Li-Fen (リーフェン, Rīfen?, Simplified Chinese: 丽芬) is a non-playable character and a student of Chun-Li. She first appeared in Chun-Li's Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike ending, and later appeared in Street Fighter V through Chun-Li's character story and also in A Shadow Falls, unwillingly serving for F.A.N.G's back-up plan for Operation C.H.A.I.N.S.. After being rescued by Chun-Li, with no family to turn to, Chun-Li took her in and raised her by herself, giving her a home and teaching her kung fu. By the time of Street Fighter 6, Li-Fen is a teenager, and an apprentice of Chun-Li in martial arts, while also serving as her eyes and ears during her Interpol cases.
Biography
Appearance
In Street Fighter V, Li-Fen is a child; she has twin-tailed black hair and wears a red-pink Chinese dress, black pants, and red kung fu shoes.
In Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Li-Fen appears slightly older, now having a double braided ponytails and wearing a red-pink Chinese dress and red pants.
In Street Fighter 6: Days of the Eclipse, Li-Fen becomes a teenager. Her hairs are styled into odango buns resembling panda ears if viewed from the front, with the rest hanging below her shoulder length. Her outfit consists of a white blouse with a large bow loosely tied around the collar, a dark cyan-colored plaid skirt, black sheer tights, and a lime green-colored oversized jacket. Her accessories consist of a headphone set, a pair of panda slippers, and purple ombre nails.
In Street Fighter 6, Li-Fen's hair is cut slightly shorter, whereas the odango buns are more pronounced in size, akin to that of Chun-Li. She begins to wear Capcom-themed apparel and accessories with a distinct yellow-blue color scheme, which can be seen on her jacket, sneakers, socks, bags, and nail polish. Undereath her oversized jacket, she wears a blue-red plaid miniskirt with black shorts underneath, in addition to knitted leg warmers. The most recognizable element of her outfits is the panda motif: they are on the bag she usually carries, her headphones/glasses, and her smartphone. She is also seen wearing a panda-themed oversized boat neck hoodie in white and blue, with a camisole top and striped leggings underneath.
Personality
Li-Fen is a kind and enthusiastic girl. She was kidnapped by the Shadaloo at a young age. Although scared by their treatment and malevolence, she was brave enough to provide critical information to Chun-Li and Rashid and helped them to defeat F.A.N.G.
Under the guidance of Chun-Li, she gradually grows out of her traumatic past and becomes more confident, while improving her Kung-fu and hacking abilities. She strives to help Chun-Li in upholding the law and justice.
She has a very close relationship with Chun-Li and holds immense respect for her, calling Chun-Li as Jie Jie (big sister). She loves to act spoiled toward Chun-Li, but become capable and considerate when under pressure. In her free time, Li-Fen enjoys cooking and shopping with Chun-Li.
Story
Street Fighter V
A Shadow Falls
Li-Fen is the daughter of one of the missing hackers assisted by two Shadaloo soldiers until they are beaten by Rashid. She also reveals the location of Rashid's friend.
During the first infiltration of the Shadaloo base, Li-Fen approaches Chun-Li and, on her mobile pad, shows her that she has been identified as one of the individuals in possession of a Merope chess piece. She refuses Chun-Li's request that they escape the base, telling her that she needs to take care of something first. Under F.A.N.G's threat of death, she activate the "descent" or back up plan.
She provides a clue at the hideout where Rashid was staying: "Light up the pathway for those who stray. I call thy name."
In the final assault of the Shadaloo base, F.A.N.G threatens to kill Li-Fen when Rashid manages to abort his plan. Chun-Li beats F.A.N.G and saves Li-Fen. After Ryu defeats M. Bison, she's seen being carried by Chun-Li during the escape, later reuniting with the other fighters.
Character Story
Li-Fen appears in Chun-Li's character story. She asks Chun-Li about her yellow ribbons and her wristbands from the Alpha series. Chun-Li ties her hair into unadorned odango hair buns while telling her story from a few years ago. Li-Fen remarks that her hairstyle was great. Li-Fen also agrees to be trained by Chun-Li so that she will be stronger like her.
Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike
Li-Fen appears in 3rd Strike, again as a kidnap victim, this time for Urien's experiments. She is rescued by Chun-Li and can later be seen as one of the children who receive Kung-Fu training in Chun-Li's ending.
Street Fighter 6
Days of the Eclipse
In Chapter 2, Li-Fen appears as a teenager. She has since become Chun-Li's eyes and ears during the latter's Interpol work. When a terrorist "hacktavist" organization called Amnesia frames Ken Masters for a crime, Li-Fen confirms that the incriminating footage Amnesia broadcast across the television screens in Nayshall's coliseum is deepfakes.
In Chapter 4, Chun-Li is back in Hong Kong. Li-Fen explains her investigations to Chun-Li on the shadowy figure JP. Li-Fen points out he moves from one corporation/NGO to another, never staying long, while becoming involved with infrastructure projects across several countries. Most of his projects appear legitimate. However, the moment he gets involved, things go awry, causing ethnic conflicts and civil wars. Li-Fen believes the name "Johan" must be a pseudonym because he's also known as "Jean-Philippe". Chun-Li wonders if he's directly responsible and Li-Fen agrees. Li-Fen reveals that she tried to dig deeper, but everything about the businessman on the dark web has been ghosted and someone even tried to reverse-hack her.
