I did a Tekken character list so lets follow up with the Street Fighter Version, same principals as the Tekken list, this is based more on characters I control best as well as rate highly as a character.
Honorable Mentions
Yang: A character I control very well but somewhat forgettable
M Bison: Just for the Raul Julia performance alone he gets an honorable mention
Cammy: While I do control her very well, I don't rate her story
Chun Li: Miss Muscle Legs is the first female of fighting games but there have been better ones since
Crimson Viper: For all the super powered fighters in the series having a tech expert is quite surprising but her actual look is ridiculous
10. Dan Hibiki
Billed as a joke he's actually quite a decent character to use in the right hands and its entertaining to watch how much he tries to achieve so much.
9. Thunder Hawk
I'm leaning once again towards the big wrestlers and Thunder Hawk was a beast with some of his throws, kind of wish he had more presence in the franchise.
8, Makoto
Karate isn't very well represented in this franchise and Makoto more than makes up for it. If you ever play fighting games and want to have a feeling of an attack that really hurts then give Makoto's specials a try.
7. Cody
A Final Fight character first, Cody arrives in Street Fighter as a prisoner having spent so long street fighting (in the streetwise sense) and generally causing more problems than Mad Gear ever did, what makes his story more eye opening is that despite his power to break out of prison he actively returns without being persuaded or captured.
6. E. Honda
Between this character, Dhalsim and Blanka I had to go with the thousand slap sumo wrestler, a personal favorite from my youth and still a well rounded character today.
5. Hugo
The giant wrestler is by far my best character to date, of my online victories in Ultra Street Fighter IV, Hugo has taken the most and the only character I've used to ever rank higher than default, this is where my grapple character skills come from.
4. Vega
A rather unique character, the Spanish claw fighter has always maintained a feeling of fighting a proper trained killer and has the personality to match and is often involved in the best fight scenes having fought Chun Li and Ken in two different anime.
3. Ken Masters
If I didn't put one of the two main characters on this list I think people would complain but thankfully I actually like Ken's story more than many of the other cast members and seeing him go from Ryu's rival to family man and eventually training a successor is worth watching.
2. Sagat
It pays to be intimidating and Sagat is a monster. A towering figure of power that served as the very first game's final boss and started a successful franchise which began with his defeat to Ryu.
1. Ibuki
But my favorite character has to be the plucky ninja girl Ibuki, like Karate, ninjutsu was missing from the Street Fighter list but thankfully when she came in she was an instant hit and pulling Rasengan's before Naruto made it cool. She's also one of my best three characters alongside Hugo and Sagat.
