Street Fighter Alpha/Dhalsim

Click here for more information about Dhalsim's other fighting game appearances.

Dhalsim is one of the original eight selectable world warriors in the first version of Street Fighter II. He is the original long-range fighter of fighting games. Dhalsim's intense training has given him the ability to contort and extend his limbs into forms physically impossible in real life; he can project his arms and legs outward in order to deliver attacks that would be out of the range of normal limbs.

Dhalsim's fighting style involves keeping the opponent at bay with distance attacks and projectiles, and optimally, only getting close to strike with a surprise aerial attack or sliding kick. Due to his reach advantage, Dhalsim has both very low offense and defense, making it vital for him to avoid sustaining too many blows from a strong fighter. Dhalsim's sprite, while standing, is actually quite a small target, due to the total number of pixels Dhalsim's sprite occupies while not attacking. Dhalsim becomes a much larger target while attacking.

Dhalsim hails from Kerala, India. He is often depicted as having pupil-less eyes. His build is that of a normal man who exercises and weight trains regularly except for his abdomen and waist which appear much out of proportion and emaciated. He wears torn saffron shorts as his only clothing attire as well as saffron wristbands and anklebands. He has three coloured stripes adorning his head. The skulls he wears around his neck are those of village children that died during a plague. In palette swap renditions of Dhalsim, his skin is often dark blue or other unnatural colors. He is the oldest of the original World Warriors.

Generally a pacifist, Dhalsim fights to raise money for his village, but realizes that it might contradict his pacifist beliefs. The only significant part he played in the overall story of the series was to make Cammy self-aware.

Dhalsim has the power to suspend himself in midair, stretch his extremities in ways beyond the average human, read minds, and sense evil, the latter abilities he uses to locate the sinister Bison, and doing his part to aid those who can defeat the villain. He retired from fighting after the second World Warrior tournament, and continued to roam the world helping those in need. In many additional storylines, he aids Ryu in his quest to become stronger and defeat evildoers.