Chun-Li worries about Li-Fen, asking if the tasks are intimidating, but Li-Fen is confident and jokingly suggests that she wants extra incentives. She turns down Chun-Li's offers of new clothes and shoes, instead, requesting a new gaming mouse and a big, juicy steak to eat. Chun-Li wonders why Li-Fen can't ever just be "normal" to which she responds by telling her to stop being so mean and and firmly stating, "I want what I want." After two leaves the room, glitching graphics appear on Li-Fen's setup, with the word "Shadaloo" embedded within.
World Tour
Sometimes later, Li-Fen grows up as a student under the wing of her master and Jiejie ("Big Sister"), Chun-Li. She and Chun-Li usually enjoy shopping together during their free time. Li-Fen has grown out of her teenage rebellion phase and is now a cheeky yet charming girl.
In World Tour mode, upon entering Hong Hu Lu Chinatown, she can be seen training with Chun-Li. They spar, but even with Chun-Li having both hands behind her back, Li-Fen is unable to land a hit. She launches herself at Chun-Li with a flying kick, but Chun-Li leaps over her, and lightly kicks her in the back of the head, sending her crashing into the player, or the Avatar.
Li-Fen plays a key role in World Tour mode as someone with whom the player can interact with and even spar against. In later missions, she is kidnapped once again by Thrasher Damnd and his Mad Gear subordinates in an attempt to force the player to work for the gang. Li-fen is unfazed by this; not only because she feels she could defend herself if necessary, but because she claims to be "used to" being kidnapped by this point.
Li-Fen becomes an ally to the player in their search for strength with the help of her white-hat hacking abilities. She decrypts data and sends texts for missions or support.
Battle Hub
In Battle Hub, the player finds Li-Fen, who manages Li-Fen's V-Rival, a computer simulation service that creates AI fighters called V-Rival or Sim-Sim, using the data of online player matches. The AI fighter can be generated based on the character and rank. Winning against V-Rivals will increase the player's Li-Fen 🐼 Rank and earn rewards from her. Li-Fen will give personalized advice on which areas the player can improve. The player can also generate a mirror V-Rival based on their own online match data or spectate high-ranked V-Rivals fighting each other to see the playstyle at the top level.[2]
Trivia
- Li-Fen is kidnapped in the story of every installment she appears - the Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike, Street Fighter V's A Shadow Falls, and Street Fighter 6's World Tour.
- This running gag is acknowledged by Li-Fen in the Street Fighter 6 story.
- Li-Fen has good cooking skills, as seen in one of Chun-Li's arcade endings in Street Fighter V.
- Since Li-Fen's debut, it has been generally assumed for a long time that she was adopted by Chun-Li (along with the other children in the latter's 3rd Strike ending). This was later confirmed in Street Fighter 6.
- In the June State of Play 2022 trailer of Street Fighter 6, a teenage girl with a Capcom-themed jacket was seen, bearing a resemblance to Li-Fen. Takayuki Nakayama later confirmed on his Twitter account that it was indeed her.[3]
- Her laptop in Street Fighter 6 has stickers of: Blanka-Chan, the Street Fighter I logo, Lilith Aensland from Darkstalkers, the original special move input of Spinning Bird Kick, a panda version of Chun-Li, and the RE Engine logo. She even has the poster of Nemesis T-Type's classic Resident Evil look in her room, as seen in Street Fighter 6 prequel comic Days of The Eclipse.
- Li-Fen calls Chun-Li "Jiejie" (big sister in Chinese) in an honorific manner, though Chun-Li admits that Li-Fen is young enough to be considered her daughter, and will often times spoil Li-Fen just to see her happy.
- Li-Fen loves pandas. The shoulder pack with the panda design she wears was a gift from Chun-Li.
Videos
Gallery
Street Fighter III series
Street Fighter V series
Street Fighter 6 series
Quotes
References
| Street Fighter 6 Characters | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Original | Blanka · Cammy · Chun-Li · Dee Jay · Dhalsim · E. Honda · Guile · Jamie · JP · Juri · Ken · Kimberly · Lily · Luke · Manon · Marisa · Ryu · Zangief | |||
| Year 1 | A.K.I. · Akuma · Ed · Rashid | |||
| Year 2 | Elena · M. Bison · Mai (Guest) · Terry (Guest) | |||
| CPU Only | Albert Jackson · Andore Family · Antler · Axl · Azam · Bosch · Bred · Carlos Miyamoto · Carol · Chandi · Damnd · Eliza · Eternity · F.A.N.G · Fair Libra · G. Oriber · Gerald Golby · J · Kalima · Keiko Asano · Kenichi Kakutani · Li-Fen · Max · Mel · Retsu · Rewancha · Roxy · Rudra · Sheng Long · Somsak · Yua | |||