Dhalsim

The mystical yogi who stretches his limbs to fight for his village.

Dhalsim (Japanese: ダルシム, Hepburn: Darushimu) is a character in Capcom's Street Fighter series. He made his first appearance in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior in 1991. He sometimes goes by the alias "long-arm" and his fighting ability includes stretching his limbs. In the series, he is a mystical yogi who is loved by his villagers and family alike. He is also a pacifist who goes against his beliefs by entering the World Warrior tournament to raise money for his poor village.

Quick Facts

Creator: Akira "Akiman" Yasuda
Series: Street Fighter
First: Street Fighter II: The World Warrior (1991)
Designer: Yoshiaki Ohji (preliminary); Takashi Hayashi
Portrayed by: Roshan Seth (1994 film); Vidyut Jammwal (2026 film)
Origin: India
Nationality: Indian

Lore & Background

Dhalsim is a pacifist who enters the World Warrior tournament against his beliefs to raise money for his poor village. In his Arcade Mode ending in Street Fighter II, he wins the tournament and returns home on his elephant Kodal. Three years later, his son, Datta, discovers a photograph of his father from the tournament. In Super Street Fighter II Turbo, his wife Sally (named Sari in the UDON comic book series) is added alongside Datta. In the Street Fighter Alpha sub-series, which are set prior to the events of Street Fighter II, Dhalsim attempts to hunt down an "evil spirit" (M. Bison) that is threatening the world. His characterization and motivation in the Street Fighter EX sub-series are the same as in the previous Street Fighter game.

Reader's Guide

Dhalsim's fighting style is a Yoga-based style, in which he can stretch his arms, legs, abdomen and even his neck to great lengths, making him a decent long-range hand-to-hand fighter. He also uses many fire-based attacks such as Yoga Fire, Yoga Flame and Yoga Blast, the latter being an anti-air technique. His super move in the Street Fighter EX, Cross Over and later Alpha Series was the Yoga Inferno, which was a multi-hitting flamethrower-style attack that could be directed manually. Dhalsim also uses a teleportation technique known as the Yoga Teleport. In Street Fighter EX3, he gains a tag-team super move when paired with Blanka. In Street Fighter IV he uses the ultra combo move Yoga Catastrophe, as a large fireball which slowly moves toward and deals multi-damage on impact on any opponent, before using a super Yoga Inferno. According to Akiman, Dhalsim's gameplay was meant to tie into the idea of India being "mysterious", and make them feel like totally normal activities within the "mysteries of Yoga."

Did You Know?

During development, his name was 'Indo' (literally 'India') as a placeholder, then later 'Naradatta' for a time before finally being named 'Dhalsim'.
The name 'Dhalsim' comes from 'Dhalsima', a martial artist from the Indian subcontinent area, according to game director Akira Nishitani.
A rumor that the name was based in part on the name of a curry restaurant near Capcom's old offices in Osaka was corroborated by Akiman in 2014.
The concept for Dhalsim's stretching limbs was based on a technique from the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, specifically the 'Zoom Punch' used by character William A. Zeppeli.
In the 1994 live-action film Street Fighter, Dhalsim is portrayed by British actor Roshan Seth as an Indian scientist and doctor forced to aid M. Bison.