Street Fighter II originally landed in arcades on 6 February 1991 (Yep, 30 years ago). To mark the occasion, let’s have some fun with one of the finer details of the game.

Fans of Street Fighter II and other Japanese games may have noticed that a character’s blood type is often listed in their bio. There are some important cultural reasons for this, but could a street fighter’s blood type have real-world effects on their ability to survive all of those hemorrhages and cracked ribs?

According to a study published in the Critical Care journal, your blood type could actually have an effect on how likely you are to survive a serious injury. According to the study, those with type O blood are roughly three times more likely to die from traumatic injuries than those with other blood types. This is because type O blood has lower level of an important glycoprotein known as the Von Willebrand factor (VWF), which binds to cells and proteins during blood clot formation, which in turn protects the body from losing more blood.

So what blood types does each Street Fighter II character have?

Type O

• Ryu
• Guile
• Dhalsim
• Vega
• T. Hawk
• Fei Long

Type A

• E. Honda
• Chun Li
• Zangief
• Balrog
• M. Bison

Type B

• Blanka
• Ken
• Sagat
• Cammy

Type AB

• Dee Jay

Sucks to be Ryu, Guile, Dhalsim, Vega, T. Hawk and Fei Long, I guess. But is it all doom and gloom for type O folks and sunshine and rainbows for everyone else? Not exactly. According to a study conducted by a team in the Netherlands, those with any non-type O blood types have a significantly higher risk of heart attack or other heart problems. So take heart, Guile, while you may die from your street-fighting injuries, Bison could eventually expire from a heart attack in twenty years. Doesn’t that make you feel better, Colonel?

Now let’s abandon all of this science nonsense and move to the excellent Censored Gaming YouTube channel to learn the real reason why Japanese developers include blood types in their character bios. 

Happy anniversary Street Fighter II!

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