A mystery revolving around two anonymous characters in Street Fighter 2 is solved a full 25 years after the game was released, courtesy of new information shared by Capcom.

The Street Fighter IP is a franchise full of complexities. Although many fans of the iconic fighting series fill their time studying the ins and outs of the gameplay itself, the lore of the property is equally as inscrutable, with a plot full of varied characters with their own individual motives. Recently, however, one of the mysteries that revolves around the Capcom series has finally been solved.

In the opening cut scene of Street Fighter II, players are greeted to a pair of combatants in the middle of a bout in front of a skyscraper. Over the years, plenty of Street Fighter fans have come up with their own theories regarding who these fighters are, including the suggestion that they could be Joe and Mike, characters from the first game in the franchise. Capcom, however, has actually revealed biographies of these characters over on the official Capcom website, as found by curious fans over on Reddit.

The two fighters are actually known as Max and Scott, and come with a few vital statistics for Street Fighter aficionados. Max comes in at 95kg and 191cm, and apparently counts street fighting as one of his favorite things. Meanwhile, Scott comes in at 187cm and 93kg, and has a rather unfortunate birthday of April 1. Any more information on the pair may be hidden away for those with a decent knowledge of Japanese, however.

Just what Capcom plans to do with these characters is at yet unknown. Although the company may simply be ironing out some kinks in the canon, the duo could also prove popular as additional characters in a future iteration of the Street Fighter series, if only as a nostalgic nod towards previous games. Indeed, more characters would certainly be handy in Street Fighter V, particularly with Capcom working hard to address a lack of content in the game.

Some, however, might prefer for Capcom to look forwards, rather than backwards, when hunting for new additions to the series. After the lacklustre reception of Street Fighter V, some have suggested that Capcom should go back to focusing on its new games rather than remakes, and this more pioneering approach should perhaps extend to additional content.

It certainly says a lot about the importance of Street Fighter II that questions surrounding the game are still being answered so many years after the game's initial release. The title is seen as one of the most important fighting games in history, changing the face of the genre as a whole. Whether the latest game in the series, which had its story mode beaten by a six month-old baby, follows in its forerunner's footsteps remains to be seen.

Source: Reddit, Capcom (1), Capcom (2)