Sakura

Sakura Kasugano is a character from the Street Fighter series by Capcom. She is a young Japanese girl who has an intense fascination with Ryu and started street fighting career in her high school day. She has managed to copy and learn some of Ryu's techniques, but really wants him to train her personally.

Sakura debuted in Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter and reappeared in Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes.

Profile[]

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. This appearance was prior to her graduation in Street Fighter V sub-series.

Story[]

Sakura was one of the initial Street Fighters pulled into the Marvel Universe, but she didn’t participate in the first event during X-Men vs. Street Fighter, due to having been captured alongside Dan Hibiki, Shuma-Gorath, and other Marvel heroes & villains by Apocalypse. After Gambit & Storm helped her escape, she participated in the second event during Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, befriending Spider-Man and Blackheart in the process. 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. If you beat the game as Dark Sakura in the Japanese version, however, the game will show Dark Sakura teleporting towards Akuma, with both of them turning their backs towards the player while facing him/her, and then teleporting away. This ending has two variations: Kei will either follow Dark Sakura and Akuma after they teleport off-screen, or Kei will try to follow them, but will trip over something, fall on the ground, and sigh.

During the events of the first Marvel vs. Capcom: Clash of Super Heroes, after Apocalypse was defeated and Ryu & Spider-Man were helping some of the Marvel heroes battle Onslaught, she accompanied a very distraught Zangief to see a man known as Doctor Strange. While Doctor 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. At the end of the battle, Spiderman took photos with both Sakura and Morrigan Aensland.

Gameplay[]

Sakura fights in an emulation of Ryu's fighting style during the first Street Fighter game that released in 1987. In the Marvel vs. Capcom series (under her "Hiyakeshita Sakura" (referred to as "Dark Sakura" in the international release) version), the Street Fighter EX series, Rival Schools: United by Fate and it's Japan-exclusive sequel, she also gains the Shun Goku Satsu. In Marvel vs. Capcom, Sakura is able to launch her Hadouken in the air similar to Akuma, but it is bigger in appearance. Her Shinkuu Hadouken is similar to Ryu's when she is in her "Sunburned Sakura" variant.

Special Attacks[]

In the 2007 manga Street Fighter: Sakura Ganbaru!, Ken points out during his fight with Sakura that while she knows the Hadoken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku and Shoryuken, she still needs to work on their basic concepts. As the events of Sakura Ganbaru! and Street Fighter Alpha 2 took place before X-Men vs. Street Fighter and - to that extent - Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter, this may explain the reasoning of why in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, Sakura's fighting abilities were altered.

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. 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 downward angle, firing either in the southeast or the southwest direction depending on which direction you’re facing. However, she hangs in the air for a good portion of time after tossing this out, which makes it punishable if you're not careful.
Shouo'uken - 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.
Shunpukyaku - 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 & their attacks by sliding left or right. Similar to Akuma's teleport. Sakura can only use this attack in her Dark form.

Assist Attacks
Set	Type	Assist	Counter	Cross-Over
α	Dash	Shouo'uken	Shouo'uken	Haru Ichiban
β	Projectile	Hadoken	Hadoken	Shinku Hadoken
γ	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 much like Akuma’s Messatsu Gorasen, but has really bad range. Use this when your enemy is directly above you to fully connect - an easy way to do this is with Spiderman’s Web Swing assist to give an example. 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, but without the murderous intent) gaining 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. Much like the versions of the move that Akuma, Morrigan, and Hayato have, Sakura can combo into her Shun Goku Satsu.