whether he believed it or not, or if he even knew.
 * Yun vs Yang: These brothers usually fight side-by-side, however they often spar to see who's better has gotten stronger, with Yang wishing to surpass his elder twin.
 * Necro vs Twelve: Necro was experimented on to be a prototype for the G-Project which produced Twelve, and since Necro's escape, Twelve has been assigned to eliminate the evidence.
 * Ibuki vs Makoto: Exactly how this rivalry started is uncertain, however both girls apparently attend the same high school (along with Elena) and don't get along very well at times, but will still look out for each other.
 * Karin vs Sakura: Karin was undefeated from other young warriors until her loss at Sakura's hands shortly after meeting Ryu, and now is determined to re-assert her dominance, but later on became friends.
 * Cody vs Guy: These two were once part of a trio that saved Metro City from the Mad Gear Gang, but since then Cody has continued to instigate brawls and has been imprisoned for aggravated assault, unable to adjust to the relative peace. He often breaks out of jail and goes on violent rampages. Guy is conflicted about how he should deal with his old friend's troubled ways and the two now fight head-to-head more often than side-by-side.
 * Akuma vs Gen: Both men seek worthy opponents for the ultimate death match, and although it initially looked like they had found them in each other, Akuma abandoned the conflict when it transpired that Gen's motivation was that he was already dying of leukemia and left him.
 * Cammy vs M. Bison: Cammy was once known as Killer Bee, a modified clone using Bison's DNA as a base and was originally planned to eventually serve as a replacement body for Bison once his current one became unusable and later, use Ryu's body as his greatest replacement. However, she developed independent thought and rebelled against him.
 * El Fuerte vs Zangief: In SFIV, Zangief and El Fuerte met. Zangief introduced himself as "The Red Cyclone". El Fuerte introduced himself as the "Hurricane of the Gulf of Mexico". Zangief, making a comeback, said, "Let's see if a Hurricane can beat a Cyclone!".
 * Ken vs Rufus: This is a rivalry of Rufus' design; angered that Ken, instead of himself, is recognized as the greatest karate martial artist in the U.S., Rufus sets out to confront him. Ken, for his part, finds Rufus' bullishness amusing and enjoys fighting him.
 * Abel vs Guile: Upon seeing that Abel recognized his Sonic Boom attack, Guile demanded to know where and when he had seen it and who had seen doing it. When Abel proved reluctant to speak so freely to a stranger, the two fought. It is unknown who won but the two have become allies and friends since then.
 * Chun-Li vs C. Viper: Viper, ostensibly a member of the criminal organization S.I.N., is one of many that Chun-Li doggedly pursues for Interpol. What Chun-Li doesn't know is that Viper is actually a double agent for the CIA working to take S.I.N. down and so they're on the same side. However, Viper cannot break her cover and so Chun-Li continues to believe her to be an enemy.
 * Cammy vs C. Viper: Similarly to the above, Cammy also believes Viper to be a criminal and also pursues her in her duties for Delta Red.
 * Seth vs Abel: These two were apparently created in the same Shadaloo project and were originally intended to be mindless servants of M. Bison. However, Abel escaped somehow and likes like a somewhat regular person due to amnesia. For some reason, Seth resents Abel and when they meet again, Abel wants answers about his past.
 * Akuma/Oni/Shin Akuma vs Gouken: Brothers who studied the same art under their great master Goutetsu, they have clashed over the direction the art should take and later over the fate of Ryu.
 * Seth vs M.Bison: Seth, created to be another replacement body for Bison, has (like Cammy) developed independent thought and rebelled against him, taking over Bison's S.I.N. while Bison recuperated from Akuma's attack from the second World Warrior tournament. Bison came out of his stasis capsule early just to deal with this threat despite having a body that was weaker then his first and second body.

Videos
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